Brewing in a country with alcohol prohibition

Can sub herbs for hops if they are hard to get.

 

MaryB, I always appreciate your contributions but could you expand for the OPs sake,?
Outside of spruce, I'm unsure.

 

I have only read of people doing it, never done it myself... read the Gruit threads...

 

I can get hops, it's not sterilized so I can't dry hop my beer, but better than no hops.
I tried making wine several times but it always ends with some sour flavor, I don't why, even that I kept it not exposed to air.

 

Thanks for the support man. I wish I was in a free country like the states, ordering a brewing kit via mail is a dream to me.

 

Thanks, but I already have enough hops for several batches.
Jwin, I appreciate your help man, thanks a lot.

 

Someone on the wine forums may be of some help with what's going on. My wine making skills are limited to making wine from kits.

 

When I was in Saudi the British that worked for ARAMCO homebrewed. Not sure how they got their equipment or supplies but I recall some pretty good brew. Good luck.

When I was in Turkey we drank loads of the local brews. Good stuff.

Other -stans, Iraq, Kuwait, sucked. Dry as a bone.

 

Sherlock Holmes pub in the Gulf Hotel. Jim's Place in Adliya. etc. But I was served a beer in a tea cup once during Ramadan because I was sitting near a window.

 

I know the feeling, Work sent me to regions that are labled "dry communities" So couldnt get stuff shipped there. But you will be amazed what you can do with just bread yeast and stuff at the local stores. Our local store sold honey, so mead was popular. also they carried welches and jams, so was able to make so nice wines, we even made a jolly rancher wine, which was unexpectly nice. It may not be fancy way of brewing but it worked.

 

If its turning sour it usually is air getting in. You can make your own air lock. I use to brew in the juice bottle and i took the lid drilled a hole and glued a rubber tube to the lid then i took the other end and put in in a glass of water.

 

I'm curious how you sanitize your equipment. I brewed a few batches here before I finally found some no-rinse sanitizer. Is that a problem?

 

If you can't get sanitizers designed for brewing (i.e., Starsan, Iodophor, etc.), you might be able to get your hands on no-rinse sanitizers used in the restaurant industry. At least with the latter, you won't be suspected of using it for brewing.

 

I use a condom as an airlock, seemed effective, but yeah you're usually sour means air getting in, I'm gonna try your method. thanks

 

I couldn't find no rinse sanitizer, they didn't even know such a thing exists.
I use unscented chlorine, of course I need to rinse thoroughly with water a couple of times, but never had infections.

 

StarSan is widely used in the USA as a sanitizer.

 

Can you get hydrogen peroxide and vinegar? With those you can make peracetic acid which is a common disinfectant in the food industry, and I believe considered 'no rinse' in lower concentrations.

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Peracetic Acid Technical Report Handling.pdf

 

In my country, I would rank homebrewing +/- in the same class as collecting stamps or knitting - a benign pastime for hobbyists. I never considered how it could be a subversive and intense act.
Props to DesertFox for making do with what's on hand (condom airlock ftw). I think it's a valuable experience as a brewer, at the least - going at it from the very basics.
Not that I advocate risking the lash for a few pints of beer, but the level of dedication is inspiring.
I would agree that cider or some other fruit wine would be the easiest to make, but beer is beer... there is no substitute.

 

I read your thread. I'm in the same situation as you. I've gradually built my inventory of beer yeast packs and hops. i've also been using a similar nestle system. I am trying my best with the Meridian as well as i don't want to be bringing the weight across the border that DME/LME requires. I've also tried roasting my own barley (you can easily buy 50kg bag of grain barley - just be sure to freeze or toast soon after as the barley bugs kick-in soon after) for adjunct - some guys do the malting but that's way too much effort for me. If you're pushing that route though, get an Indian or helper to pick up a bag (a bit conspicuous if you're a white expat). i paid 50SR with delivery so dirt cheap.

I've done 9 ~350g Meridian LME, 1Kg roasted barley, a pound of oat flakes (dried from Hyper or Lulu), 4 Tablespoon (15ml each) of choc syrup, 2 ounces freeze dried coffee, and a yeast pack. I'm doing an ounce of EKG and 2 ounce of Northern.

i've tried two batches - 1 with Safbrew-33 and another with Safbrew-05. My issue is the safbrew 33 is spot on stout! but the yeast pooped out after 3-4 days and left my gravity way too high. the Safbrew is robust but gives me a rough metallic finish.

would love to here how your recipes have developed and any make shift aids you're using. Best of luck.

on the ikea bottles, they're solid. seals are rock solid.

 

Canada you can simply walk into many grocery stores and get a part kit. Plus we have free healthcare so that's a plus.

If it's trying to get a visa/refugee status you could always apply to multiple countries in hopes one works (if that's your situation and you haven't already)

As for Ikea bottles, I had a sparkling mead in a few and they were fine, but you do have to watch your CO2 levels. 1/2 tsp per 500 ml though should be fine.

 

Agreed, this is definitely making me appreciate how easily I can get brewing equipment. Shine is technically illegal here but unless you're doing it commercially no one cares.

 

True, much easier elsewhere to brew for sure. However, the paychecks out here cannot be beat... by multiples of western norms. Thus, the inconvenience of makeshift brewing continues! Although, if you want to mail a Labatts my way, no complaints on this end...

 

Thank you for sharing your recipe.

well firstly my last batch ended up 'ok', it was too malty and under-hopped, wasn't the best beer, but it did the job and still better than any homemade alcoholic beverage you buy over here. carbonation was good (1/2 tsp of sugar per 500ml bottle), Ikea bottles handled the pressure very well. bread yeast left (of course) a bread-ish taste and a little sourness, but aging in bottles for a month enhanced the flavor and clearness.

a friend of mine who is a biologist (with no brewing experience) suggested to wash the yeast and use it in future batches, he believes this will lead in the long term to a better yeast strain, I have no clue if this works but I'm going to try it anyway as I failed multiple times cultivating wild yeast.

A few days ago I started two batches, and I'm trying to enhance a few things.
in batch#1 I used:
1- 30 x 330ml Holsten non-alcoholic beer. I found that Holsten is the "hoppiest" NA beer in the market, so Im using it instead of hops! because I don't have access to sanitized hops.
2- 3 x 350g Meridien ME.
3- 1 tbs Baker's yeast
4- 500g sugar
boiled the malt extract in 8 L. of water with the sugar, after cooling I poured it in the carboy, emptied the 30 cans of NA beer. now the fermentation has been active for 6 days but there was no krausen, and it's not because of the baker's yeast, I used it before and there was krausen.


batch#2:
I tried Prostel NA beer a while ago and LOVED it, so I decided to make a batch of it.
18 x 1L. Prostel Classic NA beer.
500g sugar
baker's yeast
and again there's no Krausen!

I know both batches will not taste awful, but also not good.

I'm curious how did your batch turn out?
where did you get grain barley?
and most importantly, where did you get the yeast!

 

I'm sure life in Canada is much easier than life here. I have tried to move to other countries but couldn't. anyways thanks a lot.

about Ikea bottles, yeah they are great, I loved them, and they look cool also

 

In your situation, I think you need to explore cultivating your own yeast strain - sourdough bread bakers maintain their starters for years on end, feeding them a little every day and/or keeping them refrigerated. That would also work if you are able to lay your hands on a beer yeast, using it to start a permanent starter. Added bonus, basically impossible to tell the difference between a beer and a bread starter in a jar unless you send it to a lab.

If you are using baker's yeast, you will get likely better results from a local starter than you will from commercial bread yeast, albeit with an increased chance of lactobacillus. You may be the pioneer of the newest trend in brewing, Saudi-style sours.

The Scandinavian drink 'kvass' and the Finnish 'Sahti' are both made with a bread yeast.

 

Yeah, i know a lot of people use holsten - i tried a couple times when trying to do an IPA but i over-hopped with a pine variant hop (Polaris i think) i picked up in Paris and an US-05 yeast. i didn't like the finish flavor (metallic/twangy vibe) so switched to more forgiving Stout and S-33 yeast.

For the yeast, i just bring the small packs through customs (causeway). i know a lot of guys buy yeast in bulk and repackage into something less innocuous. most fly through DMM. never issues. There's guys bringing DME and LME by the Kilo - relabeled syrup and the like. i personally don't mind bring light weight yeast/hops because a little goes a long way. not willing to risk the DME/LME though - just need too much for only a batch or two.

if you're in a bind for real 'baking ingredients', try camel cakes... they Aramex in via Britain.

as for the barley. i got it through a friend whom had his helper/cleaner/driver guy go to the DMM port and buy directly. i paid 50 SAR for 50KG bag, including delivery! so dirt cheap. i personally don't know who or how to go to but if you ask about Dammam dry dock (assuming your Eastern Province), i'm sure you'll situate. personally, i find roasting a few kilos in the oven and adding for adjunct really adds the mouth/flavor for a stout. if you get serious, an all-grain route works too - a lot of die-hards here only go this route (too much effort for me). if you go this route, watch the barley bugs! they take over quickly - repack and freeze roast all of it and then store.

if you get serious about C02, you can easily get a filled tank for like 700 SAR - 30 SAR refill (have use for several kegs and plenty of gas left)

i Aramex'd two new kegs in - specifically asking for all marketing materials to be excluded from packaging. As far as this place is concerned, Coca-Cola dispensing.

my latest batch came out nice - probably will add a little more coffee next time for a little more kick - maybe more vanilla too for fun.

 

You can use sourdough starter for a beer yeast. I gave it a try in this thread. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/sour-dough-starter-for-yeast.625442/

 

Everything in Dammam is easier. I live in Jeddah and I find it very hard to find the ingredients and equipments, or maybe I'm not looking in the right places.

All-grain method is too much effort for me too, however, I am interested in your recipe but with some modifications regarding hops and yeast. I saw that you didn't use sugar/dextrose, I'm a bit confused so could you please tell me the ingredients, amounts, and steps in details?
I'm sorry if I'm asking too much, but I'm still a beginner and learning from you guys.

 

I'm gonna try sourdough starter in my next batch. Thanks a lot, you've been very helpful guys.

 

I was being somewhat tongue in cheek about 'Saudi sours' being the next big thing, but in the breadbaking world, the distinctive yeast-bacteria mix found in Saudi Arabia is actually sold commercially. You might find you have a really interesting mix. As compared to a sourdough starter that occurs naturally where I live (eastern Canada), yours should contain a purer mix of lactobacillus and saccharomyces cerevisiae, with maybe a little sacc. exiguus. The strain of cerevisiae provides less 'rise', or leavening, than most. Not really sure what that means for brewing, I know more about sourdoughs than I know about beer brewing.

However, I do know that it takes relatively few batches/generations for a starter to 'evolve' to utilize the grains provided. I have branched out whole wheat, rye, and spelt sourdough starters from my original base. I have absolutely no idea whether they are optimal, but the balance has definitely shifted as different elements utilize the nutrients more effectively and outcompete the others. There is probably a way to influence that process to have the sacc. cerevisiae dominate, but I am not that sophisticated. However, if you just keep feeding it malt extract, it will start to align that way - and probably become less 'bready' as well.

rlmiller10's post above is really good - your starter in the Gulf area should naturally have less variety in the strains of bacteria.

 

This thread is awesome. I am definitely subbed. Best of luck to you in your brewing endeavors Desertfox. You'll be in my thoughts everytime I get frustrated about a brewday hurdle. We truly do take things for granted in the West.

 

There are places where beer is out lawed? Wtf, is wrong with people. Best wishes desert fox you have way more guts than me

 

Low alcohol session mead could also be an option. Add some citrus fruit and dates ... you're on your way.
The price and availability of honey would be something to check out, though. If grapes and juice won't make wine, the honey may work better.

 

DesertFox, I'll be thinking of you when brewing this weekend and dedicating my next batch to my brothers and sisters in beer who don't have it as easy as I do. Good luck and brew safe!!

 

I think if it were me I'd trade the beer for 4 wives. I'd be too busy to miss the beer.

 

This is a crazy thread, so fascinating. It really re-frames my complaints after moving to Utah. Good luck DesertFox we're all pullin' for you.

 

Head to a Utah State Wine Store... Squatters Hop Rising... it does the trick
But yeah...UT beer... limited selection!

 

OP was last seen on Dec. 7, I wonder is the authorities caught up to him????