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Agree with Wayne that wheat beers reallyget clowdy. I have a buttload of irish moss if you want some to help you have clearer beer. Let me know and we van get together
 
Hi guys, thanks for the inputs. I didn't use any finings in this boil, but I'm actually not against a cloudy beer, at least for this wheat beer. I had a nice hot break with a nice foamy head and some greyish material that I scumed. Then I hade a lot of coagulated material at cooling, that I strained when transfering to fermenter. The beer was actually kind of grey-ish at the beginning, but now that it has began to sediment the colour is more of a decent - but cloudy - wheat beer. Unfortunately pacaya I won't have the banana/clove flavor, as I didn't use german/wheat beer yeast, but instead common dry ale yeast (cooper's)...

Thanks for the offer Rappyfreak, maybe I'll try irish moss on a next brew... I'll let you know if I need some!
 
Wheat itself will give off the banana smell, regardless of the yeast you use, some yeasts will enhance this, some will minimize it, but it'll still be there. The most clove I've ever had come through in my beer was fermented with wyeast san francisco lager yeast, and I've been using it for my wheat beers ever since, still lots of banana from a supposedly clean yeast.
 
You where right Pacaya, as the smell was quite strong and somehow unpleasant at the begining, it's getting more and more subtle and it definitely has something of banana!
 
nsaubes said:
Hi guys, quick question: has anyone tried to import grains through this transcargo thing?
Click to expand...

I haven´t work with Transcargo, but what I did once was to tell the brew shop not to state in the invoice that what they were sending was edible!!! And I did not had any problems, the company I work with is Aerocasillas.

Maybe you can talk to your shipper not to state they are sending edible stuff in the invoice...also this only works if you are not trying to import large volumes of grains!!!

But then again since the new laws everything has become more of a problem...

If you do please let us know how it worked for you...
 
I have brought all my grains through Transexpress, pretty expensive but no problems at all. I'm thinking of bringing my next shipment through Transcargo. Just make sure not to send liquid yeast through them and bring it by air as they take a couple of weeks
 
Yeah, I'm going with aerocasillas for hops and yeast and other lightweight stuff, but given the price I won't use it for grains... So I was thinking of transcargo to ship a larger amount of grains, as some of you guys have mentionned it several times, and it seems more convenient for heavy stuff... Does anyone has any contact information of transcargo, cause I've been googling it, but I didn't find any reliable info (phone, direction, etc.)?...
 
rappyfreak said:
Curtis put up the info in this thread a while back.i also hace them in FB
Click to expand...

I've used both TRANSCARGO and CPX. My perspective and contact info for each below. Both ship from a Miami address.

Transcargo is surface transport (ship) so it is much less expensive, but slower (a few weeks typically). I've used it for heavy stuff in the past and their rates are quite reasonable. A flat fee based upon dimensional weight as I recall. I have never received a separate fee for SAT etc, just the flat fee. Their customer service is generally poor, but they get it here cost effectively. I have many friends who use them too. Contact info I currently have:

Transcargo
Ave. Las Américas 20-12, Zona 13
Tel. 2332-5720 / 2332-5951

Note: the above address is just a working office, not a retail store front, no signage even to identify it. Normally you just work with them over the phone/email so they are not set-up for a retail store front.

I've worked with Karla Cosillo. Email = her name (no spaces, lower case) at gmail. And Lily T Garcia. Email = her name (no spaces, lower case) at gmail.

They typically do home delivery in the City, but you can go to their Bodega in Z1 and pick up also (although this can be a logistics problem because you have to make sure someone is actually there first).

Usually make payment by depositing into BAM account of a Sr. Guzman (owner I assume).

CPX (www.cpxbox.com). Air transport so quicker (a few days after reaching Miami), but more much more expensive. Good for small stuff you want fast. Excellent customer service. They do it all by the book so you get invoiced over and above shipping costs for any and all taxes and fees due. Also, I've had food related items held up for a couple of months (not their fault, but never had this issue with TransCargo, but have not shipped with them very recently). They are set-up more as a retail services site so you can walk in and pick-up (like going into an MBE) or have them deliver. They accept all forms of payment (CC, cash, check...) which is also more convenient (I have a card on file with them so it all just happens automatically and then they ship once a month to me via Litegua to the Rio Dulce).
 
Well my Saison has been bottled for a week, tried one yesterday to see how the flavor is progressing and tasted awesome already. Next up is a nut brown ale
 
Finals week at college, I'll be bottling my märzen this weekend and kegging my saison, then I'll brew a mini-keg (5L dorada ice mini-keg) of cask ale (1st one came out pretty good, think I'll be getting a few more to re-fill). If it's carbonated enough, I'll bottle my "Nancy Brown"; as I've taken to calling my nance soured brown ale. I'll also brew the half&half braggot my best friend was so fond of, should be done by my birthday.
 
Hi guys, I'm back on land and now in Panama City...which means...good beer!

Had a Leffe Brune with dinner last night, visited in Rana Dorada brewery today and met the brew master. Off to visit another brew pub now!
 
Just returned from Istmo Brew Pub. www.istmobrewpub.com. Brew was disappointing, but looks like a good neighborhood pub otherwise. They do serve some good imports like Paulaner and others.

For the best craft brew in Panama stick with Rana Dorada...yum.
 
Just returned from Istmo Brew Pub. www.istmobrewpub.com. Brew was disappointing, but looks like a good neighborhood pub otherwise. They do serve some good imports like Paulaner and others.

For the best craft brew in Panama stick with Rana Dorada...yum.
 
pacayaforhops said:
Finals week at college, I'll be bottling my märzen this weekend and kegging my saison, then I'll brew a mini-keg (5L dorada ice mini-keg) of cask ale (1st one came out pretty good, think I'll be getting a few more to re-fill). If it's carbonated enough, I'll bottle my "Nancy Brown"; as I've taken to calling my nance soured brown ale. I'll also brew the half&half braggot my best friend was so fond of, should be done by my birthday.
Click to expand...

Ok, the märzen has a bit too much body and is being stubborn about not wanting to be bottled. On the up side, "Nancy Brown" has carbonated nicely and because of the lower FG, has a less persistent head, meaning no objections to being bottled, so I did.

I still kegged my saison. Have yet to brew my mini cask ale, which should happen later today.

I also decided not to brew the half&half braggot, seeing as how my best friend won't be able to enjoy it and taking into consideration all of the perfectly viable brett and lacto in the saison's bucket, I decided to brew a farmhouse fruit ale.

Used the usual extract and peaches & cherries in syrup (had a scare when I read on the label that the later had sodium benzoate, I'm not going to go into all the technical details, but i had to do a little quick research on the tolerable levels for S. cerevisiae & lacto, found out it's so diluted it doesn't matter & it didn't stop a pellicle from forming overnight). I also poured Nancy Brown dregs into it, which should sour it well (or that's what I'm hoping it'll do), all in all it should have 2 strains of sacch, assorted lacto and at least 2 strains of brett. I'm hoping the pH drop won't activate what little benzoate is in there.

On a somewhat related topic, how are your schedules for sat sept 14th so we can meet up and share some brews? We can consider it my pre/un-30th birthday get together (and yes it's a general invite for all, otherwise I'd've selectively pm'd it).
 
Re sept 14. I should be back in Guate before then so could work for me. GF has a flight on Sept 5 so closer to then would work better for me.
 
finally got myself some liquid LME here in Nicaragua.
anyway, the rep did not know if it was light, dark or amber. and their packaging has nothing. just says its from Maltexco.
for any of you that are familiar with their LME, maybe you can help tell from these pictures

Thanks!

Photo on 2013-07-25 at 09.59.jpg


Photo on 2013-07-25 at 10.18.jpg
 
It's the same we get here, its dark LME; though it doesn't have much of a roasted character, it's equivalent to mostly base and darker caramel malts.

A full container in a 5 gallon batch will get you roughly OG 1.045 and 13 SRM, works well for medium scotch ales, basic pale ales or as a base for more complex ales; not so much for lagers unless you use pils malt and adjuncts to thin it down.

10 pounds of this, and 4 oz of brown malt steeped will get you a killer old ale wort that pairs well with S-04/nottingham/any highly attenuative ale yeast, comes to about 6.5% ABV with lots of caramel and a little burnt biscuit at the back. Goes well with spicy UK hops or citrussy US hops.

I've been dialing down on my LME use to make it last more and have been using about a pound of light brown sugar, along with home malted 6-row, oats or rice flour and light caramel malt coupled with a more moderate hop schedule for basic premium bitters.
 
nice, i tasted it and didn't notice much roasted. and 13 SRM isnt bad for a dark LME, so im hoping to be able to use it as a base for my pale ales/IPAs. possibly sub in a lb of light DME and/or some sugar to lighten it up.
my standard is usually about 7-8 lbs of light DME, with 8oz of crystal and 8 oz of Aromatic Malt, S-05 with 5-7 oz of various citrussy hops. im thinking take out the crystal since it is probably already in this extract.

the old ale sounds nice, ill try that when i get my hands on some brown malt.
i have some special roast, s-04 and cascade lying around so might give that a go too

thanks for the info. im sure ill have more questions and will be sure to post results as they come.
 
As we slowly travel back to Guate I am putting together my brewing supplies order for my upcoming brewing season. Anybody interested in doing a group buy?

This would not likely save us much on the items but would on shipping vs individual orders.
 
Oh, and all the brews listed in secondary on my signature lines are in fact still in secondary (since we left in March). So, I should have some interesting samples for our reunion in Sept!
 
Wow, I noticed we are up to 12 members now!

How many of you might make it to the Sept 7 reunion?
 
Curtis2010 said:
As we slowly travel back to Guate I am putting together my brewing supplies order for my upcoming brewing season. Anybody interested in doing a group buy?

This would not likely save us much on the items but would on shipping vs individual orders.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer, but I'm flat broke right now (and probably will remain so for the next 18 months, I'm gearing up to finish my studies by the end of next year). I did manage to stock up on LME NOV last year (6 jugs, down to 2.2 ATM), so it should last me well into next year. More equipment, I could really use; but it'll have to wait, then again I might just surprise you and take you up on the offer if I do quit and get a decent severance.
 

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