A ban on alcohol sales is forcing thirsty South Africans to get creative, from experimenting with home brews to sneaking over the border in search of a drink.
The prohibition, one of the strictest in the world, was introduced on March 27 under a nationwide lockdown. This is how South Africans are dodging lockdown alcohol ban.
Inspired by Hunter’s Dry
#lockdown
Ingredients:
20 Litre Container
15 Litres of Hot Water
3 KG Apples (Red)
3.5 KG of Sugar
20 Grams Instant Yeast
Mint
Ginger
Instructions:
Fill your 20 Litre container with 15 litres of hot water taken from the tap or boiled from the stove. Boiling the water gets rid of the chlorine in tap water which can destroy your yeast. Heat also helps improve fermentation.
Slice your apples into fine pieces, red apples have the best flavour but any apples will do. You can also try blending half of them.
Throw the rest of the ingredients in and any extra flavours you want e.g mint, teabags , lemons , ginger etc The floor is yours.
Throw 3.5 KG of sugar into the mix and continuously stir until it dissolves into the solution.
Throw your yeast on top of the mix, DO NOT STIR. Close the container for 5 minutes and then open it after the yeast has activated, then stir again.
Make a two tiny hole on your lid, use a very thin bail. You can make a bigger hole if you have a pipe that you can seal onto the container. PLEASE BE CAREFUL! The the yeast reaction with the sugar can cause a lot of pressure due to the release of CO2 (Carbon dioxide) which can cause the mixture to erupt if there is no airlock or breathing room.
The yeast will do it’s thing which is eat sugar and shit out ethanol (drinking alcohol) The mixture will be very sweet at first but the yeast will eventually eat up most of the sugar in the mixture. Note: Leave it in longer to make it stronger. Mix it one a day but do not open the container for any other reason.
At day 7 your alcohol should be ready for consumption, I must warn you, the alcohol content might be lower than expected, so this is what I did.
For the Master Brewer:
I split my contents into four 5 litre water bottles. In one I added half a teaspoon of yeast, this was going to be my 21 day brew. The other 5litre bottle, I strained the contents several times until is was clear and bottled everything in 750ml beer bottles. And lastly, the remaining two were left as is for another 7 days.
After 7 days, the brew was tasty but very sweet, bread yeast gives of a really nasty after taste and smell. as the days when on, I could taste less sugar and yeast but more alcohol. The bottles were starting to fizz nicely which gave it a refreshing genuine appeal.
Practice makes perfect, make sure your sterilise everything and keep your workstation clean because things can south very easily when brewing from home.
GOOD LUCK!