Fermentation costs

[GratefulBrewing]

Hello,

I live in Peru and want to open a brew pub down here. I am originally from Portland, Oregon. I can't get anything but the basic ingredients down here. All the fancy stuff you guys talk about is either not available or really hard to find. I couldn't find any sanitizer so I had to use bleach. I don't have much experience but I am going to try and fix that by begging some sort of internship at a small brewery when I go to the states this summer. That and brew as much as I can in the next year. My target is to open in about a year. I think I can make my brewing set up here with things I have seen on the internet. It will be fairly Frankenstein but I think I can get it done. I don't have much money either so I am trying not to buy any stainless fermentors now if I don't have to. they are like $500 each. One good thing about Peru is the red tape to just open up is almost non-existent. I can hear the collective gasp now but could I use plastic 5 gallon restaurant grade buckets to ferment in and then just transfer those into the 5 gallon kegs when I;m done? Like I said, I'm not very experienced so lots of holes I'm sure. If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it.

 

[fartinmartin]

Bleach works, it just leaves odours, rinse and rinse and rinse !

 

[boscobeans]

Get larger buckets.. It is hard to get 5 gallons of beer from a 5 gallon bucket. You need some room for krausen (fermentation foam).
Careful getting barley in Peru as a lot of it is a newer mutated form that is very high in protein and lower in starch (starch is converted to fermentable sugars). Remember grains must be malted (sprouted and dried) first to have the proper enzymes that convert starch to sugar or the enzymes must be added from another source.
Search this forum for beers made with quinoa as this is a common crop in Peru.
Look into alternative sanitizers like iodine based.
There are a lot of good dry yeasts that are more temperature stable when it comes to long distance shipping.

Working in a small craft brewery is a great idea and will either change your mind or let you open a good business in Peru.

Good luck.

bosco