Recent content by MonkeyMountain

I believe they partner with a university in Japan and do some petty intense research on barley, malted barely, and mash chemistry. But they are a business and they are one of the big brewers keeping me from buying domestically grown hops. The major hop farmers here have exclusive contracts...

I haven't seen it here but I will look for it. I always keep an eye out for American beers but I haven't seen any here yet (other than Budweiser and Lone Star).

I don't think you need to get new equipment. If it is bacteria, you need to work on your sanitation. If some bottles have it and some don't, it must have happened during bottling. Maybe some of the bottles weren't clean enough?

Both sides!

Craft beer is getting popular in Japan and the big brewers are taking note and trying to squash us. The reality is that if the big brewers help to educate the public about craft beer, it is good for me too. Good for them and I hope to be able to drink some Anchor beers in Japan soon.

I've never used it but is s-189 not a lager yeast? What temperature did you ferment at?

As other people have mentioned, the clarity of the beer does not have a big impact on the flavor but as oylerck said, US-05 takes time to flocculate. From my experience, a week in the fridge helps a lot. After only a day, it may still taste a bit yeasty.

That's just water, right? I think you are good.

No problem for me either.

Monkey Mountain Red. Unfortunately, it doesn't look very red....

It's already been asked but I will ask again, are you treating your water at all (adding calcium or anything?). How many quarts of water per pound of grain are you using? Are you periodically stirring the mash? Are you doughing in sufficiently?

Brewing the first batch of Monkey Red tomorrow.

What size of heating element are you using and how long does it take to heat the water?

Just sitting here waiting for my brewing equipment to show up.... Hopefully will be brewing next weekend. :mug:

Oita, on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan.