OnTap Magazine

18 | Autumn 2021 | ontapmag.co.za FEATURE Tim struggles to choose any favourites, not least because half the time he doesn’t actually get to taste the beers. “Our regulars are always asking what’s new,” Charlie says by way of explanation. “The BrewDog clones never last long. A new keg goes on and it’s gone in a couple of hours. Tim doesn’t come through often enough to get a taste before it’s all gone!” KEEPING IT FUN One thing the two brewers do agree on though is the beer that they least enjoyed brewing – and tasting. “Nanny State,” they say almost in unison, referring to BrewDog’s 0.5% non-alcoholic pale ale. “It was terrible,” is pretty much all Charlie can say about their foray into low ABV brewing. Far more successful – and fun – was their attempt at one of BrewDog’s biggest beers. Tactical Nuclear Penguin was at one time the strongest beer in the world, measuring a staggering 32% ABV. “It’s quite something to brew,” says Charlie. “First you brew the base beer, which comes in at 18% ABV.” This in itself presents quite the challenge, as anyone who has attempted high gravity brewing in a Braumeister, Grainfather or similar will tell you. “Once the beer has reached final gravity, you freeze it. Since water freezes at a much lower temperature than alcohol, you’re left with a highly concentrated beer with all the water removed. Of course, because of this, your yield is very low – and your ABV high.” Tim and Charlie ended up with just 18 litres of Tactical Nuclear Penguin. Once packaged, it will sell for around R100 per 330ml bottle. Long Beach Brewery’s taproom is a convivial and utterly unpretentious place, with classic rock on the playlist and simple pizzas on the menu. A steady trickle of loyal regulars arrive to buy some ingredients, book a brewday or to taste whatever is new on tap. When I ask Tim and Charlie why they decided to brew their way through the DIY Dog recipe book, they momentarily draw a blank. “I don’t know really,” says Tim. “To have fun.” This is the same goal Charlie had in mind when he launched School of Hops, and one which spills over into everything that’s happening at Long Beach. Most brewers start out because they just love beer – the process behind it, the smell of it, the taste of it, the sight of those bubbles rising through clear golden liquid to form a pillowy crown on top. But of course, as with anything, when It must be said that Long Beach Brewery has a bit of an identity crisis. Charlie opted to keep the original moniker but as the brewery becomes better known for the man that now runs it, a new name is taking hold: Charlie’s Garage. Add School of Hops into the mix and you can understand why people don’t quite know what to search for when tagging them on social media… WHAT’S IN A NAME? brewing beer becomes a business, the fun aspect often gets lost amid the stresses of sales figures and shelf space – especially with the year South African craft brewers have had. Charlie and Tim are lucky that they have a model that allows them to constantly experiment. And a model that pretty much guarantees the sounds and smells of brewday will be all around you, whenever you choose to visit. DIY DOG RECIPES Courtesy of BrewDog. Check out the entire catalogue at brewdog.com/blog/diy-dog. #2 PUNK IPA Punk IPA. Amplified. In 2010 we finally got our paws on the equipment we needed to dry hop our beers. We focused all our energy on dry hopping, amping up the aroma and flavour of our flagship beer to create a relentless explosion of tropical fruits, and adding a hint of Caramalt to balance out the insane amount of hops. Nuts & Bolts Boil volume: 25 litres Estimated OG: 1.053 Estimated FG: 1.011 Target ABV: 5.6% Target IBUs: 40 Mash ingredients 4.38kg extra pale 0.25kg Caramalt Mash schedule: 66°C for 75 minutes Boil ingredients Bittering hops (add early boil): 20g Chinook 12.5g Ahtanum Flavour hops (add mid-late boil): 20g Chinook 12.5g Ahtanum 27.5 Chinook 12.5g Ahtanum 12.5g Simcoe 12.5g Nelson Sauvin Ferment ingredients Wyeast 1056 - American Ale™ Dry hopping 47.5g Chinook 37.5g Ahtanum 37.5g Simcoe 20g Nelson Sauvin 37.5g Cascade 10g Amarillo Brewer tips To get the best possible profile from the dry hops we recommend dry hopping post fermentation for 5 days. Dry hops should be added at cellar temperature. We find 14°C results in the most aromatic dry hop profile.