When in Barbados, Brew Local: Brewing a Cassava Ale

I got the courage and inspiration I needed to start homebrewing after visiting a homebrewing competition at Flensburg University of Applied Sciences (FUAS), located in Flensburg, Germany. The students really wowed me with the creativity found in their entries. Some even processed local flowers foraged from the forest for use in their brews. I am a fan of growing what we eat, and when I returned to my home in Barbados, I wanted to create my own unique brew — but there were challenges. Homebrewing is not big in Barbados and importation cost can be triple the cost of the item, so I had to become creative with the processing and choice of materials. Starting with just a kitchen scale, a blender for my mill, two borrowed pots, a thermometer (which stops at 70 °C/ 158 °F), and 6 kg (13.2 lbs.) of brewers malt, I got brewing.

I realized that my supply of malt I had would not last two brews so I decided I should supplement with local cassava flour. Cassava (manioc or tapioca) is used in Barbados as a food source and a wheat flour substitute. The processing for my first batch was experimental as no analysis on cassava was available and the hops I purchased were from a health store with no alpha acid information. I had to rely on my taste training and gut feeling. I milled the barley husk coarse to have good wort filtration as 40% of the mash would be cassava flour. The main concern with raw cassava is the cyanide it contains; but this can be taken care of by boiling the cassava first. I was using processed flour so I had no cyanide worries and proceeded as though I was brewing a regular all-grain brew. I filtered the mash through cloth after an iodine test confirmed conversion of the mash was complete and beautiful copper wort came out. After the boil, the wort was clear and deep copper colored. It was cooled to 20 °C (68 °F) and pitched with a rehydrated yeast slurry. When the beer was ready for packaging, I primed with Barbados sugar then lagered at 0 °C (32 °F) after fully carbonated.

The taste of cassava in beer is totally different than when eaten, and most people were surprised when I told them it was cassava ale. I set up a tasting panel in Barbados comprised of a mix of males and females from: Barbados, USA, Trinidad, Nigeria, Venezuela, Martinique, and Belgium. They described it as “rootsy” (as opposed to grainy), sweet, full-bodied, complex flavors with a pleasant and clean aftertaste. I took my cassava ale back to FUAS for a panel to try and they also described it as pleasant and unique.

I am very proud that my engineering skills stood the homebrewing test and happy that others enjoyed my Pilgrim’s Tripel. I put together a small homebrewery while I was spending time at FUAS honing my brewing (and drinking) skills. So when the equipment arrives in Barbados I’m looking forward to homebrewing crazy local brews and winning some competitions!