Greetings to all you beer lovers out there.

The New Comitee

The club grew in leaps and bounds last year and has necessitated the formation of a "comity". The office bearers are as Follows:

Chairman (Brew master) Danie de Villiers

Secretary (Maltman) Lllewellyn

Treasurer (Barman) Jeremy Wallace

Membership (Hop Picker) Antony Heys

Public Relations (Boozer) Tony Lelliot

Brewing

Co-ordinator(Celler Master) Braam Greyling

Litrisist (The Yeast Man) Gavin Curran

Resident

Brewer Mouritz Carmeier

Tour

Organiser (Pub crawler) Donald Coward

News Letter Editor Donald Coward

These are the people that will be attempting to run the club as well as Jeremy ran it last year.

The objectives are to promote the brewing of beer,

Have 70 fully paid up members of which at least 30 will be full mash brewers, and, 5 members working at becoming certified beer judges.

To achieve the above objectives we will be arranging brewing demonstrations, instituting a program to adopt a brewer, arranging a build your own brewery day, family days, competitions and tours to various facilities. We will also register members for the BJCP program. The activities and there dates will be published in the next news letter.

This year has brought about significant changes to the way in which the club will be functioning. We will be attempting to promote beer more actively. The action plan to achieve our objectives is intended to bring brewers together under different circumstances more frequently. Tours will be arranged for the last Friday of each month. They will mostly be to breweries around Gauteng, but breweries further a field will be included later in the year as well as other related industries - Anchor yeast’s has been booked for 26 March at 16:00. The Bi-monthly meetings will be addressed by a guest speaker to provide an alternative view of out chosen hobby.

Other events that are on the agenda are brewing demonstration days, to give brewers the confidence to take their brewing to the next level, this will be supplemented by the grading of brewers, and the "adopt" a brewer program.

We are also planning a "build a brewery" day where aspiring full mash brewers can get together with some of the technical junkies who will show you how to turn buckets, elements and odd bits of piping into a brewery.

The brewing competition is an exciting addition to the Bi-monthly program schedule, as well as the re-introduction of the beer of the month.

So hears to a full fun packed year.

Cheers

Donald Coward

Danie has already establishes an e-mail communication forum which has received significant interest from some of the commercial breweries.

The aim of "I love fermenting" is to provide a platform for brewers to ask fellow brewers questions about beer and brewing. Share their there successes and discuss experiments. You can also share information about well stocked pubs and great beers.

If you have found a source of equipment let us know. If you have equipment you want to sell present it in "I love fermenting" of get your classified add published in the news letter.

To receive regular e-mail updates from "I love fermenting" register by sending an e-mail to konkoksie@hotmail.com.

1. Mitchell's - 26 February at 15.00

Meet at Mitchell’s Brewery 14 St George’s St Opherton Booysens.

2. Anchor Yeast - 26 March at 16:00

Meet at Anchor yeast Watt St Industria

3. Bavaria Brau - 23 April (Details in the next issue)
4. SAB Roslyn - 29 May (details in the next issue)
5. The big tour

Brown ales are sweet, full bodied and moderately alcoholic. It is a style which represents what most beers were like for centuries. Original gravity’s are around 1040 for southern varieties and 1050 for northern. The style originated in London when consumers demanded a less hoppy brew at a more affordable price.

It should be a malty, fruity refreshing beer with a low hop rate of around 20 IBU's. Use traditional English hops such as Fuggles, Goldings and Willamette.

Molasses is often added to contribute a rum like character. Speciality malts are also used to add colour.

A low attenuative yeast should be used to finish with a high finishing gravity which is full bodied.

Sub categories or styles include:

Southern Brown; Northern Brown and American Brown

Commercially available examples- New Castle Brown Ale, Watney's Brown ale and Samuel Smith's Nut Brown.

Recipe for a Northern Style Brown ale.

(I have tried this recipe and produced one of my best beers, using 2 pkts of Muntons Ale yeast re-hydrated in 300 ml of Hansa with a 5ml sugar - Ed)

3 kg pale ale malt

0,23 kg crystal malt

0,12 kg chocolate malt

0,45 kg brown sugar

20 g Northern Brewer hops - 60 min(7% alpha acid) (I substituted Southern Brewer)

35 g Kent Goldings - 30 min (5 % alpha acid)(I substituted Perle)

20 g Kent Goldings - 15 min (Perle)

Water treatment as for your water supply for an ale.

Mash in crushed grain to 7,5 l of hot water to achieve a temp of 67 to 68 deg C

Mash for 60 min.

Sparge with 20 l of 75 deg C water

Boil for 30 min and start hop additions

Cool to yeast pitching temp and ferment at 15 to 20 deg C.

OG = 1.048

FG = 1.010 to 1.013

For an extract brew substitute the pale ale malt with 2,2 kg of pale malt extract and add 250 g of molasses. Steep the crushed grain in 7,5 l of water at 72 deg C for 30 min, add the malt extract and water to make up 22 l. Boil as for a full mash brew.

(Ref. Brew your Own July 1997)

It is proposed that a brewer grading system be introduced which is intended to encourage brewers to aspire to the next level of brewing competence. The final details are yet to be finalised but the basis will be to have brewers in the club recognised as having achieved a certain level competence. The gradings will look something like this:

Junior Brewer - 3 Kit beers

Apprentice Brewer - 3 Malt extract beers

Brewer -3 Full Mash brews

Competent Brewer - Capable of evaluating the flavour of the beer and the characteristics resulting from the process.

Wort is a complex solution of sugars and other dissolved substances usually derived from malted barley, but yeast will usually metabolise most forms of sugar. For this reason an easy method to increase the alcoholic strength of beer is to add sugar. However, too much sugar will detract from the flavour of the beer and contribute a cidery flavour, which can largely be minimised with the use of invert sugar. (See end of article on how to make invert sugar.) Also the German purity law - The Reinheidts Gebot - outlaws the use of any source of ingredients other than malted barley, Hops and by implication yeast.

We do not live in Germany and this is not the 16th century, so use sugar and benefit from the subtle flavours that it can impart.

Glucose (dextrose) - A monosacchride composed of a single carbon - hydrogen - oxygen ring. Completely fermentable.

Fructose - Another monosacchride found mostly in fruit. Complete fermentable.

Sucrose - A disaccharide composed of one glucose and one fructose molecule. The most common form in South Africa is cane sugar. It is completely fermentable.

Invert sugar - is created by breaking sucrose into its component parts i.e. glucose and fructose.

Caramel Sugar - is available in varying degrees of darkness and caramel flavour. Traditionally used to make English bitters.

Brown Sugar - this sticky gooey mush is traditionally only partly refined sugar which contains molasses, but most commercial varieties are fully refined sugar to which molasses has been added.

Molasses - three grades of molasses are available with decreasing amounts of sucrose - light, medium and black strap. Molasses is the un-crystallised sugar and impurities that are removed during the sugar refining process.

To make invert sugar dissolve 450 g of cane sugar in 60 ml of water in a stainless steel pot and heat until syrupy then add 1 ml of tartaric acid, continue heating until light golden. DO NOT BOIL.

The Japanese have pioneered a new method of adding bubbles to beer, and making a "light" beer. They have started using hydrogen to "carbonate" (hydrogenate ?) a beer. Kareoke bars now feature big burly thug types singing falsetto and belching blue flames.

The English have launched an educational drive in pubs: "The Pub Understanding of Science". Coasters are printed with scientific question which is alcohol related and the answer is put up on the menu board a week later. This tends to encourage weekly returns to find out the answer as well as enhance the patrons IQ.

At this rate we should all be turning to Gavin for advice, and leave Mourits to his own devices.

Hello Jeremy and Karen, Once again, beer/brewing, the universal language of love, has brought people together. I can't attest to why Wort Hogs was chosen but I was at a meeting where we tried to come up with a new name and couldn't. so we kept it. Occasionally someone suggests changing it but people knows now and changing would be a set back.

Our club is about half your size. 50-60 on list with about 35-40 attending our monthly meeting which is tomorrow night, the second Wednesday of each month. Please stop in if you will be in town. All drinks are free for

you.

We have brew to style competitions every other month that determine a Brewer of the Year. We celebrate with a gourmet beer dinner every January.

Coming up on the 23rd...you can come but it will cost you $40 each...can I take your reservation?

We like to promote the BJCP and educate members along those lines...of course some take it more seriously than others. About 1/3 of us are all grain brewers. The Washington, DC area has a great beer culture with

Microbreweries and brew pubs plentiful. My personal philosophy regarding growing the membership is rather passive. I think brewing is such an involved process that one really must be smitten with it or they will soon be former brewers. Those that are smitten will find the club and be productive members. So the key to success is visibility. We have a local brew shop that refers brewers to us. That and referrals from existing members work for us. The last thing we want is a drinking club. We want brewers because we want their brewing creations. We also do not want the liability of careless drinkers and drivers. I have yet to meet a homebrewer who has a drinking problem...there are more expedient ways to find a buzz than going through even the shortest production schedule.

I hope this answers some of your questions. Good luck. Please keep in touch.

Good Brewing, Wendell Ose

During the Christmas break I managed to visit 4 breweries, a hop farm, a barley farm and we drove past the Maltings in Caledon – unfortunately tours must be booked in advance

The Breweries included Mitchell's Knysna and Waterfront (Cape Town), The Old Cape Ale Brewing company and SAB Newlands.

The Mitchell's Knysna Brewery was a treat to visit, the organisation appears to be haphazard which lends an air of quaintness to the operation. The plant lay out is sort of random but works, and all the operations are manual, an ideal example of how a brewery can be instrumental in job creation. There are no fancy computer controls, bottling lines, packaging lines just a traditional ale brewery, brewing traditional ale using traditional methods and ingredients. (No 21st century production/management theories clouding the clear beer so to speak, for now at least - News Flash Scottish and New Castle have taken over complete control of Mitchell's brewery.) The whole brewery experience is complimented by the aesthetics of Hop vines growing in the brewery gardens.

Mitchell’s Waterfront Brewery is quite different, the plant is laid out sequentially in two rows and appears to be really well organised. This may be, in part, due to the facility being a brew pub requiring an organised flashy copper and wood brewery which is far more impressive than bland stainless steel. Most of the brewing is completed before the pub opens in the morning, but it is still quite charming sipping an ale whilst viewing its tranquil birth place.

The Mitchell's beer range is: Foresters, Bosuns Bitter, 90 Shilling, and Raven Stout.

The Old Cape Ale Brewing Company was started by Terry Tegner and a partner in Ottery (Cape Town) and is supplying various pubs in Milnerton with his Cream Ale and Nut Brown Ale.

The brewery was set up at the beginning of December and I was just in time to taste the last of the first batch of Cream and Nut Ale. Current capacity is only about 2000 l per month but is all already sold.

My visit to SAB Newlands was a real treat. It has recently been discovered that a brewery was first established on the site in ..... Let me explain. Known history of the brewery goes back to the early 1800's when Mr Olsen from Norway built the brewery on a fresh water spring which had water perfect for the brewing of pale clear beers. Some of the original buildings are still standing and are being re-furbished and "re-furnished" with original equipment (Hot Liqueur, tank Mash tun, grain elevator etc).

Now back to the founding date of the first brewery on the site:

During the refurbishment a trench was dug to lay cables across a road an old wall was discovered, which was not supposed to be their. More digging revealed more wall and flag stones. And so the Archaeological department of UCT was called in to dig further and document the process. To date passage ways pipe lines and a furnace has been unearthed. The dates are estimated to be late 1600's or early 1700's. It is recorded that Jan van Riebeek brought Barley and Hops to the Cape but did not record what was done with them. Grapes and Hops do very well in the same conditions and the area around Newlands has been used to grow both hops and Barley. Thus at the moment there is some uncertainty as to when was first begun on the sight now occupied by the Newlands Brewery. The full known history of the brewery is laid out in the old floor maltings building.

The "new" brewery, in comparison to the Alrode brewery, is largely manual but new methodologies are constantly being developed. (e.g. Finnings are no longer added to the fermenter to clear the beer but during transfer from the primary to the secondary fermenter the beer is passed through a cyclone to separate the high density proteins from the beer.)

The Cape beer preference is quite different from our region and Olsens is still produced in large quantities, although much of it is exported. Hansa is not as popular but Castel is still the biggest seller.

If any one is visiting Cape Town a visit to the Newlands Brewery is a must.

Question: Which SAB brew still caries the initials of the original brewery on the label?

Which SAB brew is the only one to have beer written on the label?

We stayed on a guest farm in the heart of the hop valley at the top of the Outeniekwa pass. The vines were still very young and only just reaching the horizontal wires about 3 m up. The hops are harvested in February and March, are put into cold storage and processed from February to October, so at the moment their factory is not operational and I did not do a tour.

Night time in the Hop valley is rather odd as all the fields are lit with flood lights to increase the growing rate of the vines and increase the yield.

There is unfortunately a cloud hanging over the local production of hops as there is currently an oversupply of hops on world markets. It is thus cheaper to import them.

500g Vacuum packs of hop pellets can be purchased directly from SAB hop farms.

The visit to the barley farm in Botrivier was also badly timed as harvesting ends in November and sowing starts in June. Barley is grown in rotation with Lucerne a five year cycle or with Medic and Clover in a four year cycle. In the first year Barley will be grown. After harvesting sheep are put in to the stubble fields for a few weeks after which it is burnt to kill of any organism (fungus etc) which may affect the following years barley. During the third season clover and medic is sown and is left to re-grow in the fourth.

COMPETITION:

PART I – HOW TO ENTER THIS COMPETITION

E-mail or phone Danie de Villiers at ddevilliers@hotmail.com / 012 8037290 before 12 April 1999 to confirm your entry. Bring the beers to the meeting on 14 April 1999. No entries will be accepted on the day of the meeting.

(a) For each entry, fill out an entry form (last part of this brochure) in its entirety. For complete instructions on filling out the entry form, see Part II. Judges do not see your entry form. For more than one entry, please make copies of the entry form.

(b) Entry fees must be paid before judging.

1. You may not submit more than two entries.

(b) Your homebrew must not have been brewed at any place that brews beverages for any commercial purpose, whether for commercial research, production or any other purpose, including brew-on-premise establishments.

2. You must give the names of all brewers who helped in the brewing.

1. General

This Competition is open to all homebrewers.

It is the sole responsibility of the entrant to complete all registration and recipe forms and enclose the proper entry fees.

2. Awards and Prices

Awards and prices will depend on the number of entries received.

At the discretion of Competition organisers and/or judges, awards may not be given if the quality of an entry is not deemed deserving of an award.

3. Judges

For this competition the Wort Hog committee will be the judges. Chief Judge: Anthony Hayes. Competition organiser: Danie de Villiers

4. Wort Hog Membership

1. Results

1. Name __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Additional Brewer(s) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Address ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. City ______________________________________ Province ________________________ Postal Code ________________________________________________

5. Phone (H) (_______)_______________

6. E-mail __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Are you a member of the Wort Hog Brewers? _____________________________________________________________________

10. Entry Fees Enclosed. WHB members pay R5 per entry: __________ no. of entries x R5 = R____________ total

12. Name of the beer (optional) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

13. Style __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

14. SPECIAL INGREDIENTS:

Please give a detail recipe and a full explanation of how you had brewed this beer.