Home brewing in Japan

JiBiru8 said:

Awesome, thanks. Looking forward to it. I bottled a batch this morning, and even with my wife helping, it's not the most fun thing to do.

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At least the wife helps...

The actual bottling part isn't so bad, it's the prep. The real deciding factor for me was not being able to get bottles warm enough for conditioning in late winter. I had stored some in the greenhouse. Just, here, inside the house can be even colder than out.

I asked at the local liquor shop that tailors to restaurants and such if they rented out servers. He actually let me borrow a whole setup for nothing until I got my own. I did eventually buy 1 keg from him as a thanx...

WhoZiT said:

At least the wife helps...

The actual bottling part isn't so bad, it's the prep. The real deciding factor for me was not being able to get bottles warm enough for conditioning in late winter. I had stored some in the greenhouse. Just, here, inside the house can be even colder than out.

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Practically all of my bottle conditioning is done in the bottom section of the oshi-ire ( in our wa-****su ). Laid an adjustable, temp-controlled, electric blanket on the floor. Some old wine crates on that with the bottles in the crates and an old duvet over the top. Works a treat and easy to keep at 20 to 22C.

WhoZiT said:

I asked at the local liquor shop that tailors to restaurants and such if they rented out servers. He actually let me borrow a whole setup for nothing until I got my own. I did eventually buy 1 keg from him as a thanx...

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:rockin::rockin::rockin:

Some of the best people I've ever come across here where when touring by motorbike and camping over in Shikoku. Just outside Kochi city, camped by a river with a big typhoon headed our way, and this guy comes over to us out of the blue, a volunteer fireman whose main job was a greengrocer, hands us a bunch of fresh veg and fruit and his business card and says if the weather gets too wild to just give him a shout and we can camp up at his place:fro::fro:

Chrome crashed when I tried posting earlier sorry if this is a duplicate...
Got a couple of things at Daiso today, 105 Yen each;

• Citric acid 200gm
• Sodium Bicarb 200gm

(both were beside the bleach and household chemicals but their ingredients say 99.9% so I'm hoping they are fine) - There is ALSO bicarb in the baking/confectionary section but it is a smaller package perhaps only 50gm for the same price...?

• polypropylene sink strainer bags -this isnt a mesh grid but more like a coffee filter, 32X26 cm, pretty strong stuff too. I think I will try using it as a filter when racking to primary to catch any break material that gets sucked up the racking hose. Wikipedia says it is pretty chemical resistant and the melting point ranges between 130 - 171 C so could be fine for a grain or hop bag if you keep it off the bottom of the boil vessel

• Lastly, one of those red-squeeze-bulb racking canes used for kerosene (and water they advertise). I might try to use the bulb to start a siphon instead of back-filling my transfer cane with sanitizer and using gravity to do it (which is a PITA in my opinion) - anyone using these?

[*]Lastly, one of those red-squeeze-bulb racking canes used for kerosene (and water they advertise). I might try to use the bulb to start a siphon instead of back-filling my transfer cane with sanitizer and using gravity to do it (which is a PITA in my opinion) - anyone using these?

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I suck.

Yeah, I have a small piece of copper tube that fits in the hose. Sanitize it, attach it to the end, and suck. When the liquid gets near the end, I pinch it off, remove the copper tube, and the siphon is started. Never comes into contact with my mouth. I've read several ways to get this going, but this works and it's simple. I usually let the first bit drain into a container before going into the target vessel because it'll often have trub or yeast in the first bit.

+1 on the finds for citric acid and others...

I've used those bags for hops additions, too, without any foreseeable problems. They're much better than actual hop bags cuz you can just toss 'em when you are done.

Ogri said:

Practically all of my bottle conditioning is done in the bottom section of the oshi-ire ( in our wa-****su ). Laid an adjustable, temp-controlled, electric blanket on the floor. Some old wine crates on that with the bottles in the crates and an old duvet over the top. Works a treat and easy to keep at 20 to 22C.

:rockin::rockin::rockin:

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Well, let's say that the cold weather was my JUSTIFICATION for kegging with the SWMBO.

Ogri said:

Some of the best people I've ever come across here where when touring by motorbike and camping over in Shikoku. Just outside Kochi city, camped by a river with a big typhoon headed our way, and this guy comes over to us out of the blue, a volunteer fireman whose main job was a greengrocer, hands us a bunch of fresh veg and fruit and his business card and says if the weather gets too wild to just give him a shout and we can camp up at his place:fro::fro:

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I used to live in Kochi, too. The ppl are great there. It's usually prone to lots of flooding with the bigger typhoons. There are even "hemp" festivals if you are into that...

OppamaBrendan said:

• polypropylene sink strainer bags -this isnt a mesh grid but more like a coffee filter, 32X26 cm, pretty strong stuff too. I think I will try using it as a filter when racking to primary to catch any break material that gets sucked up the racking hose. Wikipedia says it is pretty chemical resistant and the melting point ranges between 130 - 171 C so could be fine for a grain or hop bag if you keep it off the bottom of the boil vessel

• Lastly, one of those red-squeeze-bulb racking canes used for kerosene (and water they advertise). I might try to use the bulb to start a siphon instead of back-filling my transfer cane with sanitizer and using gravity to do it (which is a PITA in my opinion) - anyone using these?

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Is polyprop food safe? For a grain bag, use one of those laundry net bags.

Also, I don't recommend using that siphon set up. I think the bulb would oxygenate the sh*t out of your beer when you transfer. Plus the tubing isn't smooth from the ones I've seen.

I have used the short tube "suck start" and the gravity method, but still miss my auto siphon that I left back in Canada; that was a cheap luxury! I think the main trouble with the 100 yen siphon is the risk of not fully sanitizing it, so I doubt if I will use that on the upstream side. Instead I was thinking there might be an alternative - sanitize a fitting on the downstream end and use the bulb as the "suck start" vacuum if it creates enough force. I can still use my smooth tubing siphon that way.

PP should be food safe, it is used for a ton of food packaging. It has a high enough melting point that you can boil it, but low enough you should keep it off the bottom or sides of the pot during flame. I thought my hop bags were biodegradable cellulose fibre, so I tossed them into the compost. Just spread mature compost in the garden and little hop bags are popping up all over!

I use the laundry bags as well for grain-bags. I found that using 2 or 3 smaller "intimates" bags (finer mesh size) to split the grain up really helped compared to dumping everything in one big bag. I am able to pull the bags up and drain them a lot easier with less mess that way.

Oh, I wanted to mention; my brother got me a premium membership so I can now go back and edit the original posts I made. I will try to find time to update some of the information in there so new readers don't have to skim through all 25 (and growing) pages for a quick-start guide to home brewing in Japan. If anyone has spare time and would like to help, just send me a PM. I am basically just going to re-read all the posts and take any information about sources of materials/equipment and consolidate it into as few posts as possible at the beginning of the thread. Let me know if there is Japan related info from other threads that you would like included and I will fit it in there.

Can't promise this will be immediate, just got married and going through the spouse visa stuff and working so you-know, priorities hehe.
Cheers!

OppamaBrendan said:

Can't promise this will be immediate, just got married and going through the spouse visa stuff and working so you-know, priorities hehe.
Cheers!

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Official now, eh? Omedetou!

I'm having trouble getting in touch with Onishi Shoji, the malt dealer in Tokyo. I spoke with one of their guys a few weeks back about grain availability, but when I called on Friday, phone disconnected. Any one know anything?

Looked at ocha packs today. Some have polypropylene. The sink drain packs that I've used in the past were polyester.

I'd assume the ocha packs were food grade. Polyester is also listed as a material used in those delicate linens bags.

Any thoughts?

I used some of the ocha packs today for hop additions. Even with only half an ounce in each one, they were packed, which is a bit of a PITA filling them. Maybe some bigger ones will work well.

Good thing is they float!

Those ocha bags-- big hit in hop utilization, I think. This is from a taste of the finished wort. Free swimming hops are better, I'll compare with my previous bags next time.

I used the tea bags once. Same conclusion. I ended up making a simple hop spider (without legs!) with parts from the 100 yen store. Small laundry bag and a 150 mm cake form. Use small paper clamps/clips to hold the bag on the hoop, and one large clamp to hold it to the kettle. Works great and will hold a good amount of hops.

Last few months I've stopped using bags of any type for my hop additions and I reckon, from the flavour, I'm getting much better hop utilization. Only using pellets though, so not sure how it'd be with dry leaf or whole hop. Wort looks dark, cloudy and a funny colour going into the fermenter but always ends up nice and clear by the end of primary.

The laundry bags that tektonjp mentioned seem like a good idea though as you could have a bag with plenty space in there and get maximum surface area contact.

I've been tossing them in freely, too. I just thought I'd give 'em a go today. I like your idea, tekton. I think I'd like to do it with something disposable, though. I hate washing out the grain and hop bags.

Ocha Bags are really fine, and the pellets (once they break up inside the wort) quickly clog up the gaps between the fibres and takes its toll on hop utilization. I tried the bags once but decided during the boil that they are no good and have been throwing the pellets into the wort directly ever since.

Winter Beer Bash here I come, I'll be the
Guy drinking beer.

Obviously haha!
I wish I could go but Im working all weekend; no burns night no beer bash. At least I saved a Nightmare Rye IPA so I could be there in spirit(s)!

Brendan, sorry to hear that. All work and no play...

Hi

Homebrewer in Yugawara, Kanagawa here!
Great event in Yokohama Sunday.

I know some Japan sources such as Asahi Malt and Advanced Brewing.

www.brewershardware.com and
www.brewmasterswarehouse.com will ship to Japan.

Any recommended others?

I want to buy some 13L better bottles, immersion chiller, mashtun and parts and sparger, bottle washer and possible Malt and Hops.

Please let me know what you think.

Spiral

Welcome to the thread. Sure wish I could have gone on Sunday.

Welcome to the thread Spiral! There is also a Japan group you can join here, most of the people in this thread are in that group now.

Im slowly putting together previous posts' information to make it easier to find and get started. I hope to wrap it up and post it soon but have been kept busy with other stuff lately. I don't know a reliable source for a bottle washer, seems everytime I look the few places that have them listed are sold out. Mash coolers, sparger parts, & copper tubing to build an immersion chiller is available at hardware stores and online hardware suppliers. Will post some links soon sorry for delays guys.

spiral said:

Hi

Homebrewer in Yugawara, Kanagawa here!
Great event in Yokohama Sunday.

I know some Japan sources such as Asahi Malt and Advanced Brewing.

www.brewershardware.com and
www.brewmasterswarehouse.com will ship to Japan.

Any recommended others?

I want to buy some 13L better bottles, immersion chiller, mashtun and parts and sparger, bottle washer and possible Malt and Hops.

Please let me know what you think.

Spiral

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Hey all!

Sorry for the delay, but I've posted a rough draft of a tutorial for using Japanese servers/dispensers, with photos. It's in the Japan group section.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/groups/japan/japanese+beer+server-dispenser+tutorial-2656/

Unfortunately, each post is limited to 1,000 characters, so please bear with me on this. Any comments are welcome. I'll eventually move it to the tutorial section.

Nice post and photos! Awesome Timing too! I just finished the "resources" files for the group and edited it into the first post for this thread. I will post it in the group as well.
Now I can get off the damn computer haha!
Cheers,
B

Thanks for the welcome!

I think there was a misunderstanding. I was looking for US suppliers that will ship to Japan.
I'll add morebeer.com to the list.

Cheers

Ok, I changed the spreadsheet to list what country the resource is shipping from, and added a few that I had missed. I think most of us are trying to show the local brew-suppliers some love as they are helping to legitimize the hobby here. They do not carry every thing that we could wish for however so its worth listing other sources that can.
It might take a few minutes for the file to synch properly, depending what browser I use to open it, it either shows the old or new file even when I hit reload.
Cheers.
B

Anyone going to the taproom today? It's homebrews appreciation day from 2-5pm. At the nakameguro taproom.

Did a trip to Costco and picked up some Numans Own 100% Concord grape juice. It was 2 bottles X 2.84 Liters for 968 yen, so about 170 yen per liter. I am sure if I do a search I will find wine recipes using this stuff.

Another trip to "Green Farm" where I picked up a small blackberry cutting. I hope the blackberry grows as vigorously here as they do in Vancouver!

PS, Antenna America is open now just a minute walk from Bay Brewing in Yokohama. I haven't been there yet but it should be a decent shop for import beers!

I will have to check out Antenna America the next time I head to Yokohama. Went up there last week and didnt even get a chance to stop off and get any Micro Brew Goodness. Maybe this weekend.

I will be checking out Antenna America around 6pm today. Say hi if you spot a guy wearing glasses, a black coat, jeans and a burgundy scarf.

Just went to Craft Beer Market. Well worth you time. 20 beers on tap, all Japan crafts. Cheaper than anywhere else I have been and good food too. Only 10 minute walk from my office so that is a huge bonus. Will be at good beer faucets tomorrow night though stop by and say hello.

Thinking about trying a mead. Any good recommendations and recipes?

mpearce said:

Thinking about trying a mead. Any good recommendations and recipes?

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I've been wondering, too. I've been here so long I don't even know what it's supposed to taste like. I tried a commercial cider here and it was nothing like ciders or apfelwein that I've had in the past. I tried a commercial mead and was really turned off, but I would totally expect a real mead to be completely different.

There are kits/kit honey I've seen before. Ideally, i'd want to try local honey, but it's insanely expensive. Chinese honey? What yeast is commonly used?

Costco has honey for a more affordable price, not local stuff though.
There is a store in Kyoto that sells polish mead and they sell online as well, if you're into thicker meads then I'd recommend it.

Still have been putting off making another brew these days, but I have excuses! I started another food hobby I had been meaning to try for a while; cheese! I have done a few batches now and will do another tomorrow night. It takes less work than an all grain beer so for these days when I have had less opportunity to brew it will have to do.

A friend invited me to hang out on his brew day this week! I have never watched anyone brew before and there were some good tips for me to learn. He was very organized with his workflow, starting the strike water heating, then grinding the grain (double roller is so much faster than my corona mill!), then pre-heating the mash tun. A digital thermometer with a temperature alarm is cheap and great to have so you don't need to watch the pot! Mashing in was straightforward, 15 minutes before the mash was done the sparge water started heating. He was batch sparging, and verlof'ed a few liters for each batch (initial, and 2 rinses). While running off the wort for each sparge he checked the brix reading with a refractometer (I am definitely getting one now!). Straight away he got the wort on the stove to get up to boil temp, and once there put his first hops in a hop spider and we sat down for a pint to wait. He keeps a rolling boil but not a vigorous one and was not worried about a boil over. Unfortunately the timer hadn't started so we ended up estimating the 30 minute addition, and may have been a bit too early as the final gravity was a touch lighter than predicted. While chilling the wort he used the hot water return to wash his mash tun! Great idea! I had to head home so I missed out on pitching the yeast. Good times!
Oh, forgot to mention the style was an ESB.

Here is a photo of my mozzarella and the aftermath of the brew session.
https://plus.google.com/photos/1123...s/5849951465987167041?authkey=CPie_L__o5XPwQE

Recently I did a batch with the Asahi Beer Malt's English Ale Malt. Their grind is really fine, and it leaves a lot of sludge at the bottom of your mash tun. There really is no point in sparging this stuff, so it makes mashing easier in a way, but it also means you go through your malts faster. I'm not sure on the taste, but the 10 litre batch of SMaSH with the English Ale Malts and Fuggle hop pellets should be ready to drink and I will post thoughts on it pretty soon.

Chief brewer of Yokohama Brewery agreed on the fine grind, and told me that was the reason he doesn't use malts from Asahi.

On another note, I will be moving to Higashi Kanagawa station at the end of this month and the place I will be living in is really small. I suppose I can still find place for fermenting and stuff, but there is only room for 1 pot on the cooking stove, and I was wondering if it was possible to brew in such a small kitchen.

I am wondering if it is possible to brew in such an environment, and if anyone has similar experiences, would like to hear them. I may have to consider leaving my brewing equipment at my parent's house, although I don't want to (for obvious reasons

OB, where did you get the rennin? Just use regular milk?

Surume, the asahi malt is quite nice, IMO. I do the grind myself, though. Not sure why the grind would make you go through malts faster. If anything, a finer grind will give more efficiency, and thus less grain needed.

Yokohama doesn't grind their own? Surprised.

Brewed 2 batches today, an Amber and a
Wheat ale. I used Saaz and Chinook for
The Wheat and Saaz and Centennial for
The Amber. Used American ale yeast for
the wheat and Belgian Strong for the Amber.
Should be interesting. @Surume,do
You have a place to brew outside? I use
a gas burner hooked up to a propane tank
and seems nicer outside brewing than in the
Kitchen.