How to make Zambian honey beer

How to Make Zambian Honey Beer

What you need:

A calabash (gourd) or any other container N. B: a Calabash speeds up the fermentation process.

Ingredients (in parts by weight):

0.5 part sprouted maize or millet

0.5 part crushed brood comb

1 part comb honey or liquid honey

4 parts water

Procedure:

- Pound lightly the sprouted maize and pour the contents in the calabash.

- Brewers brew can also be used though fermentation is slow and takes longer, some use roasted maize grit.

- Add some crushed brood comb or bee milk or royal jelly.

- Add 1 part water

- Leave overnight in a warm place to activate the fermentation process

Then:

- Add 4 parts warm water

- 1 part sealed comb honey (crushed)

- Put the calabash with its contents in a warm place

- After 2 hours the fermentation should start

- You can tell if the fermentation is taking place by observing rapid bubbles coming out of the calabash.

- The broth should appear boiling.

NB: the first and second batches of honey beer are slower in fermentation since the starter or inoculant (sprouted maize/ brood comb) is still building up. Reusing the starter and the calabash will allow much faster fermentation.

- The first honey beer brew takes about 12 hours to be ready.

- The second beer brew takes about 10 hours.

- Continuous brewing of the honey beer using the same calabash reduces the time when the honey beer is ready to 6-8 hours.

- The starter can only be replaced after 3 months of continuous use of the calabash. Or you can add more starter when the fermentation process slows down.

Things to note:

- The mixtures should be in correct proportions as described above.

- Using calabash assures you 90% good results

- Too much brood can cause acidity and off flour in the beer.

- Too much sprouted maize can make the honey beer sour and rendered useless.

- Using ordinary buckets prolongs the fermentation process to days or even weeks and there is no guarantee that you will get good results.

- Too much honey in the mixture may slow down the fermentation process until the brew becomes sour or remain too sweet for days.

- Too much water causes the beer to be very sour and set your teeth on the edge.

- The water for the mixture should be lukewarm.

- Too hot water will spoil the broth and the fermentation will not take place and the brew becomes sour.

- Too cold the water for the mixture slows down the fermentation process until the honey beer becomes sour and useless.

Honey beer is used or taken:

- During the initiation ceremonies when boys/girls reach mature age.

- During traditional chiefs ceremonies

- As in kind payments for cultivating or harvesting fields.

- When on a long walking journey.

- After a day’s hard work

- Some people go to bed early and start drinking honey beer at 03:00 in the morning and by 06:00 they are ready for physical or manual work.

• Honey beer cannot be stored for more than 48 hours.
• It is advisable not to go for beehive cropping after you have taken honey beer. Local communities say that the smell of the honey beer from your mouth can irritate the bees so much that they will start attacking straight away.
• Women are the best known honey beer brewers and sellers in Kabompo of Zambia.

Bob Malichi, Apimondia Congress, Dublin, August 2005

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