OnTap Magazine

38 | Autumn 2026 | ontapmag.co.za HOMEBRU GRAIN BILL 1 Use 100% pilsner or pale ale malt to begin with. Once you've established the fundamentals, blend in other grains or malts to experiment and see what these do to the final beer. MASHING AND LAUTERING 2 Mash in the grains at 64°C. Then, start heating for about 20 minutes to get to 68°C, hold for 28 minutes, then raise to 72°C for 20 minutes to mash out. Recirculate through the grain bed until the wort is clear. Then, lauter and sparge until hitting your target volume, but remember to not sparge once your runnings have reached 2.5 plato (1.010 SG). THE BOIL 3 Boil for 60 to 90 minutes, depending on the vigour of your boil. You really want to make sure you drive off all the DMS with a vigorous boil. Most homebrew systems with direct fire create quite a strong rolling boil, so 60 minutes should be fine for most. HOPPING 4 Aim for around 20 IBUs in your hop schedule. Around 5 IBUs at boil, then around 15 IBUs in the whirlpool itself to test different hop varieties or products. COOLING AND TRANSFER 5 Create a good whirlpool, then cool and transfer in a manner that ideally leaves most of the trub behind, such as straining, which will also help oxygenate the wort. YEAST PITCHING 6 Pitch yeast once you've cooled the wort to a desired fermentation temperature, which for most general ale strains (recommended for this style) will be around 19°C.