Guate Brewing

[Lube]

Hi, sorry but I see your message right now. Today it´s little difficult because I have to do some diligences in the afternoon but tomorrow morning I plan to produce IPA and if you can visit me around 11:00 am will be great. Call me to my phone 55171006

 

[pacayaforhops]

Hi, sorry but I see your message right now. Today it´s little difficult because I have to do some diligences in the afternoon but tomorrow morning I plan to produce IPA and if you can visit me around 11:00 am will be great. Call me to my phone 55171006

I'll definitely take you up on that.

 

[hopbrad]

Is the bottled water we get here in Central America considered RO water? here in Nica, the brand is Fuenta Pura.
should i be messing with it at all when mashing? (ive finally gotten access to base grains here)
ive read that 100% RO water isnt good to use if your not adding minerals and such back in. i could cut it with some well water if thats the case. (its extremely hard water here by the beach).

EDIT: i mostly brew IPAs and American Pale Ales.

 

[pacayaforhops]

First off I'd like to thank Lube for having me over today, he's a most gracious host and I very much enjoyed our chat.

Regarding RO water: most commercially available bottled water is RO water with a few salts added, most of the time it'll have some sodium nitrite or nitrate, magnesium sulfate and calcium chloride, so it's not like it's "mess with your osmotic pressure" RO water.

That being said, for IPA's and APA's you'll want medium hardness with "lots" of sulphate and medium chloride: See the attached file.

What I usually do is use either straight RO water (from an RO filter at Red Star Bar) or filtered (ceramic sediment cartridge and activated charcoal cartridge filter), sometimes I'll add some epsom salts for a more pronounced bitterness or calcium chloride if I want a clearer maltier beer. I won't usually add anything though. No need to bother cutting it with well water

Since you're mashing I'd also recommend adjusting pH with food grade citric or phosphoric acid to somewhere around 5 (ideally 5.2-5.4), since it affects the reaction speed for amylase (5.3 is the sweetspot for alpha and beta amylase activity)

 

[Curtis2010]

Lube, sorry I was not able to visit today, but we were travling back to Panama. Hopefully I, and more folks from the group, can catch you next time.

 

[Curtis2010]

Re RO/soft water. I have very soft well water. One advantage of that is it is great for brewing lighter beers like Pils, but you can also adjust it for other styles. Its harder to remove mineral, but very easy to add them.

 

[hopbrad]

thanks for the feedback, i just checked out a bottle, looks like:
calcium 25mg/l
magnesium 8mg/l
flouride .5mg/l

my first go round i wont add anything to see what im working with but will pick up some gypsum or epson salt. i have some citric acid on hand but currently dont have a way of testing pH, will also have to get a meter or strips

 

[hopbrad]

I've gotten a hold of a couple of the water reports from the water system in the community I live in. what do you think?

 

[pacayaforhops]

If at all possible, use water only from well M-6, it-s still pretty hard, but it's lower chloride than M-3, M-6 seems to be somewhat close to Dublin water according to the values I've found, it would benefit from acidification, either with citric acid or roasted grains; or RO/ion exchange treatment.

M-3 is all over the place with (bi)carbonate, sulphate and chloride, it'll muddle the malt flavor to nothing.

 

[pacayaforhops]

Yours truly was partly featured in an article by siglo21 (Guatemalan news paper)- In case anyone's interested.

 

[Curtis2010]

Cool. Link to the article?

 

[pacayaforhops]

http://www.s21.com.gt/artesanos/2015/03/15/artesanos-cerveza-salen-luz

 

[rappyfreak]

Wayne is famous! Good stuff, have not been able to visit yet. Congrats!

 

[Curtis2010]

Que paso en Guate?

Very quiet on this thread. What are you guys brewing?

Has anyone been by to visit Brew Master Wayne and try his beers?

Sounds like a great venue for group meeting!

Seems I'm migrating to Panama...spending more and more time here. Hope to get back to Guate long enough to do a little brewing this year...and then probably migrate my brewing to Panama also.

 

[firefarmer]

Unfortunately after only participating in one Guate Brewing gathering I've migrated far from Guatemala all the way to Istanbul. I wish I was there to sample some of Wayne's brews. Istanbul is pretty dry on the beer front.

 

[pacayaforhops]

It's been pretty quiet on my end as well, I got another job and I'm wrapping up with my studies this year, so I haven't had much time to brew at home any more (it's been like 4 months already). Hopefully once I'm done with school I can get into it more seriously again.

 

[Curtis2010]

Unfortunately after only participating in one Guate Brewing gathering I've migrated far from Guatemala all the way to Istanbul. I wish I was there to sample some of Wayne's brews. Istanbul is pretty dry on the beer front.

Wow, big move. What took you to Istanbul?

 

[Curtis2010]

It's been pretty quiet on my end as well, I got another job and I'm wrapping up with my studies this year, so I haven't had much time to brew at home any more (it's been like 4 months already). Hopefully once I'm done with school I can get into it more seriously again.

Is the craft brew pub still open? A different job than that one I assume?

I'm gradually migrating to Panama. We are trying to figure out how to fit some time back in Guate this year into our plans and its looking tight. Not much point in going back just for a short visit.

Anybody wanna buy a cool place on the Rio Dulce? ;-)

 

[pacayaforhops]

Yes, it's still open.

 

[Hemileia_foxtrot]

Hello all, I live in Guate and am sorely missing brewing my own beer although I have turned out a pretty good mead. Instead of sifting through the 60+ pages of this group I though that I would ask about how to get malt and hops. Yeast is not a problem for me since I culture my own. I am really glad that I found you guys and I hope to maybe meet you in the future. Most of my homebrew equipment is still in the US but I have a serviceable settup. Looking forward to hearing from you guys! Cheers!

 

[pacayaforhops]

Read this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/groups/cerveceros-ca-4/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=2595

You're welcome to join as well.

 

[Curtis2010]

Welcome aboard foxtrot!

 

[Curtis2010]

Read this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/groups/cerveceros-ca-4/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=2595

You're welcome to join as well.

If I click on this link from the mobile app it goes to the wrong place, but using a browser works fine.

Given the SAT scandal in Guate, I wonder how that will effect importation? TransCargo has always been a great deal because its a flat rate with no additional fees for Customs etc, but always seemed a bit suspect to me.

 

[Patzaquel]

Hi guys, I thought I would post to say hello. I'm still here out at the lake. I just bottled my 4th batch of "Patzaquel IPA". I started in earnest earlier in the year and have been selling about half of it. One of the hostels in San Marcos has lots of Brooklyn IPA bottles looking for a good home, that I am happy to provide. It is interesting to test beer on an international community, it has mostly been English, Aussies, Germans and Americans who have been asking for it. Getting some good feedback. Has anyone managed to get hold of bottle caps here in Guate? It is the one last thing I need a stable supply of.

 

[pacayaforhops]

If I click on this link from the mobile app it goes to the wrong place, but using a browser works fine.

Given the SAT scandal in Guate, I wonder how that will effect importation? TransCargo has always been a great deal because its a flat rate with no additional fees for Customs etc, but always seemed a bit suspect to me.

Not sure about transcargo, but CPX has been operating as usual, I've had about 8 items brought in the last 6 weeks without issue.

Hi guys, I thought I would post to say hello. I'm still here out at the lake. I just bottled my 4th batch of "Patzaquel IPA". I started in earnest earlier in the year and have been selling about half of it. One of the hostels in San Marcos has lots of Brooklyn IPA bottles looking for a good home, that I am happy to provide. It is interesting to test beer on an international community, it has mostly been English, Aussies, Germans and Americans who have been asking for it. Getting some good feedback. Has anyone managed to get hold of bottle caps here in Guate? It is the one last thing I need a stable supply of.

Good to hear you're doing well. Unfortunately, I don't know of any crown cap distributors, they're all usually distributing plastic threaded caps for clear glass bottles.

 

[Curtis2010]

Not sure about transcargo, but CPX has been operating as usual, I've had about 8 items brought in the last 6 weeks without issue.

...

CPX has always been very by the book so I would not expect them to have an issue unless the shake up effected SAT operationally.

TransCargo's arrangement always seem a bit too good, but don't know for sure.

 

[Hemileia_foxtrot]

Do you guys have regular meetings? I would like to meet the community face to face if possible. Thanks!

 

[Curtis2010]

Bienvenidos!

No regular meetings, but occassional get togethers. Best way is to coordinate a gathering here on the forum.

Where in Guate are you?

 

[Curtis2010]

A past gathering.

View attachment 1435971423499.jpg

 

[Hemileia_foxtrot]

I live outside of Antigua but travel to the City pretty regularly. I have no homebrewed beer to share right now but I do have a mead that I cooked up.