Home brewing in Japan

espyusmc said:

Sorry Touge, I have no idea.

I have a question hoping you guys can help me out. I'm going to the states for work for a couple days. Does anyone know if I can bring back a 50lb sack of grain in my checked luggage? I'm not worried about the additional weight charges, only the customs process. Thank you. I'll be returning to the Hiroshima area if anyone needs some brew stuff.

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I'm sure you can, but why when the price of a 20k bag at Asahi Malting is under 4000 yen?

Touge: If you need it fast and dry yeast is okay, then order through brewland. They do have it in stock, and usually ship out within a week. Liquid is special-order only through advanced brewing, or direct shipment from overseas.

espy, I'd agree with tekton- you can get it from Asahi for cheap or one of the above for less cheap but more convenient, and its not much different from US malts, unless you need a giant bag of some very specific malt.

Speaking of...
I've never tried getting liquid through Advanced because I don't know how the special order works, has anyone done it that can shed some light? How long does it take, etc..

Also; I don't know where you are located but Tokyu Hands has dry yeast near me in Osaka. Not a lot of selection but a few.

And the malts; I'm guessing that it must be a special grain, otherwise it would make no sense considering how silly high the cost of extra baggage is.
I've heard people talk of ordering through Asahi but every time I ask no one can point to where to get any info. They just point me to a website that says I need to be a business to deal with them.

I've never heard of Asahi Malting. Can you please point me towards the correct website. I'm searching the Internet with no success. Thanks!

Shoot me a PM and I will email you the order form for Asahi and a contact address. Much easier than dicking around with Faxes if you dont have a fax machine at home/work.

Also, Weyermann and Crisp malts are available through a distributor in Tokyo.

Looks like the CO2 place that sprouseusnavy used to get CO2 has closed down, anyone have any suggestions for places around Yokosuka that have CO2??

Nomofett said:

I've never tried getting liquid through Advanced because I don't know how the special order works, has anyone done it that can shed some light? How long does it take, etc..

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Hard to say... I think they usually order 2 or 3 times a year, they may put up a notice on the front page of there website stating when the next order will be placed... but its kinda fuzzy. I gather that if enough orders come in to make it profitable, an order gets made, if not, it gets delayed.

They usually have some popular yeast on hand but you really need to ask ... the web page doesn't usually give currently in stock info.

Basically, you mail a request, and you might get a response or not, depending upon his circumstances.

The 2nd best way is to actually order something, adding your question or special order... That way he sort of has to deal with you, even if he is busy.

How Long? Could be 1 week, but it might be quite a bit longer, even a full year for special yeasts that are only offered by the mfg. as seasonals or special order yeast.

Proper Timeing is key to getting anything they don't have on hand quickly.


Humm,
If anyone cares,
I will bank any yeast anyone sends me....
no gaurantees but then again, no charge either!

Just leave a tiny bit (in the white labs tube)
after you've added it to your starter/wort
then send the sealed tube to me.
It might come in handy for you latter. Who knows?

I mailed with AB last week, and they told me they will be getting new stock by the end of October. He was also gonna give me an updated list of what they have in stock last weekend, but no word on that.

sabotenfighter said:

Shoot me a PM and I will email you the order form for Asahi and a contact address. Much easier than dicking around with Faxes if you dont have a fax machine at home/work.

Also, Weyermann and Crisp malts are available through a distributor in Tokyo.

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A fax machine?! Goddamnit Japan! So advanced in some ways and so 1980's in others.

Anyway, could you please share this with me as well? Thanks!

mooh said:

I mailed with AB last week, and they told me they will be getting new stock by the end of October. He was also gonna give me an updated list of what they have in stock last weekend, but no word on that.

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I have had such a frustrating time dealing with AB over the past few years that I simply gave up. He has a good selection for Japan - but only on paper. I'm not saying that running a homebrew supply shop is easy in this country, but I can't tell you the number of times that I've placed large orders only to wait a week or more before getting an email informing me that most of what I ordered is unavailable. I hope you have a better experience with him than I did, but when possible I tweak my recipes to avoid an AB order.

snow16 said:

I have had such a frustrating time dealing with AB over the past few years that I simply gave up. He has a good selection for Japan - but only on paper. I'm not saying that running a homebrew supply shop is easy in this country, but I can't tell you the number of times that I've placed large orders only to wait a week or more before getting an email informing me that most of what I ordered is unavailable. I hope you have a better experience with him than I did, but when possible I tweak my recipes to avoid an AB order.

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I got a reply from him, and he updated the liquid yeast page showing which ones he still has in stock at the bottom.
I have only made 2-3 orders with them up until now, and yes, they are slow processing their orders, but I haven't had any problems though.
Would be nice if we had a store like morebeer or so in Asia or Japan.

is anybody going to this http://2015.beerfes-shinshu.com/ craft beer fest in Matsumoto

I will be in the area during the silver week for a day or two. Might check it out.

Interesting... if anyone has any schedule plans, I might try to adjust my own visit....

BTW, What is Silver wEEK?

Silver week is the name Japanese people give to the five day weekend in September

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Im trying to go on Monday but still not sure if Im working that day or not?
Hopefully know by this week.

I am rather indecisive about this.
Anyone have any solid plans?

Nope ive ended up working and cant make it.... Bummer

Went anyhow.

... all Weizen was sold out (not that there was a good selection provided on any other day);

German Plank Bier also sold out...

No Brett from Tamamura on hand...

One Helles ran thru a Randall (sp?) that contained a sliced orange.

A few bottled beers were on sale, so I took home a handful.

This was my first visit to this event; I was left wanting more; perhaps something more "educational" with a lecture or dialoge options, but all in all I had a good time.

After the closing ceremomy, they had a group photo so I snapped this image of the mood:

Blue-Frog said:

Went anyhow.

... all Weizen was sold out (not that there was a good selection provided on any other day);

German Plank Bier also sold out...

No Brett from Tamamura on hand...

One Helles ran thru a Randall (sp?) that contained a sliced orange.

A few bottled beers were on sale, so I took home a handful.

This was my first visit to this event; I was left wanting more; perhaps something more "educational" with a lecture or dialoge options, but all in all I had a good time.

After the closing ceremomy, they had a group photo so I snapped this image of the mood:

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The mood must be blurry.

I know this is a slightly older thread but I will be moving to Okinawa from the states in April due to being in the military. I want to continue to brew but not sure if I will have the space to do it. So my question is is it worth it price wise to have ingredients sent over from the states or are there any homebrew stores on oki.

I am not aware of any walk in home brew shop in Japan.
There are a few online shops; but you will need to use Japanese.

I'd say it is definately worth it.

Choices are limited, options few,
If your commin in April...
Could you bring a rhizome or two?"

smitty8202 said:

I know this is a slightly older thread but I will be moving to Okinawa from the states in April due to being in the military. I want to continue to brew but not sure if I will have the space to do it. So my question is is it worth it price wise to have ingredients sent over from the states or are there any homebrew stores on oki.

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If you do facebook, check out the brewing club in Okinawa. https://www.facebook.com/groups/Okinawa.Brewing/

All just moved to Yokota and there are a lot of questions around here on whether you can home brew or not on base. Anybody have any concrete guidance with some policies or something from anybody that says you can. Thanks

Mctinmd,

Not 100% sure about Yokota but I am in Yokosuka and brew quite a bit as do others that I know and have never had a problem. I brew right out in the open on my back porch. I would say you are completely fine. Welcome to Japan!

Thanks rouge! I've been doing a ton of research on this and it appears the 1 percent is based on Japan's liquor tax law and the same tax law covers consumption gas tobacco and other Japanese taxable items. That being said many if not all of these items are exempt when it comes to military installations since sofa allows for many tax exemptions. So I need to run to ground this logic and see if I can get an authoritative answer. Id rather dig till I find its legal or at least not illegal on base than just hope everybody's right that it's illegal but not enforced.

Mctinmd said:

Thanks rouge! I've been doing a ton of research on this and it appears the 1 percent is based on Japan's liquor tax law and the same tax law covers consumption gas tobacco and other Japanese taxable items. That being said many if not all of these items are exempt when it comes to military installations since sofa allows for many tax exemptions. So I need to run to ground this logic and see if I can get an authoritative answer. Id rather dig till I find its legal or at least not illegal on base than just hope everybody's right that it's illegal but not enforced.

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The only people I know of getting "arrested" were a couple of Japanese guys a couple of years ago who were brewing up doburoku, farm style sake. They wanted to be arrested to see if they could get the law changed. I haven't heard of anyone getting nipped for beer, although there are stories of neighbors' complaints (smell) leading to police coming to suggest acquiring another hobby.

Mctinmd, if you are in the military,
isn't there something called the "chain of command"?

I agree I think there are "on base" areas that are subject to US laws...

Humm, It looks to me you actually want to obey the law... whatever it is.

If so,
I meekly suggest this isn't the best place to get legal military advice -
you might get lucky - but I do think you should look "closer to home" for someone who really knows...

Maybe there is a base-wide policy?

If you do ask around, it would be interesting to hear about...

Hey fellas,
I've been out of touch for awhile and sadly not been brewing for the last year or so. It's not all bad news though! I was too busy because my wife and I had a baby girl last winter. Anyway, things have calmed down enough to allow me to start brewing again. All grain IPA ingredients are on their way as I type this!
Hope everyone has been doing well in my absense

Ｉ　ｒｅａｌｌｙ　ｗａｎｔ　ｔｏ　ｓａｙ　ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ，preferably something profound.

but I got nothin'!

おめでとう。

Mctinmd,

I'm in Iwakuni and brew a lot. So do others on base. Before I got out here I emailed both the MCCS director (base exchange CEO) and base legal about brewing on base and starting a homebrew club. Both said it was ok. The base legal attorney said it appears the beer laws only apply to commercial brewing, but it wasn't his expertise so he wasn't sure, standard lawyer answer.

After doing other research online I decided to brew and not advertise or start a club to stay on the safe side.

Interestingly enough our exchange started carrying Mr Beer kits, ha. I'm back to exploring the brew club idea but in a closed forum similar to the Tokyo Home Brewers page on Facebook. FYI, I also use to live off base for 4 years and brewed in front of my house with no problems.

My two cents.

Espy thanks this is what I was looking for. Yokota base legal didn't know so they just guessed and said no but if I can get legal there to get guidance from other locations that fall under same rules I think they'll change their minds. Great post.

Anyone get up to any brewing this long weekend? I finally got around to my first batch in about 1.5 years. My technique was pretty rusty but pretty happy with the results so far. My IPA is bubbling away now...

I hoping to get a pipeline going soon so will be brewing up some smaller batches over the next couple of weeks. It's good to be back

I re-brewed the second beer I ever made. A rye coconut porter with yamazaki infused vanilla beans. First time around the OG was 1.07, this time it was 1.099 so I'm happy and excited. Hopefully will be ready on Xmas
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448330473.341907.jpg

snow16 said:

I brew with what I call a 'modified swamp cooler'. It's about as simple as it gets, but it works perfectly. I have a 60l plastic garbage can with a lid that I put my 6.5 gallon carboy into. I pour water around the carboy, and I have an aquarium heater to keep that water at whatever temperature I choose. I put the lid on to retain as much heat as possible, but I had to cut a hole in the lid to make room for the airlock.

I live up in Fukushima and it gets pretty cold here. I keep it in my un-insulated genkan all throughout the winter and it keeps temps within to within 1.5C of my setting. Total cost was about 3000円.

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I like this setup. Any things you'd do differently if you were to do it again. Also, which aquarium heater do you use? One with an adjustable temperature control? I'm having trouble finding anything like that for under 3000Y... and even those ones are for 10L-15L aquariums... seems like they would be under-powered to keep a 23L carboy warm.

A rye coconut porter with yamazaki infused vanilla beans sounds interesting. Where'd you get the rye? Been looking for that and CaraRye but no luck.

I got my adjustable one at homes for 2500, they were on Amazon for 2000 but I was in a hurry. I don't remember what size it's built for but its 100w and it works great keeping three nine liter carboys warm

I just used flaked rye from a baking store, the first time I made it I just used rye flour and that was alright as well.