Monday, 12 January 2026

Fullers grists in 1910

A Fullers Oatmeal Stout label featuring a red griffin.
We’ll now take a look under the bonnet of these beers.

Most of the beers contained only a single malt: base pale malt. Which is pretty much what you’d expect for the period. A time when crystal malt was unknown in Pale Ales and by no means universal in Mild Ales.

Obviously, you can’t brew Porter or Stout without some sort of roast. Fullers went for the classic London combination of brown and black malt. The roast malts making up a hefty 16% of the total.

There’s quite a bit of variation in the malt content. From just under 70% in the Black Beers to 87% in the Strong Ale.

Every beer received a small dose of flaked maize. Nothing odd there. By this point, flaked maize was by far the most popular adjunct and flaked rice had been pretty much abandoned.

In the first decade of the 20th century, Oatmeal Stout was all the rage. Fullers must have joined in the craze. Hence the tiny quantity of oats. The brewing records don’t make clear what form they were in. Probably flaked. Adding a minute quantity of oats to a Stout parti-gyle to be able to legally market some of it as Oatmeal Stout was a typical trick of London brewers. 

Fullers grists in 1910
Beer Style pale malt brown malt black malt total malt flaked maize oats total adjuncts
X Mild 74.05%     74.05% 6.56%   6.56%
AK Pale Ale 80.76%     80.76% 5.91%   5.91%
PA Pale Ale 81.59%     81.59% 3.35%   3.35%
P Porter 53.38% 10.53% 5.26% 69.17% 3.01% 0.85% 3.85%
BS Stout 53.38% 10.53% 5.26% 69.17% 3.01% 0.85% 3.85%
BO Strong Ale 87.40%     87.40% 4.07%   4.07%
  Average       77.02%     4.60%
Source:
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.

 

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