Moving to Germany - Advice?

[StressedPenguin]

In about four months I will be moving to Germany (Stuttgart area) for a few years. I have searched around and found a lot of answers about propane purchases (available on the Army bases) and a little on CO2 tanks (adapter needed and it is difficult to fill somewhere). Is there anything you wish you had brought from the states for brewing? For instance, I have a kegerator, which I will not be taking, but I will be bringing all the guts to put in a used German fridge and I will be building 220 temp controllers to bring.

I can also spend time ordering things now, such as a CO2 adapter if they are available here, so what do you think would be worth bringing with me vs what is easy to get in Germany?

Thanks!

 

[axmdr40]

Keep it small, easy, and portable. You'll probably rely less on homebrew being in Germany than what you will find on the economy. Water is more expensive than beer, and your beer is just THAT much better on the economy, and it doesn't cost like it does in the states for good brew. Nothing is going to be "easy" to find there, as homebrewing is just not that big. So it's going to cost you.

Make sure you take a trip to Bamberg, or 12 trips. The base is closing down, but the beer is just retarded good at every brewery, and you can visit Weyermann.

 

[BoShimTang]

After having spent four years in Germany my recommendation would be to brew as little as possible. The beer in most of Europe is cheaper than water and super delicious! Of course there are styles you may not easily find so you may wish to brew occasionally. But for the most part take advantage of the opportunity and sample everything!


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[Billy-Klubb]

and most importantly: send me 2 of everything you drink.

 

[axmdr40]

StressedPenguin,

I recently received a package from some friends in Bamberg with a whole bunch of samples of Weyermann malts. Just realized there is a handwritten note on the package that has some homebrew websites in Germany for homebrewing supplies. These may help you at some point!

http://www.hobbybrauerversand.de/home-1

www.brouwland.com

 

[Phalanx]

if (or when) you speak a sufficient ammount of german, stop by at our german homebrew-forum http://www.hobbybrauer.de
regarding equipment, the problem here is that we have no LHBS whatsoever. Either you order online (see post above) or you improvise

Althhough german beer is of relatively high quality there are more than enough reasons to brew your own.

 

[richl025]

Can't add much to the homebrew portion of the discussion, I'll just say I was in Stuttgart for 4 years (Panzer Kaserne) and I loved every minute of it! Or, rather, my _baggage_ was in Stuttgart for 4 years, I think I was only there about a yeah and a half <g>.....

Seriously, very friendly people if you try to learn German. Too many Americans don't bother to try, so if you actually show an interest in the language and culture it pays dividends in many areas...

And I used to LOVE buying beer by the crate <g>.

Have fun!

 

[StressedPenguin]

Thanks for all the help! I am definitely going to be learning enough German to talk to the locals, or at least know when they are talking about me! I currently live somewhere where there are no LHBS within about an hour and a half so I normally use internet sources. I will heck out those German brewing sites and see if I can google translate my way to understanding some posts.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[TimmyWit]

I actually started brewing more when I got to Germany. Beer is very local here and there isn't a huge variety in the area where I live. In this area, if you order a beer in a restaurant, you will likely be offered a pilsner or a hefeweizen. You can travel and find good beer variety of course. Bamberg is a nice beer town. I'm heading to Dusseldorf with high hopes in a few weeks. There is a nice bottle store with a great variety near Frankfurt which is about 2 hours from my house. If I want a beer-cation, I have a hard time not heading West to Belgium.

Give this article a read before you decide to leave your beer gear behind:
http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/gersbeer.htm

If shipping is no cost to you, go ahead and ship your kegerator. Modern transformers are fairly energy efficient and you can get them brand new on Amazon for reasonable prices. I have 2 kegerators and a ferm chamber, all 110V. For propane tanks and Co2 regulator, you can get those on amazon.de. I have attached a link to those along with the other military friendly homebrew shops here (Post #112)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f234/a...ern-ramstein-germany-area-213559/index12.html

 

[HopSong]

Agreed.. my son is on his 2nd tour in Germany. Came home for his brothers wedding and couldn't wait to get his hands on come good IPA, etc.

 

[beerkench]

I lived in Germany for a few years and although there are some great beers, the variation is poor. A lot of the more commercial pilsner type breweries use hop extract only these days. The smaller breweries around Bavaria on the other hand are awesome.