OnTap Magazine

FEATURE brewery size. In order to obtain a beer licence a brewery needs to produce a minimum of 60,000 litres annually, whereas for a happōshu license it is only 6,000 litres. This change came into effect in 1994 making brewing more accessible and leading to the creation of a wave of new craft breweries. Previously smaller breweries were financially tied to sake producers who owned the brewing equipment and the necessary licences to brew. The majority of craft brewers in Japan brew craft happōshu simply because most are unlikely to have a beer licence. Unlike the US, Japan does not have a formal definition for craft beer; but the term ‘craft’ is closely associated with beers distinct from the standard lagers produced by large Japanese breweries. Japanese craft beers tend to be the more hop-forward styles, like pale ales and IPAs. Happōshu offers craft brewers creative edge when it comes to recipe development, and the happōshu licence allows them to brew on a smaller scale. While happōshu remains the ‘beer’ category of choice among Japanese consumers, at least for now, unifying the taxes for the three categories will radically change the beer landscape in Japan. It will drive product innovation and will also bring the Japanese beer market closer to those in other countries. After all, happōshu encompasses many styles of beers worldwide – wheat beers, adjunct lagers, fruit beers and everything in between. They’re just not called happōshu. Homebrewing isn’t exactly illegal in Japan, but it might as well be since it’s against the law to ferment your wort above 1% ABV. Luckily, in South Africa that’s not the case, so why not try your hand at making some homebrewed happōshu. JAPANESE HAPPŌSHU STYLE BLONDE ALE Japanese blonde ales are made in the American style with bold citrusy hops. The aim is to reproduce that style’s typical grapefruit-forward flavours. In addition, rice will be added as an adjunct, something that is essential to the happōshu style. Brewers should aim for a golden- coloured ale that is soft and smooth in mouthfeel with a bright floral and citrus aroma. Taste-wise it should be biscuity, with citrus notes and a dry, clean finish (although some lingering grassy hop flavours are acceptable). Additional ingredients may include yuzu, Japanese pepper, matcha or other Japanese teas, dried seaweed or shichimi togarashi (a spice mix of red chili pepper, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, poppy seeds, yuzu seeds, rapeseeds, ground ginger, orange peel and seaweed). BREW-IT-YOURSELF Nuts & bolts Batch size: 19 litres Target OG: 1.047 Target FG: 1.008 Target ABV: 5% Target IBUs: 25 Mash ingredients 1.5 kg pale malt (2-row) 1.25 kg jasmine rice (see instructions on preparing the rice below) or you can use the same quantity of flaked rice, in which case you can add it directly to the mash without cooking. 1.2 kg pilsner malt 225 g Cara-Pils/dextrin malt Two big handfuls of rice hulls Boil ingredients 20 g Cascade (5.5% AA) @ 60 min 10 g Irish moss @ 15 min 15 g Centennial (10% AA) @ 10 min 28 g Cascade (5.5% AA) @ 1 min 4 g (2 tsp) cracked peppercorns (black or green). Alternatively, use 2 tsp of shichimi togarashi spice mix (see above). Ferment ingredients Use a clean ale yeast like Fermentis US-05 that is highly attenuating and does well at cooler fermentation temperatures. BREWER TIPS Because of the relatively large ratio of rice to malted barley, you will need to use a step mash process to ensure that you achieve a good conversion of starch to sugar. To prepare the rice for mashing, cook it as you would for eating, but don’t wash it and don’t add salt. Mashing schedule: • Heat 11 litres of strike water to 63°C • Add grains, plus the rice hulls, for a mash temperature of 55°C • Hold mash temperature for 25 minutes, then slowly heat mash to 64.5°C • Hold this temperature for 75 minutes. • Sparge with 17 litres of brew water heated to 75.6°C To ensure that your beer is reasonably clear and crisp, ferment at 16-18°C for at least 2 weeks, then cold crash at 5°C for 2-3 days. Bottle with 110 g of glucose or corn sugar, or keg at 5°C with 12.5 Psi. Thanks to Marcel Harper and Clint Breen for their assistance with the recipe. 34 | Spring 2021 | ontapmag.co.za