There’s loads to get excited about when it come to Barnaby’s Brewhouse. Obviously there’s the beer, which is pretty spectacular. And then there’s their passion for an ecological approach to brewing. We’re on the same page there as that’s how we roll here on the hop farm too!
Barnaby’s Brewhouse produce unique, award winning organic beers. They’re based in Staverton, South Devon, which is just up the road from our hop farm.
Their sustainable methods are really exciting: their energy sources are renewable and they repurpose or reuse all their waste products. They also hope that -some day soon – they’ll be completely off grid. Their organic beers are certified by the Soil Association and are brewed using spring water from neighbouring organic farmland.
The Barnaby’s crew are really passionate about all that they do and it definitely comes through. Take a look for yourself in this chat with Barnaby himself about beer, homebrewing and his brewery.
THE BREWS
Organic Pilsner – 4.8% ABV. We had to have one lager style familiar to the UK market and it is our best seller. Probably technically the most difficult to make as there is nothing to hide behind – you just want a clean light malt flavour with subtle hopping.
Organic Dunkel – 4.8% ABV. Champion beer in the Taste of the West Awards 2018/19. Smooth dark chocolately lager.
Organic Green Tomato Saison- 6% ABV. Arose from a throwaway joke about using the surplus green tomatoes at Riverford Farm. One of the four finalists in Taste of the West Awards 2018/19 and currently our second best seller. Earthy, spicy with a wine like quality. Great with a variety of foods.
All Barnaby’s Brewhouse brews are organic and suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Like most home brewers, I started off with kits and gradually moved over to all grain brewing with a set of cobbled together kit. As my three boys started to grow older I realised that the beer bill might get quite expensive!
So, having taken time off from home brew when they were all little, I dusted off the kit and started brewing again – this time thinking it would be much nicer to do this for a living than working with computers.
However, the market seemed very crowded with the number of brewers growing whilst pubs kept closing. Nevertheless, craft beers were on the rise and no-one seemed to be doing lagers so I converted a freezer for cold fermentation, bought some corny kegs for conditioning, and started experimenting with continental styles of beer.
I then did several courses in brewing (with other breweries, Brewlab and the IBD) and decided to set up a business. I still need someone with the expertise to create the equipment that would manage the brewing process at scale so I approached an old colleague (and process engineer) Tim Stacey.
Since starting the business Tim has taught himself stainless steel welding and has built the Brewhouse plant which is used to produce Barnaby’s Brewhouse’s distinctive range of beers – entirely out of adapted second hand and repurposed equipment. He has also built our CIP (clean in place) machine and our counter-pressure bottling unit along with a host of other innovations. I’ve written the brewery management software that we use.
BARNABY’S HOMEBREWING TIPS
Hops
I really like the classic or ‘noble’ hops like Saaz. Subtle rather than in your face.
Yeast
Use live yeast – yeast has such an impact on the flavour and style. There are some great strains from both White Labs and Wyeast. Also, make a yeast starter – getting the pitching rates right helps massively. Aseptic practices are essential here though.
Water
Historically many breweries (or regions) built their reputation on the quality of the local water. Ours is very soft and chemical free which is ideal for the lagers and is definitely responsible for some of the flavour profile.
If you’re using tap water, you can use Campden tablets to get rid of chlorine, or alternatively boil the water before use. You really need to get a test done on the mineral content before playing around with adding other minerals (‘Burtonising’ water tries to emulate the profile of Burton on Trent water and there are treatments for this but you need to know your starting point).
Get the drinks in!
You can find Barnaby’s organic brews online at barnabysbrewhouse.com . If you’re a Riverford customer you can add Barnaby’s brews onto your veg box order. Score!
You can also find them at various outlets, bars and restaurants mainly in SW England. Check out their website for more details: barnabysbrewhouse.com
All images by Barnaby’s Brewhouse