Whb_boar_2002_06.pdf

Newsletter of the Worthog Brewers, Gauteng, South Africa
www.worthogbrewers.co.za
May / June 2002
Volume 4 Number 2
EDITORIAL
CLUB HAPPENINGS
There has been some discussion lately about the The only major event remaining for 2002 will be future of the Boar. Producing and mailing it, even our yearly competition. The date for this event has in the current format, is quite expensive (relative to not been set, but it will probably be late October or our club membership fee). Some people feel it early November. Jeremy is waiting for confirmation should rather be available in electronic format. of the date for the Homebrew Tri-nations. Last year That way everybody picks up the tab for his or her our member’s beers were at a disadvantage own printing (if they want a hard copy). It will still because they were quite old by the time the Tri- be mailed to those members who do not have nations were judged. Watch the website for the access to electronic media. Another option is to latest news. The rules and format will be more or expand and improve it to such an extent that we can produce a “high quality”” product which people will be willing to pay for. It has rightly been pointed BREWING LEAGUE 2002
out that publications which depends on volunteers never works very well. So, if you have a strong The latest standings in the brewing league (after opinion on this, please drop me a line. Irrespective of what we decide to do, WE NEED MORE GOOD TECHNICAL ARTICLES! So start writing, and you might end up as the South African Michael Jackson. JUNE ‘02
1 Jeremy Wallis
2 Coenraad + Danie
3 Alan Bester
4 Anthony Hayes
5 Andy Tasker
6 Peter Grant
7 Andreas & Rob
û ü 8 Donald Coward 6.4 3.9
9 Bob Louch
10 Wilhelm Kohlmeyer
There are two more special features planned for 11 Mike Heydenrych
this year. The first is about designing and building a small brewery. The second is a review of all 12 Charles Cohen
small breweries in South Africa (sort of a Platter’s 13 John Heydenrych
for beer). Contributions to any of these will be 14 Roelf Loots
appreciated, especially reviews of small breweries, product ranges etc. 15 Llewellyn v. Rensburg
There has also been some discussion about the 16 Arrie Krüger
format and content of our two monthly meetings. If 17 Andre de Beer
you have an opinion about the way things should be done; don’t grumble, share it with us! The only 18 Hano Conradie
reason the newsletter does not have a letter section is that we do not receive any letters yet. Remember, your four best scores for the year counts. We have had four meetings, so up to now Drayman's Brewery, Farmer’s Brewery, Mitchell's you could stay in the running by brining beer to and Nottingham Road among the smaller concerns every meeting. From now on quality will be more listed. Even some of the photos were shot in South important. On the other hand, those that haven’t Africa, namely the Scottish Ale House (Mitchell's brought four beers yet still have a chance to catch Brewery) and Den Anker Restaurant on the Cape LOCAL BEER SCENE
SAB has bought Miller, the second largest brewer in the US for R50 billion. The new company, SABMiller, will be the second largest brewer in the world. According to Michael Jackson this might actually be a good thing for smaller brewers: “Quite simply, the bigger the major brewers become, the greater the number of consumers who feel left behind, even alienated. These people want the chance to exercise their individuality when they order a beer. They are potential buyers of imports, Available from Exclusive Books and Kalahari.Net microbrews and the products of brewpubs.” (about R150), 160 pages, 280 x 215 mm, 240 [Source: www.beerhunter.com, 8 june 2002] colour photographs, 80 artworks and 45,000 words. [Source: www.iol.co.za, 13 June 2002] Birkenhead sold
The Birkenhead brewery near Stanford was sold TECHNICAL
on site for nearly R7 million during a well-attended public auction late in April. The new owners plan to Roasting your own malt
Its winter again and the perfect time for dark beer The brewery, which produced beers such as Cape like stout, porter or swartzbier. To brew these you Honey Blonde Ale, Octoberfest Märzen, Raspberry will need dark speciality malts. Although you can Pilsner, Captains Stout, Horney Spring Bock and buy some types, most homebrewers have an Red Neck Bitter had to be sold because investors inclination to try and do things themselves. were not willing to spend money on finding cost- However, stories of yellow Guinness (Jeremy) and saving methods to brew quality beer in the light of pale swartzbier (Coenraad) can dampen one’s the devaluation of the Rand. The brewery relied enthusiasm (not to mention warnings of “spousal heavily on expensive imported raw goods in the annoyance”, see second method below). Therefore we bring you two methods to roast your own malt Three main contenders took part in the bidding, in this edition of the WHB. The first method makes including Prof. Ludo van Wauwe of CCK SA and a microbrewer from Germany. The highest bid - R6,350 million - came from Mr Dean Rees, Line a large baking tin with aluminium foil, and representative of MAED, a Johannesburg based Place in the oven (preferably convection type) Birkenhead brand, recipes and concepts, beer- at 100°C for 45 minutes to dry out the malt. equipment, delivery vehicles, the pub and 16 ha of • After a further 20 minutes remove 6 or 7 corns peripheral land with improvements were all from the tray, slice across the centre with a sharp knife and compare the colour of the MAED will inject a large amount of capital into the starchy centre with that of a few pale malt brewery to make it viable. They took over the reins corns. The pale malt is almost pure white; for on 1 June. [Source: www.news24.co.za, 18 April pale amber the colour should be the palest buff, just noticeably different from the pale malt. Continue heating until this colour is obtained, usually about 30 minutes. • For amber malt, continue heating until the cut The Beer Drinker's Handbook, by Kevin Trayner, is section is distinctly light buff, usually 45 to 50 available now. It covers the whole world with only a couple of pages devoted to Afirca, including South • For brown malt, raise the temperature at this Africa. While South African Breweries gets the point to 175°C and wait until the cut cross- biggest mention, the "microbrewing revolution" also section is a full buff, i.e. about the colour of the gets a look-in, with Hermanus's Birkenhead, the paler types of brown wrapping paper. (Crystal malt, which is usually available, has about the I have always used the grain immediately same colour potential as brown malt but a (although I have saved leftovers) and it is like using freshly roasted coffee; it makes a BIG difference in • When the correct colour has been reached, dark beers like porters and stouts. Lots of aromatic remove the tray from the oven, allow to cool roastiness, nice. I like to use more of a lighter and store the roast grain in an airtight, screw roasted grain for the same colour. This gives more top jar. If used soon after production, the flavour imparted by home- roasted grain is http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/1874.html#1874-19] The roasting times given above are intended only 13 Health reasons to drink beer
as a guide to producing the wanted roast grain. Practical tests on a specific oven available will You always had a gut feel about this, but here is enable home-brewers to adjust the time and the scientific proof (compiled by Moritz Kallmever): temperature to produce the colour needed. For those who are interested in retaining diastatic activity (i.e. if you want to use the roasted malt as a substantial portion of your toal malt bill), subsequent (informed) experiments have shown that a longer time drying the grain at a lower temperature helps protect the enzymes. The following will produce a diastatic Pale Amber. • Set the oven at 70-75°C and put in the tray of grain. The grain bed can be a little deeper - up to 140mm. Leave for 2 hours to dry out the 1. Drinking beer is good for your liver! Drinkers of beer can get rid of poisonous heavy • Raise the temperature to 88-94°C for 30 metals like lead and copper up to five times more minutes and then to 110-115°C for a further 30 effectively than teetotallers. Alcohol causes the small blood vessels in the liver to expand which insufficient colour, then check at 15 min speeds up metabolism. (Beer Net Publication, April 2001 Biological Institute, Univmity of Charkov, If after 1 hour at this temperature, colour has not been achieved, raise the temperature to 120-125°C and continue to check at 15 min Those drinking beer on a daily basis, averaging 4- intervals. The resultant Pale Amber should be 9 litres of beer per week, have the lowest rate of heart attacks. Their risk is approximately 50% For Amber malt, after the grain has spent 1 lower when compared to non-drinkers. (Bobak et al hour at 110-115°C raise the temperature to 2000; Hoffmeister et al 1999; Kitamura et al 1998). These diastatic darker grains will be more acidic Hop compounds xanthumol and quercentin, both than normal pale malt and if large proportions are strong antioxidants re very effective in their ability used in a mash you might have to make an to prevent LDL (the bad form of cholesterol) from allowance in you water treatment. [Source: oxidation. When LDL is oxidised it will be laid down http://brewery.org/library/roastmaltGC.html] on the artery wall causing them to narrow, thus increasing the chances of blockage and heart The second method of roasting malt at home attacks (Miranda et al 2000). Antioxidants are thought to be able to quench and inactivate the I roast grains on nearly the highest electric element free radicals, which may cause the types of cellular setting until they are the colour I want, often like damage that can lead to both cardiovascular chocolate malt, sometimes more or less. This takes anywhere from five to maybe ten minutes. It generates a fair amount of smoke (I run the stove vent fan) and generates spousal annoyance units Recent studies have turned its attention to the anti- exactly proportional to the degree of roasting. oxidative role of plant polyphenols in general, their When I have the degree of colour I want, I go beneficial influence on various aspects of health outside (for smoke control) and empty to grains on and in particular, their role in dealing with a cookie sheet to cool and halt the roasting. This dangerous free radicals within the body. Analysis procedure gives me great control over the degree can show how much of these good compounds are of roasted flavour and colour I get - much better in beer- but can it be absorbed (bioavailability) by than what is available commercially. Very dark humans and hence have a positive effect on roasted grains malt will start to stick together, but it health? Yes! The malt-derived antioxidant ferulic is still less burnt at this stage than commercial acid is 100% absorbed by humans (compared to 1 1 -25% absorption of ferulic acid in a tomato). The total level of antioxidants in the blood increased 11. Hoppy beer protects against cataracts! significantly after just a single glass of ale, again Certain hop flavonoids, in particular xanthohumol proving that antioxidants in beer are well absorbed and its isomerised form isoxanthohumal, can show (Ghiselli et al 2000) Not that any person in his right positive effects against heart disease, Alzheimer's mind would settle for just a single glass! disease, osteoporosis, cataracts and certain forms 5. It boosts vitamin B6; B12; folate and mineral If compared to wine and spirits, beer is the only A famous vitaminologist, Professor Steep from beverage that contains significant levels of Germany, prescribes beer (not drugs) for insomnia. vitamins. High Homoeysteine (Hey) levels in the Two vitamins lactoflavin and nicotinic acid that is blood are associated with increased risk of CVD. present in beer are the secret weapons that Vitamins like B6; B 12 and especially folate (all promote sleep. The same two vitamins also speed naturally occurring in beer) is now recommended up bone regeneration after a fracture and prevent as part of doctors orders to be taken daily to low blood counts. Hops in beer are a natural control elevated levels of Hey (Walker, BRI, 200 1). The minerals in beer come from both the malt and the brewing liquor. The ratio of potassium to sodium is particularly important in relation to The flavonoids that are present in roasted malt, also to a lesser extent in hops and barley, prevent blood platelets from clamping together – making 6. Beer keeps homoeysteine (Hey) levels low! the blood less sticky – therefore decreasing your Van der Gaag and his colleagues found that risk of blood clotting that can cause heart attacks drinking wine and spirits increased serum Hey levels, where as, counteracted by folates and vitamin B6, beer consumption had no influence. A clear case of beer should be first for thirst! CONTACT DETAILS:
7. Drinking beer boosts your soluble fibre intake! To contribute to the Worthog Boar, send your One of the most effective forms of soluble fibre for beer/brewing related articles, news, jokes etc. to: lowering cholesterol is betaglucan, which is the • Arrie Krüger, Box 13829, Hatfield, 0028 predominant form of fibre in beer. Beers with high malt content like craft beers may provide up to 30% of the recommended daily fibre intake Committee members, if you need to get in touch: 8. Drinking beer help in combating cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and other immune Hops contain compounds that are unique and rare in nature - like prenyl tlavonoids (8PN), which is a phytoestrogen. Phytoestroegens are natural plant based compounds, which mimics the natural estrogens in the body (Bingham et al 1998). The highest 8PN levels in beers have seen in dark and bitter ales and stouts and from craft breweries Beer has a nutritional benefit that promotes healthy bones and connective tissue (Dr Jonathan Powell, Kings College, London). Because of the brewing process, silicon is leached from barley grain in a form that is readily accessible to the body. Prof Oliver James, from the school of clinical medical studies at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, says that beer protect against gallstones, kidney stones and the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which is directly linked to

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