Central American Brewing, thus far

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ObsidianOps

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Honduras
I posted a while back, explaining how I am currently living in a rural part of western Honduras, far away from luxuries like Homebrew Supply Stores or inexpensive shipping, but was looking to continue homebrewing. Now that I'm a few batches in, I thought I'd write some descriptions of what we've accomplished thus far, if anyone is interested.

Originally we inherited a set of equipment (plastic buckets, capper, etc.), that I assume was brought from the US at some point. Ingredients were always going to be a problem, but my friend who made a visit to the US was able to bring back the first set. Because that's all finite, and I also wasn't entirely comfortable with the equipment, we've been working in 2.5 gallon batches.

Batch #1 - No Importa Porter
2 lbs Light DME
1.5 lbs Dark DME
8 oz Chocolate Malt
0.75 oz Cascade Hops
Nottingham Yeast

I think this is about as simple as beer recipes get. Unfortunately, as we mixed and fermented, we realized a critical error - we had no bottle caps! Actually, we managed to scrounge up about 8, hardly enough to bottle 2.5 gallons of beer, and only realized the glass bottles we had stockpiled were, in fact, twist off. Such rookie mistakes.

So what was the solution? Pop bottles, of course. At least, all we could find at that moment, which still wasn't quite enough. Attempting to cap a twist-off bottle with a non twist off top seemed to work, so we exhausted our supply of caps, only to have beer remained. Finally getting desperate, a few were bottled by recapping with the original twist off top. All in all the final product was a ragtag bunch:

PC200006.JPG


How did it taste? Its probably not surpising that a few ended up contaminated. It may be surpising, however, that most actually tasted quite good. Not competition-winning good, but I've-lived-in-Honduras-for-a-year-and-this-tastes-like-real-beer good. The chocolate malt character was there, with a hint of hops, with just slightly more carbonation than was ideal. Sharing it with friends (not locals, though I hope to give some of my honduran friends beers of subsequent batches to try and introduce the idea of something that isn't a mass-produced lager), it has received such reviews as "really good for something made in Honduras," to "not all that bad." And really, what more could I ask for?

Batch #2: Resistencia Roja Irish Red
3 lbs Light DME
8 oz Crystal 60L Malt
4 oz Toasted Barley Malt
1.75 oz Cascade Hops (Boil)
Windsor Ale Yeast

The name of this beer is somewhat a tribute to the Rebel Red brewed at the Franciscan Well Brewery in Cork, Ireland, however making it much more significant to the politics of Honduras following its 2009 coup d'etat (or the golpe, as its fondly or not-so fondly referred to here).

Another simple recipe, though here I crossed into some unexplored territory. We hadn't bought any roasted barley, just a quantity of the Crystal malt. Some quick research led me to believe it wasn't to difficult to toast the barley at home. However most normal sane people would toast their barley in an oven, which may be common in the rest of the world, but aren't used to much here in Honduras, where everything tends to be cooked on stovetop, often with woodburning stoves. We were fortunate enough to have an electric stove, but no oven to speak of. Why not roast it on the stovetop then?

The barley darkened quickly, and started to smell really good. Careful not to let it burn, I was fairly impressed with how it turned out. After boiling it with the other grain, it imparted an excellent red color.

P1010122.JPG


After a few weeks of fermenting, it had developed what I originally feared was a case of outright contamination. The majority was cloudy, almost resembling orange. We nonetheless carried on (was there any other choice?), and proceeded with bottling. Measuring the gravity told us it was only at 1.006 (though I'm suspicious of the hydrometer). In a uplifting twist of fate, however, tasting the small bit used to measure gravity turned out quite pleasant, a nice beer taste, mostly dominated by the toasted barley. Rejuvinated, we bottled, and the beer should be ready to drink soon.

Batch #2: Hay Disculpe IPA
2.5 lbs Light DME
1 lb Amber DME
8 oz Crystal 60L Malt
1.5 oz Cascade Hops (Boil)
0.5 oz Cascade Hops (Post-Boil)
0.5 oz Cascade Hops (Dry Hop)
Nottingham Yeast

This was todays beer, again simple, going in the fermenter momentarily. Hoping to go for a stronger, hoppier ale, but that will be seen.

Vaya Pues,
Danny
 
Congrats on your new quest! I like how you jumped right in with roasting your own malt. To boldly go where few home brewers have gone before...
 
inspirational. when honduras throws you piss-wasser, you throw them a hail of ale.

there seems to be an american parallel, at least where i live in new york- lots of people aren't even aware that there's more beer out there than bud, guinness, and corona.

and what do you do about that? open their eyes with a homebrew and a story. who knows? you might be the next johnny hoppleseed.
 
Where are you getting your ingredients? I live in San Pedro and haven't found anything.

I figure I could use oatmeal or cornstarch as the fermentable, but there's still the problem of no hops.
 
@flycal6: Its certainly nice to see another catracho on here! I did as much investigation as I can, including asking the heads of the Microbreweries in Copan Ruinas and at the Lake. Unfortunately the nearest homebrew supplies are sold in Mexico City in one direction and Brazil in the other. So I've been buying them on the internet, getting them shipped to addresses in the United States, and having people bring it all when they've visited. Definitely not the most efficient method. I've been wondering if there might not be a way to find whole grain barley in a place like San Pedro, definitely light me know if you come across anything. I'm just down the road near Santa Rosa!

@windbreaker123: Beer is limited here. There are four types produced by the national, government-owned brewery (read mass-produced crappy pilsners). You can find some imported beers, but nothing fancier than Heineken. I found Guinness cans past their expiration date in a supermarket once, and a UNO's Chicago grill franchise sells Sam Adams (with the label in Hebrew). Other liquors are a bit easier to find, with a good selection of rums, tequilas, vodkas and whiskeys (I even found Jameson once!). But for a true beer lover, it can be tough.
 
Yeah, I've got a Trans Express account I'm gonna use to get stuff shipped. It sucks though, because $35 in ingredients costs another $40 in ransom to pick it up here in San Pedro. And that's after waiting 3-4 weeks.

If I ever find a source, I'll let you know.
 
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