Birkenhead Brewery
There is a micro brewery at the Birkenhead Estate in Stanford. You pass right through the small brewery when walking in to the main building. Brewery on one side and fermenting on the other. Inside you have a bar and the possibility to do a tasting.
The Birkenhead Brewery has a state of the art brewery. They just need to work on there recipes a bit.
Birkenhead ratings can be found on Ratebeer.
The northernmost brewery in the world.
The northernmost brewery in the world is Macks Ølbryggeri AS in Tromsö, Norway. Soon they might lose that title. The Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services have, not one but two applications on there desk to start breweries on Svalbard. Up until now it has been illegal to brew beer on Svalbard. The Ministry recently decided to propose a change of law which is good news for the applicants.
One of the applicants is the Norwegian homebrewer Robert Johansen. He wants to establish Svalbard bryggeri AS in the city Longyearbyen and plans a production of 100 000 litres annually. In an interview in the newspaper Svalbardposten he says that: “It is good news from the Ministry but the best thing would be if the Norwegian law also would apply to Svalbard. I have done a thorough research, both with brewing and people who will be helping out in the start. When the day comes, I know what it takes to get started.”
The other applicant is the Russi
an state owned trust “Arktikugol”. They want to produce around 50 000 litres of beer annually in the Russian settlement of Barentburg. In there application the company states that “a good local quality beer will lead to a lower consumption of liquor and cheap low quality beer”.
Where will you be able to find beer from Svalbard?
The Russian plan is just to sell to the local market but Johansens plan goes beyond that. He wants to be able to sell his beers outside Svalbard in the future. Maybe at the Norwegian Vinmonopolet or perhaps at the Swedish Systembolaget.
The last question will then be: Which one of the two are the northernmost then? Well Longyearbyen is just north of Barentsburg so if they both get the permission Robert Johansen will have the northernmost brewery of the world. … at least for now…
Sorghum beer – Umqombothi “my version”
I have been thinking about Umqombothi! Maybe a little strange to admit that but I have been thinking about develop my own recipes. The whole idea is to make a recipe that could be used without any thermometers, that is in a traditional way. Some basic facts before I go on. Water temp between 10-15 degrees C (tap water or spring water) and 37 degrees C is possible to feel with your fingers. Mixing boiling water and spring water 50-50 gives you a temp between 60-65 degrees, and so on. It is all about math plus minus a couple of degrees.
I am aiming to do the whole process in one single mash and then one fermentation. I am thinking about doing a second fermentation adding some fruit making it a fruitbeer but we will see about that later on. The tap water in Cape Town is crap water when it comes to brewing so I will use good spring water from the hill side of the Table mountain.
The mash
Mix 4 litres of cold water with 2 litre of boiling water. Stir in 1 kg of Maize meal and 4 kg of Sorghum malt. Leave for 30 minutes.
*I would like to make this acid rest (just under 37 C) for 30 minutes to lower the ph level a bit in order to help the fermentation process.
Add 2 litres of boiling water and leave for 60 minutes.
*The saccharification rest (around 65 degrees) for 60 minutes is to create some fermentable sugars.
The boil
Bring the mixture to boil and boil (rolling) it for 60-70 minutes.
* I really want it to boil because i want to get rid of as much DMS as possible.
The fermentation
Pour the mixture into a large basin and leave it to cool. When it reach room temperature, shake it really well and leave it in a warm place to ferment. It is ready after about 3 days. Taste it and decide yourself.
Sorghum beer – Umqombothi
I wrote some days ago about Rooibos and was surprised that there are so few commercial beers with Rooibos. Another thing that I have been thinking about brewing is Sorghum beer. I will write a couple of articles about sorghum beer and this one is about the Umqombothi version.
You can find recipes regarding Umqombothi in books and on the internet. As always when it comes to traditional “cooking” nothing is exact and there are as many recipes as there are brewers. I will examine one that I found in Justin Bonellos´s book Cooked in Africa. I will also give you my version of this traditional beer later on.
Mix 1 kg of Maize meal with 1 litre of cold water. Add 1 litre of boiling water and leave to cool.
* Cold water from the tap is between 10-15 degrees C and when mixed 50-50 with boiling water you would get a temperature around 65 degrees. More or less a saccharification rest. This will get some fermentable sugars in the mash of you use Sorghum malt.
When it reach room temperature ad 2 kg of Sorghum corn and leave to rest over night.
* Room temperature is between 20-30 degrees depending on season and this gives us a phytase (acid) rest for the sorghum. The ph level will come down a bit. “Leave to rest over night” will start a spontaneous fermentation. A lower ph will also help the fermentation.
The next day half the mash should be mixed with 3 litres of boiling water. Get it to boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Pour into a large basin. Repeat this process with the next half and then combine the two mixtures and leave to rest.
* The fermentation will now stop when boiling. The slow and long cooling process together with “just letting it simmer” will give the beer some DMS flavors.
Much later in the day add 2 kg of corn sorghum and mix. Cover with a blanket and leave in a warm part of the house over night
* Yet again we will have a phytase (acid) rest for the sorghum giving a light sour taste to the beer. The fermentation will also start again.
The mixture should be filtered through a metal strainer before serving.
The end product is a thick, lightly sour beverage with yeasty and DMS notes. The alcohol should be around 2-3 %. This is a good Umqombothi brewed in an old traditional way.
Later on I will make my version of this traditional beer.
New brand of beer in Equatorial Guinea
Many people write about the large and famous breweries around the world so I was thinking about writing some news from the small and not so famous ones. La Sociedad Ecuatoguineana de Bebidas (Soeguibe) in Equatorial Guinea launched their latest brand Beufort some month ago. Beufort is a lager beer and it is a license brew. Beufort Lager is also brewed by Les Brasseries du Cameroun. They also share the brands 33 and Castel. Nevertheless it is nice to see that the local brewery in Equatorial Guinea extend their range of beers.
I do not know were to buy their beer outside Equatorial Guinea but I will keep you updated if I found out.
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