Making Millet Beer, Malwa

I was going through my Uganda trip notes, and found the recipe I wrote down for Malwa, the millet beer people make behind their house. Luckily, this man had the beer prep process in multiple stages at once (so as not to ever run out) and showed us the process and instrumentation involved in making and drinking with his buddies!

The word for millet is bulo.

1. they dry it in the sun
2. remove the husks by beating it with a stick and winnowing.
3. when clean, grind it using a grinding stone
4. ferment for 1 week
4a. dig a hole
4b. put in banana leaves
4c. put in soil
4d. add the millet
4e. add more soil
4f. cover with banana leaves
5. roast it
6. dry it in the sun
7. put in water and yeast
8. next day, add more yeast and water
9. third day, it is ready!
10. make a long straw (see photos)
11. drink with your buddies standing around the pot together, who bring their own straws!

Apparently they make their own yeast too:

Take clean millet after drying and put in water. Put in a cloth sack to drain. It will start to germinate. Turn it and turn it for 4 days. 5th day dry in the sun. Grind. Now this is yeasty millet flour to use in the malwa!

Just read a news story online, a guy got caught stealing his neighbor's malwa pot! As punishment, they made him drink the whole pot, but he vomitted before he was halfway through! http://allafrica.com/stories/201107180396.html