OnTap Magazine

I f you’ve listened to any of the international speakers who have visited us over the past few years at events such as Beer Boot Camp or the Craft Brewers Powwow, you would have heard the advice that we as South Africans need to find our own brewing identity. This means appealing to local tastes and making use of distinctive native ingredients. Fortunately we have an abundance of interesting fruits and plants to pick from. We also have some delectable South African dishes from which to draw inspiration. Let’s get crazy and explore some options: Sorghum and millet are the two most well-known native South African grains, both used in traditional African beers. Sorghum has been explored by a few SA micro-breweries recently, adding a very distinctive local twist on classic beer styles. Something to be aware of is the sorghum variety you use as sorghum is available in a few different forms, malted or unmalted, with very different flavours depending on how it has been produced. Maltabella is a good option if you want a subtle and delicate sorghum flavour. King Korn is on the other end of the spectrum with quite a wild and intense flavour. Mabele meal tends to fall somewhere in the middle and is what I like to use. The flavour contribution ranges from toasty and earthy to a delicate fruitiness and tartness. It can be used across a range of different styles to add complexity or a new dimension to classics. Millet is altogether a much milder grain and is best used in beers where subtle differences are noticeable. Think pale lagers, cream ales, Kölsch etc. The extract potential of each grain depends on a few factors. If you are concerned with that I suggest some further reading on appropriate mashing temperatures or pre-cooking the grains. If you are just looking for flavour then add the grains in with your mash and proceed as normal. Buchu is the Marmite of the SA beer scene. Either you love it, or you despise its potent flavour which people pick up as mint, blackcurrant or eucalyptus. Personally I love it. When used in moderation it adds a distinctive juicy fruit and floral impression which cannot be mistaken. A great thing if you are looking for distinctive local flavour. Use it sparingly, either towards the end of your boil, or as a post-fermentation addition, either as ‘dry-hop’ type steeping or as a tincture. For a standard 20L homebrew batch, start with 5g of dried leaves at the end of the boil. You can adjust to your tastes on successive batches. The iconic upside-down tree evokes that wonderful image of sunsets over the bushveld. Fortunately, its fruit is pretty delicious too. Most commonly available as a dried powder, it is tangy and earthy, and perfect to add a little pizazz to a Weissbier or saison. The powder may be tricky to use post- fermentation so I like to add it at the end of the boil. Another African icon, the Marula fruit is not just for creamy liqueurs. Traditionally fermented on its own to produce a type of wine, this wonderful fruit is reminiscent of tropical fruits yet is quite tart. It could make an excellent addition to an English IPA or American Pale Ale – where its fruitiness is welcome, and its acidity would serve to elevate the fruity hop flavours. Crush the fruit into a pulp and add to the beer after fermentation. The sugars will ferment out so give it a few days before packaging. Also be careful to treat the fruit, either with heat or a sanitising agent like potassium metabisulphite, so as not to introduce any wild yeast or bacteria which could cause an infection in your beer and some unwanted sourness or nasty flavours. While the fruit is not native to South Africa, the name certainly is. So why use imported dried Curaçao orange peel in your witbier when you can use naartjie skin instead? It has a sweeter flavour and, to me, a more pleasant aroma that makes a great addition to American pale ales and IPAs. To extract the flavour, use the peel since the fruit is mostly water and all the sugars and most of the flavour will ferment out. Naartjie has the added advantage of not having a great deal of bitter white pith which is normally to be avoided when adding citrus peel to beer. Add the peel to the wort close to the end of the boil or make a tincture. Sweet and sticky, these syrup-drenched pastries are a classic, with similar flavours to those you would find in a wee heavy or barley wine. Rather than trying to brew a beer to taste more like the pastry, I would suggest adding the pastry to the beer to supplement the other fermentables. Add the pastry directly to the mash to allow any conversion to take place. Then continue your brewing process as normal. Just remember that simple sugars like those in the syrup will tend to increase the dryness in your finished beer, so be sure to account for that. With the current trend towards pastry inspired beers, this is somewhere we as South Africans can really shine. Peppermint, caramel, chocolate: the most awesomely indulgent dessert and all flavours that work well in a dark and heavy imperial stout. Aim to derive sweetness and caramel flavours from a range of caramel malts. Roasted malts can be used toget the chocolate flavour, but it wouldn’t hurt to add some extra through cacao nibs or even cocoa powder. The peppermint flavour can be added using peppermint extract or peppermint tea. If using extract you can add post fermentation to taste. If using a peppermint tea, add at the end of the boil. As always with spices, rather start with a small amount. It’s easy to add more later, but overwhelming mint flavour will ruin the beer. NATIVE GRAINS BUCHU BAOBAB PEPPERMINT CRISP TART Buchu is the Marmite of the SA beer scene 1 MARULA 3 6 7 NAARTJIE 4 KOEKSISTER 5 2 ontapmag.co.za | Spring 2019 | 45