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In November 2015, Brouwvereniging Rotterdam was asked to participate in the artistic research project Department of Search that took place on the campus of Utrecht University. The broader research aimed to understand the self-reliance of the University’s campus. As part of the research they grew a corn field with corn varieties that could become the largest in the world. We harvested the cobs of this plant and hosted a demonstration on campus showing how to make beer from this corn.

Design

In order to demonstrate this properly, we designed a portable brewery made from metal shelves that we installed in front of the campus’ Science Centre. This installation was designed in such a way that the brewing process was easy to explain to people passing by.

Each level on the installation represents a different stage of the brewing process: on the top level the corn is processed, one level below the corn in mashed in order to convert the starches in the corn into sugar, on the next level the sugary liquid is boiled and finally on the bottom level the ‘wort’ is poured into the fermentation jars.

Ingredients

8 kg of Jala corn

2 kg sugar (add during boil)

35 g Northern Brewer (8,5%) bitter hops, 60 min

20 g Northern Brewer (8,5%) aroma hops, 20 min

11,5 g Danstar Belle Saison

We tried our best, but unmalted Jala corn is not a recommended base for brewing beer. It was not very drinkable.

With thanks to

In preparation of this demonstration, we reached out to several parties, such as the botanist on campus, who provided information on corn starch and gave us fresh herbs from the botanical garden. As well as the German firm ‘Erbsloh’, that produces these enzymes, they sponsored the necessary enzymes that are needed in non-germinated grains, as well as giving us information on how to use them.

This entry is an edited mirror from Will’s website