OnTap Magazine

I  came across such an amazing deal on a Grainfather G30, that I just closed my eyes and pressed the “buy now” button. There was no looking back! The system arrived, which made me ask myself the next tough question, “what now?” Not only did I not know what else I needed, I also figured out how pricey it could get to get going. So, over the months following the purchase, I finally had all the necessary accessories, like fermentation buckets, air traps, and importantly, some ingredients. I was ready to get my first brew underway. Well, that’s what I thought! Sitting in my “cave” I was going through every step of the brewing process to get a better understanding of the system, bright eyed, yet sleepdeprived with excitement, I got my wellies on and jumped into gear. The recipe was a simple Single Malt and Single Hop (SMASH) with Pilsner Malt and Southern Passion hops. Due to the temperature and my humble ambient fermentation capabilities, I opted for Fermentis BE-134 as it could handle the February heat spikes. For every great explorer, there is a buddy standing by, helping and laughing profusely at your mistakes. On this maiden brew, my buddy Martin was just that, and it was exactly what I needed to keep me going! The importance of making the perfect connection On final checks I realised I didn’t have the correct connector to run water through the chiller, so I took another quick drive to the hardware store. At this point uncertainty and doubt had started to sneak in, because I thought I had such a solid plan. Regrouped, armed with EVERYTHING, I added the water to the system and hit the “heat” button and nothing… Nothing happened. Like a true rookie, I realised the element switch was not turned on. Crisis averted, confidence knocked a little, I got on with the job of watching the water warm while fielding questions from my 3-year-old son, like, “what are you doing,” and “why?” The mash went well, I hit my numbers, sparged, boiled with one successful hop addition, but then disaster struck! As I was adding the flame-out hops and hooked up the chiller, I discovered that the pipe for draining the hot water from the counterflow chiller was too short and my “cave” rapidly filled with water, creating a real “fun” clean. (Not cool.) But, like I’ve been told by many experts, that’s what brewing is all about: cleaning. The objective of cleaning... BEER! Finally, the wort now chilled to my pitching temperature, I started to transfer the wort to the fermenter only to find that I had left the tap open, which leaked about a litre before I managed to close it. Another clean! My first brew was done, the yeast was pitched, I was covered in the sweet aroma of sugary wort (in desperate need of a beer) and now I will wait to see what happens. I have to admit that I was very nervous of making an utter fool of myself, but I learnt so much about brewing in my 5-hour session that a bug has bit hard. I cannot wait to taste this beer and I cannot wait to have another go. ontapmag.co.za | Autumn 2024 | 43