tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87403947349837146212024-02-20T02:04:34.663+02:00Ramblings of a wannabe Beer BaronSchalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-62772037232140833622016-10-09T14:54:00.003+02:002016-10-16T12:39:01.578+02:00The downhill part of 2016 has commenced<div><br></div><div>As we head into October the year is getting ready for the roller coaster ride to December. The time of year where South Africa shuts down and goes into beach & fuck-it mode!</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOuBoVVf1Yf5Jlj38Qor2WStZkZZeVye4AfaMMnkRdrkHDdKn_HLx6oq4ylyiAf4e8q8z64uRvpVmEHIhGEYYpTmVjq5BtRFHrXyDol0KaMfNZxHfq5G45dW1kZGt0w6HYZf1cKU0trZI/s640/blogger-image--1310130867.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOuBoVVf1Yf5Jlj38Qor2WStZkZZeVye4AfaMMnkRdrkHDdKn_HLx6oq4ylyiAf4e8q8z64uRvpVmEHIhGEYYpTmVjq5BtRFHrXyDol0KaMfNZxHfq5G45dW1kZGt0w6HYZf1cKU0trZI/s640/blogger-image--1310130867.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>It is also the start of a new financial year, the crazy rush to get everything done before the calendar year ends; and the time summer shows its face in Cape Town. All in all it is an interesting, somewhat stressful, rather irritating and nice time of year.</div><div><br></div><div>I must say, I would much rather be traveling like a year ago than having to deal with normal life in the coming weeks. At least this year I am not stressing about the exchange rate while waiting for a brewhouse to be manufactured overseas and shipped to South Africa. But thanks to the shenanigans of our president and his cronies we are worrying about the exchange rate affecting all our imported ingredients and consumables.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPBVV62WboKFcvPav7yowFTgkSPI1QMSkx7EY7UQIBqvffdvP9kc13YPFubuICNhuOw_I9VBGnlLZBHoqRkGTYmnG4NkXzi_L1NZoupucvUyGwX-8asFUsYXFgGGKe6AeEJEL4ChJpsQg/s640/blogger-image-502170475.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPBVV62WboKFcvPav7yowFTgkSPI1QMSkx7EY7UQIBqvffdvP9kc13YPFubuICNhuOw_I9VBGnlLZBHoqRkGTYmnG4NkXzi_L1NZoupucvUyGwX-8asFUsYXFgGGKe6AeEJEL4ChJpsQg/s640/blogger-image-502170475.jpg"></a></div></div><div><br></div><div>This time round normal life comprises of dealing with prima-donna architects; unreasonable project timelines; juggling too much work with too few resources in the office; and trying to fit in brewing + bottling between day-job demands, family and exams. </div><div><br></div><div>I guess there are worse things to worry about. I honestly hope next year is less crazy than this one. Based on past experiences - and as my brother says: "Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment! - next year will come with its own version of crazy. </div><div><br></div><div>There are a couple of things we need to get right for the new year:</div><div>The work-brewing-family-life balance needs some attention. </div><div>A proper brewing schedule, solid marketing and steady sales growth should bring some predictability at least. </div><div>Opening our tasting room / weekend sales outlet. </div><div>Finalising & implementing the big change/addition to Gallows Hill we have been toying with for quite a while.</div><div>I seriously need to let go of the mundane shit I deal with at work and focus on the work I really need to do, i.e. design guidance; quality standards; design overviews; growing the younger guys in the team; getting more Revit modellers; up-skilling the stragglers we have; getting more profitable jobs in; and getting rid of the bad projects haemorrhaging money...(struggling with the last one since en 2012)</div><div> </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6LsvOHA26XhMY8pf1taGbRrmD9rgLD1TsWSjm2powCR39Pjlhiyo_hUBp7P4SQyi3RrwS6XaOCBBqG8SYC05H_eCjOxnBifBNklvjdVqpALZasM7HJwGUtTMWWLsfkmiNjmpydxpO0tQ/s640/blogger-image--349527669.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6LsvOHA26XhMY8pf1taGbRrmD9rgLD1TsWSjm2powCR39Pjlhiyo_hUBp7P4SQyi3RrwS6XaOCBBqG8SYC05H_eCjOxnBifBNklvjdVqpALZasM7HJwGUtTMWWLsfkmiNjmpydxpO0tQ/s640/blogger-image--349527669.jpg"></a></div></div><div><br></div><div>The last few months until South Africa shuts down for 2016 is going to be interesting to say the least...</div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-81705174830986946232016-07-17T13:36:00.001+02:002016-07-17T13:36:14.553+02:00Sunday Nostalgia... (The usual over-thinking, etc.)<div>Sunday afternoons can be the worst time of the week... Especially after a welcome break from normal life. It is usually the time when my brain starts running wild. </div><div><br></div><div>The first thoughts to start churning are usually related to the usual worries of normal life ahead. Finances; admin; juggling personal, work and family time on a pretty full schedule; work deadlines; office resource constraints; arguing with lazy contractors and dealing with emotional + unrealistic architects; corporate bullshit; etc. </div><div><br></div><div>Nostalgia seems to always surface as well... Thinking of good times; missed opportunities; missing old friends and acquaintances.</div><div><br></div><div>I never really miss my school years. School was boring and quite frankly we were not really at the point of figuring out who we really were. I do miss the simplicity of those days, roaming the streets with friends and the life we had though. Thoughts related to those days never really surface. Guess I've moved on. Giving up a home there at the end of school and moving to a University on the other side of the country pretty much put a bullet in the head of that life stage. </div><div><br></div><div>My University years are a different story. It was a great time. Four years of hard work and freedom with awesome people who I will have lasting connections with for the rest of my life. Reckon it will be a part of my life I will always cherish. </div><div><br></div><div>During this time I have made friends who will be part of my life forever. It is such a great feeling when you have friends who you can spend time with as if the last time you saw them was yesterday, when in fact you haven't spent any time with them in years... Almost like there is some kind of eternal bond. The relationships are more akin to that with a brother than normal friendship.</div><div><br></div><div>I really wish our group of friends were closer to each other geographically; able to spend more time together; and share our lives with each other. Unfortunately we are scattered across the country and the globe... From Hong Kong to Cape Town to Johannesburg to England to The United States... Despite our bond we are slowly growing apart as each builds their own lives wherever that may be...</div><div><br></div><div>Today I really miss them...</div><div><br></div><div>A fair portion of our little circle of friends have moved away for good and will most probably never really return to South Africa. To put it bluntly, the new regime in charge have fucked up a lot of good things in this country!! As a result many educated, younger people opted out...</div><div><br></div><div>Some days I also wonder at what point do you decide to call it quits... Say TIA (This Is Africa)... Fuck this shit, pack up and try to build a life elsewhere...</div><div>It is not an easy decision. It would mean leaving a support structure and many things you've built up behind. It will result in effectively ripping family structures apart... Kids not able to see their grandparents and cousins as often as they should. And me not having my brother just in the next neighbourhood. </div><div><br></div><div>Ah well... For now... Let's rather focus on the present. Time to sit in the sun and watch the little one and cat play outside</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUfrUOVa2l3CVUg2Ky6rNTdu-2M36pWk29FjQ7TRfp5hIuQpcMpTg6hhc9Yuq7PwzBDS2lCrQ-z7_KZFM3MY6PHa8vmJKwkR2FG1b_L3Ox9hAtYYQhahTOxNviE0TkJ8VOFmcQg5gEy3k/s640/blogger-image-1230361870.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUfrUOVa2l3CVUg2Ky6rNTdu-2M36pWk29FjQ7TRfp5hIuQpcMpTg6hhc9Yuq7PwzBDS2lCrQ-z7_KZFM3MY6PHa8vmJKwkR2FG1b_L3Ox9hAtYYQhahTOxNviE0TkJ8VOFmcQg5gEy3k/s640/blogger-image-1230361870.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-3486449511635623882016-06-25T23:00:00.001+02:002016-06-25T23:00:09.636+02:00Mid 2016 recap<div>Finally it is beginning to feel like winter in Cape Town with short days, rainy and cold weather. With that we have also made it through half of the year. As always we are not exactly where we wanted to be, but looking back it actually went OK. So far it has been a good, interesting and challenging year.</div><div><br></div><div>From the start we knew this will be a challenging year. The main contributing factors were the following:</div><div><br></div><div>Dialing in a brewing system ten times bigger than our previous one is quite an interesting process.</div><div><br></div><div>With a much bigger system comes all sorts of complications to other tasks that used to be pretty simple. The coordination and details surrounding ingredient orders, bottle orders, screen printing, tag printing, tag assembly and bottling itself moves up a couple of orders of magnitude.</div><div><br></div><div>With that comes the financial implications. Each batch is quite an investment and cash flow is a bitch to say the least. (It is at this point where I have huge respect for the big boys skillfully managing this complex thing called "cash flow"; and I am VERY glad that we are pretty small and have not over-invested in our operation.)</div><div><br></div><div>Juggling a brewery with demanding day jobs and young families is no easy task. Adding the fact that one of the owners is busy completing final exams in orthopedic surgery makes the juggling even more tricky.</div><div><br></div><div>Very similar to 2015 we had another burglary at our brewery in the last month. The brewing operation was lucky as it did not loose any items. Our distribution partner on the other hand was not so lucky and lost quite a bit of dispensing equipment. Once again we had to beef up security and fork out some unplanned cash in the process.</div><div>We know our building is in a gritty part of town, but the lack of respect for other people's property and possessions in this area... actually it applies to our whole country... is a problem. Combine that with a strained police force and a legal system that cannot cope, then you have a mess of a situation. By the way...If you are reading this and one of those people who say our crime problem is because of poverty, the wealth gap or the previous political system, etc. I suggest you stop reading.</div><div><br></div><div>It is not!!</div><div><br></div><div>It is because of a lack of respect for others; a huge drug problem in our province; a failing education system; empty promises from politicians; a lack of consequences for offenders and in general a failing state where our taxes are not spent properly.</div><div>Anyway... Enough bitching for now. We will just get through this as all South Africans do. Guess we have all become hard-asses in this country. Make a plan and move on...</div><div><br></div><div>Now back to beer...</div><div><br></div><div>We are glad to have our new brewhouse running. The whole setup is not perfect yet and we have not quite found our rhythm on the new kit, but the beer is progressively getting back to where we want it.</div><div><br></div><div>To recap on beers so far brewed on the new kit. </div><div><br></div><div>Batch 1 was a single hop APA with Cascade. The young beer was not what it should be. Our temperatures were a bit off and it seems like the pH was not where we wanted it. Now... After a number of weeks in the bottle the beer has lost it's green edge. It is good, but not up there with what we would like it to be. </div><div><br></div><div>Batch 2 was a more aggressive beer. IPA with Apollo, Columbus, Centennial & Cascade.</div><div>With this one we hit the temperatures spot on and the gravities were exactly as intended. The pH is still a bit out of whack and it had a slight affect on the hop flavour, resulting in feint phenol flavours coming through. The pH also messed with hop utilisation and the flavour combinations a bit. The beer is good, but it can do with a little tweaking. The longer it stays in the bottle the better it seems to be getting. Not perfect, but at least it does not suck.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg70IY37R6f3vCxZb_fppv-BfGEq8CSiPLghn6JXv5OKfwvb6m2k5cUO0EcTy5LFusad5sE9yDjHicN3oSMNXF2sg2xxMgYeABd46UyjILwv_NpnTnvtjkA2WfYsxtQv1Ofz2ql-9Jwwxk/s640/blogger-image--1963228154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg70IY37R6f3vCxZb_fppv-BfGEq8CSiPLghn6JXv5OKfwvb6m2k5cUO0EcTy5LFusad5sE9yDjHicN3oSMNXF2sg2xxMgYeABd46UyjILwv_NpnTnvtjkA2WfYsxtQv1Ofz2ql-9Jwwxk/s640/blogger-image--1963228154.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Batch 3 is the latest one - a single hop Black IPA with Centennial hops. We hit the temperatures & gravities spot-on and the pH was back to normal. So far it is tasting good from the fermenter - hop character is good and the roasted grain notes are minimal, as it should be.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif6h5olT_goYzwtxy7rRExmYIXvA83KDzuMFKEaidO0_JVfjFeBeeBTCvarNKlzuqpc6PsblLKQr04NHmXedUhz5qkRoTveADKoKTiP0bteRcBujqUSyhYSMUx78-owFIycVO4quAOSpI/s640/blogger-image--931279446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif6h5olT_goYzwtxy7rRExmYIXvA83KDzuMFKEaidO0_JVfjFeBeeBTCvarNKlzuqpc6PsblLKQr04NHmXedUhz5qkRoTveADKoKTiP0bteRcBujqUSyhYSMUx78-owFIycVO4quAOSpI/s640/blogger-image--931279446.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Slowly but surely sales are also stabilising and getting back to normal. Soon we can put more momentum into expanding our footprint. </div><div><br></div><div>The next couple of months will be tricky with work and study commitments, but after that we can focus on summer and the usual end of year beer craze. For the last two years all the breweries with decent following and good beers could not keep up. Two weeks into December many beers were out of stock. This year is set to be no different...</div><div><br></div><div>For now we would like to say thanks to everyone for their support and patience so far. It is great to hear when people enjoy our beers. We take our beer personal. Hopefully we will bring you many more beers to enjoy.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj311Xz9_Cr84YL_Po13yLILLxvg0jTGLLgpoUZLf5tUCeubB_bi9VBmznAb1beurvuHqTiZPAdZxFLODa0FvH7sFlS_llO1Gy0BnMSQ39GdPDOjaEglxRod8fZvWz9E-jUGAdtSh2Jkr4/s640/blogger-image-297912360.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj311Xz9_Cr84YL_Po13yLILLxvg0jTGLLgpoUZLf5tUCeubB_bi9VBmznAb1beurvuHqTiZPAdZxFLODa0FvH7sFlS_llO1Gy0BnMSQ39GdPDOjaEglxRod8fZvWz9E-jUGAdtSh2Jkr4/s640/blogger-image-297912360.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-18742811235797938332016-03-18T14:19:00.001+02:002016-03-18T14:19:31.420+02:00The realities of scaling up...<div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Scaling up a brewery - actually any business - is not a linear affair. To make ten times more beer may take just about the same time on brewing day, but apart from that everything else shifts a couple of orders of magnitude or more...</span></div><div><br></div><div>Something as simple as quickly popping into the homebrew shop to buy a couple of kilograms of malt you forgot about ordering simply isn't an option anymore. You need bags full of malt for this one day only, plus you need a good flow of ingredients for upcoming brew days. The same applies to yeast, hops, bottles, labels, etc. Getting everything to the brewery on time requires coordination, planning and sometimes even a bit of luck.</div><div><br></div><div>The brewing part is easy. Brewing on a bigger system quickly becomes the norm. It is different, but you quickly find a new rhythm. Mashing still takes about an hour; transfers & sparging can take a little longer; boiling is the same; cooling takes a little longer... Different, but not too different or unfamiliar. Once the cooled, hopped wort is in the fermenters and happy yeast is turning the sugary liquid into beer the real "fun" starts...</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Gwz-_doLmL652MgjMcnwPzXn1v304lRudg33URab-xdayiBOMDqhD56Gg2NeF6sPZ3-Sc7iXpzQr0vLJFJ0MQ7R-YfycN8vvrQ9qofiJwjA8yUtWJalEgjC9reHgSnNyWjrLf-MmY_M/s640/blogger-image--20353627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Gwz-_doLmL652MgjMcnwPzXn1v304lRudg33URab-xdayiBOMDqhD56Gg2NeF6sPZ3-Sc7iXpzQr0vLJFJ0MQ7R-YfycN8vvrQ9qofiJwjA8yUtWJalEgjC9reHgSnNyWjrLf-MmY_M/s640/blogger-image--20353627.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Packaging, conditioning, storage, distribution, sales, accounts receivable; ordering more ingredients & materials for upcoming batches...</div><div><br></div><div>What used to be a couple of hours to get beer into bottles becomes a rather well planned, full day of hard manual labor filling bottles; capping them; tagging / labelling; glueing & packing cases; and finally stacking packed cases.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv-mmlAKuSpCxZRS7piGO1TEuqLwjlvdhOPaxaX8GQT5tNDxio0s02GQSLgXnrG00PQ67uYwRA8glps6hgW4v_kC7awscXXQloKY-gSSmG5LM-GRlItz4X5vLyGW7rprDzZNm47u_D9nE/s640/blogger-image--1058624981.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv-mmlAKuSpCxZRS7piGO1TEuqLwjlvdhOPaxaX8GQT5tNDxio0s02GQSLgXnrG00PQ67uYwRA8glps6hgW4v_kC7awscXXQloKY-gSSmG5LM-GRlItz4X5vLyGW7rprDzZNm47u_D9nE/s640/blogger-image--1058624981.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>It is on these days that you somewhat envy the big boys with shiny, advanced, automatic fillers & cappers... But at the end of the day the sense of achievement and satisfaction is much better the hard way. It feels good to have created something. Something that you and others can enjoy. A simple concoction of water, barley, hops and yeast... This simple product which is an essential part of the civilized world we know... Just imagine this world without beer !!</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT65Ipc7pg7exEp0j6KTRd7FZ0H6QII_PIquIv1wvFlskjAk9Uxboxk0w7C7w1mA-ISlv9sUkbDZVAvQFqMkU0N7khKhonS-JRwzTdDZ-WCEed_IpPGtBQkxGPZkrqcx1sNJtFQyccTOE/s640/blogger-image--85843097.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT65Ipc7pg7exEp0j6KTRd7FZ0H6QII_PIquIv1wvFlskjAk9Uxboxk0w7C7w1mA-ISlv9sUkbDZVAvQFqMkU0N7khKhonS-JRwzTdDZ-WCEed_IpPGtBQkxGPZkrqcx1sNJtFQyccTOE/s640/blogger-image--85843097.jpg"></a></div></div><br></div><div>With the beer going to market and sales picking up the "real fun" is set to start...</div><div><br></div><div>Let's assume the beer is well received and there are no major problems. Gradually sales will pick up and then (hopefully) the whole setup is bound to gain momentum. At that point I predict (and hope) the following situation will unfold... as described by Tony Magee from Lagunitas... Running the brewery will become like being chased down the road by a pack of rabid dogs. In addition to being chased like this, managing cash flow in the business will be like falling down a seriously long flight of stairs while blindfolded. On top of that we will have to add managing people... And we all know managing people is similar to herding cats!</div><div><br></div><div>I am pretty sure we are in for an interesting, entertaining, fun and informative ride with our little brewing adventure...</div><div><br></div><div>Bring it on !!</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZynZs23U67Np5-_sv2-KpLBxpynciDnSn62-FJKO25dYXtrAwoPzyi0E2aaWu22iE7eukg3muYjNA05gI_cLUbJbWp3pVDuRYKh3VnWsnlsrIULFQD_4LQ9TQ5IFS9ccBLf0oDW9GsOM/s640/blogger-image-307126686.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZynZs23U67Np5-_sv2-KpLBxpynciDnSn62-FJKO25dYXtrAwoPzyi0E2aaWu22iE7eukg3muYjNA05gI_cLUbJbWp3pVDuRYKh3VnWsnlsrIULFQD_4LQ9TQ5IFS9ccBLf0oDW9GsOM/s640/blogger-image-307126686.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-70703689414046833152016-03-15T13:38:00.001+02:002016-03-15T17:25:36.449+02:00Expansion - Gallows Hill Brewing Co<div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Expanding a bootstrapped sideline business is a tricky and challenging affair. Despite the challenges it is actually a rewarding and fun experience.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">On top of that it is also a serious learning process. Learning involves a little bit of everything… From plumbing and electrics all the way through to financing and taxes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Since we have been building Gallows Hill Brewing Co at our own pace (we intend to stick to this going forward) and not always with the same exuberant fervor as others, I have decided to put in more effort to document and share our journey. Pretty sure there will not necessarily be weekly or more frequent updates, but there will definitely be more effort being put into documenting our expansion and progress with the brewery.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">You may be wondering where we are heading with the brewery… As a start, let’s clarify what is important to us:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">The brewery is a serious business, but it is by no means a “get rich quick” scheme. (Anyone getting into the beer business with that in mind should seriously reconsider their position.)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">We aim to build the business in a manageable way into a sustainable small endeavour that suit our lives. Those lives involve young families and serious day jobs. Juggling all the responsibilities will be no easy task. We have to accept that this juggling may result in things at the brewery not always going as planned or at the pace originally intended.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">We are local. Our operation is based in a gritty part of town undergoing a slow revival. Despite the issues of crime in our area we intend to stick it out and be part of building up our bit of the city. Breweries all over the world are contributing to <a class="external" href="http://www.craftbeer.com/craft-beer-muses/craft-brewers-revitalizing-the-rust-belt" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Reviving The Rust Belt">uplifting rundown neighborhoods and derelict industrial areas.</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">In South Africa alcohol producers are too easily painted with a tar brush and depicted as the source of evil in our society. We accept that the country does have an alcohol abuse problem, but the mass consumption market is not really the market we are aiming for. Breweries, bakeries, butchers, green grocers, etc. are essential components of a properly functioning society. In our opinion a world without good quality beer is not worth living in.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Being a bootstrapped, small scale <span class="amp" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">&</span> amateur brewing operation (none of us studied fermentation sciences or went to brewing school) we will surely make a number of mistakes along the way, but our eternal strive will be to produce high quality beer our way. We are going to be honest about our products and we take everything about our beer and brewery personal. It is part of us. Due to running our brewery the bootstrapped way, some things we do will be a little unconventional.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">The brewery is self-financed! We have no big financial backing or external investors at this point. It is simply a case of investing our own resources and income from our day jobs into the business. We are lucky to be able to do it this way. On the one hand it adds a certain amount of pressure to make it work and forces you to work smart and to make compromises in certain areas. On the other hand it gives us the freedom to do whatever the hell we want to. We do not have a banker or other investors breathing down our necks drooling for payback or returns on the investment.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">We have day jobs and young families. On the one side we have two doctors and a little one who is not even six months old. On the other side we have a chef, a structural engineer and a 3 year old toddler. The doctors have crazy <span class="amp" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">&</span> haphazard working hours. My work can be sporadic, often riddled with deadlines, travel, corporate bullshit and having to manage people and projects across the country and around the globe. On many occasions family commitments and work demands forces brewery related tasks and plans to play second fiddle or to take a rain check for a couple of days. Having the brewery is a creative outlet for all of us. It keeps us sane to some extent, I think.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">We are still fairly young. Even if we are completely on the wrong path and it does not work out, we will be <span class="caps" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">OK</span>. There is still a lot of life and living left. At least we hope so, right!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Back to where we are heading…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">As a start. We are going to make beers that we enjoy drinking. At the moment that is to a large extent Pale Ale, India Pale Ale, Porter, Stout and Barrel Aged Beers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Variation will probably be the norm. The perfect beer is something we haven’t brewed yet. Maybe we can get there… One day…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">We are not in the game of pushing high volume, low flavour beer. We will also not participate in the price war game.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/09/02/boston-bars-charged-with-violating-pay-play-prohibitions/GsTnMJPiC8ZZyNvU70PoqL/story.html" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Article: Boston Globe"><span class="dquo" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“</span>Pay to Play”</a> is unethical and wrong. We will not do it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Our initial growth will be fairly slow… This is largely due to demands from our day jobs for the next 6 to 8 months, but also because we would prefer to ramp up gradually. There is still a lot of learning and figuring out required.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">This is probably a good time for a bit of a recap…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">After a burglary mid 2015 - that cost us quite a bit of stainless steel kit - we got to the point of having to decide between plodding along as we were doing at the time, or taking it more seriously and expand the business. After a lot of deliberation, arguments, back-and-forth, etc. we decided on a brewhouse size, selected an equipment supplier and decided on a broad outline of how we planned to run things.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">By a stroke of luck I tracked down a guy in our big-ass firm (one of the perks of working for a Fortune 500 multinational) running a small brewery in New Zealand with his best mate. After a couple of emails we learnt a lot from like-minded folks who’ve gone through a similar situation and managed to track down the actual manufacturer of the equipment we were going to buy through a middle-man. With a slight setback in time, scoring about 30% off the equipment cost and getting the opportunity to customize our brewhouse for very little additional cost, we pushed the button on the manufacturing of our new brewery.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Late in 2015 our 3 main brewing vessels arrived. Unpacking was a bitch in the scorching Cape Town summer heat.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Thanks to our bootstrapped approach the expansion is not a case of simply unpacking a couple of containers or crates, and paying a guy to fit the jigsaw together. We had to do it all ourselves. Sourcing all the additional pieces to turn 3 main stainless steel vessels into a functioning brewery is a mission. It is a real bitch when you factor in the generally poor service provided by most South African firms. It takes quite a bit of time to pin down good suppliers with who you can build a relationship and then work together to build a business. (More about that on another day)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Where we stand now there are a couple of small items still missing and a bit of tweaking that needs to be done before we can move into full steam production. At least we managed to run the necessary testing required, proper initial <span class="caps" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">CIP</span> and passivated the tanks.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">This was followed by our first big kit brew day. Surprisingly the brew day went pretty smooth. Obviously there were a couple of process related issues. Mostly in terms of timing and a minor boil-over incident… Gladly nothing that cannot be sorted with some better planning.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">At least we can confidently say we are now in the home stretch before we start brewing again in earnest.</span></span></div>
<img alt="" class="block" src="http://media.withtank.com/6cc4c5a7aa/2016-02-27_11.52.55-1_460_wide.jpg" height="460" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="" width="460" />Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-21869035835907897172016-01-01T16:55:00.001+02:002016-01-01T16:55:44.198+02:00Day 1 - 2016<div>The first of January is probably a good day to start full speed with the intention of writing more regularly. Surely it is a bit of a cliché thing to do on New Years Day, but who cares anyway...</div><div><br></div><div>Pretty sure most people are - to some extent at least - mulling over thoughts related to what 2016 will hold. For some it will probably be a bit hazy due to their hangovers resulting from their attempts to drown out the sorrows of 2015. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>It would be fair to say 2015 was a bit of a rough year. The following things stand out. </div><div><br></div><div><b>Our country and economy is a mess.</b> For this we have only two things to blame:</div><div>1. A ruling party with its head in the sand clutching to concepts that died with the fall of the Berlin Wall. (Our public service is too big, inefficient and too expensive. We have too many people on government grants and effectively we are creating a nation of beggars too lazy to work. It is impossible to create jobs if you cannot fire people... It may sound counterintuitive, but it is akin to the concept in racing... To go faster around a track you need the best brakes available.)</div><div>2. The sheer amount of stupid people who keep voting the most corrupt people back into power. </div><div><br></div><div>On a more personal side quite a couple of things left a sour taste...</div><div><br></div><div><b>Burglaries!</b></div><div>Not only did we have a burglary at our brewery, but we also had a break-in at our house. I refuse to accept that burglary happens because of poverty and the inequality in our country. It is due to laziness, a lack of basic morals & education and a justice & law enforcement system that is crumbling. </div><div><br></div><div><b>Corporate life!</b></div><div>Being absorbed into a global monster firm resulted in a roller coaster ride of 3 years now. Serious restructuring; shit taking forever to resolve; dismal financial performance due to our crappy economy; and the difficulties of having to manage staff and projects when everyone is demotivated took its toll. I can seriously do with a more upbeat year in 2016. How I managed to be this patient over the last 3 years I do not know... I am inherently impatient. Being able to maintain this patience much longer than a year or two will be impossible. Things need to change.</div><div>Managing people is not easy... Not being trained to manage people makes it even more tricky. Being a bit of a perfectionist and an insensitive hard-ass takes it to another level. (Which often results in doing things yourself, retracting into your own world, and not delegating task and responsibilities to others.)</div><div><br></div><div><b>Juggling too many balls:</b></div><div>Trying to balance family life; personal time; some health and fitness time; a demanding corporate day job; and starting a sideline brewing company is madness. As I said before... The only explanation can be that I like making myself suffer. Another to add is that I probably have some form of A.D.D. Somehow I cannot just stick to a couple of things, I have to overload my fork.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Unfortunately it does not help to dwell on the past and sulk about what happened. We simply have to forge ahead, put our heads down, make plans and carry on...</div><div><br></div><div><b><i>So... What will we focus on to get right in 2016?</i></b></div><div><br></div><div>(Better) <b>Balance:</b></div><div>This will certainly not be easy. Each part of life will be allocated certain time slots. What does not get done will be done after hours or will simply have to wait. Tough!</div><div>It will also mean that some of my subordinates will have to step up their game...</div><div><br></div><div><b>Corporate life:</b></div><div>Somehow I will figure out ways to be more in control of our projects and the teams running them. Therein lies the crux of the matter... The teams need to run the projects, not me. They need to own them and deal with the responsibility that comes with it.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Structural Engineering:</b></div><div>I think this is the year to start with a mind-shift. We are not only an engineering office anymore. We are in the business of Building Information Modeling (BIM) or Virtual Construction. Others are not ready for it, but we are going to take the lead and piss off quite a load of people in the process. Fuck it!! I do not care... To make an omelette you have to break a few eggs. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDSuTT1zG9sPhaWUd2ueVADUscw3u-qr9sE8lUJvj12Zg8WFmjm2tjVVFkLyD2SMnxMUkNsjtGCIszuCto13R8zGjeUG7IWGWprUN3ktqwYMkpKzwtObJ2yn8eieuejQq_WmuuZvsFVI0/s640/blogger-image--5975670.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDSuTT1zG9sPhaWUd2ueVADUscw3u-qr9sE8lUJvj12Zg8WFmjm2tjVVFkLyD2SMnxMUkNsjtGCIszuCto13R8zGjeUG7IWGWprUN3ktqwYMkpKzwtObJ2yn8eieuejQq_WmuuZvsFVI0/s640/blogger-image--5975670.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><b>Brewing:</b></div><div>2016 will be the year we turn the hobby and quasi-business of Gallows Hill Brewing Co into a proper business. The business will not survive if we half-ass it. No doubt it will take serious commitment, time, money and probably a load of friction between the four business partners.</div><div>We will get our new brew house online and ticking over our way... and we will have to start employing people and learn quite a number of new skills along the way.</div><div>We will make the beer we want to drink; price it as we see fit; and generally do things our way and at our pace.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh595LNCRp5s7FYvlrCnUz9_v-ebiC1UaJ2jNZAt_F-m2Z0X0xuvmjG1qTEDH3WoCPKrTlckxXq1sMKZddqLJ4tBWTE57qpwQaKwREko6Bfms25qJc5bY1FzLRqhxCdnv4fKDOhpT2bOp4/s640/blogger-image-892224650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh595LNCRp5s7FYvlrCnUz9_v-ebiC1UaJ2jNZAt_F-m2Z0X0xuvmjG1qTEDH3WoCPKrTlckxXq1sMKZddqLJ4tBWTE57qpwQaKwREko6Bfms25qJc5bY1FzLRqhxCdnv4fKDOhpT2bOp4/s640/blogger-image-892224650.jpg"></a></div><br></div><br></div><div>May 2016 be another fun ride...</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KVsab_mSd4jOksk76WBXfy1g5H0CrXBVUzg8-u_8ENnJn9S7bB2c_YmvbTRpNa070vFApK6E9KvRHHWs0fCwJSdkd6lJDUsC4vo4oV1UvUbv95z8rbac9OZ9N-wH8dsio1OjcY8jP-E/s640/blogger-image-654890132.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KVsab_mSd4jOksk76WBXfy1g5H0CrXBVUzg8-u_8ENnJn9S7bB2c_YmvbTRpNa070vFApK6E9KvRHHWs0fCwJSdkd6lJDUsC4vo4oV1UvUbv95z8rbac9OZ9N-wH8dsio1OjcY8jP-E/s640/blogger-image-654890132.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-17116639955784675932015-12-10T22:36:00.001+02:002015-12-10T22:36:14.089+02:00And the end of 2015 takes a nosedive...<div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Just as we thought the year was winding down rather gracefully and without too much crisis management old JZ drops the bomb. Now the whole country is bending forward, grabbing their ankles and we just have to take it from behind.</span></div><div><br></div><div>The past 24 hours can simply be classified as a tumultuous day. From our fairly competent Minister of Finance getting fired to having to deal with unreasonable & overreacting people at work it was a pretty crap day.</div><div><br></div><div>Today did not start well. As always I checked all my social networks this morning... Guess what... The Thief in Charge calling himself the President of South Africa decided to sack the Minister of Finance for no proper reason. I must confess... When Mr Nene was appointed as Finance Minister I was quite skeptical. His falling off a chair incident a couple of years back did an injustice to his competence. The poor guy actually did a stellar job in the horrible conditions he inherited. The poisoned chalice he received was filled with wanton looting and corruption to please JZ and retain loyalty + votes.</div><div>Thanks to this our currency tanked and I am pretty sure numerous South Africans and companies are making plans and organizing to get as much money out of SA as quickly as possible.</div><div><br></div><div>The deteriorating exchange rate is not the kind of development you want when working in the construction industry and when you are expanding a small sideline business that relies on numerous imported items... Stainless steel components, speciality malts, yeast, hops, etc.</div><div><br></div><div>Even though this is a scary situation and will surely result in numerous sleepless nights and worrying, it is quite exciting to try and make things work when the deck is stacked against you.</div><div><br></div><div>Packing out large stainless tanks, arranging them in line, sorting out tri-clamps, valves & thermometers and planning the interesting year ahead is weirdly exciting and interesting. It is at that point when you realize that running the sideline we have is one of those things that keeps us sane... That one thing that makes you say: "<b>Fuck this shit</b>... We'll do it <b>our</b> way... The way we want to do it... And we are going to give it our <b>best</b>."</div><div><br></div><div><font color="#000000" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaOwNkemiMnXAHVD8ZOcSGzXh4gTgG4RcIL0KZCtLCg494GrSchlN8DUtkiSyWboDNBLsy64_e4ox9YSKszGrNQB2PwODM0nX9nsyoZNnqxd2p9QUvY5rgTiKtrNh_oIcDT_YsMvKsQik/s640/blogger-image--218951767.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaOwNkemiMnXAHVD8ZOcSGzXh4gTgG4RcIL0KZCtLCg494GrSchlN8DUtkiSyWboDNBLsy64_e4ox9YSKszGrNQB2PwODM0nX9nsyoZNnqxd2p9QUvY5rgTiKtrNh_oIcDT_YsMvKsQik/s640/blogger-image--218951767.jpg"></a></font></div><div><br></div><div>In order to avoid listening to the news while driving today, I opted for a podcast... Thanks to The Brewing Network (Justin Crossley you are a legend) and the guys from Scratch Town Brewing Co, the following got stuck in my mind: We area still young. We are in our mid thirties. Even if we do stuff up, there is enough life left to recover. Real life is about the little things we enjoy. At this moment that enjoyment is making beer. The best thing about beer is the way it makes people feel and act. Beer makes people happy. One of the best things about being in the beer industry is that fuzzy feeling you get when someone tastes the product you give them and their eyes glaze over with pleasure. </div><div><br></div><div>At this point I can honestly say... I get more joy and appreciation out of someone enjoying a simple glass of beer than successfully delivering a complex building to an ungrateful client...</div><div><br></div><div>Since this is supposed to be a blog more related to brewing and not an outlet to bitch about real life, corporate bullshit and the general hassles of growing up I have to get back to beer, brewing and stainless steel.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSMUMY9W2VgZZQ6yRzKKIy6RstaE2veA9ngy7_svhJFs7OoVwQJSKfoCxQwJFi7m-bhmjj9EfAwpwinbo_v2IXSUcSfHyymZijuifbkTna_3HnRQQ13ITb2lGPxiPgmmPD9-4_qMtbAc/s640/blogger-image--1623129367.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSMUMY9W2VgZZQ6yRzKKIy6RstaE2veA9ngy7_svhJFs7OoVwQJSKfoCxQwJFi7m-bhmjj9EfAwpwinbo_v2IXSUcSfHyymZijuifbkTna_3HnRQQ13ITb2lGPxiPgmmPD9-4_qMtbAc/s640/blogger-image--1623129367.jpg"></font></a></div><div><br></div><div>To say the least 2016 is going to be an interesting year...</div><div>We have to master our new brewing system and try to stay on top of managing the cost increases of imported ingredients & products we use.</div><div>We have to strike some kind of balance between family lives, day jobs and our sideline business.</div><div>We have to differentiate our products in a market that is blindly going down the wrong road... Chasing high volumes and maximized margins akin to the modus operandi of the mega-brewers.</div><div>We have to drive the quality of small scale beers to a new level.</div><div>And we will have to deal with not always having enough beer...</div><div><br></div><div>2016 will most probably also be quite insightful in terms of the direction beer is heading in South Africa. Will it be more Session oriented, more Belgian, more hoppy or more bland + dumbed down yellow lagers...? Who knows!</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitIpx91rRYcOgmeE7HkwVC-HinbDKXry419BUIMJa1FXbEIOfKWw4u0qkuws-_VFGmEJjxV7KD_gfPl-6JlMriK-O2q5lXJMLh8eg3UYlQYm6mgVs_NcvnLlNTbg70LQtgBB-tmBLvL_Q/s640/blogger-image-1911229067.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitIpx91rRYcOgmeE7HkwVC-HinbDKXry419BUIMJa1FXbEIOfKWw4u0qkuws-_VFGmEJjxV7KD_gfPl-6JlMriK-O2q5lXJMLh8eg3UYlQYm6mgVs_NcvnLlNTbg70LQtgBB-tmBLvL_Q/s640/blogger-image-1911229067.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Given the economic difficulties we face... Thanks to bright-spark JZ... Some breweries will be facing financially challenging times. The questions are: Who will fail and how will the remainder manage to weather the storm?</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYmvTC7qBap0BF6hx5qSX5Ui47PQpazy49yU5cFJOoZKoeutGkAXjxbMwFT8FO5QeB46NEGoV9m3PuqNmKRknaIutW-XzgkkSvS0BTP7GYqEbE8RKsT2FPoIAOAfQSrfetL_dl_kL43Wg/s640/blogger-image-847530519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYmvTC7qBap0BF6hx5qSX5Ui47PQpazy49yU5cFJOoZKoeutGkAXjxbMwFT8FO5QeB46NEGoV9m3PuqNmKRknaIutW-XzgkkSvS0BTP7GYqEbE8RKsT2FPoIAOAfQSrfetL_dl_kL43Wg/s640/blogger-image-847530519.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-973741647395449862015-10-21T21:32:00.001+02:002015-10-21T22:06:30.502+02:00October 2015 - Holiday & Brewery Expansion<p>Time off is always a great thing. Getting away from the daily grind with the constant chasing of deadlines and targets is always pleasant. It takes me a couple of days to switch off and clear my mind. Not thinking of work and personal projects is a well deserved luxury. Unfortunately just like taking a couple of days to switch off, my brain kicks into overdrive about 5 or so days before the end of the holiday. </p>
<p>With our brewery expansion project in progress there are more items to get to than possible in the available time with the resources we have. As everyone tells you: It is close to insanity to start a brewing company when you have a toddler at home or starting a family; while at the same time all parties involved juggle crazy schedules at their day jobs. </p>
<p>To some extent I think we are suckers for punishment and rarely pick an easy route. In the end it certainly creates great stories and opportunities to learn. Adversity is a breeding ground for innovation and can result in achieving results against the odds provided you are willing to put in the effort required.</p>
<p>More on the struggles and brewery expansion in a bit… Back to the holiday first. </p>
<p>Travel is essential to broaden ones outlook on life; to figure out what is important and what not; and to learn more about yourself and the people traveling with you. Getting to experience far off places and remote unexplored territories is an added bonus when included in the trip.</p>
<p>We were lucky to be offered an opportunity to join a trip from Vancouver up the British Columbian coast. It is a vast area. BC is larger than California, Oregon & Washington State combined.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ZETl60wIDPSp-7drWG8Zzxmagj7pw7FjT08o57YfPhN9kTUhBy2YMtw1utXI27Je6qtq3yXRD0QC6Ysca8ypv_zx-NgdjP20mq62Ps-qIn-untmvhW6Dtsh3gmMkHAW_bf-x7oALbaQ/s640/blogger-image--1557475818.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ZETl60wIDPSp-7drWG8Zzxmagj7pw7FjT08o57YfPhN9kTUhBy2YMtw1utXI27Je6qtq3yXRD0QC6Ysca8ypv_zx-NgdjP20mq62Ps-qIn-untmvhW6Dtsh3gmMkHAW_bf-x7oALbaQ/s640/blogger-image--1557475818.jpg"></a></div></div><p></p>
<p>The first leg of the trip comprised the circumnavigation of Princess Royal Island on a sailing vessel. 16 people in a confined environment helped create memorable experiences. On the numerous stops along the way we got to see a great array of wildlife, including the bears we came to see as the main focus of the trip. We had awesome sightings of Black, Grizzly (Brown) & Spirit Bears. The latter being the elusive white version of the Black Bear.</p>
<p>The second leg of the trip was spent at the Great Bear Lodge where all our time was focused on watching Brown Bears catching salmon along the river. </p>
<p>Two days ahead and two days after the expedition was spent rambling around Vancouver. Vancouver is an awesome little city. Compact and filled with great shops, restaurants and of course a good selection of breweries. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIxczE-8th4h3MNuXweyFhP1-FxWQ3uAceCbrtck8gXGwuQ4yjDKrCWv0rJh63OB97Z1KNAdP54F57Ien8z_iGtdFMnAu5nbYbub2zg0pdRPhR7MrJL-kX_idemLHhDOVenCfeCzhlb0s/s640/blogger-image--999630150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIxczE-8th4h3MNuXweyFhP1-FxWQ3uAceCbrtck8gXGwuQ4yjDKrCWv0rJh63OB97Z1KNAdP54F57Ien8z_iGtdFMnAu5nbYbub2zg0pdRPhR7MrJL-kX_idemLHhDOVenCfeCzhlb0s/s640/blogger-image--999630150.jpg"></a></div><br><p></p>
<p>As always we manage to fit in quite a bit of beer ’research’ on our trips. With Vancouver being in the Pacific North West the selection of hop-forward beers alone makes the trip worth it.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA_Spxjtzs8tAndXsn0O2xY15a22B08hF5lKBNRzsMfWZT_CjPhtCcBPRcE2aNbbqdM8OG7a8C72PmqLTem96qyJSqdsXuRnYWppnrUq6AH6oUG7iIK5kG8B_R_iOB7LtAVYER8hNfUxY/s640/blogger-image--1370271680.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA_Spxjtzs8tAndXsn0O2xY15a22B08hF5lKBNRzsMfWZT_CjPhtCcBPRcE2aNbbqdM8OG7a8C72PmqLTem96qyJSqdsXuRnYWppnrUq6AH6oUG7iIK5kG8B_R_iOB7LtAVYER8hNfUxY/s640/blogger-image--1370271680.jpg"></a></div><br><p></p>
<p>Based on the beers tasted it is safe to say that quite a few of our South African beers are on par with those available in BC. Sadly the majority of breweries in SA need to do a LOT of catching up. Some of our breweries are also losing the plot a bit… trying to play the volume game by pushing dumbed down beer to compete with the mega-brewers. It is a bad idea that will lead to a bad ending!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsI3jOeYzWhnH6yLeLQY3HIW1YHPLFCwAMrt5ji2PKRU1WE1GPKNC0Hz8ydCPmCYOQNNQFZFbNtAbcXGXce2qwjcOtE8agE3eCFAIsrpGQ0pGypE2gXyzNtfSMTl-GYrbByy8cI5GQtFQ/s640/blogger-image--380304533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsI3jOeYzWhnH6yLeLQY3HIW1YHPLFCwAMrt5ji2PKRU1WE1GPKNC0Hz8ydCPmCYOQNNQFZFbNtAbcXGXce2qwjcOtE8agE3eCFAIsrpGQ0pGypE2gXyzNtfSMTl-GYrbByy8cI5GQtFQ/s640/blogger-image--380304533.jpg"></a></div><br><p></p>
<p>I am most definitely biased, but I think our beers & brewery are on the right track. The beers still needs some tweaking and as a brewery we have a lot to still figure out. Most importantly I think our beers can stand tall with some of the best we’ve tasted on the trip.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>By now the holiday is a distant memory...</p><p>Back to the daily grind.</p><p>Back to the adventures (and lack of sleep) due to the addition of a new member to the family. (Welcome Hadrian!)</p><p>Back to dealing with the art of juggling limited funds while ordering pumps, fittings, tanks, equipment & importing a new brew house.</p><p><br></p><p>Ramping up a bootstrapped brewing operation is no easy task. Especially when you decide to say "Fuck it... We are doing our own way and figuring it out as we go." At least we have (we hope) resolved most of the issues and only have a couple of outstanding items to be resolved in the coming weeks.</p><p>By early to mid November we will be able to put our grubby little paws on a new custum brew house. If everything goes to plan we will be able to fire it up and start churning out beers before the end of the year.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHyZHwKz2mcWDO4-u69wl2uZJ9Bz-fSUXOVl028iS6rNBl0QAX_-V81M_EsRGtppersz1HVqu8NW0rzhyEOObKesYjr8_TegKi9la5tO3CN7QdAHtqW0qRt3rKTnRIkt4MDF0YRQuIcc/s640/blogger-image-1221205689.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHyZHwKz2mcWDO4-u69wl2uZJ9Bz-fSUXOVl028iS6rNBl0QAX_-V81M_EsRGtppersz1HVqu8NW0rzhyEOObKesYjr8_TegKi9la5tO3CN7QdAHtqW0qRt3rKTnRIkt4MDF0YRQuIcc/s640/blogger-image-1221205689.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">It has been a long-ass and tricky journey up till now. Pretty sure the coming couple of years will be even wilder... A proper roller coaster ride is very likely. At least I hope the ride has a good ending and does not finish in a flaming ball of twisted metal.</div><br><p></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-83619685894703576492015-04-04T13:18:00.001+02:002015-04-04T13:18:44.704+02:002015 - Quarter 1 DONE !!<div>WOW... I just realized we are through the first quarter of 2015. It was actually a bit of a blur to tell the truth, but I guess that is just the way life is. Especially when you want to juggle too many things at once. The constant feeling of actually flying by the seat of your pants is tiring, challenging, exciting + rewarding all at the same time.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9uzbpKVnrunS4AFPd3Q6dohOgp-N9crDPS3_xJ2zV-M5IptZO6Hw4kVYpTYQGGZZSNGzDv-jAKmkeGny6rkgCHAS9VeQ7IuMWmjQQOumJpVhEqqjh4U_C5T6x8UDLNCkqNhYwa91QjyI/s640/blogger-image-571513164.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9uzbpKVnrunS4AFPd3Q6dohOgp-N9crDPS3_xJ2zV-M5IptZO6Hw4kVYpTYQGGZZSNGzDv-jAKmkeGny6rkgCHAS9VeQ7IuMWmjQQOumJpVhEqqjh4U_C5T6x8UDLNCkqNhYwa91QjyI/s640/blogger-image-571513164.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>To tell the truth we are not quite where we planned to be by now. There are no new shiny brewing vessels on a boat to Cape Town, well at least not yet. I guess that is also fine as we took a bit of time and again changed our plans. It has been quite an interesting dynamic between my brother and I. Initially it started with me being on the bigger is better side of the fence. He was a proponent of a small, bootstrapped approach. In a year it turned round... I was leaning towards a smaller system size being used harder, while he was going the bigger route. Finally we have settled somewhere in the middle. Our brewhouse will be not too big and not too small, yet flexible and capable of taking abuse. A lot of it will still be a bootstrapping operation. At least we have a plan.</div><div><br></div><div>I reckon the motto of a family friend always rings in the back of my mind: "Running out of money is not a problem, but not having a plan IS a problem!"</div><div><br></div><div>We have a fairly solid idea of what we want to do now; we have cleared a couple of hurdles already and we have a hit list of items to resolve. The following couple of months are going to be riddled with logistic and cash flow hurdles.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_SkV5IJCXdygQsnNKe0qiwelTULASAGqNxq3w1H22HyE355E7P50wOXNMNqqGW3Q1rqZJZxpBxqWkzAvQJJtxtytqrIYOb2z4r746KEP5TvrcKM72CGTXZOiB7ijAZ5PlNBqTRy82AsE/s640/blogger-image-558171735.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_SkV5IJCXdygQsnNKe0qiwelTULASAGqNxq3w1H22HyE355E7P50wOXNMNqqGW3Q1rqZJZxpBxqWkzAvQJJtxtytqrIYOb2z4r746KEP5TvrcKM72CGTXZOiB7ijAZ5PlNBqTRy82AsE/s640/blogger-image-558171735.jpg"></a></div></div></div><div><br></div><div>Pretty sure this first real expansion will be challenging to say the least, but in a couple of years we should be able to look back with at least one of the following possible outcomes:</div><div>Option 1: YIKES...!! It actually worked and we pulled it off.</div><div>Option 2: Oh boy, did we fuck this up or what... !?!? At least we had loads of fun and learnt tremendously valuable lessons along the way. (And we had loads of beer on hand along the way)</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kC0HGkaghB9UuVoRwDmg_fWUsaLgVvxhx6bsXUwszYzs5Tlxr0j9gxHOPbLHYpaYjJ-GXvvOgkjZ5ZDYCgi4a4IcZgzSH_ec7CO5xy88r41L0eQEuhaMQJMTj5nh4NeafruNtZD3U-U/s640/blogger-image--1011867930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kC0HGkaghB9UuVoRwDmg_fWUsaLgVvxhx6bsXUwszYzs5Tlxr0j9gxHOPbLHYpaYjJ-GXvvOgkjZ5ZDYCgi4a4IcZgzSH_ec7CO5xy88r41L0eQEuhaMQJMTj5nh4NeafruNtZD3U-U/s640/blogger-image--1011867930.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>When everything is running we will focus on two things... OK, maybe three.</div><div><br></div><div>Slowly solidifying our current footprint with additional production capacity, and when we have ironed out the first wrinkles of the upgrade a steady organic growth plan.</div><div><br></div><div>Focusing on QUALITY! There are quite a number of areas where we need to and can improve.</div><div><br></div><div>Trying new things and expanding the horizon of beer in Cape Town. Sticking to the way we like things and making what we like to drink. If you want to make the lowest common denominator beer to satisfy everyone you will be doomed.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1MDCNcmV98aI5JqTiCb6E4W4m7AG45XmLMQRqxjn1mcGz1GkXm5Tp15_KxXQifoaqC3F9lt3cGP8bWWqVm5IeWrQwt3OWBw_bElk46Vbi45eFlSwORRuG6T33yH1TLn1sgXGmIUviMpA/s640/blogger-image--2139337924.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1MDCNcmV98aI5JqTiCb6E4W4m7AG45XmLMQRqxjn1mcGz1GkXm5Tp15_KxXQifoaqC3F9lt3cGP8bWWqVm5IeWrQwt3OWBw_bElk46Vbi45eFlSwORRuG6T33yH1TLn1sgXGmIUviMpA/s640/blogger-image--2139337924.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-50022216015437099532014-12-27T15:24:00.001+02:002014-12-30T18:30:48.921+02:00The year ahead... In terms of brewingThe new year is just around the corner and we will have to hit the ground running... From a stock on hand position we are screwed and from a production capacity point of view it is not looking much better.<div><br></div><div>At least all the pieces are coming together to put a significant upgrade project in motion. In effect we will replace all our brewing infrastructure, except for a couple of items. It promises to be a challenging year ahead.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfk8k2n0mSle1_i84lT3M1GISYMvZUw8i9yFunddGJ5QofgZhivOThFPvCTAX2ODBWxhugu-LU9i1zRzZ6vqDFXNp20ihRiOugXTRV4IgNVaeupG6D_lUUJ0kGfbU2yyQVTBBKtFJSPxY/s640/blogger-image-573944492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfk8k2n0mSle1_i84lT3M1GISYMvZUw8i9yFunddGJ5QofgZhivOThFPvCTAX2ODBWxhugu-LU9i1zRzZ6vqDFXNp20ihRiOugXTRV4IgNVaeupG6D_lUUJ0kGfbU2yyQVTBBKtFJSPxY/s640/blogger-image-573944492.jpg"></a></div></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">It is actually quite crazy when you realize how many things have to be planned, synchronized and decided upon when planning a brewery expansion. All the pieces of the puzzle representing a brewing operation is intricately intertwined. If you change one thing it effects a myriad of things, from financial prediction models; amounts to be financed to the various parts of the practical operations of the brewing process itself. Just deciding the actual brewhouse size and fermentation cellar capacity is a process of note.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Thanks to a lot of research, reading and listening to podcasts it is clear that it is not necessary to have the biggest possible brewhouse. Instead it is more important to have a flexibly piece of equipment and one that can be run multiple times in a day or shift. Even when planning to run a relatively small brewing operation one can learn from big breweries. <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Large breweries always use fermenters a couple of times the volume of their kettles. This results in always blending a couple of batches together, evening out small batch variations, resulting in more consistent and repeatable beers. It is also more effective in terms of space, cost and other resources. In order to push the number of brews per day / shift, some large breweries run two kettles for the same mash / lauter tun. If correctly planned the output capacity of a relatively small brewhouse can be doubled from a 2/3/4 batches per shift rate to a 4/6/8 batches per shift capacity with the simple upgrade of adding a second kettle.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcjwEIii4KKy7MEEgjbON37MnVe40xPnrJNDF3hmAGpg83rpuwrHoiFCse3HpS4GSTUmeDaqjfDcGj9HAf-8AUVVyyzbBaVyn8WHzunAix-80ENoWxvmRtUtR76rxKMxOZpvhGQAJXoY/s640/blogger-image-1550739712.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcjwEIii4KKy7MEEgjbON37MnVe40xPnrJNDF3hmAGpg83rpuwrHoiFCse3HpS4GSTUmeDaqjfDcGj9HAf-8AUVVyyzbBaVyn8WHzunAix-80ENoWxvmRtUtR76rxKMxOZpvhGQAJXoY/s640/blogger-image-1550739712.jpg"></font></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">If all goes to plan the increased production capacity will allow us to grow the business and increase our market footprint. We should also have enough inventory on hand to make sure all beer gets enough time to condition properly and that we have a reasonable stock buffer to deal with spikes in demand and unexpected large orders.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The bigger capacity will also provide the opportunity to play with some new ideas to push the boundaries in the Cape Town beer market. Beer for us is about experimenting. Given the large wine & distilled spirits industry in the Western Cape the base material, i.e. barrels, for a barrel aging and sour beer production setup should be available.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3vEMPoN6x1_cSg4CtfYu9k0WhHINixl2YXJ98OX8XO5EpLSoH0IKAVeMT0prbzt3zCDemUhqC0MR2NGbYjO8JEb321dnkaJ2H6YfMsuZRUIoMUI-RtO89HLpz7kicXeOiyw3bjLcmS3c/s640/blogger-image--751606759.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3vEMPoN6x1_cSg4CtfYu9k0WhHINixl2YXJ98OX8XO5EpLSoH0IKAVeMT0prbzt3zCDemUhqC0MR2NGbYjO8JEb321dnkaJ2H6YfMsuZRUIoMUI-RtO89HLpz7kicXeOiyw3bjLcmS3c/s640/blogger-image--751606759.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">A barrel program requires three basic areas to be covered: Time & patience; space to keep barrels; and the willingness & capability to experiment + learn from mistakes and others. I am confident we can cover all these with some dedication, hard work and the space we have.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Despite all the side projects like barrel aging, sour beers and other one-off beers we plan to refine our production of <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">flavorful and hop-forward beers.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> Our passion and core dedication will remain with these beers as they are aimed at showing beer consumers that there is no reason why beer should be bland or dumbed down. We all deserve to drink beer with more character than fizzy yellow dishwater with trace amounts of hops and real malted barley.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBiqkBh6JXOiqD1ezMATa7D7G1Zn5TjgwN03Ay4Y8g8xZvSVqecgoiOff6dpbRAGmVrXwRWABJq2gLmkrMbn8gZr2NOcJQ6yb8RTtwDitKPA1f-cYeFONVrfO1_7l4u0g2xBdGNfgIqUo/s640/blogger-image-42840607.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBiqkBh6JXOiqD1ezMATa7D7G1Zn5TjgwN03Ay4Y8g8xZvSVqecgoiOff6dpbRAGmVrXwRWABJq2gLmkrMbn8gZr2NOcJQ6yb8RTtwDitKPA1f-cYeFONVrfO1_7l4u0g2xBdGNfgIqUo/s640/blogger-image-42840607.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">May 2015 be a memorable beer year...</div><br></div><br></div><br></div><br></div><br></div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-11014323620744230322014-11-23T14:10:00.001+02:002014-11-23T14:10:19.123+02:00It is almost the end of the year...<div>We are in the last stretch of the year... Finally !! I am honestly running on fumes at the moment. This has been a long-ass year. I am tired, need to break away and drink beer for days on end while gazing at the ocean to clear my mind.</div><div><br></div><div>As always there are way too many things I planned to get done in the year that never got done. Luckily a few things got done and a few unexpected issues were handled along the way.</div><div><br></div><div>Achievement number one is actually just making it to the end of the year - we've managed to sort out some form of balance between raising a toddler, starting a small business and dealing with the aftermath of a huge company merger. Number two is that we are getting the hang of our brewery and it looks like we are building a good base to grow from. Number three is sorting out my responsibilities in my day job... Well, sort of, I think... in order to do what I am good at and love (designing structures) and less of what I hate (tedious admin and holding other people's hands because they do not have the balls to try things for themselves).</div><div><br></div><div>As always about this time of year I go into some form of reflective mode. Sometimes it is really a bit depressing. This time round a couple of things are weighing on me...</div><div>I am 35 and pretty sure there is no fucking way I will carry on with my current job until I reach retirement age. Somehow I need to figure out some kind of balance between work, hobbies, play, what I want to do and income. Seems like an impossible task!</div><div>Our country is in a mess! Our government is well on their way to run everything into the ground. The president is a thieving, uneducated, thug and an idiot. He has so much dirt on the other idiots in his party that they simply keeping protecting him. In addition to this there are too many people in our country doing jack-shit, living off welfare grants paid for by the dwindling number of taxpayers. Looking to start a life elsewhere is increasingly in the back of my mind.</div><div>The private sector in SA is taking strain. It increasingly looks like even our yearly salary adjustments are in jeopardy and any chance of bonuses being paid are looking seriously slim.... Despite the fact that our department was super profitable and made 3.7x our targets. All thanks to other fuckers who cocked up. Too top it all workers in the public sector are demanding increases in the order of double the inflation rate! Ridiculous! </div><div><br></div><div>It may sound like I feel like giving up, but giving up is not an option... We'll just have to keep our heads down and grind on. Adversity is always the breeding ground for new things. Often quite rewarding too... To do this some sort of plan or goals are required. Not having a plan or some goals is the most effective way of failing.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggshWp7E_fuDUXKDosBD6Clr5yKe_Ez28c6Jp0pzqcvT_OJPTm2umJWpRa_9tJFd8oZSzuNrlaE7gJpiIMnFHiwTLLVYpC-S5pFUGkS2UjKp9miwOzi0EwsKhyIU7knGZrM_AovpKs_YE/s640/blogger-image--1139059289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggshWp7E_fuDUXKDosBD6Clr5yKe_Ez28c6Jp0pzqcvT_OJPTm2umJWpRa_9tJFd8oZSzuNrlaE7gJpiIMnFHiwTLLVYpC-S5pFUGkS2UjKp9miwOzi0EwsKhyIU7knGZrM_AovpKs_YE/s640/blogger-image--1139059289.jpg"></a></div></div></div><div><br></div><div>Even though it is probably a little early for jotting down New Year's Resolutions the following things I need to get sorted:</div><div><br></div><div>I need to get fit again... Mountain biking, trail running, jogging, whatever. No more time for excuses!</div><div><br></div><div>We need to expand our brewery seriously. We either do it properly or call it quits now. Half-assing anything never works.</div><div><br></div><div>I need to figure out my day job. Either I am where I want to be when I reach 40 or the brewery needs to become my day job.</div><div><br></div><div>I need to spend more time on my personal life and less time on my office life.</div><div><br></div><div>My bike will be customized and ridden more...</div><div><br></div><div>We need to find another old car to restore or turn into a bad-ass hotrod.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_AtwjSsiNkgDB7EaSg4H824E2ZqB7_2w8nn_RLFCtZwditl5Z1b1FpI_4bqX8N0LeD95frrRoL63Gbi2ih_zYUQwBLAQa5KXgHccmg_3n8u_DgcUdleEM5TUGVni4C4wrxoaHuFsC7X8/s640/blogger-image-730632332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_AtwjSsiNkgDB7EaSg4H824E2ZqB7_2w8nn_RLFCtZwditl5Z1b1FpI_4bqX8N0LeD95frrRoL63Gbi2ih_zYUQwBLAQa5KXgHccmg_3n8u_DgcUdleEM5TUGVni4C4wrxoaHuFsC7X8/s640/blogger-image-730632332.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-2534813182321645622014-10-30T23:15:00.001+02:002014-10-30T23:15:31.486+02:00Taking Ownership....This will be the first time that a post is not beer related... Well, at least not directly.<div><br></div><div>This week I've come to some sort of realisation.</div><div>There are some basic principles that apply in life and to some extent they determine how you progress in your career and life in general.</div><div><br></div><div>In my normal day job I am part of the construction industry. Projects are complex, stop-start, subject to crazy deadlines and in general quite tricky. Projects take forever to get off the ground... To finish them takes even longer. Some people work quite sucessfully on projects and complete them acceptably. The difference comes in the following: There are people who "own" their projects while others just take care of them. The former ensures that everything is done correct and as good as humanly possible no matter what happens... Even if they are tied up with other work, out of the office / country, on leave or start their second shift at 10pm after putting the kids to bed. The latter just makes sure things run smoothly and they do their job while they are there and within normal working hours... And maybe a bit more than normal working hours... But just a little bit. When they cannot be there the project simply becomes somebody else's responsibility to handle.</div><div><br></div><div>Some people never take initiative to figure things out for themselves. The moment they feel unsure or find themselves in unfamiliar territory they freeze and others have to assist. I am not like that... Sometimes you just have to say "Fuck it !! What is the worst than can happen...!?!" And just figure it out by trial and error.</div><div><br></div><div>People who get somewhere in life see the opportunity in any situation, no matter how dire. Others just bitch and get grumpy because "other people get all the opportunities".</div><div>Guess what... To some extent getting ahead in life is thanks to a fair amount of luck, but mostly it is because of seeing things differently and creating opportunities for yourself.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-80058098014650468572014-10-22T06:14:00.001+02:002014-10-22T06:14:34.392+02:00Craft Beer in Cans - Looking GOOD in the UK<div>In May of last year, Camden Town Brewery became the first “microcanner” in England. The brewery cans its own Hells Lager and two beers it brews for the Byron Hamburgers eateries. This autumn it will can two more beers. The beers are canned on Cask’s automatic five-head filler & seamer machine.</div><div><br></div><div>This summer two more London craft brewers -- Fourpure Brewing and Beavertown Brewery -- each purchased Cask equipment and joined the UK microcanning movement. Fourpure is the first UK craft brewer to shift from bottles to cans for its core beers, while Beavertown and Camden Town include cans among their bottled offerings.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDcM5snnZHRBaCoAR0ZzymzYHxRUskfEhvKko4qErWz1oiXV-n-UkIrgHvKG0ypA-_cbX4AVAUB6QRsD8DlRltl-FWhGoI2B59ggamsaHE6Ev3XdBrH9T-rxxndDOaRcAWBpVIRsnF34/s640/blogger-image--915184250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDcM5snnZHRBaCoAR0ZzymzYHxRUskfEhvKko4qErWz1oiXV-n-UkIrgHvKG0ypA-_cbX4AVAUB6QRsD8DlRltl-FWhGoI2B59ggamsaHE6Ev3XdBrH9T-rxxndDOaRcAWBpVIRsnF34/s640/blogger-image--915184250.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Fourpure’s can sales have far surpassed its 2013 bottled sales. “In our first month,” brewery co-founder Daniel Lowe says, “our cans doubled our historic bottle sales. The second month they quadrupled them.”</div><div><br></div><div>Logan Plant, founder of Beavertown, says his bottle use is waning. “I’m looking to push bottles out but for a few specialty beers,” Plant says. “The acceptance of our cans has been amazing. We started up our Cask canning line in May and cans have already become 65% of our sales, while bottles are just 7%.” </div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjslhhpGreDfOJDHUMP47Jt6b1SokD058nTAgqOyiP7BFt3mfW3-skS3AY8ZUL3K9ElCqiTf4Sy5yhV-vccarIMSGcEwgPzSPbt94IyTa4HQ-Os4FvUTTdBYVm-gr3JunX1X8v79-LoWE/s640/blogger-image-1050767427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjslhhpGreDfOJDHUMP47Jt6b1SokD058nTAgqOyiP7BFt3mfW3-skS3AY8ZUL3K9ElCqiTf4Sy5yhV-vccarIMSGcEwgPzSPbt94IyTa4HQ-Os4FvUTTdBYVm-gr3JunX1X8v79-LoWE/s640/blogger-image-1050767427.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Current sales data (from IRI) shows that US sixpack and twelve pack sales of canned craft beers for 2014 are up 89% and 79% respectively, compared to 16% growth of bottled sixpacks and twelve packs.</div><div><br></div><div>Canned craft beer is the hottest craft beer package in North America. This segment is just beginning in England, but it’s starting out much faster than it did in the US.</div><div><br></div><div>Craft canned beer makers and consumers appreciate the benefits of cans. Cans provide complete protection from light and oxygen, a fresh beer’s biggest enemies. Cans are also highly portable, welcome in places bottles are not, and easily and infinitely recyclable. </div><div><br></div><div>Plant says his richly flavored canned craft beers benefit from the freshness-keeping power of aluminum cans. “We use a lot of US hops in our beers,” he says, “with those big resiny and tropical flavors. The only way to look after them is to shove them in a can. I don’t think a bottle is up to the task.”</div><div><br></div><div>Those can benefits and others (including reduced shipping & fuel costs due to their light weight) have fueled the massive rise of American canned craft beer.</div><div><br></div><div>According to the Brewers Association (the US trade group for craft brewers), over 10% of the US’s nearly 3000 small and independent craft brewers are canning all or some of their beers. A US website, CraftCans.com, lists about 1500 canned craft beers from 418 US craft breweries, in a wide array of different beer styles. </div><div><br></div><div>UK beer lovers seem open to the idea of small-batch canned beer. “We meet naysayers,” says Camden Town founder Jasper Cuppiadge, “who prefer the bottle. But once they find out that small breweries are canning, it totally changes the way they think about canned beer.” </div><div><br></div><div>Plant says there’s a stigma in the UK that “cheap, mass-produced beer comes in cans. So we need to educate people. We’re all on a mission,” Plant adds, “to make great beer and push it forward. Cans are the package for doing that. They are the best for keeping beer fresh and full of all of its flavor and life.”</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ZNpExpYEStCAR6MgYbnD59JujSe630nSCZgt9_sACakSmMmXVTtSVlLNo3m0o0qn4ogTazmuVsFWZhSnrOJ3di7IjRDac7KnU3BdzNFkjiNU15bJMRcZfSO5XmABKYaEQxgB34WRDdY/s640/blogger-image-2094851010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ZNpExpYEStCAR6MgYbnD59JujSe630nSCZgt9_sACakSmMmXVTtSVlLNo3m0o0qn4ogTazmuVsFWZhSnrOJ3di7IjRDac7KnU3BdzNFkjiNU15bJMRcZfSO5XmABKYaEQxgB34WRDdY/s640/blogger-image-2094851010.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>(Post text from Cask Canning Newsletter)</div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-83260996207836520692014-09-16T22:01:00.001+02:002014-09-16T22:01:05.300+02:00Not quite sure about this one from SABMiller<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUgJCk7l6Y8ep2RIMg90HBEIvL1l52-D0ipYy_4fjeDOBir7LH3ZowSs4aoEZIdSHlJ-DbaNPoQzEWS5iiohosHDg1h7s6_8MiMoozZuZLSJWkj_au2AJg5K9-BT2ndBbfrS0-nSPL3Ho/s640/blogger-image-2082081881.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUgJCk7l6Y8ep2RIMg90HBEIvL1l52-D0ipYy_4fjeDOBir7LH3ZowSs4aoEZIdSHlJ-DbaNPoQzEWS5iiohosHDg1h7s6_8MiMoozZuZLSJWkj_au2AJg5K9-BT2ndBbfrS0-nSPL3Ho/s640/blogger-image-2082081881.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGwvv2BhIVe0YdQ6jpatvYIJ8AKA3h9-6xLh9ThDLNhwhL0LnRfjwhhgppNW6BTp_zsfzaWL2nkFFR52Hfbvf8tLg_1av7yB8P6VFMkC1bVgUzi6pPtqyWmG6PG9GvHGMB_A0SV9ELHlE/s640/blogger-image--1500589204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGwvv2BhIVe0YdQ6jpatvYIJ8AKA3h9-6xLh9ThDLNhwhL0LnRfjwhhgppNW6BTp_zsfzaWL2nkFFR52Hfbvf8tLg_1av7yB8P6VFMkC1bVgUzi6pPtqyWmG6PG9GvHGMB_A0SV9ELHlE/s640/blogger-image--1500589204.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihtt7oXzb-2p546ksT3S42BwS_uS92UivumfgLRYYcyxK64fYuG-pxXOraU78Hmg2ktXF8xun6DKrLkBYmlQTGqrJE_2SMIVQhm9IR9tMpUhSH6FDjL-my4bcD7GdF6-UCdOGcSqK0CVc/s640/blogger-image--675842852.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihtt7oXzb-2p546ksT3S42BwS_uS92UivumfgLRYYcyxK64fYuG-pxXOraU78Hmg2ktXF8xun6DKrLkBYmlQTGqrJE_2SMIVQhm9IR9tMpUhSH6FDjL-my4bcD7GdF6-UCdOGcSqK0CVc/s640/blogger-image--675842852.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRzuScLboKyqfE6cpR1HLRxj4GFIOvujGk2TaMEh5j_oCmCZcP23gte07H2olAevQz3z_JGJAXutihynZVzkiiAgaOv5e9EgYpG8GiebvBzZTiTEDp1hbGM1xCZ2uYT5WTAHUX7sQaoC8/s640/blogger-image-1618186252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRzuScLboKyqfE6cpR1HLRxj4GFIOvujGk2TaMEh5j_oCmCZcP23gte07H2olAevQz3z_JGJAXutihynZVzkiiAgaOv5e9EgYpG8GiebvBzZTiTEDp1hbGM1xCZ2uYT5WTAHUX7sQaoC8/s640/blogger-image-1618186252.jpg"></a></div><br></div>About two year ago we attended a beer dinner hosted by SAB. The CEO at the time was Norman Adami. He was actually on stage promising that they will never compete with small brewers and that they would like to assist the small guys and grow the beer segment of the market for all.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I do not quite think this is in line with his promise. This smacks of pay-to-play, undercutting the small guys, etc.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">At least people who appreciate proper beer are not really brand loyal. If SAB converts fizzy yellow water drinkers to beers with a bit more character we all may end up winning a bit. Unfortunately their tactics will create a barrier to entry for many of the smaller breweries.</div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-58907956072185189442014-09-14T20:19:00.001+02:002014-09-15T13:47:27.764+02:00Lazy Sunday Afternoons... Planning, thinking, over-thinking<div>
Lazy Sunday afternoons are supposed to be fun. Quite frequently I end up day-dreaming, planning and running through different scenarios in my head. In many cases these scenarios involve setting up spreadsheets in order to plan, calculate and decipher the best way forward. Not quite the kind of fun I normally have in mind earlier on the weekend... Often it turns into a bit of a depressing thing really.</div>
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The one thing that remains heavy on my shoulders is to tackle our brewery upgrade the right way... As right as one can go... The risk of taking the wrong direction or going bust is simply part of starting and growing any business, I suppose.</div>
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Getting any business of the ground is no easy task. In fact running any business profitably is quite a challenge. Running more than one is a serious challenge.</div>
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Brewing is capital intensive and requires hefty investment up-front. It is not realistic to grow from generated income without substantial money injections. When starting small you simply do not have the advantages of critical mass...</div>
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Being able to buy raw ingredients and materials in bulk is what gives larger operations a considerable advantage. Larger orders can cut the cost of certain items by half or even to a fifth. In turn margins are much better and it is possible to pay off debt or provide some return on investment.</div>
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Where we stand now there are basically three options:</div>
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1. We increase capacity and production to grow the business</div>
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2. We carry on as is and break even at best</div>
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3. We quit (I don't like quitting, so this is not really an option)</div>
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At the moment it looks like we are going for Option 1.</div>
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The biggest question is... How big do we go?</div>
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Too small a system will mean that you may end up reaching full capacity way too soon. (In less than a year we have already doubled production) When using a small system it is possible to churn out a vast quantity of beer, but it will mean that it needs to run 4 to 6 times a day and you will end up working yourself and/or your staff into the ground.</div>
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Too big a system and the initial capital outlay will be prohibitive. The bigger the system the more expensive the equipment; the bigger the electrical capacity required; the more intricate the fermentation control; the bigger the cooling capacity needed; the more expensive the bottling solution; and the more staff you need.</div>
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Where is the middle ground...? Not too big and not too small. And hopefully only a couple of staff members to worry about.</div>
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I am of the opinion any brew-house with a capacity below 300L per batch is too small. A brew-house of around 700-1000L in capacity is probably too big... So it looks like the 500-700L system size range is the middle ground.</div>
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At around 600L it is possible to churn out a considerable amount of beer while still brewing yourself. Our current fermentation concept will still work and with a bit of tweaking we can make our packaging process work too. All in all we should be able to produce more beer with less effort for a while.</div>
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This size system would also work if you were to employ a few people to brew and package beer in normal hours. For the foreseeable future we will probably still run the show as an after hours gig. Before handing over some of the brewing to paid staff we will most probably employ people to run the packaging, cleaning, preparation and other smaller administrative tasks first.</div>
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Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-31300204997175892092014-08-30T13:24:00.001+02:002014-08-30T13:24:14.319+02:00How to treat bottle conditioned beer<div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Let us take a step back first... What is bottle conditioned beer? Unlike the majority of ordinary bottled beers, bottle conditioned beers are a live product, bottled with a small amount of yeast that provides additional fermentation and maturation whilst in the bottle, leading to a much deeper character and flavour, and a natural, soft carbonation, rather than the forced carbonation used on soft drinks and ‘bright’ bottled beers.</span></div><div><br></div><div>Whilst treating the bottle with care in order to avoid a cloudy glass of beer when pouring, the yeast is nothing to fear: in fact, it features many health benefits — it is a rich source of B-complex vitamins, protein, and minerals such as chromium. “German doctors used to prescribe bottle-conditioned wheat beer to patients with vitamin deficiencies.” As a probiotic organism, yeast helps your body break down nutrients, regulates your digestive system, maintains your nervous system, and even helps modulate blood-sugar levels.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUJJd0ZbVcQ4CPjDYyWnePOmAx2JUP2r_h7sEjgGXpRBZSxxVsKzD6qZk9hYU4TgrQYZa0H6bcJz8thmSKsruU9bK_d-YqZxZpBJGj_4iDu2N5uLWiijlwbqFBFzRUflWAZf_RBm0ume8/s640/blogger-image--1705812260.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUJJd0ZbVcQ4CPjDYyWnePOmAx2JUP2r_h7sEjgGXpRBZSxxVsKzD6qZk9hYU4TgrQYZa0H6bcJz8thmSKsruU9bK_d-YqZxZpBJGj_4iDu2N5uLWiijlwbqFBFzRUflWAZf_RBm0ume8/s640/blogger-image--1705812260.jpg"></a></div><br></div></div></div><div>How to store and care for your bottle conditioned beer:</div><div><br></div><div>In order to enjoy your bottle conditioned ale, we recommend the following steps:</div><div><br></div><div>Always store and transport your bottles upright, with the cap facing up. Never store bottles on their sides.</div><div><br></div><div>When bottles have been transported they really need some standing time to allow the yeast to settle ou again.</div><div><br></div><div>Store bottles in a cool place away from direct sunlight. Around 12 degrees Celsius is the optimum temperature for storing (and also for serving in many cases).</div><div><br></div><div>Allow the sediment to settle before serving if it is visibly ‘floating’ or has caused an otherwise clear beer to become cloudy.</div><div><br></div><div>Pour your beer smoothly into a glass, not allowing it to ‘glug’ out, otherwise the yeast will become disturbed.</div><div><br></div><div>When pouring keep an eye on the trub. As soon as it creeps into the neck of the bottle, stop pouring... Unless you would like to pour some of the yeast into your glass.</div><div><br></div><div>By following these simple steps (especially the last) the quality of bottle conditioned beer will speak for itself.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ_J4oiLcEDM-gseEEnqptMp4UcpTt2g0aq4IBwK72MVji9nWP2id551K9ysCfOLE_QOCueLBwnPBUUNUdBbkDOl1R_HiUrF1JodCuH1wMhIQOjzQ8lqqxgDEHkhxPL82HgdGUJS0i828/s640/blogger-image-420649456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ_J4oiLcEDM-gseEEnqptMp4UcpTt2g0aq4IBwK72MVji9nWP2id551K9ysCfOLE_QOCueLBwnPBUUNUdBbkDOl1R_HiUrF1JodCuH1wMhIQOjzQ8lqqxgDEHkhxPL82HgdGUJS0i828/s640/blogger-image-420649456.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>In terms of storage temperatures, the following should be noted:</div><div><br></div><div>So what happens if it is kept at the wrong temperature?</div><div>If it is stored for too long under temperatures that are too COLD, the flavour will be compromised and the beer will become cloudy and flat as the low temperature slows or stops the fermentation process.</div><div><br></div><div>If it is stored in conditions that are too WARM, the yeast goes into overdrive and not only will it consume all the sugars and shorten the life of the beer, but the beer will over-carbonate and will ‘gush’ (foam over) when opened as a result.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9d0uhstZWUEZng6xl76Cr0EM7zXBPMuXGSLIw-PXx5jRBDplZo5rE0yj44FmqD3fUN5PWjWJVfwv5d7oB3eayXVizNQzMWukxI3i8yu8PfEWtxSqQuEJQ_BIhX1BSqnmcz9dOqGhfjs/s640/blogger-image-6488569.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9d0uhstZWUEZng6xl76Cr0EM7zXBPMuXGSLIw-PXx5jRBDplZo5rE0yj44FmqD3fUN5PWjWJVfwv5d7oB3eayXVizNQzMWukxI3i8yu8PfEWtxSqQuEJQ_BIhX1BSqnmcz9dOqGhfjs/s640/blogger-image-6488569.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-25655236501391843572014-08-09T16:06:00.001+02:002014-08-09T16:07:33.828+02:00Lazy Saturday afternoon on the sofa ramblings....It's been a while since I wrote something... Guess it is better to just jump in and put together a couple of thoughts.<div><br></div><div>Ah well, let me write about the obvious... Brewing and beer.</div><div><br></div><div>Running a brewery as a sideline is no easy task. It is a balancing act of note... Day job, family life, friends, me-time, admin, logistics, marketing, sales, planning, strategy, brewing, bottling, orders, finances, excise duties, dealing with the authorities, etc. Most weeks I wish there were eight or nine days instead of 7 and that weekends were at least 3 days... Not to rest, but to get extra time for brewing & bottling.</div><div><br></div><div>So far it has been going great. The beer is getting better & better and we are getting great feedback. The one thing we have realized is that a serious upgrade is inevitable and will have to happen in the near future. With the upgrade we will have a tsunami of new obstacles to deal with... Logistics and time management (and possibly additional staff) will be at least an order of magnitude more tricky to deal with. Somehow we will just get through it...</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdyToDXiX17vZirFKSMUbMxR5yYXKHgLJuM0xpbGxpA7mkCy2kJ5CU6dVsuplP89DNEbIs28hrrhoVSOyHUFAAcZbaOSTKnYyyIO27G6yQHlZCR_asdV7IDWvAr6SDtyXB94u126j5_r8/s640/blogger-image-1247260047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdyToDXiX17vZirFKSMUbMxR5yYXKHgLJuM0xpbGxpA7mkCy2kJ5CU6dVsuplP89DNEbIs28hrrhoVSOyHUFAAcZbaOSTKnYyyIO27G6yQHlZCR_asdV7IDWvAr6SDtyXB94u126j5_r8/s640/blogger-image-1247260047.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Not to get ahead of myself... But I reckon we will have to increase our production tenfold within the first two years of being in operation. (We are only nearing the end of year 1 now and we have more than doubled production already) Crazy actually. In order to do this we will build a scalable and robust brewery with our upgrade with one key basic design characteristic: It is not the size of your brewhouse that matters that much, it matters how many batches it can churn out in a shift. This basic concept is something quite a number of new breweries fail to grasp. (In case this does not make sense to you... Buy yourself an early Christmas gift: "<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><i>Beyond the Pale: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.</i>"</span></div><div> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Pale-Sierra-Nevada-Brewing/dp/1118007360" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Pale-Sierra-Nevada-Brewing/dp/1118007360</a> )</div><div><br></div><div>One of the main advantages is that beer consistency improves since you get an averaging effect filling large fermenters with multiple brews. The other main advantage is that you have more flexibility (something we like a lot) by being able to make quite a few different beers in a single shift if you would like to. If your system is badly designed and you can run only one brew in a 8 hour day, you are really up shit creek without a paddle...</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdU7Uu7Wsaii02nqIW-W109aDCKRG1rA3hBLFe4swXnHgVTRHEJ5Qpe9BvhHmHxOUrKwVjEPcaHfGDufWaOIFZr9GndYFXTthnUhw4OZfhUyoXQRqnLWnUfWjjJrwcenyeWv7SCFhknws/s640/blogger-image--404994155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdU7Uu7Wsaii02nqIW-W109aDCKRG1rA3hBLFe4swXnHgVTRHEJ5Qpe9BvhHmHxOUrKwVjEPcaHfGDufWaOIFZr9GndYFXTthnUhw4OZfhUyoXQRqnLWnUfWjjJrwcenyeWv7SCFhknws/s640/blogger-image--404994155.jpg"></a></div><br></div></div>I guess a few are wondering... Will Gallows Hill keep bottling conditioning when they upgrade? Well, does The Kernel Brewery, Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn Brewery, Dogfish Head, Hill Farmstead, etc. still bottle condition... Yeah they do! And most probably so will we. Pretty sure the technique will be refined further, but for now we are keeping with the small batch, artisinal approach regardless of some people trying to advocate for the demise of bottle conditioning.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">On that note... A future post on the correct treatment - transport, storage and pouring - of bottle conditioned beers seems like something we must tackle.</div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-52542377896810968822014-03-13T21:27:00.001+02:002014-03-13T21:27:25.557+02:00Doing the right thing... In terms of beer packaging<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKN2Jein4DTNPJUUOTshdi7O295CCiRcL6jhZDQ8V_pKWy3PzZpVR36YeNJLIUjqUnKM3vntVqQIHT9uwECgdCWc4jAzF5esQ3e44ACrRP_E7DdYb5ueLfPpVx7FFVG-4JT3lYim3zf0/s640/blogger-image--1373819364.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKN2Jein4DTNPJUUOTshdi7O295CCiRcL6jhZDQ8V_pKWy3PzZpVR36YeNJLIUjqUnKM3vntVqQIHT9uwECgdCWc4jAzF5esQ3e44ACrRP_E7DdYb5ueLfPpVx7FFVG-4JT3lYim3zf0/s640/blogger-image--1373819364.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>With craft beer being a growing market segment I have noticed that quite a number of new players are not abiding by the rules. As a start I do not quite agree with all the rules, but not agreeing with them does not mean one can simply ignore them.</div><div>The problem with a few bad apples in the industry is that they end up irking the authorities and it results in more hassles for those who play by the rules from the start.</div><div><br></div><div><b><i>The next time you pick up a few small batch beers have a look at the packaging...</i></b></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6eU84PW4YOlDSjO4mQKABWW-cmVhmsqmuJlUwu0iSDGyvwet3htLFufApMB9vHgaXR4vcNbalGNpculLw_2iOMB8fKu_a48yI8gZeVYdx8ipYuIfJZmhyHgI-1WSC-FVFWZWoghSNabs/s640/blogger-image-1927550054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6eU84PW4YOlDSjO4mQKABWW-cmVhmsqmuJlUwu0iSDGyvwet3htLFufApMB9vHgaXR4vcNbalGNpculLw_2iOMB8fKu_a48yI8gZeVYdx8ipYuIfJZmhyHgI-1WSC-FVFWZWoghSNabs/s640/blogger-image-1927550054.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Does the brewery state their name and address? Can you actually determine who manufactures the beer? An actual address is required... Just a website does not count.</div><div>(And by the way... If you buy small batch beer should you not be more interested in who actually brews the beer you are spending good money on? Who do you prefer to support... The guys who experiment and craft good beers themselves or the people who bought a recipe and get someone else to brew the beer?)</div><div><br></div><div>Is there a warning portion with black text on a white / light background covering at least an eighth (as far as I can remember that is the required fraction) of the label portion in question?</div><div><br></div><div>Can you spot a disclaimer stating that the beverage cannot be sold to people younger than 18?</div><div><br></div><div>Is the bottle volume indicated in a font size not smaller than 4mm?</div><div><br></div><div>Is the alcohol content and main ingredients visible in letters no smaller than 1.5mm if it is a 330ml bottle or 2mm if it is a 440mml/500ml/550ml bottle?</div><div><br></div><div>Does the brewer claim the contents is organic or gluten free without providing some form of certification standard they adhere to?</div><div><br></div><div>Is the beer spiked / infused with some kind of spirit?</div><div><br></div><div>If you answer <b>YES</b> to any of the questions above the packaging and/or contents is not compliant with the rules and regulations.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSWOzr9K_fO51NtbyDZ3pWxtI48xGoTa3wnozvCigWMi4g64i2TzNeGu6ptRDRa-PbtmBHQO7c5MtxFrocGuRed-Zf6ugPtFuaOrpKvI6fLX7Gt68G4Hze3DOfRn-3ZBdbltAqaXQan6s/s640/blogger-image--1861629525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSWOzr9K_fO51NtbyDZ3pWxtI48xGoTa3wnozvCigWMi4g64i2TzNeGu6ptRDRa-PbtmBHQO7c5MtxFrocGuRed-Zf6ugPtFuaOrpKvI6fLX7Gt68G4Hze3DOfRn-3ZBdbltAqaXQan6s/s640/blogger-image--1861629525.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">(All images from <a href="http://www.ohbeautifulbeer.com/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">http://www.ohbeautifulbeer.com/</a> )</div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-64226979534372387782014-03-02T09:25:00.001+02:002014-03-02T12:28:29.965+02:00Sunday Afternoon Nostalgia - 2013 London Trip - The Kernel Brewery<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The one thing I struggle with is to properly capture adventures. As soon as you get back from a trip normal life takes over way too quickly. Cameras with nearly full memory chips and semi legible notebooks are quickly packed into a cupboard, forgotten and only discovered many months later...</span><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In most cases I never get around to attempt documenting the adventure they contain.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">With some spare time on hand and some Sunday afternoon nostalgia I guess, now is as good a time as any...</span></div><div><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></b></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">My brother had quite a stroke of luck and was "forced" to take four weeks off work, otherwise he would have lost some of his leave. They were already planning a trip to Europe so we decided to extend the trip a bit; join up in London and have a week of sight seeing, museums and as many pubs + breweries as we could fit in. It was destined to be a fun trip... We haven't been on holiday together for almost 10 years.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Off the plane it was me vs. the London Transport system. Parts of the Piccadilly line serving Heathrow was down for track replacement and I has to navigate the bus system to get to Shepherds Bush... Not a difficult process, but quite time consuming and cutting into our "beer research" time. I dropped off my bags and we were on our way to brewery number one via the <b>Maltby Street Market</b>.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As always Maltby Street is a very cool place to hang out... Loads of stalls with food, pastries, coffee, beer, gin, cocktails, antiques, fresh produce, and much more. Sadly Maltby Street has become a bit too hipster. Quite a few of the places that started it have moved to other railway arches. To some extent the flair of small producers having a market day on Saturdays is gone. I think the biggest loss for the market is that <b>The Kernel Brewery</b> moved to a set of arches a few blocks away. Quite a number of Maltby Street tenants followed them. </span></div></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">The Kernel Brewery</b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> is by far my favourite brewery in London... and one of my favourites in the world.</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge1GZiIVvkzTvxPzVyBdm9f28fb4Ulsb69IQBLFFILMhdcMFT0aKU456DHaQRVmS08PU9V-ZCtyew-X_hTzu7WvUtZCH5BV8pUzEQbiAkgyfVOiyI3mLLT7zAitR4Zq_OO4ldY0YmkNLI/s640/blogger-image--964565274.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge1GZiIVvkzTvxPzVyBdm9f28fb4Ulsb69IQBLFFILMhdcMFT0aKU456DHaQRVmS08PU9V-ZCtyew-X_hTzu7WvUtZCH5BV8pUzEQbiAkgyfVOiyI3mLLT7zAitR4Zq_OO4ldY0YmkNLI/s640/blogger-image--964565274.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>The Kernel Brewery</b> was founded in September 2009 by <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Evin O’Riordain. From Irish decent and with an education in English and Russian literature, he is not your typical brewer. He has</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"> a different approach to brewing beer. High quality, hop forward and interesting beers are what you can expect from them. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">The beers aim to showcase the characteristcs of the hops. Some of the beers can a bit on the "acquired taste" side of the scale if you are a normal commercial beer drinker, especially when they are single hop beers with using very distinct or very new hop varieties.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"> Their beers constantly evolve and change. Evin's stance on brewing is pretty much summed up as follows: </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">"I’ll never achieve perfection, there are always things you can change.”</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_87DWnKf_EOzAhMFr6mpfETuZ2UHCz50m_yr9MdLZKapyKXTTmwqySm-_Q1ppMs7U9jgSqNzsqQfHg3MccWTyssUPGpAy5T7TpaZvEZfXZysL-bX7GoczQlSd01b2PdLgC1WW9-brpNU/s640/blogger-image--386013677.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_87DWnKf_EOzAhMFr6mpfETuZ2UHCz50m_yr9MdLZKapyKXTTmwqySm-_Q1ppMs7U9jgSqNzsqQfHg3MccWTyssUPGpAy5T7TpaZvEZfXZysL-bX7GoczQlSd01b2PdLgC1WW9-brpNU/s640/blogger-image--386013677.jpg"></a></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">The brewery is very community focussed. Market days on Saturdays are pretty special. From early mornings people shuffle through the brewery & makeshift tap room to stock up on small batch beers for the weekend & week ahead or simply to stop for a pint or two while eating something bought from the charcuterie or bakery next door.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7aCtDquUHXwiIXZy1JOtOOqiWPFpkQtsjkP0q8lsVPrnSMvPlA0fRkwp-A0yaU7WMxYHTLL2nOHO36kzHijYWxQJfu71b7KcV-YMGkaamjYxagZgN_LOXiihDj4gO2V4BqGgJYsdWL-Y/s640/blogger-image--1631251007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7aCtDquUHXwiIXZy1JOtOOqiWPFpkQtsjkP0q8lsVPrnSMvPlA0fRkwp-A0yaU7WMxYHTLL2nOHO36kzHijYWxQJfu71b7KcV-YMGkaamjYxagZgN_LOXiihDj4gO2V4BqGgJYsdWL-Y/s640/blogger-image--1631251007.jpg"></a></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After a few tasters we hit the road to find <b>Partizan Brewing</b>. The search took longer than expected. We got a bit lost in South Bermondsey and must have walked past the nondescript rail arch housing the brewery a couple of times.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Partizan is one of the newer breweries in London. They took over the old Kernel brewing system and are cranking out very good beers. Unfortunately there were not many people at Partizan and no vibe to mention, so we tasted a few beers and headed back to The Kernel.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Within the hour that we were gone the tasting area at The Kernel filled up with beer fans... With some charcuterie & bread from the neighbouring arches we settled down and started to really enjoy the beers... Great beer, good food & interesting company...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg359yWtJwfJ2DrXzCoI9f9Dd5gj9C6luWsg9_krrP3ODJRtkulG36p-RyY_gApUv9mTUzHvYfVRVEViexjllSXd4gRzqDDUdPD8ezKK_TMMfGn91VT0qd4Hqz33GzjbDkmyRovOHfShRI/s640/blogger-image--2057470870.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg359yWtJwfJ2DrXzCoI9f9Dd5gj9C6luWsg9_krrP3ODJRtkulG36p-RyY_gApUv9mTUzHvYfVRVEViexjllSXd4gRzqDDUdPD8ezKK_TMMfGn91VT0qd4Hqz33GzjbDkmyRovOHfShRI/s640/blogger-image--2057470870.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Our tally for the day at The Kernel and Partizan:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Kernel - Export India Porter</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Kernel - Pale Ale Mosaic</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Kernel - IPA C.A.N.S</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Kernel - IPA Columbus</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Kernel - Pale Ale Nugget</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Kernel - S.C.A.N. Darkly (Black IPA)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Partizan - 9 Grain Porter</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Partizan - IPA Bobek Amarillo</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div></div><br></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-50070045492562298512014-02-16T14:05:00.001+02:002014-02-16T14:05:57.888+02:00Some thoughts on Bottle Conditioning<div>Recently there has been some debate regarding bottle conditioned beers in Cape Town. One of the local bloggers approached brewers with a couple of questions.</div><div><br></div><div>Here are our answers to them:</div><div><br></div><div><b>Do you bottle condition any/all of your beers?</b></div><div><br></div><div>Yes we bottle condition all of our beers are the moment, but we have our own way of doing it. I am pretty sure techniques vary from brewer to brewer & brewery to brewery. </div><div><br></div><div><b>What do you see as the pros and cons of bottle conditioning?</b></div><div><br></div><div>Let's start with the <b>cons</b>...</div><div>If you don't know what you are doing the results can be pretty awful.</div><div>The beer will probably not be crystal clear.</div><div>In many cases you will have consumers who do not know what to expect from a bottle conditioned beer and how to correctly treat bottle conditioned beer. People keep, handle & pour bottle conditioned beers incorrectly resulting in a beer ending up in the glass the way it was never intended.</div><div>If you have too much yeast in the bottles, stability issues, such as autolysis, and unwanted haze can be a problem.</div><div><br></div><div>Now for the <b>pros</b>...</div><div>Bottle conditioned beers are alive, unfiltered and unpasteurized. </div><div>When a beer is filtered, it passes through a membrane in order to remove excess particulates, yeast, and remaining trub that is less desired in the finished product. Filtering will also remove positive characteristics that contribute to aroma and flavor. Pasteurization is a common practice at larger breweries. When beer is pasteurized, it is heated to 60ºC for two to three minutes, which basically cooks to death any remaining bacteria or yeast. Finished beer can also be flash pasteurized, which means a 15 to 30 second hit of 74ºC heat that's thought to be a bit nicer to the beer, but it still kills it!</div><div>Bottle conditioning, when done properly, can result in beer with a finer + silky carbonation, much better head retention, more complex flavours, longer shelf life, and better aging ability than force carbonated beers.</div><div>Bottle conditioned beers change character as they age. Filtered to death, pasteurized beer is simply on a downhill path as soon as it leaves the brewery.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Are there any styles that you think should always be bottle conditioned and any styles that you would never dream of bottle conditioning?</b></div><div><br></div><div>It depends what you want out of a beer. If done correctly you can probably bottle condition anything. Some may say you can’t bottle condition lagers... I do not agree, some of the most interesting lagers we've ever tasted were cask conditioned lagers (for all practical purposes cask conditioning and bottle conditioning is the exact same thing).</div><div><br></div><div><b>Some people have said that a beer cannot be considered a craft beer if it hasn’t been bottle conditioned – any comment on this?</b></div><div><br></div><div>Personally I think that is complete crap...</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJFuxF3iezoDlfJHGLs_blUgl_JmMsNNvMVaL6CNBtuN-1ZSzMrIInDl4zxvnw8CinkOIOqZaVk5VzU01wtl7SH8gNUHN9DHAqNoQsqpLoLpVL_HL9VoTbHD2tEs7IBaMgzzfjoiJ5vNA/s640/blogger-image-597266352.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJFuxF3iezoDlfJHGLs_blUgl_JmMsNNvMVaL6CNBtuN-1ZSzMrIInDl4zxvnw8CinkOIOqZaVk5VzU01wtl7SH8gNUHN9DHAqNoQsqpLoLpVL_HL9VoTbHD2tEs7IBaMgzzfjoiJ5vNA/s640/blogger-image-597266352.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b>In addition to these questions and answers I have a few more random thoughts & comments:</b></div><div><br></div><div>Due to some issues with a few bottle conditioned beers a few commentators have proposed using force carbonation in Cornelius style kegs and using counter pressure bottlers or a Blichmann Beer Gun.</div><div>In theory this can work, but the following must be noted:</div><div>Carbonation without proper carbonation stones to dissolve the CO2 into the beer will most probably result in a distinctive soda-bite flavour in the beer.</div><div>Carbonation levels can vary between kegs if the carbonation setup is not properly thought through.</div><div>You still need a pretty big cooler to keep the beer at low temperatures to properly carbonate & transfer to bottles.</div><div>All the added steps present opportunities to oxidize and add bugs to the beer.</div><div>Bottling 100+ liter of carbonated beer with a single Blichmann Beer Gun or crude counter pressure filler is a royal pain in the ass.</div><div><br></div><div>In the UK cask conditioned and bottle conditioned beer is very common among small brewers. I would almost go as far as saying it is the norm. Just look at the list of breweries on http://www.londonbrewers.org/ only a hand full of the ones who offer bottled beers do not bottle condition. (The new London brewers have some of the best beers I have ever tried)</div><div><br></div><div>On mainland Europe many new breweries are following in the footsteps of UK, Belgian and US brewers. Consequently bottle conditioned beers from small producers are common.</div><div><br></div><div>In the USA it varies between force carbonation, bottle / fermenter / brite tank carbonation and hybrid methods. One of the hybrid methods is to cap fermenters / brite tanks to start building up pressure and naturally carbonate the beers. Once this process is complete the CO2 volumes are measured and the quantity of priming sugar and additional yeast is calculated to bring the beer to the desired carbonation level. With the priming sugar and new yeast added the cold, partially carbonated beer is bottled. </div><div><br></div><div>I think the decision by most small breweries to bottle condition beers come down to two things:</div><div>1. Since the majority of our new brewers come from a home brewing background it is a technique they are familiar with.</div><div>2. It is a matter of cost. Most new breweries start quite small. Pressure-rated vessels cost more than 50% more than non pressure-rated vessels. Small pressure-rated vessels are also not that freely available. Force carbonation in large vessels require proper glycol cooling systems to crash cool beer and to keep temperatures low for carbonation. Once carbonated you need proper bottling equipment... And proper bottling equipment can easily cost as much, if not more, than the brew house the small brewery can barely afford if they start up. All these costs add up, thus bottle conditioning may be the only viable option to get things going for many start-ups.</div><div><br></div><div>The bottom line with bottling condition is my opinion is: It works great. If you know what the results, characteristics and behavior of the beers will be and you treat the beers correctly it will taste far superior to filtered to death, bland, watery industrial lager!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-87972467280884805962014-02-01T21:59:00.001+02:002014-02-01T21:59:10.704+02:00Decisions, decisions, decisions...<div>When starting a brewery there are certain decisions you make and routes you take with your product that are made due to the fact that you have very little choice or limited resources to achieve your goal.</div><div><br></div><div>The first item we had to decide on was how we will be dealing with consistency... Making consistently good beer is a challenge we are willing to accept and we are trying our very best to keep it that way. However, to make the exact same beer well every time without any noticeable differences between batches is extremely difficult for any startup brewery. On the other hand isn't it just a little bit boring to make the same thing over and over and over.</div><div>We decided to embrace "inconsistency" and to make varying beers. If we make the same recipe again it will differ from the previous. To a large extent because we think we will never make the perfect beer. Perfection is something you always strive for, but will never achieve.</div><div><br></div><div>Having decided the concept the next group of decisions have to be in connection with ingredients. In general we do not really like South African hops. The majority of the local varieties do not suit what we want to brew at the moment. Local malts, although the choice is limited to a single type of pale malt and a black malt, are good to use if you have some basic knowledge of ingredients. Hops and any speciality malts we use are imports. Some say it is too expensive to import such a large portion of your raw ingredients. We do not agree... The bulk of your cost can actually attributed to packaging, capital costs and labour if you have to pay people to make your beer instead of doing all the hard work yourself.</div><div><br></div><div>The following major decisions were related to fermentation.</div><div>Firstly we decided against the use of plastic fermenters. Plastic scratches and cleaning them properly is a royal pain in the ass. We use stainless steel only. Even though it costs a little more.</div><div>Secondly we decided to control fermentation temperatures the way most small breweries in London do... By using the suitable fermenters in spaces kept at the right temperatures. To do this we have a temperature controlled fermentation room.</div><div>There are a couple of decisions many brewers struggle with...</div><div>When running small batches, do you need conical fermenters? Actually NO. Unless you want to drop a lot of cash of having them jacketed and using glycol cooling systems. Yeast trapped in the cones may be easier to get out eventually, but due to the pressure and heat they generate yeast autolysis and the accompanying off flavours are a real threat. With fairly wide, flat bottomed fermenters you do not have this problem. There are also quite a number of brewers who swear these flatter fermenters also work better for dry hopping.</div><div>Do you need vessels capable of handling pressure? NO... Open fermentation works fine.</div><div>Do you need secondary fermenters? NO... Cold crashing and proper conditioning can clear your beer damn well if done correctly.</div><div><br></div><div>Lately there seems to be a few people who frown upon bottle conditioned beers... Well, we decided to go this route. Tough shit! It works for us at the moment.</div><div>It is probably safe to assume that most of the newer breweries going this route have not perfected the technique yet... Hell, not even quite sure we have, but our bottle re-fermented beers taste way better than any keg carbonated beer we've ever made.</div><div>Bottle conditioned beers have finer bubbles with a more silky smooth mouthfeel.</div><div>Bottle conditioning scavenges any oxygen in the bottles resulting in a more stable product with a longer shelf life.</div><div>Due to the fact that the beers are bottled alive they also develop characteristics with age force carbonated beers cannot.</div><div>Bottle conditioning has an old world charm to it... And we are suckers for doing some things old school for the hell of it.</div><div>Furthermore, being similar to the carbonation process used for cask beer, bottle conditioned beer can be classified as Real Ale. Force carbonated beers can never be classified as Real Ale.</div><div>If breweries like The Kernel, Beavertown and even the monster Sierra Nevada can do it why should the technique be frowned upon?</div><div>(A common mistake new brewers make when force carbonating is doing it without proper carbonation stones. This results in a beer with a distinct carbonic acid taste.)</div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-70902000129700083642013-12-31T17:58:00.001+02:002013-12-31T17:58:03.384+02:00So many people...<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” ~ Jon Krakauer</span>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-18986582498294014332013-10-06T20:00:00.001+02:002013-10-06T20:02:50.968+02:00Good Service...Good service is most definitely not the easiest thing to find in South Africa.<div>In general the level of service offered by most South African businesses is pretty shocking. I would say in most cases it is due to incompetent sales staff and employees.</div><div><br></div><div>Over the last couple of weeks we have been trying to get some printing done for our upcoming beers. The requests we had were pretty simple... We required a quote for the following: two types of vinyl labels, one type of paper labels with a few variations in the graphics and the die cutter for the paper labels to get the desired shaped... Guess what... One month later and we are back at square one.</div><div>None of the quotes we got so far listed the items correctly or in the breakdown we required. Most of the times the quotes took days or weeks just to get to us.</div><div>Ah well... We will just go elsewhere. There are many other printing companies in town, but if anybody asks for advice when it comes to printing, one printing shop will never see anyone sent to them by our team.</div><div><br></div><div>At least I have something good to say as well this round... One of the other companies we are dealing with is simply superb... They are the guys who print our bottles. A couple of emails, one meeting, a quick inspection when the printing started and the printing was done... They will most definitely see a lot of work from us in the future.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguzPsjcmNQXh_l6DgkRaQKHFpfHSdrurXdH2v3Yqh-ym2eKqz9KUyKPdLPeYyA4hG9yy8BF5eYrfyoTaHrpTVlI61P8eHGy161xKMd-dVPEKFjHUUhyphenhyphenfKVRrwBKMf2Pi1r5_K7LnvFUk0/s640/blogger-image-398308177.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguzPsjcmNQXh_l6DgkRaQKHFpfHSdrurXdH2v3Yqh-ym2eKqz9KUyKPdLPeYyA4hG9yy8BF5eYrfyoTaHrpTVlI61P8eHGy161xKMd-dVPEKFjHUUhyphenhyphenfKVRrwBKMf2Pi1r5_K7LnvFUk0/s640/blogger-image-398308177.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-19006388030468592342013-09-11T08:55:00.001+02:002013-09-11T08:55:42.573+02:00I guess slow is usually better....<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I guess taking things slow is generally the best approach. Well, at least, that is our approach for setting up Gallows Hill Brewing Co.</div></div><div><br></div><div>Taking it slow is not only due to the desire to ensure that we do it once only and correct, but also due to the fact that we are juggling day jobs while going through the motions and red tape to set up a small business. Furthermore, we are taking it slow because it is the way we want to do it.</div><div><br></div><div>Setting up a small business, especially a liquor manufacturer & seller, is no easy task. Obtaining liquor licenses for the manufacture and sale is a seriously dragged out and painful process. More detail on this will follow in an upcoming post. In the mean time let's just say the authorities are not going out of their way to assist & promote the creation of small businesses. We are dealing with a case of a lot of talking at the top and very little actually happening on the ground.</div><div><br></div><div>Once licensing is in place you have to deal with the South African Revenue Service. If you find the correct person to help you, the whole process is not too painful. There are some issues SARS can work on. Firstly they promote the use of brokers and their entire setup is structured in such a way that you need to pay a third party to help you. Why? My only guess is that they are lazy and like to create unwarranted jobs for their friends and ex colleagues. The second issue they need to work on is "registration packages".... Let me explain: Instead of simply walking in and saying: "Hey. We are starting a brewery / winery / distillery and would like to set up all our tax issues, can you help?" and getting a reply: "Certainly, please fill in forms A, C, D & Z" you have to go through an iterative process. You complete the one step only to find out you should have registered for something else first upon completion... Is it so bloody difficult to set up a more structured approach?</div><div>They can certainly learn a lot from our major retail banks.</div><div><br></div><div>I am glad to say that all these issues should be concluded by the end of today...</div><div><br></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Our bottles are being printed towards the end of the week and if all goes well some of our labels will also be done. All that we are left with then is brewing, experimenting, testing, more brewing and slowly getting bottled beer on the liquor store shelves.</span></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMQijDEK_lmyTfyQxe6fBzOhEfGbtwWuGVg9i-c39aRaE8kgTRDxpxKceBfJhEIbpNa2xA563eiuej6rUBs17ritLIPiczkEHhpCSkzYzpbOLxwYH050d69Ct9_pSU5gu-X1cqORJkJcQ/s640/blogger-image-1867461150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMQijDEK_lmyTfyQxe6fBzOhEfGbtwWuGVg9i-c39aRaE8kgTRDxpxKceBfJhEIbpNa2xA563eiuej6rUBs17ritLIPiczkEHhpCSkzYzpbOLxwYH050d69Ct9_pSU5gu-X1cqORJkJcQ/s640/blogger-image-1867461150.jpg"></a></div></div><div><br></div><div>As soon as production, sales and our processes become more stable and refined we will get going on the design and procurement of our proper big-boy brewhouse...</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2TEZg1Y9yhKcMOkUTQeC5WGAzdNuAvhUTo6QyZFTfY_A7ICyPiFHBgZyPNXzXFG_sou93w2A-J9eyOdYwTC6tPE_8I9aUNciWw62-0paMdqLXeLFKcLEodlntl7tSKs0qqWSsNqZAAR4/s640/blogger-image--2041517427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2TEZg1Y9yhKcMOkUTQeC5WGAzdNuAvhUTo6QyZFTfY_A7ICyPiFHBgZyPNXzXFG_sou93w2A-J9eyOdYwTC6tPE_8I9aUNciWw62-0paMdqLXeLFKcLEodlntl7tSKs0qqWSsNqZAAR4/s640/blogger-image--2041517427.jpg"></a></div></div><div><br></div><div>When I get my day job under control again we will tackle construction in the taproom. Personally I am looking forward to have it up and running. Talking & selling beer directly to customers over weekends is always enjoyable.</div><div><br></div><div> </div><div><div><br></div><div>PS. Our brewery truck went in for restoration yesterday... If all goes to plan it will be the most bad-ass brewery truck in Cape Town !! Watch this space for build updates...</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><br></div><div><br></div></div>Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740394734983714621.post-1927796521407750092013-08-12T07:35:00.000+02:002013-08-12T07:35:10.497+02:00The IPA Hegemony - Sourced from www.communitybeerworks.com<br />
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<a href="http://www.communitybeerworks.com/2013/07/the-ipa-hegemony/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="The IPA Hegemony">The IPA Hegemony</a></h2>
<time>7/2/2013</time> by <a href="http://www.communitybeerworks.com/author/dan/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #326403; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Posts by Dan">Dan</a></header><div id="nowplaying" style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8740394734983714621" style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i class="icon-music icon-large" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-style: normal; height: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;"></i> "stay gold" - Biro (<span id="arrow" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">listen <i class="icon-angle-down icon-large" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-style: normal; height: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;"></i></span>)</a></div>
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It’s the first week of the month, meaning it’s time for July’s <a href="http://www.communitybeerworks.com/category/the-session/" style="border: 0px; color: #326403; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Session</a>, when beer bloggers get together and talk about a common theme. This month, <a href="http://justinsbrewreview.blogspot.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #326403; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Justin’s Brew Review</a> is hosting the topic <a href="http://justinsbrewreview.blogspot.com/2013/06/announcing-session-77-ipa-whats-big-deal.html" style="border: 0px; color: #326403; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“IPA: What’s the Big Deal?”</a></div>
<blockquote style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px; margin: auto 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<a class="cboxElement" data-lightboxplus="lightbox[4998]" href="http://www.communitybeerworks.com/files/2013/07/session.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #326403; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="The IPA Hegemony"><img alt="session" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-4999" height="300" src="http://www.communitybeerworks.com/files/2013/07/session-246x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: right; margin: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="246" /></a>For quite some time now, I’ve been wondering what makes the India Pale Ale (IPA) style of beer so popular. Don’t get me wrong–I thoroughly enjoy it and gladly participate in #IPADay. I’m just wondering, why all the hype? What is it about an IPA that makes craft beer enthusiasts (CBE) go wild? Is it because CBEs want to differentiate craft beer from crap beer? I don’t care if a watered-down pilsener is labeled as “triple-hops brewed”; it wouldn’t satisfy someone looking for an IPA.</div>
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The IPA is our best selling beer at retail every week, with exceptions only when we have something new or when people drank everything we made the week before. I’m not going to pretend that I have the answer to why this is, though. I have <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ideas</em>, but obviously speaking factually about why people like what they like is at best fraught with peril and at worst complete drivel.</div>
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This is a blog, though, so let the drivel commence.</div>
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They taste good</h3>
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This is easy, right? It’s pure capitalism: IPAs are a a craft beer favorite because they’re delicious. Cream rises to the top (ironically, above cream ales*).</div>
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They can be piney and resinous or tart and full of grapefruit. Like their cousins the pale ale they pair well with pretty much everything: with pizza, falafel, sandwiches or solo, an IPA is never out of its element. I’m a firm believer that all beer is appropriate for all seasons, but chances are even if you like your stouts in winter and your wheats in summer you think an IPA is in a category that never goes out of style.</div>
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They’re “advanced”</h3>
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I have a clear memory of one day early in my journey down the beer rabbit hole. I had picked up a mixed 12 pack of Saranac and opened the pale ale. “Oh!” I said. “This is too bitter for me.”</div>
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That is now filed in my memory palace alongside when I thought a school field trip would go to an actual field. You know, for collecting soil samples and stuff.</div>
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My point is that I expect few people can jump from 0 to 60 IBUs immediately. It might be a small rite of passage but it’s a rite nonetheless. It’s a consumable <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth" style="border: 0px; color: #326403; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">shibboleth</a>, and so professing your love of them can show you’re really “one of us.”</div>
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This is more subconscious than overt, and I may have pulled it out of thin air**, because nobody has ever asked me for the secret code word before letting me into a tasting. It’s also important to recognize that the inverse isn’t true: if you don’t like IPAs (or hoppy beers generally) it doesn’t mean you don’t love “good”/”real” beer, it means you don’t like IPAs. People are allowed to have opinions, even if they aren’t in agreement with mine (for now). Some people never like hoppy beer because that’s not their thing, and that’s fine. On the whole, though, if someone tries all five of our beers and doesn’t like one of them, it’s The IPA (if they don’t like two, it’s The IPA and Frank, our pale ale).</div>
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They have lots of flavor</h3>
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You might think that I covered this in “They taste good.” I did, but this is another angle.</div>
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Take a gander at <a href="http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/top-50/" style="border: 0px; color: #326403; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ratebeer’s top 50 beers</a>. I’ll wait. Now <a href="http://beeradvocate.com/lists/top" style="border: 0px; color: #326403; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">BeerAdvocate</a>.</div>
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Notice anything? Like how searching for “imperial” highlights the page like a used textbook? You have to get to #12 on ratebeer’s list before something isn’t “imperial”/”strong”, and then until #29 for a second. BeerAdvocate is slightly more diverse, with a pale ale at #4 and a sour at #10, but on the whole the trend is clear: people like stronger beers better than weaker ones.</div>
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(Yes, there are other explanations, like “The people who hang out on beer rating sites like stronger beers” but I’m not trying to publish this in a peer reviewed journal.)</div>
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I’m going to say that the alcohol content is a secondary factor here because we’re not a bunch of drunks. If we were we’d buy a bottle of cheap vodka and be done with it. Instead I’d say that, on average, people prefer <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">more flavor</em> to <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">less flavor</em>. A big imperial stout will have rich coffee and dark chocolate and plums and a bit of pleasant wine characteristic, whereas a mild still has plenty to write home about, only more subdued.</div>
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This question could just as easily be “why do people order dark roast coffee?” or “why do people put sriracha or Frank’s on everything?” Because subtlety is harder to appreciate, and a mediocre base can turn into a good product with its application. That’s not to say that hoppy/high gravity beers are lazy, but “AND A BUSHEL OF HOPS!!” as your final ingredient will on the whole produce at the very least a decent beer. It’s similar to how light American lagers are technically impressive, even if you don’t like them: off flavors have nowhere to hide.</div>
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Science!</h3>
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It turns out that there’s actually some scientific basis to why hops are great. Alex (of Risk fame) did all the legwork on that, though, and plans to write a post of his own. I fully support any excuse to point a finger in the air and yell, “SCIENCE!”</div>
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In the end, they taste good</h3>
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Having gone on for quite a while about subconscious reasons for the love of IPAs, I think it’s important to remember where I started: they’re popular because damn, they’re tasty.</div>
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* This is not ironic<br />** Like all social science***<br />*** HIYOOOOOO</div>
Schalk Maraishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00464083566333220703noreply@blogger.com0