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Brew News
Eish, I think you all feel the same as me, run over by a bus. This is turning out to be one mother of a crazy year. Sorry for the delay in the letters, but time... she is short.
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Chairs chatter:
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An awesome start to the year, with the first quarter behind us quicker than a greased piglet on a slipnslide!
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Alot has happened so far, more than any year to date for DHB. Clarens beer fest saw some serious representation by the ladies and gents from Durban's premier homebrew club.Venimus, vidimus, et bibi (We came, we saw, we drank). An amazing weekend was had by all and aside from some questionable karaoke around JJ's car, we managed not to embarrass ourselves! This trip was well worthwhile, to be repeated next year and my personal thanks go out to Nic Davies and Peter Neethling for educating me in the lore of 80's fashion trends all the way there.
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Our first side challenge was completed under the steady guidance of Seth Deghaye, with Adrian Ryley coming out on top of the 5am Saint clone brew. Seth wasted no time in driving us all willingly into the Belgian Tripel Challenge and the Speed Brew, lined up next!
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Our lager Brew to Style left the judges gobsmacked and thirsting for more. The feedback was phenomenal and I dare say I have happily eaten my words of hesitation regarding lager brewing. Congrats to Zack, Ryan and Brett for their placing here. Next up, Stouts and Porters. Game on!
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Shongweni Craft Festival is up next and I personally can't wait to go around begging tasters from our talented beersmiths! This will be a great chance to showcase ourselves and let the professional breweries know they need to keep their game up, as we're snapping at their heels!
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Happy brewing folks, thanks for being awesome!
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Last meeting:
Was the first of the 4 Brew to style meets, open to paid members and BTS entrants only. The judges said that the standard of the entries was extremely high and the judging very close.
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The evening was pleasant with lost of awesome beer being tasted by all, but that's what one would expect.
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BTS Winners:
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With a super high standard, the lager BTS results are as follows: Joint third place, Brett Langton and Ryan Swart. Second place to a well deserving Seth Deghaye and first place went to to Zack Buchan. I think from the standard of what was produced a number of buys will be brewing more lagers going forward.
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Third placed Brett Langton and Ryan Swart
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Second place, Seth Deghaye who won 1 of each brew entered.
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First placed Zack Buchan, who won 1 of each brew entered and a voucher from Beer Bros and a personalised beer glass from Craig Bax. Awesome brew Zack
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Next meeting:
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Like Wednesday this week. Awesome spot, hugely hospitable hosts, fantastic beer. Be there or miss out.
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Next Challenge:
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Seth has been hard at work arranging info on the next challenge for May and the one for August.
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"You have built a reputation as a brewer amongst your friends. You are out having a couple beers with some buddies and they all agree your homebrew is as good as some of the best stuff served at the bar. Your buddy Steve announces he is emigrating soon and has decided to throw a farewell party. On the side he asks if you would be able to provide the beer, and of course you say yes! The only problem is the party is in two weeks. The next day you check your beer stock and you discover your kegs are very low and there is very little bottled stock. You have no yeast cake from a previous batch and no harvested yeast in the fridge, so you will have to start a batch from scratch with a new pack of yeast.
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What are you going to do? You have heard of people from your brew club brewing a beer, “Grain to Glass” in less than 2 weeks, but you’ve not done this before. Not scared of a challenge, you decide to give it a go.
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You have some time to plan this one and do your research, but you can only brew it within two weeks of the May DHB meeting. Post you brewday picture on the WhatsApp group and bring along a couple samples to the meet for judging."
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May sound simple in theory, but a real challenge to get right. It’s easy to get the ingredients right for this style of beer, but getting the balance right and managing your yeast and fermentation will be key to your success in making a good Belgian tripel. Complex spicy, phenolic (in a good way), fruity and sweet flavours and aroma, with a large dense creamy head, these are great beers to sip and enjoy.
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At 7.5-9.5% ABV, these beers have a natural alcoholic sweetness which will offset the higher hop levels normally used. You will have to use some sugar in this to keep the body low, preferably Belgian Candi Sugar (Bonus points for those who make their own). Watch your fermentation to control those higher fusel alcohols and hit the right flavour balance. Yeast is the star of the show with this style, so look after your little friends and they will do the job right. Brew this one early as the beer is best with a little more conditioning time.
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More info on Drop Box - see 'Challenge Series' file.
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Craft Fest:
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This coming Sunday, kan jy nou wel glo....
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Huge thanks in advance to all you guys participating, the vibe is great and its going to be a cracker of a festival. For those of you not supplying beer and if you have nothing to do this Sunday, 29th of April, pull in from 10am to 4pm at Farmers Market Shongweni. R 120 gets you in at the door and a glass. Beers are R 15 for 200ml and R 30 for 400ml. ALL money we collect is going to charity, in this case, 'Umduduzi Hospice care for children'. By the way, the ladies from Umduduzi will be ladying the token sales for us.
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Next Brew To Style:
Our next BTS challenge is Stouts and Porters. Yum, possibly the best beer style where you can get very creative and the brew can be very forgiving. But don't leave it too late as darker brews need time to mature. Judging will be 09 June and the winners will be announced at the BTS meeting at the German Club in Westville - currently planned for 13 June 2018.
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