read this on thebrewbox.co.za
Introduction
This is the first edition of the newsletter, and I am somewhat apprehensive of what to write. So far I have thought of a template and I’m stuck. Although lets see where this newsletter goes, and I will most probably delete it anyway.
✨New Discovery
I recently did a small travel to BinaryBrewWorx to visit two amazing brewers who I met last year at Africa Brew 2022. Elbie and Jakes Louw, what amazing people! Anyway, I was there to partake in Elbie’s experimental brewday – her first black IPA.
While there, they very kindly gave me two “On Tap” magazines (Winter 2023 and Spring 2023). Within the Winter 2023 edition I came across a fascinating article by Kamini Dickie which explored the similarities, differences and combinations of wine and beer. And having lived in the wine region of South Africa for many years, I did not find the combination surprising, but it is rather rare.
Beer and wine yeasts, although cousins, are from a broken and torn family. The flavours and characteristics wine yeasts exploit are not the same and often undesirable for brewers. So it lends to the fact that brewers aim for consistency, whereas wine makers aim to exploit the flavour profiles of that season.
Anyway, I am not going to butcher any more of the article, I highly recommend you read it. That being said, it did spark an idea to try develop a wine-beer which explored the fruity notes of our Elgin region with the spice forward notes of a good Weiss. And in my head, that just spells bubbly apple tart!
🫧Latest Brew Update
My latest brew was an experimental brew of note, the recipe was not determined before brew-day and the general preparations which one would generally go through prior to the brew day, I seemingly forgot to do, or was it perhaps laziness. Either way the idea behind the beer was a lazy-man’s lager. Essentially utilise pilsner and pale malt with an quick Kviek yeast to obtain the cleanest flavours from the beers.
The purpose of the brew was to “break-in” the brewing equipment and my own brewing skills as they have been on a small hiatus 🤣.
Recipe
| Grain | Hops |
|---|---|
| Weyermann Pilsner Malt (2.5kg) | Southern Aroma (25g, 50g) |
| SAB 2-row Pale Malt (2.5kg) | Hallertau Mittelfrau (25g, 50g) |
| Flaked Barley (200g) | 30mins, 10mins Additions |
The outcome of the beer was an extremely light beer with some great hop aromas. The Southern Aroma really added to the earthy spice notes of the Hallertau Hops. Although the efficiencies were hampered by the mess-up of not crushing the grains adequately, the decision to mash for an extra 30 mins (90min total mash) lent the wort enough sugars to at least provide the yeast some food.
That being said, having the ability to brew and keg all within a 7 day period was magical, and I’m sure the people who had the opportunity to taste the beer would agree, it was a good first fuck-up.
🍻Next Brew Plan
The next brew is aimed at using up the malts I have on hand as well as some of the hops that my friend, Chris, has in his freezer. The brewing equipment is not yet set up to my liking just yet, so until I dial in the process, I don’t want to risk brewing any particular style. That being said, I would like to one day soon, be able to brew to a particular style – including lagers.
📝Latest Fascination/Research Project
While at gym last weekend I listened to an episode of Brulosophy (Episode 279 | exBEERience: Building A Garage Walk-In Cooler) where Ryan Carter was discussing how he designed and built his walk-in coldroom. And you may be thinking that, “sheesh this guy must be a commercial brewer”, if you have a look at his content and his setup you would see that he is just a nerded out homebrewer with an amazing setup in his garage, and he built the coldroom in his garage.
Many homebrewers tend to go from a natural progression from bottling to kegging and some even canning. And for me the main reason is to reduce the time between the end of fermentation and when you’re able to drink your latest creation.
If one where to bottle the time frame after fermentation is anywhere between 7-14 days to allow for the beer to reach your desired carbonation levels (this is known as bottle conditioning). On the other hand, if one was to brew an ale that needed no lagering, the timeframe after you have cold crashed (reduced the temp of the beer to at least 2-4C in a short period of time) and transferred the beer into the kegs (plastic or metal) can be anything as short as 30mins (Forced Carbonation) or 2-3days at a cold temperature at constant pressure.
To enable one to hold beer, once carbonated or being carbonated, at the desired drinking temperature homebrewers would generally build a keezer. A keezer is generally built from an old chest freezer, generally modified to increase its height, taps added for easy pouring and the modifications could go on. The limitation to a keezer is the space within. Depending on the size of chest freezer one starts with the footprint is fixed, as well as the height. That means you can only fit so much in and still have room to move and shuffle things a tad bit.
Now as Ryan mentioned, he had built one or two keezers before, but since moving into his new place he wanted something better. And before you think the cold room he built was massive, it is 6ft by 3ft, which in normal language approximates to 1.8m by 0.9m. So, the footprint is not much bigger than a large keezer, however the benefit is the freedom of height.
Ryan’s cold room is, as he puts it: “pretty on the outside, but gnarly on the inside”. Which I think most DIY experts can attest to when it comes to personal projects. Anyway, the description of how easy it was to build and construct astounded me.
It is nestled against the corner of the garage, so only two walls needed to be framed out, and space for a door to be installed. The insulation of the room was down with closed foam insulation which was approximately 7.5cm thick (you can calculate the R-values of that😉) and this ensures the cold stays in the room. Interestingly, he used a window box air conditioner along with a nifty device called a coolbot which tricks the aircon to keep the room colder than its designed for.
So all this being said, Ryan is based in AMURICA, with freedom units plus many other weird terminology that us third-worlders laugh at. However, the possiblity of building a coldroom at home never seemed easier after listening to the episode of Brulosophy. And I think that when I am able to build out my personal brew-hut, it may just have a KoldRoom within.
🛠️Brewery Setup
Currently the brewery is in shambles, all mixed around and looking for a home but in essence it is operational (brewed one beer at least🍻). The current setup is organised to make use of the BIAB (Brew In A Bag) technique.
Equipment:
- 2x 30L Urns – Element is not exposed, I find these to be the best as there are fewer nooks and crannies to clean.
- Soon I’ll be adding ports to attach a bottom filter, pump and begin recirculating wort during my brews.
- Immersed Copper Chiller – Along with a submersible pump to pump ice cold water through.
- Electronic Temperature Controller – which is able to be manually set to the desired temp.
- I would like to upgrade this to be able to be set and monitored from my phone one day.
- Fermenters are 25l plastic buckets
- Kegging equipment is built up of 8l KegLand PET kegs, which work wonders as they fit snuggly in my bar fridge.
- Bar fridge – Soon to be modified to have a tap system built in, either through the door or the top of the fridge.
🆕Latest Brewery Update
Not much has happened in the brewery since my last brew, other than life throwing curveballs. Hopefully we’ll get the setup sorted and start rolling out with brews in the next month or two.
I am still on the search for a name, so if you have any ideas pop me a mail and I’ll really appreciate the input.
Fun fact to look up: The oldest written beer recipe is believed to be contained in a hymn to the goddess Ninkasi. Give it a read, I think its a pretty fortified recipe.
Enjoy the week and let me know what you are brewing and drinking!
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