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the competitions. To further support this, there wasn’t just a winner declared, but also the top three scoring club entries in the country. Each club was then given their scoring sheets, completed by industry stalwarts, and they could take it back to their club meetings and see where they could enhance their club set-up and develop the talent pools on a local level. The momentum from this led to some additional global brand sponsors like Fermentis, Charles Faram and Lallemand coming on board. In 2023 the number of participating clubs doubled. As part of the aim to grow the homebrew community, FoolsandFansalsoopenedthecompetition up to the 2022 Intervarsity winning team from the University of Cape Town. With two Interclub competitions completed, another idea took hold, which was to gather the homebrew club chairs present at the festival, or a representative from each club, and discuss the forming of an association of homebrew clubs. The homebrew scene, after all, does not belong to any one person, club or region. A set of principles were agreed to (albeit to date, development is ongoing): 1. There is a need to form an association. 2. The association would run without a chair, instead by delegating various responsibilities to the clubs around the country. 3. The definition of a clubwould need to be clarified, so that more clubs could join in the future, without risk of discrimination based on geographical rivalries. 4. The clubs would endeavour to have an up-to-date shared calendar of events to promote greater participation. It is often easy to ignore momentum and let it slip away, looking back at an event or achievement with nostalgia. However, by working together practically, the clubs have discovered that there are some improvements needed to their communication, and thus some of this momentum might be seized upon to build good structures to help clubs engage easier. It was clear that a forum was needed to express both positive and negative feelings about the way the industry is going, while also having a chance to identify shortcomings and develop solutions that might have worked elsewhere–a sort of collective learning. To quote a line from the musical Hamilton, as written by Lin-Manual Miranda: “What is a legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.” If the current representative chairs of this new home brewers association do anything at all, there will be something to build on, and many people to pick up the mantle as time goes by. And perhaps with a significant growth of homebrew clubs, there would be a need to form a more tightly governed association in the future, with a chair and committee. In fact, that is surely the aim, for if they grow the homebrew community, they also grow the enthusiasm for craft beer in SouthAfrica. This in turn will lead to a more sustainable and healthy industry. How do we know this? There are many documented examples in the US of how the rise of homebrewing led to the craft beer boom–a pattern repeated around the world. Whether it will happen in South Africa, time will tell, but hopefully, they can plant the seeds and let the garden grow. THEWATER THEYEAST The brewing water used for a Sweet Stout should effectively manage the mash pH, contribute to a soft, pillowy mouthfeel, and complement the complex, malty sweet character of the beer. For this 85 EBC beer, you must therefore adjust your residual alkalinity, using baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3), to approximately 20 ppm CaCO3, to ensure a mash pH of between 5.2 and 5.4. To obtain that pillowy mouthfeel and complex maltiness you must add lots and lots of chloride and ensure you end with a very low (0.6) sulphate: chloride ratio. Chloride is added as calcium chloride (CaCl2). • Fermentis S-33, because its maltotriose negative and can leave some residual sugar for a good body and mouthfeel. • LalBrew Windsor™ - For a deliciously balanced sweet stout, because it doesn't over-attenuate, leaving behind the desired level of residual sugar and a satisfying mouthfeel • AEB Fermoale AY3 - For traditional British flavours to accent the dark roasted malts of the sweet stout. Fermenting at lower temperatures will result in lower attenuation and an accentuated malt character. • Hennie’s co-pitch: 11.5g Lallemand Windsor Yeast & 5.75g Fermentis S-04. Water profile used (in ppm): Ca 87 Mg 3.5 Na 45 SO 4 71 Cl 127 HCO 3 100 Acquired through the addition of the following salts to 30L of RO water: Baking soda 3.21g CaCl 2 5.98g Gypsum 2.75g Epsom 0.40g by Dr Hennie Groenewald RECIPE SWEET STOUT By Hennie Groenewald; winner of 2023 Fools and Fans national competition Type: All Grain Batch Size: 20.00 L Boil Size: 24.96 L Boil Time: 30 min End of Boil Vol: 22.96 L ................................................. Water additions: 30L 3.21g Baking soda 5.98g Calcium chloride 2.75g Gypsum 0.40g Epsom 0.10 Potassium Metabisulfite ................................................. Mash ingredients 4.90 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) 1.10 kg Oats, Rolled Roasted 0.50 kg Caramunich Malt I 0.37 kg Chocolate Malt 0.27 kg CARAFA Special Type 2 Mash Steps: Mash at 68 Celsius for 60 mins. Mash at 72 Celsius for 10 min. Mash Out at 78 Celsius for 5 min. ................................................. Boil ingredients Boil – 30 mins 46.30g Southern Aroma (5.10 %) @ 30 mins (20.0 IBUs) 26.70g Southern Aroma (5.10 %) @ 10.0 min (8.0 IBUs) 2g Irish Moss @ 10 mins 100g Cacao Nibs @ 10 mins 250g Milk Sugar (Lactose) @ 5 mins Ferment for 5 days @ 20 Celsius and cold crash at 4 Celsius for 2 days. ontapmag.co.za | Winter 2023 | 43