OnTap Magazine

OT: Can you tell us a bit about your winning beers? TV: Day Shift was originally brewed as a 3.5% thirst quenching American light lager that my friends and I could consume in large quantities on those scorching summer days without things getting too out of hand. Since then I have adapted the recipe to the 2.5% low ABV variant for the BASA special category. I have not re-brewed the original 3.5% version as I now prefer the lower ABV beer. Campfires and Friends Russian Imperial Stout was brewed in 2019 with the intention of letting it age for a year and then that being my maiden attempt at entering the 2020 SANHC competition. But I missed the cut off for entries due to misreading the closing and drop off dates. In hindsight this fortuitously offered me more time to let the beer to continue ageing in the American bourbon barrel. It was difficult to not finish it all before this year’s competition, as every time friends were around a few bottles needed to come out to enjoy around the campfire, which is where the beer gets its name. OT: Can you tell us about some of your prizes? TV: Although at this time I have not received the prizes yet, I was sent a list of everything I had just won and all I can say is wow. I was completely blown away – Christmas has come early this year! A massive thank you to all the sponsors. The prizes have been really generous, from a selection of various malt and hops from BevPlus, BrewCraft and Cactus Craft to various amazingly generous vouchers from the Beer Association of South Africa, BeerGuevara and BrewKegTap, beers from some of the best craft beer producers, Agar’s and Pause Beer Co., a new Fermenter King Jnr from BrewMart, and a beer tap from Electrical Industries, all of which I cannot wait to start using to brew and serve my next batch of beer with. And also thanks to Just Brewing /At Hops End, I also get to professionally can my beer to give to friends and family. Spoiler alert if they are reading this, now you know what you are getting for Christmas! I would encourage everyone who brews their own beer to enter the SANHC, not just for the great prizes you could win but also to get detailed, non-biased, critical feedback from the BJCP scoresheets. On that note, I’d like to give a special thank you to the judges for giving up your time to provide us all with invaluable feedback on our beers and passing on some well- earned knowledge to us. OT: Have you had success in other competitions? TV: I have not really entered any big competitions before this year as I felt I wasn’t ready yet, however I regularly pledge beers at the Worthogs club events to get valuable feedback from the public and other brewers in an informal setting. I managed to recently win the people’s choice at the 2021 Worthogs Oktoberfest. OT: When and why did you start homebrewing? TV: I started with kit beers just after leaving school in 1995 and believe it or not the reason was to save money as I was still a student and budget was severely lacking (I now know better – teach a man to fish and all that…). Back then the selection from a homebrewer point of view was way more limited than what we have now. I went through various ons and offs with homebrewing through the years until about seven years ago a work friend asked me if I could show him how to make beer. In helping him, the passion was rekindled and the brewing bug really bit hard especially when I saw all the new advances and nice toys available. Then finding out about all grain brewing really intrigued me and drew me back into the hobby. OT: What’s the best beer you’ve ever made? TV: Apart from the two beers that just won gold medals. I would have to say that the passionfruit Catharina sour I made with fresh home-grown passion fruit from my garden was also special to me and certainly was one of the most unique and well received beers I have made before. OT: What is your biggest brewing disaster? TV: There are so many to choose from, but I think the most recent one would be when I was brewing a honey and jasmine lager for this year’s Worthogs Oktoberfest. I took out the clean kettle I use for sparge water and placed it up high as I usually gravity feed the sparge water into my Grainfather. I lifted the lid slightly, filled it with filtered water and heated as usual. Everything else went according to plan and I got to the sparge when I noticed that the water coming from the sparge water vessel was seemingly getting darker and darker. At first I thought it was the light that was reflecting on the water until I got to the last jug and the water was noticeably darker. Perplexed by the water getting darker and contemplating an eye test later that day, I decided to quickly clean while the wort was coming to a boil. I cleaned the grain basket and went to empty the sparge water vessel when to my shock and horror I discovered the problem. One of my children had packed away my Grainfather’s bag into the sparge water kettle and let me tell you this – the Grainfather cover bag is not colour fast at 75°C!! Sadly the almost boiling wort was not destined to become beer that day. OT: Describe your system in a sentence TV: Brew in a bag with a 50-litre Logic urn and/or a Grainfather G30 – the system I use depends on the batch size and AB OT: Do you have any brew day quirks/traditions? TV: I now double check my Grainfather’s cover isn’t in my sparge water vessel! But in all seriousness I guess I like to make sure everything under my control is as exact as I can possibly get it when it comes to measurements, temperatures and process. I truly believe it plays the biggest part in the repeatability and consistency of the beers brewed. OT: What would be your ultimate clone? TV: I would have to say if I could manage it, it would have be the Rodenbach classic. Something that has won so many awards for over 100 years and is steeped in so much tradition it would take a lifetime or more to replicate but life, as they say, is about the journey. OT: What is your main homebrewing goal? TV: For me it’s just about having fun learning new things, spending time with friends and enjoying the process of beer making. I am continually challenging myself to make the next batch the best beer I’ve ever made. One day I will make that perfect beer but until then I will continue to enjoy drinking the mistakes. ontapmag.co.za | Summer 2021 | 57