These are the people who will be organising events for you. If you have any suggestions, please contact any of the committee members.

Once again I have had the opportunity to gallivant around our sub continent. This time the planning included a visit to the Kalagadi Brewery in Gaberone. Go straight to page two for all the details. I would like to thank Mike Thomson for his hospitality and information that was forth coming. Visits to the Lesotho and other breweries are definitely on the cards for next year.

Once again Andy has produced some excellent snippets for the bar chat column.

I have been following the developments (or otherwise) of a brewery planned for East London. It is a joint venture between a group of German (Kreditanstalt Wiederaufbau(a German industrial development bank)) and Austrian (WeizenGold) Investors and the IDC. The proposed brewery will cost in the region of R130 million and employ 35 people. The investors claim most of the problems revolve around the high turn over of staff at the IDC and who’s loan gets repaid when. (Sapa)

Donald

A few weeks ago I realised I was rapidly running out of Malt and now that Mitchell’s Gauteng Brewery is no more I needed to organise another source of supply. With reservations I approached S.A. Maltsters expecting a negative reaction to someone wanting just 1 bag of Pale Malt. Well I was very pleasantly surprised. Not only was I wrong about their lack of interest, but my enquiry was answered with enthusiasm. The contact there is Andrew Downes ( tel. 908 1870 ). He is from a brewing background and is very helpful.

For the web surfers……..

A came across an interesting web site called brewpubmag.com which is a publication for brewpubs ( as you may have guessed ). It is basically aimed at commercial operations but some of the online articles are very interesting and can be useful for home brewing. For example there is some good information on yeast management.

Another web site that is also interesting is leebrewery.com. It features the usual equipment and recipes but is well layed out and has a neat brew calculator.

Brewing equipment…….

If you are looking for fittings, piping etc for beer dispensing give DispenseTech a try. They are out in Jet Park and they stock everything you may need to serve your special brew. They used to specialise only in soft drink dispensing but are now full time into beer as well. They did all the dispensing set up for the 94.7 Beerfest which was quite impressive. I was at their place when they were dismantling that lot and the MD, David Prutton showed me how it all worked – very interesting. They stock the proper beer piping and all the fittings as well as ‘Corny’ kegs and fittings. The good news for us is that they are more than willing to supply small quantities and at good prices. Phone no. 397 7455

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The Kalagadie Brewery is a land mark in the northern suburbs of Gaberone on the road to Francistown. The brewery supplies beer to the entire population of Botswana. The number one beer is St Louis designed, developed entirely at the brewery – much to the consternation of the powers that be. The brew holds the top spot of their beer sales at about 35% of total beer sales, the other beers are Castle, Black Label, Lion and Hansa.

The inspiration for St Louis is the hot dry climate which requires a beer that is thirst quenching, a little "more-some" and low in alcohol (3,5%). The flavour is clean and crisp with a low hop bitterness and a carbonated sparkle on the tongue. Some sulphury notes detract a little from the over all enjoyment of the beer, but could be argued that it added character.

The colour is crystal clear gold with a snow white head which lingers on the beer. Much of the character is reminiscent of a Kristal Wheat beer.

Malt is imported from Zimbabwe and Canada and is blended 50/50 prior to passing through the wet mill. Maize is gelatinised in a cooker before being added to the mash tun.

The lauter tun has a trap door in the floor which allows the spent grains to be removed with in minutes of the final runnings. The spent grains are then removed from the hopper by a screw conveyor during the next brew cycle which is less than 3 hours.

The brew length is a 1/3^rd of the volume of each fermenter. Each batch of beer from the boiler passes through a whirlpool and is cooled in a counter flow chiller. The wort is oxygenated as it leaves the chiller.

The beer is fermented and conditioned in the same tanks with yeast being harvested at appropriate times. The beer is in the tanks for at least 18 days before it goes to the packaging plant.

Unlike the South African market cans are the most popular form of packaging. Draught is only available from a few outlets in Gaberone (St Louis or Castle).

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(Secret Life of Beer, Alan D. Eams)

"Any excuse to have a beer!" is a battle-cry heard throughout the world usually from the spouses of beer drinking males. Beer drinking under the guise of a Saint’s day is nothing new. If you don’t celebrate these days in your house give ‘em a try!

Tap-Up Sunday. The Sunday before the 2nd of October was a holy’ day on which anyone and everyone could (and did) sell beer without a license. Peculiar to Guilford, England, this day was held in tribute to God’s gifts: beer and barley.

Feast of Fools. Another quaint medieval custom. the Fools’ Feast was held inside the church on the Feast of Saint Stephen. December 26, and the Feasts of Saint John (December 27) and the Holy Innocents (December 28). And a bizarre sight it must have been! A mock priest would conduct a mass while the ale-drunken crowd in the pews (Many with donkey-head masks) would bray back obscene responses and foul jokes. After the "mass," the ale-drunken revellers would sing and dance their way through the streets. This festival endured until the late 16th century.

Saint Monday. I still practice this holiday, which otherwise disappeared in the early 18th century. The idea was that any workman could take any Monday off as a holiday to drink beer in memory of a departed Saint, thus drinking deeply without penalty.

Saint Paul’s Eve. In Wales, this was

a beer fest for the wretched tin miners. Legend speaks of Saint Paul landing in Cornwall. Thus, after work miners throw stones at a pitcher full of beer until the jug is hit and broken. Then they drink. This makes sense because it is hard to hit anything with a stone when you’ve been drinking before taking aim.

For the Germans who follow the saints there is Munich’s Saint Joseph’s

Day held on March 19th and the spring fest called Fruhjahrsbierfest. South Munich has Saint Leonard’s Day beer fest in November.

As the world becomes, everyday, a more uncertain place, beer drinkers think of God and the Saints. One of His many gifts to suffering humanity, beer is indeed divine stuff. A joyful interlude in this vale of tears. So, next time at the bar, buy a stranger the Poculum Charitatis — the loving cup of ale. It’s the Christian thing to do.

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THE BENEFITS OF DRINKING BEER

DO YOU KNOW THAT:

• Beer is one of the most diuretic beverages. It’s carbohydrates are largely broken down and are thus easy to digest for humans.
• The thirst quenching effect of beer is due to its high water content (92%) and it’s minerals among others.
• Beer is perfectly suited as a dietary supplement in a low protein diet.
• Beer contains more than 30 minerals and trace elements.
• One litre of beer almost covers half the adult daily requirement of magnesium, phosphorus & potassium.
• Beer contains all important B- vitamins, vitamins A, D and E. One litre of beer contains about 210 mg vitamins and vitaminoid compounds.
• Carbon dioxide is a significant contributor to the refreshing effect of beer. Carbon dioxide stimulates blood circulation in the mucous membrane of the mouth, promotes salivation, stimulates formation of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, accelerates emptying of the stomach and promotes excretion of substances usually eliminated in the urine.
• One important vitamin found in beer is folic acid, which is particularly essential for pregnant women as a deficiency can cause spinal defects in the unborn child.
• The antibacterial effects of alcohol and iso alpha acids (hops) also ensure that pathogenic bacteria cannot live in beer; The few species of bacteria able to withstand these effects may spoil the beer but cannot cause disease.
• There is evidence that iso alpha acids (hops) may help to prevent osteoporosis (the brittle bone disease which affects the elderly).
• Research has also shown that moderate & regular consumption of beer helps to prevent coronary heart disease, apparently by increasing the level of high density lipoprotein (HDL) good cholesterol which forms pellet like particles that scour away the deposits of low density lipoprotein (LDL) bad cholesterol on the walls of the blood vessels which could otherwise obstruct the circulation.
• Beer that is not drunk has missed its vocation. Beer is more than just an alcoholic beverage, it is very emotional and it is the centerpiece of most South African lives.
• The only relevant measure of quality is what the consumer is actually drinking.
• Returning beer to the right priority level is the challenge facing brewers in the future.

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Llewellyn has organised the printing of T-shirts for the club. The shirts are white with a full colour Worthog Brewer logo on the back. The shirts are 170g - i.e. good quality.

The price is R50

I would appreciate it if you could drop Llewellyn a line at llewellynvr@mail.com telling him how many shirts you want and what size (S;M;L;XL;XXL). The sizes are fairly normal, i.e. not Japanese!. Llewellyn would like to place the order early next week, so reply ASAP.

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(Donald Coward)

(Basic Brewing Science, Dr, Trevor Wainwright)

Have you ever been asked how is beer made well I decided to write a little dissertation on the subject.

Often people just want the basics i.e. Barley is malted has yeast and hops added in a big factory and beer comes out the other end. Or Buy a kit from Brewing Concepts pour the contents into a bucket, add water and then yeast, leave for a couple of days and bottle. Leave it alone for a few more days and you will have about 28 bottles of beer.

For a little more info the following diagram can be used:

For The actual Process which creates beer refer to the following:

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(From Ant Hayes)

Ant Hayes wants to know why his South African Breweries (SAB) text says that too much oxygen at pitching is bad for yeast, and also ponders cold break removal from lager worts. One of our micro teachers at Siebel was Lynn Krueger, who formerly worked in the micro department at SAB. She explained that they used oxygenation levels to help control the ester and fusel content of their beer, and used less O2 (while pitching more yeast) because they wanted some estery (and less fusel) character. She was very quick to point out that this is NOT a good way for the small brewer to control the ester content of beer. -The yeast treated in this way were not harvested for repitching because they weren't in good enough shape. -You are walking a fine line between an acceptable ferment and a stuck (or otherwise flawed) ferment when depriving yeast of O2. Without fancy equipment like dissolved oxygen meters and a tremendous wealth of knowledge about your yeast strain, you are unlikely to get consistent results. -You need to be able to accurately pitch the yeast into the wort. That means knowing the cell count to a high degree of confidence. At home you have a better chance of doing this than at a very small brewery like mine, because I cannot ever be sure of how well my yeast is mixed into the wort. She advocated using yeast strain selection and more easily controlled parameters like fermentation temperature as methods for controlling ester production. I would tend to agree with her. As for cold break removal from worts (especially lager worts): some breweries do this, some don't. Removing cold break will supposedly reduce esters and perhaps hinder yeast growth (meaning less fusel production). At home I did this a few times and found that the result was not worth the effort and risk of contamination.