OnTap Magazine

ontapmag.co.za | Summer 2025 | 55 HOMEBRU Water chemistry used to dismay me. It kinda still does, to be fair. It sounds like something only professional brewers ought to care about. But the truth is, even tiny improvements here make a huge difference. If you live somewhere with chlorinated tap water, start with the easiest fix in brewing history: Buy mineral water! If you don't like that idea, use Campden tablets. Half a tablet per 20 liters of municipal water should do the trick. Given that beer is mainly water, it makes sense to use as pure and as unchlorinated a source as possible. And if you have a borehole and think therefore that your water is "just fine," please have it tested. In my experience, borehole water, especially in sites near agricultural land, is often far from "fine" and could even explain why you and your family have recurring tummy troubles. Once you’ve done that, you can start playing with calcium chloride and gypsum to accentuate malt or hops. But in reality, just getting rid of chlorine and chloramine already puts you ahead of most homebrewers. Brewing is messy. There are hoses, clamps, spoons, lids, and precariously placed jars of rehydrating yeast. The smallest investment with the highest sanity return? Organisation. A few cheap plastic bins or a rolling cart will transform your brew day. Keep one bin for “mashing and boiling” one for “fermentation,” and one for “cleaning.” Label them. If you want to go full nerd (and why wouldn't you?), get a whiteboard or notebook and track your brews. You’ll start spotting patterns. You'll stop forgetting to pitch hops at 10 minutes and you'll begin to brew better, more consistent beer. If you’ve ever waited an hour for your wort to cool in a sink full of ice water, you already know the meaning of despair. Wort chilling is pretty important. It's related to beer clarity and more importantly, the faster you cool, the less time wild nasties have to move in and compete with your pitched yeast. A basic copper immersion chiller is the simplest, most satisfying upgrade you’ll ever make. Drop it in your kettle for the last ten minutes of the boil to sanitize it, hook it up to your tap, and suddenly your wort is cool in 15 minutes flat. 04 A Better Chill 05 Use Better Water 06 Organise Thyself ON THE COVER Years ago, on a neighbouring farm, a farmer used a tired old Harley Davidson to plough his field. After the relentless toil and sweltering heat, the motorbike finally surrendered, and in the farmer's frustration, got thrown into the bottom of his dam. Years later, once the water had receded, the Harley's pieces were found and collected in a box. Fortunately, fate smiled upon two brothers who stumbled upon it. They initially had grand plans to restore it but were soon distracted by busy lives, raising children, and their ambitious brewery venture. Fast forward 23 years, one of the brother's sons took it upon himself to resurrect the motorbike. With the support of his father, uncle, a skilled mechanic, and a community of fellow motorbike enthusiasts, the tired old Harley roared back to life. This is the story behind the Citra Nova can — and of Saggy Stone’s founding brothers, Phillip and Adrian Robinson, and Phillip’s son Thomas, who took on this project.