i love homebrewing but i almost cant

[fredthecat]

vent~

i no longer live in north america, but a wealthy country in asia where even half decent beer is a luxury and difficult to find. needless to say homebrewing is beyond a challenge due to the need to get all ingredients shipped either from north america or from the approximately 4 online homebrewing shops. only one is worth using and even they are pricey and understocked... i made the effort to brew as much as i could last year but the uncontrollable summer heat created my first undrinkable batches of beer ive ever made. i took homebrewing and buying good beer for granted... though ive moved on, it really is an important cultural thing. theres nothing that can compare to enjoying a really quality beer on an afternoon or evening and relaxing.

i lost all of my improvised and i mean really improvised brewing equipment from last year due to someone else's stupidity, so have to start almost all over again. but man, i need to brew and im going to give it one more shot while i have about 3 or 4 months of acceptable temperature to brew... wish me luck, and enjoy your tasty, tasty brews

 

[fredthecat]

also, i guess related to high temperatures. unfortunately i dont have much control of temperature or fridge space. do any particular type of beers keep better in long term, fairly high temperature storage (20-28 C degrees)? highly hopped? high alcohol? low?

 

[Revvy]

What country are you in? We have brewers who post on here in just about every Asian country. There's some great expat blogs on the web about homebrewing in Japan, and Korea where they mention ingredients they get and connections for places they order from. We've even had guys on embassay duty in the middle east post their experiences in brewing.

It's virtually impossible these days to be totally cut off from other folks who share your interests.

Rather than being all mysterious and cagey about your location, including in your sigline, why do you actually post your location and even start a thread like "Anyone Else trying to Homebrew in Kuala Lampour? Let's Compare notes..." and see if anyone takes the bait.

Just like this guy did.

You may even find HBTERs who travel who'd be willing to stick a few vials of your favorite yeast, or packets of centennial or whatever your fave hop is in their luggage on their next trip out...

As to temp control, sounds like you need to rig up a swamp cooler, and brew some warm weather fermenting beers, like Belgians where the yeast likes hot temps.

 

[SGFBeerBuzz]

My brother Joe just wrote an article about brewers in tropical regions who don't have ready access to ingredients, etc. There are even some folks starting craft breweries down there. You should check it out if you can get a copy.

There are all kinds of folks in hard-to-reach places who brew. It's a lot harder, but it can be done. I won't pretend I know exactly what it's like for you, but I know you can do it if you want. It may just take some creativity.

If you want inspiration, just think about the ingredients to which you have access that we in the States do not.

 

[Revvy]

Here's some of the blogs I mentioned earlier...Just to give you an idea.

Homebrew Korea

Homebrewing in South Korea

Meet the Charlie Papazian of Korea

Homebrewing in Japan

 

[crash1292]

just dig a root cellar and ferment in there

 

[fredthecat]

yes, its south korea, and am working towards this. the big problem is just the lack of space, so that theres no place for me to setup a dedicated beer area in the apartment.. but i have a spot in mind anyway.

my results from last year in case anyone searches for korea related info outside of homebrew korea.

goodbeer is completely useless - zero, literally zero specialty grains, 3 types of hops, overpriced everything else. dont even bother reading the site

beerschool is the only real homebrewing webpage/ordering site - it has a small but practical selection of malts and hops. the person you contact has passable english ability it seems and is prompt and fair. ive used it twice and both times it was delivered correctly and quickly. its pretty expensive though compared to any homebrew store in north america. the equipment can be absurdly expensive, so...

i bought most of my equipment in stores and improvised it. 18 litre glass fermentation jars, various tubing and other stuff from little stores. my plan this time around is to find PET or HDPE(?) watercooler jugs and see if they will be suitable for carboys.

re: someone who mentioned access to ingredients that those elsewhere dont have.. i know what you mean, but honestly i cant think of anything other than largely non-beer related stuff such as making fruit wines or rice (i dont like to mix fruit and beer...) i would say unfiltered ricewine, makkeoli, is korea's real hidden gem though. the locally produced varieties can be really amazing. i have one in the fridge right now that is intentionally soured and has an absolutely exciting flavour. white wine like aroma, yeasty, pear taste.

 

[Revvy]

If you can get two-row, even if you have to import it, then you don't need any other grains really, you can toast your own, and even make your own caramel malts and special B.

I just started roasting my own malts using THIS guide. He even shows how to make crystals and special b, by partially starting the conversion process and then roasting the grain with the sugars present.

I did two batches of beer last thursday with home roasted malt. I did a medium amber, and darker amber and even toasted up a pound of instant oats.

This was medium amber roasted iirc 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

The second beer got it's color from only the toasted malt,

8.0 oz Home Toasted Dark Amber (65.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Home Toasted Light Amber (35.0 SRM)

The color of the beer was just amazing...

The first runnings-

Second runnings-

The final color after 2 rounds of sparging-

I had a day off and did 2 2.5 gallon allgrain small batches in my apartment using a 2 gallon cooler, and a 4 gallon pot, on my stove, using only the scant grains I had on hand (which was 2 row, a little bit of wheat, instant oats, and corn, and 1 ounce of hops for each batch), and toasting anything I needed for color.

 

[fredthecat]

homeroasted is something ive always wanted to do, and im very DIY (was looking at how to make cheese between posts here), but i dont have an oven. there are just a lot of things useful in the brewing process i took for granted back there that arent here. i did see online about panroasting malts though a bit ago

http://barleypopmaker.info/2009/12/08/home-roasting-your-malts/ - and see the chocolate malt part

also, nice cooler jugs. i was reading a thread about which plastics to choose (due to oxygen entering/exiting and plastic chemical leakage), any suggestions on which plastics? is it such a big deal?

 

[SKBrewer]

Ummm beerschool and goodbeer the only stores? Not any more! http://www.homebrewkorea.com/?page_id=1107

25kg of malt for 100 000W you won't find a better deal in Korea. The HBK forums (link posted by revvy) have lots of info on finding what you need. There's really no need to improvise anything here anymore. The only real problems are finding a good variety of yeast and hops and the HBK shop is working on that, they're going to be selling hops and yeast in the next few months.

As for specialty grains, I made some crystal using a rice cooker and roasting it on the stove top, came out nicely.

I really can't recommend joining http://www.homebrewkorea.com/?page_id=1723 strongly enough. There are some great people on there, there are lots of great events organised. If you're in/near Seoul you can easily meet lots of great brewers and even if you're out in the country you'll probably find others near you. There is a going to be a big event on the 21st of april so come along to that and meet some of the other brewers. I'm gwangj-brew on the HBK forums BTW, looking forward to meeting you!

 

[SKBrewer]

As for brewing in the Korean summer, saison seems to be the answer for most people who don't have good temperature control, not done one myself yet but I will if I'm still here this summer.

 

[Revvy]

Thanks SKbrewer, I knew you guys were a lot better setup than the OP thought.

 

[fredthecat]

no offense to them but i did sign up for it and browse over it occasionally, but i prefer this site for general information and their seoul related things are less than useful for anyone outside of that city. my main concern is price, yes i can get many things i could get at home, but at prices double or triple what i am interested in paying

 

[veritas524]

Make friends with one of the thousands of GIs in the area and ask if you can have stuff shipped to their APO box from the states. You can get all the creature comforts you want for postage to New Jersey, just expect it to take 2-4 weeks to get there.

 

[Machalel]

Make friends with one of the thousands of GIs in the area and ask if you can have stuff shipped to their APO box from the states. You can get all the creature comforts you want for postage to New Jersey, just expect it to take 2-4 weeks to get there.

This is double-likely to work if you offer them some of the proceeds!


Excuse my ignorance (i've no idea how it is made), but surely you should be able to find some equipment that is used for making Soju / Cheongju / Makgeolli / fruit wine etc and utilise it in beer brewing?

 

[Boomer]

Sojuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!



Who cares what it costs to get it there? I've had Korean beer. I'd pay quite a bit more to make my own and know I had the quality beer. Hell, I'd look into what it took to legally sell beer. If a fella could start selling GOOD beer in Korea, I believe he wouldn't be worried about costs in no time.

 

[mcm114]

Make friends with one of the thousands of GIs in the area and ask if you can have stuff shipped to their APO box from the states. You can get all the creature comforts you want for postage to New Jersey, just expect it to take 2-4 weeks to get there.

Can't say for sure, but I think the port for all the pacific APO's is in California somewhere. When I was stationed in Korea, I ordered from morebeer almost all the time, and also was able to get free shipping on orders over $60 (I think).

 

[SKBrewer]

no offense to them but i did sign up for it and browse over it occasionally, but i prefer this site for general information and their seoul related things are less than useful for anyone outside of that city. my main concern is price, yes i can get many things i could get at home, but at prices double or triple what i am interested in paying

Well you're quite a glass half empty kindda guy aren't you!

Yeah of course this site is better for general information but I think you'll find that there's a pretty friendly and welcoming community if you give it a chance. Yes it is quite Seoul centeric but there is a good scene in Daejeon and a few brewers around in other cities. Korea isn't exactly a big country and it has a pretty good transport system with cheap motels everywhere.

The local beer situation is getting better too, rogue, anderson valley and lost coast beers are being distributed these days along with a few Belgian offerings. And there are two local craft breweries that have been licensed to start distribution in the last couple of weeks. Check out http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brewmasters-Korea/162914147089897 to see if any of the American or Belgian beers are being distributed in your area.

While ingredients and equipment are expensive here, quality brews are even more expensive! Ok it's not the situation you'd get in the states but I'd wager there's a better homebrew scene here than almost anywhere else in Asia apart from Japan.

 

[fredthecat]

This is double-likely to work if you offer them some of the proceeds!


Excuse my ignorance (i've no idea how it is made), but surely you should be able to find some equipment that is used for making Soju / Cheongju / Makgeolli / fruit wine etc and utilise it in beer brewing?

not ignorant at all, i thought there would be some equipment too, but the korean booze that all adults want to drink is dirt cheap and made by well established big companies, so i dont think anyone really makes much alcohol. even the fruit wines that old people make tend to just be alcohol poured from a big 5litre premade bottle preserved with various fruits and sugar. i think ive got an idea regarding how to find a fermentation chamber for cheap now too. ill probably ask some grocery stores if they have empty food containers for icing or anything.

again regarding HBK, just not interested in what they have. for one thing the store is apparently closed from march to april, and they have the same products as other store for about the same price and with much less selection. why would i change stores?

 

[Machalel]

do they sell any water / juice / etc in 1 gal containers etc?