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Curtis2010

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I've swapped a couple of PM's with another HBF member here in Guatemala and decided to move our conversation to a public forum for the benefit of others brewing here in Guate. Paste of most recent message thread for context below. My reply follows the quote.

Originally Posted by pacayaforhops

Hops I import through CPX, the rest I either bought from an acquaintance that used to homebrew in Antigua (met through a mutual friend, he's since left for china on work, bought all his specialty malts and a portable thermostat fridge, cornies and gas & dispensing fittings) or make myself (home-malt 6 row or wheat). The one thing I don't make myself is malt extract, which I get from distribuidora caribe in zona 11, behind colegio italiano, but I'm weaning off of it though, last sunday was also my 1st successful AG brew, small a batch as it may be.

Re the brewery, yeah they import just about everything from belgium, water's really hard all throughout the country, so they also use water softeners, I just use salvavidas and condition with with sodium sulphate & tap water. I used to work for a company that maintained some of their equipment, so I just about took the tour myself and know a few more of the inner workings. I myself prefer higher kilned malt than the belgian 2-row they use, it gives the beer a more bready taste, sadly the 6-row I make also tastes grassier but longer conditioning takes care of that, it makes for better body and head retention without sacrificing much sugar content though and it has better conversion potential for adjuncts.

I'll be trying my hand at making epsom salts (magnesium sulphate, a bit more appropriate for english beer) in a few days (car battery electrolyte and milk of magnesia), hopefully it'll filter well and the emulsifiers will decompose with enough heat (studying chemical engineering helps).

Theres a company that sells cornies, it's listed under refrigeration on the yellow pages, can't remember the company's name though.

I'm all for a Guate-brewers group, count me in.

Originally Posted by Curtis2010

Good stuff. Do you mind if I shift our conversation to a public forum? I know there are other homebrewers in Guate who could benefit from this conversation?

Thanks,

Curtis


Wow, you do your own malting. Where do you get the grain?

The well water at my place on the Rio Dulce is super soft (about 15 PPM). It is ideal for making Pilsners, so I have been on a Pils kick this season. I plan to brew an IPA to finish off my brewing season (time to go sailing). So, will need to treat the water. I already have various minerals to treat with. I ordered these a few months back -- very small, light and inexpensive so cheap to ship. I have used these additives for making mineral water also -- quick and easy with a kegging system.

I also use CPX for small/light stuff. They get spendy for large/heavy stuff because they use shared air freight. Quick and convenient though with excellent customer service (they forward all my stuff down to the Rio via Litegua). For heavier stuff I use TRANSCARGO. Their customer service stinks, but they get bulky stuff here at very reasonable rates (most recently a full set of partial-mash ingredients for two 5 gallon batches of beer plus a few brewing toys -- total cost $35US).

I need to expand my "cerveceria" so I will definitely track down the source you mention for cornies. Also, along CA-9 about the Rio Hondo area there are a number of beverage distributors (AmBev, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Licores de Guatemala). Surely cornies can be acquired there also. I plan to stop by on my return trip to the Rio.

Even more interesting than cornies, I have dropped in and talked with the folks at Licores de Guatemala and they do sometimes sell their used wooden barrels which have been used to age Ron Zacapa Centenario and other lines of the delicious rums (surely these are the origin of the phrase "elixir of the gods"!). I plan to pick-up a couple next season and maybe try them out on a Barely Wine and a Mead (I have done a small test batch of mead with some of the locally available raw honey, which is quite light, and it was tasty...now just need to make more and age it).

What has been your experience with the extract from Distribudora Caribe? Good quality? Range of products?

Re Guate Brewers group. What do you think for a name? "Guate Brewers" is pretty obvious...maybe "Mundo Maya Mashers" and encourage others in Central America to participate. Let me know what you think.

Thanks much for the reply and the great info.

Love to have other Guate brewers chime in too!


Saludos,

Curtis
 
The grain I get from CENMA in Villa Nueva, both 6-row and wheat (I have 5 lbs un-malted wheat right now, 2 lbs malted wheat, and 7 lbs malted 6-row, the later home malted). You do have to wash them well though, they're caked in dust by the time they get here and they are kept open with all the extraurbanas smoking them in diesel fumes (none of it comes through after being washed though, also have to watch out for grain weevils, they usually come out after washing).

I've heard of Zacapa casks being sold, I just can't justify getting one when I could use more cornies and CO2 equipment (larger tanks for CO2 for example, I carbonate with 12oz paintball tanks, a tank will usually last me 2 5 gallon batches and that's IF I don't go paintballing).

The DME I get from distribuidora caribe is probably mashed a bit high, I can't get all of the residual sweetness to go away unless I use souring bugs (not that I mind, it's perfect for british milds and bitters or darker belgian abbey ales & the "honey half&half" I brew, but it's probably not good if you're looking to brew a pilsener or pale lager). Other than that, it clears up nicely and has no tannins that I can taste and will ferment plenty well enough.

The company itself is a distributor of food additives and modified starches & sugars, so you should be able to get carragenan, pectin and other finings, plain & modified wheat, corn or rice starches for adjuncts, invert sugar, etc. and you might even be able to get hops extract (never as good as the real deal but it could do in a pinch).

Re: the group's name, "Mundo Maya Mashers" sounds kind of exclusive of everything south east of Honduras and inclusive of Mexico (not that I have anything against Mexico, hell, I have mexican born family in Mexico; I just figure there's probably enough people in DF alone to make their own HBF group). I wouldn't mind other nationalities joining, but to me it kind of takes away from the "secret club" feeling (call me a 5 year old, I don't mind) of having an all local HBF group (and when I say local I mean CA-4, no passport required for travel local; on that note how about "Cerveceros CA-4").
 
Thanks for all the great info.

Not sure I want to get into my own malting just yet, but it is an interesting possibility for the future. It is very humid down here on the Rio (minimum 85% -- usually higher) so handling grains could be problematic (DME is great fun too).

Will definitely get some of the DME from Distribuidora Caribe and check it out. I'm thinking of British ales and Belgian recipes for next season so this may work out well. I keep a stock of imported light DME because it comes in so handy for many things -- like making starters. Will stick with this for Pilsners.

For carbonation, I have a couple of 5LB CO2 tanks that I have filled at Productos de Aire (only about Q70 to fill one). They are a large industrial gas company, but they have C02 tanks as small as 10LBs for sale. I think they find the gringo with the little 5LB tanks amusing.

I like the "Cerveceros CA-4" name. Let's go with that and I will set it up. Maybe we can find some interesting resources in the rest of the CA-4 as well.
 
Just created the social group "Cerveceros CA-4" here on HBT. I used a pic of recent brew as the image for the group. It at least has a tropical background, but if anyone has a better image then please post.

So, join in and post your brewing experiences here in the CA-4. Where do you get your gear? Where do you get your ingredients?
 
Just created the social group "Cerveceros CA-4" here on HBT. I used a pic of recent brew as the image for the group. It at least has a tropical background, but if anyone has a better image then please post.

So, join in and post your brewing experiences here in the CA-4. Where do you get your gear? Where do you get your ingredients?

--------------------------

Acaba de crear el grupo social "Cerveceros CA-4" aquí en la HBT. He utilizado una foto de la cerveza recientes como la imagen del grupo. Por lo menos, tiene un fondo tropical, pero si alguien tiene una mejor imagen, por favor mensaje.

Por lo tanto, participar y publicar sus experiencias de elaboración de la cerveza aquí en el CA-4. ¿De dónde sacas tu equipo? ¿De dónde obtiene sus ingredientes?
 
Sounds like you guys have it pretty hard down there just trying to get supplies. Let alone the humidity & heat. dust & weavils aside. Now that's hardcore. I wonder if Fed-Ex could help you guys any?...Midwestsupplies.com uses Fed-Ex home delivery. Maybe talk to them? They do phone or e-mail.
 
I've looked into FedEx, works out ok with smaller packages but it takes a while longer for them to come in, CPX will have them here in about 2-3 additional business days which works better for hops and liquid yeast with cold packs and if you need it delivered to your door they'll have it there next business day from when it comes in. For larger packages FedEx gets too expensive too fast, Transcargo will probably be a better option when you factor in duties and everything.

Believe you me, I've been looking into it for the past 5 years since I started out with my buckets and a cheapo capper, now if only I could scrounge enough money for a decent size mash tun, boil kettle & kegs...
 
Both FedEx and UPS international rates are crazy expensive (as is shipping inside the US if you use The UPS Store or similar). The freight forwarding companies that service Guatemala (and there are quite a few such as CPX & Transcargo which we have mentioned) are radically cheaper. They provide a shipping address in Miami typically and then forward from there to Guate via shared space on air or surface transport.

I order most of my brewing supplies from Austin Homebrew Supply (I used to live in Austin). I have also ordered from Midwest. Both are excellent suppliers. AHS offers flat rate shipping of $7.95 within the US. I ordered ingredients recently for two 5-gallon batches plus a few other miscellaneous brewing items. Total cost from Miami to Guatemala City was $35US via Transcargo (surface transport). So, for about $43US total I got this order from Austin to Guatemala City...not too bad considering the size and weight. Costs me about another Q40 ($6) to get it down to the Rio Dulce from the City using the package service of Litegua (bus line).

Re brewing conditions here:

Due to being very mountainous, Guatemala has quite a range of climate conditions -- everything from sea-level tropical jungle to near desert conditions. Where I live in the Rio Dulce (on the Atlantic Coast) is tropical lowland at sea-level. The climate is warm (average range 65F-88F) and very humid (85-100%). Great for growing fungus, but makes storage of beer ingredients a challenge. I use a consumer grade vacuum bagger (Food Saver) and a small freezer w/external thermostat which helps a lot.

In contrast, Guatemala City, at about 5,000 feet elevation (think tropical Denver), has an average temp range of about 55-75F, mean humidity of about 65% (after all it is still the tropics). If you dug a lagering cellar somewhere in the highlands, I expect you could create excellent conditions for brewing beer.
 
I've been brewing Pilsners this season so thought I would do something different for my last batches of the season. So, I brewed up an IPA and a ESB yesterday. Both off to very vigorous ferm...man the IPA smells great!

My water is very soft here so I took an educated guess at water treatment. Having an actual chemical profile would be nice.

Any experience with water testing labs in the City or elsewhere?
 
A drink I like very much which is common in this part of the word (Guate & Central America) is "Rosa Jamaica" (Hibiscus sabdariffa). Parts of the flower of this hibiscus are used to make a very nice tea. We brew it up straight from the natural flower parts (not from commercial extracts). It is not only tasty, but has lots of good healthy stuff in it (good article under "Hibiscus sabdariffa" about it on Wikipedia).

I also think it would make an interesting color and flavor addition to beer. Without sugar added it has a somewhat bitter, citrusy taste and has a deep red color. It also develops a bit of a head when carbonated so might help with head retention. I have not found any specific measurements of either it's bitterness or color so I can't plug those into the recipe, but have been experimenting with adding it to beers. It seems to work well with Saaz hops, but does not go well at all with whatever hops they use in Brava Extra. Empirically I have been able to approximate how much rosa jamaica brew to add to beer -- at these levels, when added to a Pilsner, it gives a noticeable rosa jamaica flavor, nice deep red-copper color, and a head tinged with red! Now for the real test -- formulate a recipe and brew a test batch!

So, with that in mind I have been working on a recipe for "Cerveza Rosa". My goal is to brew a very mild ale because I want the Rosa Jamaica to really stand out. Therefore the underlying beer is quite tame with just a bit of Saaz hops. I plan to add the Rosa Jamaica tea to secondary. I'm interested in any feedback or suggestions you have.

Recipe below for a 5 gallon batch:

1 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
5 lbs 4.0 oz AHS Extra Pale Extract (1.4 SRM)
1.00 oz Saaz AHS [2.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Saaz AHS [2.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min
1.0 pkg British Ale (White Labs #WLP005) [35.49 ml]
1.50 gal Rosa Jamaica (Secondary 0.0 mins)

I don't have numbers for Rosa Jamaica so no way to analytically factor those in, but the base numbers for the recipe are OG = 1.043, IBU's 13.8 , SRM 2.5, ABV 4.0%
 
how about brewing hops tea side by side with rosa de jamaica/saril/hibiscus and comparing IBU's that you can plug into the software 1 12 oz glass~1/16 of a gallon
 
Good empirical idea for approximating.

Any idea how bitterness is actually measured in the lab?
 
from http://beer.wikia.com/wiki/International_Bitterness_Units :

A formula craft brewers use to calculate IBU is:

Wh × AA% × Uaa ⁄ ( Vw × 1.34 ), where

  • Wh refers to the weight of the hops used, in ounces
  • AA% refers to the alpha acid percentage, which is influenced by many factors, including cultivation method, species, and time of year — hops are often sold labeled with this percentage
  • Uaa is the percentage of alpha acid that is actually used during the boiling process
  • Vw means the volume of the wort, in gallons
  • 1.34 is a constant factor that adjusts the measurement to account for the use of U.S. customary units

from http://www.sizes.com/units/international_bitterness_unit.htm :
An equation. IBU equal a fraction. The denominator is 0.3. The numerator is A plus the fraction B over 9.

where

  • H is the concentration of hops in grams per liter.
  • A is the concentration of alpha acids in the hops, expressed as a percentage.
  • B is the concentration of beta acids in the hops, expressed as a percentage.

Of the 2, the 1st is the more accurate. I just use http://powersbrewery.home.comcast.net/~powersbrewery/mastercalculator.html and plug in the AA% values and boil times.
 
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately w/out AA info (if any) for Rosa Jamaica I won't be able to calculate IBU's, but I suppose if I could find a similar bitterness hops then I could approximate.
 
I've been brewing some really good beers here in the tropics (Belize & Guatemala), most of them at ambient temps (often 80-90F !) in the summer (my off season), for about 6 years now. My luck with high-temp fermentation was bound to run out sometime.....and yesterday was the day.

I was brewing what I anticipated to be a very nice IPA...the wort tasted fine...quick vigorous stat to ferm...the smell during fermentation was delicious...but the wort taste near completion of primary fermentation was awful. We have had a relatively cool (70-80F) Dec-Feb so I was not expecting any issues, but the off-flavor is so powerful that it even completely masks the intense hops of an IPA. No obvious signs of bacterial contamination -- the wort itself looks fine.

In this batch I was using a yeast strain for the first time: Safale (Fermentis) US-05. Does anyone have experience with this yeast?
 
The safale US-05 is good between 57-70F. It's a clean fermenting yeast with little or no flavors coming from it. Re-hydrating is good with any dry yeast,but this one does well sprinkled on dry. I prefer re-hydrating for shorter lag time.
 
Can you describe the off taste? I made a spiced porter 2 years ago that smelled like (and tasted like) firecracker smoke until I cold conditioned for a couple of weeks and the yeast dropped out of suspension, then it tasted like it was supposed to (used Wyeast irish ale though), there is still hope for it.
 
The safale US-05 is good between 57-70F. It's a clean fermenting yeast with little or no flavors coming from it. Re-hydrating is good with any dry yeast,but this one does well sprinkled on dry. I prefer re-hydrating for shorter lag time.

Yes, this is consistent with what I have read this AM on US-05. The spec sheet from Fermentis gives the upper temp range as 75F so I was not much over that range, but of course a few degrees could make a big diff.

I prepared the yeast by first rehydrating and then pitching to a 1 liter starter (out of habit) a few hours before pitching to wort. This would obviously give me a much higher cell count, but I don't think it would have adversely effected the flavor. Also, this was a relatively HG brew at 1.070 so a higher pitching rate would be appropriate anyway. Starter was fermenting vigorously when I pitched it and the wort got off to a grand start (had to rig a blow-off tube). Primary had slowed dramatically by day 4.

However, after reading Fermentis' recommend process (rehydrate only) I may not bother with the starter in the future.

I have read in other reviews that the yeast does not flocculate well. This could certainly effect the taste of the wort sample, which visibly had lots of yeast in it. But, I think this is wishful thinking on my part....it did not taste like yeast, but more of what I understand phenols to taste like (never have specifically had the opportunity to taste test)...like the wort was spiked with nail polish remover!
 
Could be a combination of high temps & using it in a starter. I made starters with cooper's ale yeast,but pitched the US-05 dry or re-hydrated. Something about the cell walls of the yeast absorbing a heavier liquid than just water. It is said to make for a lower cell count do to supposedly weakening the cell walls. Kind of like stressing the yeast. But in my experience it did work fairly well. Rehydrating has proven to be a bit better with dry yeast.
 
it did not taste like yeast, but more of what I understand phenols to taste like (never have specifically had the opportunity to taste test)...like the wort was spiked with nail polish remover!



Sounds more like acetone/acetaldehyde, the yeast should clean it up after a couple of weeks conditioning if you let it sit on the yeast cake. Phenols smell like clove/spices in the best of cases or (burnt) plastic in the worst.

You should let it sit for a few more weeks anyway. I'd recommend 3-4 weeks primary for ales over 1.060 OG, it's worked well for me with my stout and weizenbock, the first made with wyeast irish ale, the second with wyeast kolsch yeast (had some serious banana going on in the later).

You could also purge it with CO2 once you have it kegged, carb to 60 PSI @ 40*F over the weekend and then let the gas come out through the relief valve until the foam hits it, let sit until the foam dies down and repeat until you're at 10 PSI or the smell is acceptable. I had to do that with a steam beer that came out with too much, wouldn't you know it, phenol (clove); one of my best beers so far once the phenol was dialed down.
 
Can you describe the off taste? I made a spiced porter 2 years ago that smelled like (and tasted like) firecracker smoke until I cold conditioned for a couple of weeks and the yeast dropped out of suspension, then it tasted like it was supposed to (used Wyeast irish ale though), there is still hope for it.

Plastic/solvent/band-aid like taste....quite strong especially in the after taste. The taste is what I have read, but never actually tasted, phenols taste like.
 
Sounds more like acetone/acetaldehyde, the yeast should clean it up after a couple of weeks conditioning if you let it sit on the yeast cake. Phenols smell like clove/spices in the best of cases or (burnt) plastic in the worst.

You should let it sit for a few more weeks anyway. I'd recommend 3-4 weeks primary for ales over 1.060 OG, it's worked well for me with my stout and weizenbock, the first made with wyeast irish ale, the second with wyeast kolsch yeast (had some serious banana going on in the later).

You could also purge it with CO2 once you have it kegged, carb to 60 PSI @ 40*F over the weekend and then let the gas come out through the relief valve until the foam hits it, let sit until the foam dies down and repeat until you're at 10 PSI or the smell is acceptable. I had to do that with a steam beer that came out with too much, wouldn't you know it, phenol (clove); one of my best beers so far once the phenol was dialed down.

Could be, no strong odor, just a powerful bad after taste. I would like to do a taste test of these compounds one day (rather than discovering them in my brew) so I had definite point of reference.

Good news is that I brewed the IPA with intent of letting is do some extended conditioning while we are cruising (March-June). So, I plan to check it later in Feb and then just let it sit till we get back...at this point I have nothing to lose....it can't get any worse.

I was also thinking that CO2 might scrub some of the off-flavor. I transferred 5 gallons to a keg and put 40PSI @ 65F to it on Thursday. I plan to bleed off the pressure and check it on Sunday...if it tastes a bit better then I will probably repeat the CO2 scrubbing cycle.

The remaining 5 gallons is still in the conical fermentor. I drained off about a cup of the trub on Thursday so it is still sitting on some yeast. I will probably also transfer this to a keg so I can control the temp better (the conical wont fit in the cooler).

My plan is to try a few weeks of CO2 scrubbing/conditioning and see if it makes any progress. Sure hope so -- the wort was awesome.
 
Bled off the pressure yesterday and allowed the keg to off-gas at low pressure over night. Taste seems to be slightly improved today. Reapplied pressure (about 50psi @ 60F ... trying to stay within ale yeast temps). Plan to repeat this process a few times to see if it makes further progress.
 
I decided to follow suit, brewed my first IPA on sunday, adjusted the water profile with some MgSO4 I scored at college, some NaSO4 and some plain sea salt, used about a 1/2 pound of grain (crystal and brown malts) and 3 1 kilo packs of light dme from distribuidora caribe, 1/3 willamette and 2/3 EKG, to get as british a taste/smell as I can get with what I have (didn't go that high on the IBU's, 36 or OG, 1.054), 4.5 gallons worth pitched onto my british isles yeast mix (wyeast, thames valley ale/irish ale), it's coming along nicely, and the smell... I can't wait for it to be done.
 
Cool. Two IPA's perking in Guate. The smell of mine was quite wonderful too...until things went wrong. Hopefully mine will make a good recovery and we can compare them.
 
Bled off pressure for the second round of CO2 scrubbing yesterday. Tasted today -- definitely making progress. I actually drank two small samples today (rather than spitting out the first sip). I don't think it is likely this will turn into a great brew, but I think I can get it to be at least drinkable.

I plan to do one more round of C02 scrubbing (3 total) and then allow to condition for at least a couple of weeks before checking again.
 
Hoorraaah! Today, was the ultimate test of whether I manged to salvage this beer. I gave my GF her first test sip....and she not only declared it drinkable, but good!

Quite a dramatic recovery...from something strongly resembling paint thinner to an OK English Ale. It's not going to win any awards, but at least it is drinkable.

The combination of CO2 scrubbing and more conditioning time appears to have worked quite well (not a controlled experiment of course, but the end result works).

Now, that means there is still hope for the IPA I plan to leave conditioning while were gone...until about July.
 
Mine came out underhopped to about 30 IBU, but it still makes a pretty good strong bitter if I say so myself, it's the best beer I've made so far; it really tastes english with all that East Kent Goldings in it, the brown & crystal malts and fermenting for a month help as well. I'm disappointed in my pursuit of the style, but very pleased with the results.

Glad to hear yours is coming along better than you thought it would.
 
Hi Guys! Rodrigo reporting from Guate city, just started this past decenber with my homebrewing adventures. Bought a Cooper's starter kit and brewed their IPA kit, my worst beer so far, the extract twang just kills me. Then I tried their Canadian blonde ale with added honey, still don't like it, some of my friends do. My next beer was a sweet stout with steeping grains and unhopped extract, much better but my boil volume was too low so I think it could be better, still a bit of a twang after 4 months in a bottle. Next I brewed a partial mash SS Minnow clone, it is a light amber ale, very nice, low bitrerness, low body but nice peppery taste from the yeast. Now I'm about to bottle a Surly Cynic partial mash clone thats been in the primary for 5 weeks (no time), the samples taste amazing! And I am also 2 weeks into fermenting my first all grain batch, a red multigrain ale with rye and wheat, my mash temp was pretty bad and could not raise the temp above 143 deg F so my OG was about 8 ponts lower than ideal. Since then I've made my 5 gal mash tun with false bottom, upgraded to an 8 gal brew kettle with fitting and silicone hose. Also have 2 more fermenters, an immersion chiller, a glass hydrometer, bottle tree, capper, bought more pet bottles, etc. So well setup for all grain. This week I'm bottling the surly, brewing an AG raspberry wheat for the wife. Next week I'm brewing an imperial stout, 4 months wait at least and bottling the red ale. Then going for a Hefe and lastly a Porter. Great to know I'm not alone in the hobby and really looking forward to meeting you guys and exchanging a few anecdotes over a couple our brews.
 
Bienvenidos Rodrigo!

Wow, sounds like you've been busy. Quite often off-flavors are the result of fermentation temps (problematic for me brewing on the Rio Dulce) -- have your ferms been in correct temp ranges for the yeast you are using? Some yeasts are more sensitive to temps than others.

My "cruising season" is just wrapping up and I am looking forward to "brewing season" (hurricane season). I left an IPA and my first attempt at a mead conditioning back in Guate when we left in April. So, we should have some interesting things to sample when we return. We left the boat in Panama and are working our way back overland to Guate. We sailed this year from Guate to Panama and made some interesting beer discoveries along the way. I plan to write a post about the more interesting beers we found along the way. Currently in Granada, Nicaragua (beautiful place -- a lot like Antigua, Guate). Should be back on the Rio Dulce tasting and brewing within a few weeks.

We also have a group here: "Ceveceros CA-4". There are not many of us yet, so be sure and sign up.

Saludos,

C
 
Mine came out underhopped to about 30 IBU, but it still makes a pretty good strong bitter if I say so myself, it's the best beer I've made so far; it really tastes english with all that East Kent Goldings in it, the brown & crystal malts and fermenting for a month help as well. I'm disappointed in my pursuit of the style, but very pleased with the results.

Glad to hear yours is coming along better than you thought it would.

Yes, my "rescue ale" came out much better than expected (the IPA is still conditioning so hopefully the same technique has worked for it). As a test I took a bottle over to a English friend who manages a bar here on the Rio (and has run bars and brewed most of his adult life). Asked him to blind taste it for me and tell me what he thought. Right off the bat he exclaimed that it was a good ol´English Bitters -- so the brew rescue was a resounding success and even style recognizable by my resident expert. Way better rescue than I had hoped -- I would have been happy if it had just been drinkable.
 
...I'm disappointed in my pursuit of the style, but very pleased with the results.

As I recall there was a good article in ¨The Best of Zymurgy¨on Bitters titled ¨Bitter Men¨ or something like that. The two guys that wrote it managed to get the official style guidelines changed to better match the style based upon their research. Lots of good technical style specific info. You might try and find this for some guidance.
 
Bienvenidos Rodrigo!

Wow, sounds like you've been busy. Quite often off-flavors are the result of fermentation temps (problematic for me brewing on the Rio Dulce) -- have your ferms been in correct temp ranges for the yeast you are using? Some yeasts are more sensitive to temps than others.

My "cruising season" is just wrapping up and I am looking forward to "brewing season" (hurricane season). I left an IPA and my first attempt at a mead conditioning back in Guate when we left in April. So, we should have some interesting things to sample when we return. We left the boat in Panama and are working our way back overland to Guate. We sailed this year from Guate to Panama and made some interesting beer discoveries along the way. I plan to write a post about the more interesting beers we found along the way. Currently in Granada, Nicaragua (beautiful place -- a lot like Antigua, Guate). Should be back on the Rio Dulce tasting and brewing within a few weeks.

We also have a group here: "Ceveceros CA-4". There are not many of us yet, so be sure and sign up.

Saludos,

C

I live in carretera a El Salvador so I am usually 4-5 deg lower in temp than the city and my ferm temps are always between 68-70 deg which I deem perfect for ales. I've been using the Safale S-04 and S-05 yeasts as well as some Wyeast ones all with good results.

The only country in CA that I don't know is Nicaragua, have heard good things about their Tona beer, is it good or just Nicaraguans being patriotic? :D

Where do I find the Cerveceros CA-4 group, pretty new at this board so no clue where to look, could only find your post about creating it.
 
Being in the City would certainly make my ferms easier to manage. The Rio of course is relatively hot and humid all the time. I have a small freezer with an external thermostat that I use to control my temps.

We have been traveling Nicaragua for a couple of weeks now (yet another great place). Tona is a mass produced beer, nothing exceptional (bad or good) but it is drinkable. It is what we have been defaulting to drinking here. Although, we have found the occasional interesting import Dos Equis, Negra Modelo, Guiness...

To find C. CA-4 Click on "Groups" on the red menu bar near the top of the page. From there you can do a search of the groups.
 
I read on the first post you quoted from pacayaforhops that he could get cornys out of the paginas amarillas in the refrigeration section, I looked through it but no luck, do you know who sells them?

Checking the group right now, thanks
 
I read on the first post you quoted from pacayaforhops that he could get cornys out of the paginas amarillas in the refrigeration section, I looked through it but no luck, do you know who sells them?

Checking the group right now, thanks

Not sure where he was buying the corny's exactly. Hopefully he will chime in. There are some large bottling/distribution facilities near Rio Honda which I plan to check out. Probably some in the city to I expect.

Productos del Aire can fill CO2 tanks. They also have 10lb tanks available for sale.

There is also a food industry products distributor in the city, "Distribudoras Caribe" I think is the name, you can get DME, 6-row barley, etc there. These products are really intended for use in food manufacturing and not brewing per se so not the ideal quality for brewing and selection is very limited.
 
Company is Glucksa, they have "post-mix" (soda dispenser) equipment listed in their ad (which turns out to be maintenance only, cornies you'll have to get from the major soda companies).

I bought mine from a guy in Antigua who homebrewed, work had him leave for china and a friend & I bought most of the malts, hops and fermentation equipment, another guy bought most of the mashing/kegging equipment.

I get my extract from Distribuidora Caribe, zona-11. It's a seasonal affair though, sometimes they have light DME (more expensive but still good for beers requiring a higher mash temp/medium L crystal malts), sold by the kg; sometimes they only have light?/amber? LME (a bit less expensive but still good for the same kind of beers), sold in 6.5 lb jugs (they claim 3 kg); a jug of which alone will be ok for a 3.5-4% abv beer depending on your yeast (I usually complement mine with grains, honey or brown sugar to get them to 4.5-6% abv depending on the style).

The 6-row barley, I get from CENMA in villanueva, you have to wash it straight away or you WILL get a weevil infestation & it's bye-bye grains, not to mention they're still covered in dust, deisel fumes and other nasties from the shipping process. You will still need to malt it to make it beer-worthy (it's a bit grassier than 2-row but has great diastatic power and is the absolute shiz for converting raw wheat for belgian beers like witbier, lambic, etc. or oats for stouts or heavy bodied beers).
 
I have some good news for all of us... I just managed to track down the distributor for IMI Cornelius (Where the Cornelius in corny keg comes from) in Guatemala:

PUNTOS FRIOS Y FINANCIEROS
Eduardo Rodas
Centro Corporativo Muxbal
Torre Oeste #1102
Km. 8.5 Antigua Carretera a El Salvador
Guatemala
Tel: +502-6637-03-65/06-54
Fax: +502-6637-08-43
E-mail: [email protected]

They'll be getting a call tomorrow.
 
Hey Curtis and Pacaya, what are you using to sanitize? I have been washing my stuff with a product from Daiso Chem (they gave me the MSDS sheet and it is described as a non detergent cleanser with no added colorants and fragrances, non toxic and foodgrade) and One Step and then soaking in water with chlorine, has been working well but would rather use Iodophor, I understand it's called Iodoforo or yodoforo in spanish but don't know where to look for it. Concerned with the reputation of chlorine with being a head killer, corrosive and if not properly rinsed can also impart some chlorine flavor to the beer. Not the case with me yet but would rather use iodophor as it is safer, no rinse required and only a minute of contact time required. Thanks guys!
 

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