The science of brewing revealed

A brand-new microbrewery is making itself known this National Science Week, with educational tours designed to inspire learners with the practical – and fascinating – real-world applications of science.

Grade 11 and 12 learners from Ivory Park Secondary School, spent the afternoon on 5 August discovering the intricacies of the brewer’s art with brewmaster Apiwe Nxusani.

In the yeasty atmosphere of the brewery, surrounded by enormous tanks and vats, Nxusani explained the brewing process through which grains are broken down and converted to alcohol, and introduced learners to the various starches from which beers are brewed around the world.

The focus of the day was not (to some learners’ disappointment) consuming the brewery’s final product, but the intricate biological processes behind the manufacture of beer. Nxusani hoped to encourage learners to consider a career in the sciences in a new and more varied light.

“When people think science, they always think to be a doctor,” said Nxusani, who was inspired to study microbiology after attending an expo as a learner, “They’re quite limited.”

Brewhogs participated in National Science Week for the first time this year, having been established only in February. But the overwhelmingly positive response from schools is characteristic of the success the venture has seen since its inception.

Favouring mostly South African ingredients, and even donating discarded grain to the welfare of indigenous animals through FreeMe Wildlife Rehabilitation programme, Brewhogs epitomises local appeal. But the brewery punches above its weight, as the second-biggest microbrewery in the country, and hopes to double its capacity soon.

At Brewhogs, a glimpse into the world of hops and malt is not reserved for school learners. During Friday afternoon tours, visitors – unlike the touring learners – can taste the brewery’s products, two contract beers and two signature brews. But for the learners of Ivory Park Secondary School, the experience remained purely educational, and, Apiwe hopes, inspirational.

“Out of 100 students that came, if one life is changed, that’s enough for me,” she said.