Red Stripe's US$800,000 Cassava Processing Plant - How Hops from Wheat and Barley is replaced by Cassava Starch

“We are in the first phase so the 14.2 hectares that we have planted along with the 20-root-tonne factory that is being installed as we speak, we would have spent for this first pilot about US$1.6 million”

Red Stripe's Managing Director Cedric Blair comments at the lease-signing agreement with the Agro-Invest Corporation yesterday for some for an additional land at Wallen, St Catherine

Red Stripe is putting in place those plans it formulated in 2014 to use Cassava (Manihot esculenta)  to replace imported Hops from Barley and Wheat in the production of Red Stripe Beer.

This as they have just broken ground for a Cassava (Manihot esculenta)  Starch Processing plant worth some US$800,000 ($92 million) as stated in the article “Cassava closer to beer-ing fruit, published Wednesday”, March 11, 2015  BY KARENA BENNETT Business reporter, The Jamaican Observer.

Red Stripe plan to supply the plant with Cassava (Manihot esculenta) grown on its own plantations as well as by young farmers, and according to Red Stripe's Managing Director Cedric Blair the Cassava Processing Plant will be up by April 2015 according to Red Stripe's Managing Director Cedric Blair, quote: “Once we have the plant up and running by the end of April, we are going to train an additional 30 young adults to work on the farm in Wallen. Most of those young adults will come from the neighbouring communities”.

The 250 square metres US$800,000 ($92 million) has a rated capacity of 20 tons. It would be interesting to see this plant in action.

Red Stripe and Cassava – Hops from Wheat and Barley to be replaced by Cassava

Guess they not so hype on the Sorrel Beer idea as I’d suggested in my blog article entitled “Red Stripe's Sorrel Beer - Opens up the Possibility of a Jamaican Fruit Tree of Beer Flavours”. But the plan to replace Barley in the production of Red Stripe Beer moves forward.

Long term, the plan is to reduce the importation of 40% of HFCS (High Fructose corn Syrup) and 60% of Hops from Barley and Wheat in an investment of over US$10 million over the next five (5) years as noted in my blog article entitled “US$10 million Red Stripe’s Project Grow for African Exports – 2,400 Cassava Farmers for Beer, Bread, Wine and HFCS from Sorghum in Five years”.

In the short term, however they’re gunning for 5% of the imported Hops from Barley and Wheat being replaced by Cassava (Manihot esculenta). Already they’ve signed a lease agreement to use 250 acres of land at Wallen, St Catherine, making it a grand total of 286 acres (115.74 hectares) of Cassava (Manihot esculenta) farmland under production.

In the next five (5) years, Red Stripe hopes to have some 2000 acres (809.38 hectares), a figure that may easily reach 7000 acres (2832 hectares) if they wish to totally replace Hops from Barley and Wheat. The US$800,000 ($92 million) covers about 250 square metres of floor space and can process Cassava (Manihot esculenta) as follows:

1.      1.25 acres of land in a day

2.      300 acres per year

Ok, so how does this Cassava Processing Plant work?

Processing Cassava for Beer Production – From Cassava Tubers to Cassava Starch

During a tour of the 6 acres (14.6 hectares) Bernard Lodge farm by the Jamaican Observer, they gave a fairly accurate report of what appears to be the mechanism by which Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is made into Hops from Barley and Wheat.

First thing to know is that Cassava (Manihot esculenta) takes nine (9) months to reach full maturity. Once it reaches that level, it is mechanically harvested, with the stick portion being returned to the fields for replanting. Once harvested the Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Tuber is weighted and placed in a storage silo.

Then the time is right, they begin the process of converting Cassava (Manihot esculenta) into Hops.

The first stage involves the washing of the Cassava (Manihot esculenta) in a mechanical agitator filled with water. It is then peeled mechanically using a Mechanical grater that strips off the outer skin in a manner similar to how potatoes are peeled using a toilet brush and a drill as demonstrated in my MICO Wars blog article entitled “The Fastest Way to Peel Apples and Potatoes using a Power Drill”.

Then the Cassava (Manihot esculenta), now fully peeled, is then place through a stage where it is masticated and force through a series of hydro sieves in a bid to separate the Starch from the binding organic parts of the Cassava (Manihot esculenta). 

This causes the Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Starch, which is insoluble and floats in water, to precipitate out of the mixture, floating at the top of the tank that has the hydro sieves.

The product, Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Starch, is then dried, and a mechanical sieve use to separate the coarse clumps of Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Starch into a finer granular powder.

A centrifuge, called a cyclone is then use to spin dry the Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Starch.

Finally, after centrifugation in the cyclone, it's then scraped off and placed on a conveyor belt where it passes over a dry steam bath, converting the still lumpy Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Starch to a more powdered form by drying it using the Dry Steam.

It is this powder, dried Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Starch, which will act as a substitute for hops from Barley and Wheat in the production of Red Stripe Beer by the end of 2015.

If Red Stripe holds another staging of the Reds Stripe Beer Festival as described in my blog article entitled “Red Stripe Beer Festival in the Middle of May 2014 a success – Beer Festival an Annual Event to stave off Sweet Palcohol” , then the general public will have a relatively smooth introduction to beer made with Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Starch as a replacement for Hops from Barley and Wheat.