Let's Brew Wednesday - 1887 Fullers Porter

Yet another recipe from my book after next. That's 37 recipes so far. Probably around another 300 to go. Unless it gets out of hand, like with "Blitzkrieg." That has 551.

Though fading fast in most of England, Porter remained a big deal in London and its surroundings. It was rare in bottled form, but remained a popular draught beer in the capital. Despite increasingly losing drinkers to Mild Ale.

By the last couple of decades of the 19th century aged or Keeping Porter had disappeared and all Porter was sold young or “mild”. This beer would have been consumed no more than a couple of weeks after racking.

By modern UK standards this is quite a strong beer. Back in the day, beer in London, with the exception of Light Bitters, didn’t come any weaker.

The grist is the classic London combination of pale, brown and black malts. The proportions of the three may have varied, but the three elements had been locked in since the 1820s. In addition, there’s an ingredient which wouldn’t have been permitted until 1847: sugar. And rather a lot of it, amounting to over 20% of the total. As with all the other Fuller’s beers, it’s simply described as “Sacc.” For consistencies sake, I’ve stuck with No. 2 invert.

Kent from the 1886 crop and East Kent from 1883 made up the hops. I’ve reduces the quantities to account for the age of the latter.

1887 Fullers Porter
pale malt	5.75 lb	51.11%
brown malt	2.25 lb	20.00%
black malt	0.75 lb	6.67%
No. 2 invert	2.50 lb	22.22%
Fuggles 90 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.25 oz
OG	1054
FG	1020
ABV	4.50
Apparent attenuation	62.96%
IBU	43
SRM	33
Mash at	156º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale