Tchouk - A traditional West African beverage

I've seen a couple threads about old brewing methods & low tech brewing. So, I extracted this recipe from an article by Craig Terry in BeerNW

Tchouk

Volume - how big is your kettle?
OG unknown
FG Depends on how fast you drink it
Yeast - whatever
IBU - 0
SRM - stirred or unstirred?

15 lbs dried millet (sorghum would also work)

Soak in water overnight and lay in a cool, covered location for four days.
Mill wet to coarse flour..
Add to 60 gallons of water (swamp water preferred for flavor)
Let settle for about an hour. Pour excess water in a second pot.
Dump flour/water mix into your kettle & top off with reserved water.

Bring to a boil.
Strain through straw and let cool overnight.

Return to kettle and boil with some corn cobs for flavor.
Cool again. Transfer to plastic trash can.

Add a couple cups of yeast from the last batch.
Ferment two days.
Stir before serving.

Enjoy!

I think this was the stuff that phil's friend was talking about. She does work with pathogens (or something to that effect). Phil had a bottle of the stuff and we go to drink it and she freaked out on us because there is a huge incidence of cancer or some other really bad disease there which they believe is brought on by the people consuming large quantities of the stuff (they leave something behind, a toxin or such). We opened the bottle and drank it anyway, much to her dismay

I forget what she said if it was due to the grains themselves (like how they were grown) or some other factor. I can't recall, but maybe phil will chime in. Moral of the story, according to her is don't drink any beverage from Africa . Although if you homebrew the stuff, more power to ya

i've had the real deal -- i lived in Togo when i was 12

interesting drink --- very low alcohol


beware of sodabi --- stuff will light you on fire --- my dad used to use it in his zippo

zoebisch01 said:

I think this was the stuff that phil's friend was talking about. She does work with pathogens (or something to that effect). Phil had a bottle of the stuff and we go to drink it and she freaked out on us because there is a huge incidence of cancer or some other really bad disease there which they believe is brought on by the people consuming large quantities of the stuff (they leave something behind, a toxin or such). We opened the bottle and drank it anyway, much to her dismay

I forget what she said if it was due to the grains themselves (like how they were grown) or some other factor. I can't recall, but maybe phil will chime in. Moral of the story, according to her is don't drink any beverage from Africa . Although if you homebrew the stuff, more power to ya

Click to expand...

I have read where it is the husks that do that to you, while the kernel is actually very healthy & full of vitamin B, of which I am deficient, so am trying to find out how to brew with it.
One can grind hulled millet & put it in water, where the husks can be skimmed off, I have read.