Brekeriet

                         I recently met Frederick Ek from Brekeriet, he came to South Plains Brewing Company to see my progress and discuss similar problems, the trials and tribulations of opening a micro-brewery in Sweden. Brekeriet is the three Ek brothers, Fredrik, Christian, and André Ek, and they  had been importing French/Belgian beers, wines & cider, and in 2012, they promised to develop their own artisan craft beers from Brekeriet. The idea to start importing beer emerged in the spring of 2010, with the dream in the future to start their own micro-brewery, and almost two years after its inception, it was announced that a brewery was being developed outside Malmö. Today, the Brekeriet micro-brewery is nearly ready and should be producing their first beer soon. Brekeriet, Malmö Brygghus, Lundabryggeriet and South Plains Brewing Company have pledged to work together with a  common  goal of creating a new standard, that this small area of southern Sweden will become known for it's excellent artisan craft beers.

New Website for South Plains Brewing Company

We have been  working on a new combination website/blog to keep everyone updated on everything we have done and are doing. The link is    www.southplains.se
it's new and under construction but also very cool!

Alex Wayne Photography

Very Cool!

Ölsvammel-A Beer Blog Without Focus

A rough English translation from  http://www.beerdrivel.se/?p=4233
South Plains APA (50 cl bottle) 6,0%

I met Anders And Ale in Örebro a week ago and then I include a bottle of South Plains APA. South Plains Brewing Company is a new brewery from Malmö. It is American Jeff behind the brewery and the idea is to brew beer for beer enthusiasts . Sounds promising, I think. This beer was available in the order range from September 1, but also on the shelves down in Malmö (Limhamn, Mobilia and Crown Prince).
Bitterness———-Sweetness———-Acidity———-Intensity—–Body

□□□□■□□□—-□■□□□□□□—–■□□□□□□□—□□□■□□□□—-□■□□□□□□

 Style: American Pale Ale

Cost: 51.90 SEK (This was a sample)

Appearance: 4/5

It has a hazy amber liquid with a medium off-white foam.

Smell: 8/10

Greatly hoppy scent with apricot, citrus, grapefruit and tallbar.

Taste: 8/10

The first thing I note is a sharp but pleasant bitterness. At the same time, it has a hefty hop aroma with citrus, pine, apricot and grapefruit. Light malt body that is only sufficient to lift the hops.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
 The body is light, carbonation is around medium and the mouthfeel is smooth. Boneless as Grandpa would say.
 comment:

This was a very pleasant acquaintance, an APA that are both good to drink while keeping it interesting. It feels slightly heavier than many other APA's on the market, but it makes me absolutely nothing. Possibly the bitterness a bit too strong versus hop aroma which is not completely successful match. But I would like to drink more glasses of this and it is a good rating.

However, one should look at the price if you want to compete at Systembolaget. But as I understand it, this beer brewed at the new brewery in Malmö in the future, the version I tested was the brew at Amager. Which I guess is one explanation for the price when Danish beer is usually around 50-patch in price.

Anyway clearly recommended to order if you like this type of beer

Total: 3,9/5

Andra bloggare som tyckt till om South Plains APA:
Anders And Ale
Malt Humle Jäst och Vatten
Manker Beer
Ölrådet

Great Reviews on South Plains APA, our first beer

Since I released my first beer, the 'South Plains APA, American Pale Ale' last week, I have consistantly recieved great reviews. Here's what other people are writing about me

From Allt om Mat   here's a rough translation

South Plains APA from Malmo Brewery South Plains Brewery.

Malmo Brygghus, World's Smallest Brewery and so South Plains Brewery - Malmö beer worls lives. South Plains Brewery is a new addition to the trio and operated by American Jeff Brown as a German brew works makes beer with American overtones.

The beer has just landed at Bishops Arms in Malmö and is a APA - an American pale ale. And it should be commendable. The brewery aims to brew many more types of beer and have great labels - some inspired by Flying Dogs ditto? Or maybe not? Extravagant are in each case.

 

and another, olradet.blogspot.se   to say, a rough English translation

 

2012-08-16 South Plains Brewing releases its first beer an APA. Ölrådet gives you an exclusive preview.

As the first beer blogg in Sweden it is with some honor to pop the cap. South Plains Brewing is like you understand a brewery from the southern plains and rather Malmö. Brew Master Jeff is an American living in Sweden and he wanted to brew beer for people who are beer enthusiasts. In other words, the brewery beer geeks have been longing for. Personally, I was invited to the inauguration of the brewery, which I wrote about here. The first beer out is thus an APA. That means American Pale Ale and is no joke. Fucking shit Tabloid Expressen MOG. They write anything about beer when they know no nothing about it. Apologies for the move but crap is crap ha! A hazy apricot-like color with a small white foam. A neat label and views of real Scanian plains. I live in the country!

 

 

It could indeed be it worse when an incredible hop aroma pounding on the door. I feel it directly, the favorite hop ' Centennial' is in the game! It gives a nice hop aroma and a smell of earth and grass. No bad smells, which impresses me. This APA for me is easy to drink but still fresh and tasty and pleasant to taste the South Plains APA. You get a lovely punch in the face because you are not quite ready for it because the aroma is restrained. Very hoppy, but not a hop bomb. It's healthy, it's tons of citrus fruits, mango and persimmon squeezed to the limit. Yet there is a certain bitterness in the beer. Probably from pacific gem hops. A hop I often is a bit critical. But here is the good. You can probably find it a bit too carbonated, but it gives itself pretty quickly and gives a really nice mouth feel! Lovely long aftertaste in the bitterness that gives a nice impression. I have great confidence in the South Plains upcoming drinks!

Concludes by quoting the label "carpe cervisiam" is 'seize the beer' in Latin. Wondering when shabby chicks ladies will write it on their whiteboards.

This is from  ratebeer.com

3.5

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20Theis (9614) - Frederiksberg, DENMARK - AUG 19, 2012

Bottle at Papsø’s - Thanks. Clear amber - white head. Ok hoppy, toasted, peppery, grassy, notes of knækbrød, ok hoppy, apricot, grape fruity, pine needles, nice fruity hoppy.

3.9

AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20

Vignale (989) - Malmö, SWEDEN - AUG 18, 2012

Bottle at The Green Lion, Malmö. Best before 2013-8 = Really fresh. Amber, with a foamy white head. Lots of fruity hops on the nose. Apricot, peach and pine. Very fresh and fruity, dry and leading up to a medium bitter finish (44IBU). I loved this APA and think it´s much better than the ratings so far.

3.4

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20

joergen (15507) - Frederiksberg, DENMARK - AUG 16, 2012

Bottle at Papsø. Clear amber coloured with a medium sized white head. Sweet and fruity aroma of hops and pine needles with notes of citrus. Fruity flavour of hops, grapefruits and pine needles with notes of citrus. Dry hoppy finish.

3.5

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20

JanLaursen (1336) - Copenhagen, DENMARK - AUG 15, 2012

Bottled. Hazy reddish golden with a small white head. Aroma is caramel, grapefruit, tropical fruit and a peculiar dry coffee note. Flavor is sweet malty, grapefruity, herbal, leading to dry coffee-powder-like medium bitter finish.

3.5

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20

yespr (23129) - Copenhagen O, DENMARK - AUG 15, 2012

50 cL bottle. Pours hazy orange with a small white head. Aroma is crisp grapefruity and citrusy. Smooth fruity, toasted malty and dry grapefruity. Bitter and dry grapefruity. Ends dry and bitter. Smooth grapefruity to citrusy.

2.9

AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20

Ungstrup (24476) - Oamaru, NEW ZEALAND - AUG 15, 2012

Bottled. A hazy amber beer with a beige head. The aroma has notes malt and hops. The flavor is sweet with notes of hops, malt, and straw, leading to a bitter finish.

3.6

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20

madsberg (7803) - Søborg, DENMARK - AUG 15, 201Untappd.com2

Bottled. Amber coloured. unclear. Dense beige head. Aroma of herbs, caramel, light citrrus, a somewhat tropical touch. Flavour of a caramel, herbs, flowers, spice. Medium bodied. ends on a floral bitternes.

3.6

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20

Papsoe (23441) - Frederiksberg, DENMARK - AUG 15, 2012

Bottle 50 cl. Pours an almost clear amber with a small and creamy off-white head. Soft tropical hop aroma - not all that citrusy. Light body, soft carbonation, a pleasant mellow fruitiness and again great aroma hops. A dry but not overpoweringly bitter finish. Pleasant. 150812

on Untappd.com they are saying great things but mostly like to take pictures of the little monkey in the middle of the P

 

 

The monkey( APA in Swedish is monkey) wreaks havoc on the south plains.

This is a rough translation from a Swedish Blog
http://andersandale.blogspot.se/I guess we just have to accept the "monkey", the  abbreviation of "American Pale Ale." or APA. I should not joke today without telling briefly about when I met Jeffrey Scott Brown for the first time, the Society Maltes "hembryggarfestival 'last year here in Malmö.Yes or "hit" is well to take in.. I went up to him and said "pale ale please" for a while later to go up again and say "IPA please". Maybe not quite the "meet'However, I met his beer, really .. Yes or maybe it met me? They presented themselves as a pretty impressive and surprising unity in the form of a large blunt demonic Americans during an "event" which was otherwise quite "svennigt" in its modesty. Undoubtedly Sweden is longing for some all american 'damn same' that the brewery as "taking in" the brewery that just "do what it does" and delivers that rush many of us beer geeks are longing for (hops)In this case, this was clearly, "Jeff" had with him a beer he called "pale ale" which was extremely well hopped like a typical West Coast IPA, his "india pale ale" in turn was even more bitter and would probably fit under most quite well into the category of "double / imperial IPA". While to the brewer himself, this did not appear in the least surprising, but rather natural. He's just like handing out generous samples up-pumped beer, happily, glass after glass, and thus I can in all honesty say that I do not recall any direct details .. Yeah except I trust his so-called "pale ale" very high, followed by his "IPA" who lost a little to have a slightly noticeable alcohol taste at that particular moment.Expectations were built anyway, and now I sit here with South Plains Brewing Company's first official beer glass "APA". One, not surprisingly, an American pale ale at 6% and 44 IBU.The beer is hazy bright orange in the glass with a little dense, off-white head of foam that leaves thin sticky residue behind on the inside of the glass. The aroma is juice-like fruity hop fueled with hints of sweet peaches, pineapple, fresh lemon and crisp pine shoots with clear, however, relatively easy maltiness of caramel and warm fruit.Relatively easy and style typical of first impression, but fresh and luxurious complex on closer sniffing.The taste? Is also very hop juice-like and glides nicely on a moderately detailed fine-bubbled carbonation, spreading an aggressive bunch of hops needles in the mouth, which in turn opens up the wounds where citrus tickles and thrive. Almost a little "ouch" at the first hop attack, but it sadomassochistisk hop head and clenched like certainty.After the first swallow, it is green hop bitterness that has taken a stranglehold on the tongue, so while the malt stays relatively in the background, it's there and it provides just enough sweetness to the tongue to survive. Finally, pine needles, on the border with SWINGING grapefruit and light, light caramel who barely have time to get along in the post-battle before they are there for another sniff, another sip and a little bit like that is it, then bottle out.Overall, a balanced American pale ale which also stands out in the Scandinavians with their freshness and aggressively humlade general nature, that while it boasts a dense maltbase that, at least in recent times does not seem like that uncomfortable sticky but rather tastes matching clean and healthy smooth. In comparison with the prototypes / testbrygder I've tried from the "South Plains" this is anyway a rather nice beer with significantly less "wow factor" when there really grassy, ​​citrus-charged flavor from dry-hop does not appear as clearly in either taste or fragrance.This "monkey" strikes me as a little more "normal beer", although it is a very well done things that I am more than happy to drink around the clock (more or less, for health reasons) and in comparison with other hops emphasized on systems company so satisfying This far exceeded expectations.Systembolaget? Yes "monkey" is unleashed on 1st september and will in true spirit Malmö make havoc with systemsbolaget "Mobilia", "Crown Prince" and "Limhamn". What then should mean that you can order any amount to their nearest liquor store anywhere in the country, something I would do asap (as we still run hard with abbreviations) for the fresh hops sake.

Working in the Shop

I've been building, painting, fixing and getting all my equipment to work in a complete system. I feel it's finally coming together.

particle filter, oxegen inlet with site glass, site glass for recirculating wort



steel stairs & platform, freshly painted, from a steel junkyard



heavy steel stand, freshly painted, to support my steam generator, also from the steel junkyard

my new Leverani 2 bar stainless steel pump

Ölrådets Ölblogg & Beerticker Pro

Ölrådets Ölblogg wrote about South Plains Brewing Company, showed off my equipment, grilled some frikadella and had tasted some beer that wasn't qiute ready, I had just kegged it, the beer was cloudy & yeasty & too bitter and needed to condition but we drank it anyway.

 Then I got a mention on Beerticker Pro in Denmark.

South Plains Project:In the kettle

                                        In the kettle, with the raised fist

South Plains Project:The Move

When we did the move, we could'nt quite fit everything in the truck so we managed to fit one fermenter in my car. A funny picture!

South Plains Project:Opening the Workshop

South Plains Project-The First Label

I've been working with Joshua Alvarez,  sveneighteen.com   a American Graphics Designer to put my label together. I'm really happy about it. The style of beer is 'American Pale Ale', or APA as it is called. However, APA in Swedish means monkey so for a subliminal joke, if you look closely at the center of the large letter 'P' you see a monkeys face. Then in the corner, the bar-code stripes blend into the zebra stripes. 'Carpe Cervisiam' is Latin for 'Seize the Beer'. The center of the label will face the front and wraps around the side. Also across the bottom I say beer in Danish, English, Swedish & Finnish.
This is getting very exciting!



South Plains Project: Live Interview on the Radio

Sveriges Bryggradio

I recently did a live interview on Swedish Brew Radio. Click on the link below and for the opening, I do a intro, then there is a interview with Greg Koch from Stone Brewing Company and I come on after that, at about 53 minutes. Public speaking is not one of my strong points.

http://bryggradio.com/arkiv/SBR-31-Greg.Koch.&.South.Plains.mp3

The live radio interview, from my perspective

South Plains Project:Label Design

Not just another boring beer label.

It seems I have been working on these labels forever! I feel I'm finally approaching the end.I wanted a label to reflect my beer, one that pushes the limits. I decided on my logo to be a raised fist, symbolizing rebellion against massed produced beers. First I had a front and back. Now I have a rectangular shape that wraps around the bottle. On the left side I have a description of the beer along with a description of what I do. Here's the excerpt from the Pale Ale:

A darkish yellow with copper tinge, this moderately bitter ale has a strong hoppy floral bouquet with hints of blackberry & citrus.

An artisan craft ale, brewed with purity in which we only use water, barley, hops &  yeast and are  free of any additives. This is a real ale,  unfiltered &  unpasteurized so when it is young, it is quite acidic and as it ages it gets smoother and smoother

Jeffrey Scott Brown, Brewmaster

Then on the right I have some information on the beer: alcohol percent, volume, batch number and International Bittering Units, IBU's, it tell how bitter the beer is (really something for beer afectionanados), and then the bar code to track it with and the 'pant' symbol for recycling bottles.

For the fonts, I use a rock garage font on the top with the initials of the style, then put the style in a Alias font. I'm meeting today with graphics designer Joshua Alvarez at Sveneighteen to put the final touches on. I hope to send these finished designs off to the printer soon.

South Plains Project:The Warehouse Keeper

Today I submitted all the necessary documents to the Swedish Tax Office, Alcohol Division in Ludvika. The way things work here is you need to be approved as a ware-houseman for a taxed storage shelter (skatteupplag). I need to have whats called a 'class 2' security system, which means alarm connected to a security company, video surveillance, heavy duty lock, etc. Then the beer that I store will be subject to 7½ crowns per liter alcohol tax and the a 25% national sales tax (moms or VAT) upon sale. There is alot of taxes on alcohol sales here, like anywhere, but I don't really pay those, I just collect them and pass them on, I need to be careful and keep those separate. When I get approval, I will have a special number to sell, import and export beer. The alcohol tax is declared and paid monthly while moms-VAT is reported quarterly. Then when I sell to a pub for example, they also have a tax number, and both those numbers are recorded on the invoice.Everything will be tracked by bar-code. To sell strong ale, that is ale over 3.5%, I can only sell to the public via the Systembolaget, the Swedish state run alcohol store. Most of the ale like I make is between 6-8%.Sweden has a long history of prohibition, alcoholism, and strict alcohol laws but I have found the Skatteverket (Swedish Tax Office) and Systembolaget, (the Swedish state run alcohol store) quite flexible, polite and easy to work with, you just have to fit in their rules.

South Plains Project: The New Brewery Design

New Brewery Design with 1200 liter kettle and 3- 900 liter fermenters

South Plains Project:The Plate Heat Exchanger

I ordered the plate heat exchanger from Processor inn Spånga just outside Stockholm. It will take roughly 4 weeks for them to build it for me.Cost:6800 kr.($1000). It will take 900 liters of boiling wort and pass it through this chiller to put the wort in the fermenting tanks at 20-22 degrees Celsius (68-72 Fahrenheit) so I can add my yeast culture and start fermentation. I will be using well water to pass the opposite direction which costs almost nothing.

Wikipedia describes it as this:






'The concept behind a heat exchanger is the use of pipes or other containment vessels to heat or cool one fluid by transferring heat between it and another fluid. In most cases, the exchanger consists of a coiled pipe containing one fluid that passes through a chamber containing another fluid. The walls of the pipe are usually made of metal, or another substance with a high thermal conductivity, to facilitate the interchange, whereas the outer casing of the larger chamber is made of a plastic or coated with thermal insulation, to discourage heat from escaping from the exchanger'


    So this is the last piece of equipment I need, I now have everything to put together my brewery. I feel like I'm really making progress!

Equipment comes to The South Plains Project

Phil & Julienne Munts's old mill farmhouse in Arrie

Haik Avanesian

I got a call Thursday that the truck with my equipment would be on the overnight ferry from Germany and the driver would be in Trelleborg early Friday morning. When I got to the farmhouse in Arrie at 8:00 am, he was waiting for me. Last week I was there with Thomas Fransson and Haik Avanesian to tour the possible location for 'The South Plains Brewing Company'.

Haik is a chef from Copenhagen I've worked with for many years. 

Thomas works at the Malmö Brew-house and runs a national syndicated radio program for artisan craft brewers.

Thomas Fransson

Thomas is also the one that got me to enter the competition in August 2011 when my IPA took the bronze medal. Also he has been just a tremendous wealth of knowledge for me starting up this brewery.

We found some Polish guys with a forklift at a scaffolding company that would unload my truck for a little cash & beer. So the polish forklift driver managed to unload the kettle (500 kilos/1100 lbs) and the hot liquor tank from me and the German truck driver (neither spoke English or Swedish) when I looked down to see oil and water running out of the bottom of the forklift. The 40 year old forklift had broken a axle. The Polish guy went for help and me and the German truck driver muscled the 3 fermenters and the mash-tun off the truck and I managed to lollygag them into the garage..The German truck left and I had my tanks in the garage and the kettle sitting outside.. I then borrowed a pallet jack and jacked it up under the kettle and as hard as I tried, I couldn't move it. And the Polish guys came back and we couldn't move it. Finally I found a old Swedish farmer up the road and after a hour, he came with a ancient Volvo tractor with small fork-blades and was able to put the kettle in the garage. Only took me fours hours but I got it done. Everyone was happy with cash & beer. I feel like I've made a huge accomplishment getting my equipment here.

1200 liter kettle with hand crank sitting on the street on Möllegårdsvägen 12, Arrie

South Plains Project: The Steam Generator

A year ago I had never heard of a steam generator, now I need one. This is the most expensive piece of equipment I've bought, 3320 Euro (29,000 SEK or $4300) with the optional condensation recovery tank. I decided to buy new because I was a little nervous of buying a used thinking it could blow up. The Maxi 60 by Ghidini, just outside Milano, Italy can put out 5 bar of pressure and has a output of 55 liters steam using a 60kW fuse that can give me 51,700 kCal/hour or 81-83 Kg/hour. In short, it ROCKS! I'll be able to power my 1200 liter kettle and 650 liter Hot Liquor Tank and use a steam gun for cleaning. I need one more piece of equipment now, the brazed plate heat exchanger and I've found one I like for a good price, I just need to get the company to build me one and then I have everything for The South Plains Project.

Jennie Liwander's father's 60th birthday party

I wanted to write about a very nice menu I did for Jennie Liwander's father's 60th birthday party, he loves gourmet food so they hired me for the evening.  I started the menu with a seared scallop, on a bed of lemon braised greens with créme fraiche, then gratineed with a wine wine cream sauce & parmesan over it. It's a wonderful starter and sets the tone for the evening. Second course was Lobster Bisque, I made a fond from the shells and used real Canadian lobsters. The father said it was the best bisque he had ever had.Next was one of my favorites, Monk-fish...  I do this monk-fish in a way that is first poached in fish bouillon with herbs, then taken out and sauteed in brown butter with shallots & herbs and sliced so it's brown and green on the outside and white & moist in the center, served on lightly sauteed root veggies and served with a tangy white butter sauce on a bed of sweet polenta....many people have told me it's the best fish dish they've ever had. After they cleansed the palate with a raspberry sorbet, the main  course was fresh Irish Lamb Chops, seared then roasted and rested ½ hour so they are completely pink and very moist. They were served with eggplant caviar, thats eggplant roasted with garlic and thyme, pureed and filled in the roasted eggplant and baked with parmesan, also a cranberry chutney, Pomme Dauphinois Gratin potatoes and a black truffle sauce. For dessert they had the Gateau Basque, a vanilla bean cookie dough filled with  a rich dark cherry-rum filling, served with a red fruits sauce and I make some decorative caramel. It was excellent, and I'll quote Jennie Liwander who said:

Hej Jeff!

Vill bara tacka för en underbar middag! Vi njuter fortfarande av minnet av den utsökta maten och de goda vinerna. Småbråkar om vilken rätt som egentligen var godast....:-)!

Stort tack! 

Jennie 

which translated from Swedish means:

Hi Jeff!

Just want to thank you for a wonderful dinner! We still enjoy the memory of the delicious food and good wines. Small arguing about which course was actually taste the best ....:-)!

Many thanks!

Jennie 

The South Plains Project

It's been a long process since one year ago I decided to launch this microbrewery myself. I have changed ideas, purpose and the scope of this project countless times. After one year of saving & saving (thank you Icopal) I am finally as of this week purchasing my brewery equipment. I spent about 75,000 crowns ( $11,000) on five pieces of equipment. Most are 20-30 years old, I found them used in southern Germany. First my brew kettle:

It's a 1200 liter (317 gallons), steam jacketed stainless steel kettle with a hydraulic pump that can tilt it, mainly for cleaning, it has a conical bottom with a valve. Next my mash tun:

I bought a used 1150 liter agitator vessel that I will modify to use as my mash tun. I'll put in 125 kg of grains and 600 liters of water at the right temperature to get a perfect conversion of malt starch to malt sugar. The agitator propeller helps to keep the grains turning for a better conversion. The fermenting vessels:

I bought three of these to start with. I can use them for primary & secondary fermentation. They hold 900 liters and up to 3 bar pressure but I will fit it with a pressure relief valve I can control at say, ½ bar and keep my beer naturally carbonated. They have a really cool hatch in the top so I can dry hop.  And lastly, the Hot Liquor Tank. Funny name, it's actually a hot water tank but that's what it's called in brewery terminology.

It holds 650 liters and has multiple inlets and outlets and is heated by a steam generator via a inner coil. I'll use it for multiple purposes but mainly to heat the water to sparge (rinse) my mash, Right as I was ready to purchase, the Euro dropped and so the conversion was a great rate for me, saving me alot of money. The equipment is going on a truck this week and on it's way to Sweden