Just relocated to a dry country

Hey all, I recently moved to Kuwait and wouldn't you know, it is a dry country where alcohol is illegal. Sure, I can buy from the black market but is a bottle of jack daniels (0.750, the small one) worth 150 dollars? As a result, I have decided to attempt to make my own cider. However, many of the recipes for cider and beer and whatnot ask for recipes and equipment I can not obtain such as a Crystal, special kind of yeasts and a fermenter to name a few. Anyone know of any basic recipes and instructions on how a noobie like me can obtain and create my own brew in a country that does not have any homebrewing stores and whatnot? Thanks guys!

Also, funny thing is that they are pretty strict that they even banned this site from access. I had to use a proxy changer to access it!

Something as simple as bread yeast and preservative free apple juice would get you started. It won't be the best beverage, but it will at least do the trick. You could even dissolve in some sugar to boost the ABV. There are plenty of Youtube Videos on homemade wine and lots of articles listed on this site about methods.

Preservative free apple juice is ideal but any juice will work. It can be as simple as sprinkling some bread yeast in a gallon of apple juice and let it ferment at room temp for at least a week. Make sure to keep the cap loose so CO2 can escape or just cover the top with foil.

You may also check out Welch's 100% Juices as they make some fine fermentables.

Having lived for a good long (semi) dry spell in Kuwait, I know your pain. You have already discovered two things: They are serious about keeping things dry, and there is a thriving black-market. Drinking Kuwaitis have a taste for expensive liquor and many of them are ridiculously rich, thus the $150.00 Jack.

Advice part 1) Get to know some Kuwaiti soldiers. Some of them might be hard-liners (ie. officers) but I assure you there are plenty of hard drinking enlisted boys (as in every military on earth... ever). They can get you some cheap, horrid stuff. To call it moonshine would be a disservice to the fine boys in the hollars making corn liquor, but its kinda like moonshine. Some TCNs might be able to help you, but they would be putting themselves at a pretty big risk.

advice part 2) if you know someone that can order dry ale and champagne yeast in another country and send them to you (perhaps in a sanitized bread yeast container?) I would do so. Bread yeast is pretty yucky and getting some Nottingham and EC1118 would make your life much easier.

advice part 3) read the Lambic and Wild yeast forum. there are tons of fruits, including apples and grapes, you can easily get your hands on for pretty cheap. Wild apple yeasts, as I understand--no experience--has the potential to be quite good.

good luck

I saw a great little website how too cultivate wild yeast. Can't find it right now. But idea is using ball mason jars and drill then grommet the hole for an airlock. You get apples right off the tree, don't wash them and chop them up and add water. The wild yeast will thrive. Then you can wash the yeast and add it to your primary. I also saw a blind taste test were wild yeast cider beat everything. It might be sweeter and lower ABV than champagne yeast but at least it won't taste like bread or beer.

Thank you guys so much for your comment, so you are telling me, I can just put normal yeast on a glass jar with a gallon of apple juice and that could work? What does the ratio of yeast to per gallon has to be and also how long before I can drink the brew itself exactly? Also, it gets really hot here so room temperature may be a problem, does the increase in temperature really effect it that much?

@Unferth, thanks for the tips buddy. At least you feel my pain haha!

if you can buy the juice already in a plastic container that would be best, then you'd just need to dump yeast into it. (A tablespoon of dry yeast would probably be fine) The cooler you can keep it the best. Below 70ºF and above 58ºF. If your temps are well above this, then putting the fermenter in a bucket of water with a frozen water bottle could help maintain lower temps.

@pickled pepper
but then if i have to slightly let the cap open for CO2 gases to escape, wouldnt H2O be getting in the bottle if I do that? Also, how long should I keep it fermented for? could i keep it in a fridge?

Look for the Ed's Apfelwein recipe. Apple juice, sugar(optional) and yeast.

Just add water about 1/3 to 1/2 way up the side of the fermentor. It shouldn't float...just have some water to chill it. You can always use a ballon or a condom with a hole poked in the end instead of loosening the cap as an alternative.

You also might check out the mead recipe forum and look at Joes Ancient Orange Mead. Tried and true, uses bread yeast, many people really enjoy it.

I did it once. It's probably better than the bootleg Arak that the soldiers drink.

I was talking to a friend who is a refugee from Iran, another dry country. He said what he and his buddies would do is buy the alcohol free beer that they have at the store, take the lid off, put a little bit of bread yeast and a cooked spaghetti noodle into the bottle and recap. About a week later, decant into a glass and drink. I've never tried it, but it could be an option for you.

Also, its common thing in Finland (Kilju) that they just use table sugar, water and bread yeast, ferment it dry and drink it like vodka with orange juice. Usually it runs around 13-17% alcohol and is pretty rough, apparently aging doesn't help either. If fact they say it should be drank young, like a Beaujolais nouveau.

I use apple cider and bread yeast for my applejack
wash. 1 tablespoon baker's yeast in one gallon plastic jug of cider, loosely screw the cap to allow gas to escape, 12 days @ 74F and you'll have 11% hard cider. Flat like traditional English hard cider, but add some club soda or 7up and it makes a decent sparkling cider. I'd experiment with carob molasses (used to use this when I lived in Beirut) for a rum wash, if you make a simple pot still.

Forgot to include adding 2 cups of sugar to apple cider before adding yeast.

a few cinnamon sticks in a cider is always good. if you dont have it already, you shouldn't have a problem finding it at any of the local markets.

If you don't mind small batches you can brew right in the gallon glass jugs some apple juice comes in. Not sure if it comes that way there, though.

Hi there,

I have just started up a site about home brewing in London, England with a few friends that I am doing a Masters in Broadcast Journalism with.

I'd like to talk to a couple of people about home brewing in a dry country. Of course anonymity will not be an issue. Are you currently home brewing somewhere like this? Or did you used to?

I appreciate that you may be concerned about revealing yourself to me if you are still in a dry country so I can figure out a way for you to check out the truth of my claims above.

Get in touch... I'd love to hear from you!

Check out the new website blog on http://londonbrews.com

Thanks guys and gals,

Julia

I feel your pain...not living in a dry country but approx. 1000 miles from the nearest brew store and no postal address.

Get someone to bring yeast out to you..anybody, coworkers family, your family, friend of a friend...it's yeast, not illegal in the slightest, anywhere.

Can you buy big 5 Gallon water bottles in Kuwait? That's what I'm using as a fermenter.

Currently I'm fermenting in 80F (more or less) several batches using Champagne yeast, S-04 and Saison yeast...all work. S04 seems to be the winner so far but they're all a work in progress. High temps are not ideal, but if you can do the water bath thing suggested above then you're onto a winner. I have no refrigeration so frozen anything doesn't exist.

Then, airlocks..you need plastic tubing, plastic jar such as for peanut butter, epoxy putty (any hardware store probably) and some silicon sealant also a drill bit the same diameter as the plastic tubing.

You need to figure out how long you want your plastic tube and cut it to length.

Poke hole in plastic lid of jar and whatever you are using as a fermentation vessel using drill bit, stick tube through hole in fermentation vessel about 1/2", then use epoxy putty and mold it around the tube both above and below the cap. When the epoxy is dry use silicon sealant on the upper surface of the cap to ensure its airtight. Stick other end of tube through lid of peanut butter jar and into water/star san whatever you've got...voila...not quite instant airlock. Oh, poke two holes in the peanut butter lid, let the CO2 out.

This thread has pictures of bottles with silicon and without.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/jungle-cider-ii-iii-iv-459436/

I put PTFE tape (Gas tape, teflon tape call it what you will) around the thread on the carboy to give the cap a better seal and then Electrical tape the cap in place once fermentation is under way.

Good luck Chief

BrewCanuck said:

I was talking to a friend who is a refugee from Iran, another dry country. He said what he and his buddies would do is buy the alcohol free beer that they have at the store, take the lid off, put a little bit of bread yeast and a cooked spaghetti noodle into the bottle and recap. About a week later, decant into a glass and drink. I've never tried it, but it could be an option for you.

.

Click to expand...

We used to do this at high school, to make super lager. Just added sugar and yeast and let it sit for a week. Gross.


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Do they have dates in the local market? Raisins? Those and apples are a good source of yeasts. Personally, I would use bread yeast, sugar or honey and apple juice. 1 kilo of sugar to 1 gallon. For a cheap airlock, wrap with plastic wrap, poke a few holes in it and secure with a rubberband and top that with a Ziploc bag draped over the top.