Hello from China！Ask me anything about Chinese craft beer

[LLLqz]

Hi everybody
I am a craft beer enthusiast also a homebrewer from China，this is my first post although I have been browsing this forum for some time, please don't mind if there are any mistakes because I communicated through a translation software.

 

[Brockness Monster]

Welcome to HBT!! That beer looks amazing, is that your homebrew? What are the popular beer styles in China?

 

[LLLqz]

Welcome to HBT!! That beer looks amazing, is that your homebrew? What are the popular beer styles in China?

Yeah！a homebrew double milk stout with coconut and coffee beans.Apart from the most common style,lager, the most popular style is IPA.Unfortunately, Chinese breweries often cannot to purchase fresh hops, such as the freshest batch of Citra in China was produced in the previous year.

 

[jschein]

Welcome! Looks like a great beer!

 

[rallenhall]

Welcome. Just curious ... are brewing supplies readily available in China?

 

[LLLqz]

Welcome. Just curious ... are brewing supplies readily available in China?

Well,in China,we mainly purchase brewing supplies online and send them to you by express delivery. As far as I can see, there are basically no offline brewing supply stores here. Except for liquid yeast and most British malt, other brewing supplies are easily available,due to import and export policies.As a major stout brewer,that's bad thing for me.

 

[jdubdvdt]

Do you see the younger generation in China drinking less alcohol than previous generations?

 

[TexasTea]

Welcome to the forum from a Texas Brewer. My Chinese Mother in Law used to make beer and rice wine. Where are you located in China? I spent decades working over there.

 

[LLLqz]

Do you see the younger generation in China drinking less alcohol than previous generations?

Yes,It has decreased significantly compared to before,especially Baijiu,mainly because the younger generation finds it difficult to taste its flavor.it's like the lambic in distilled liquor

 

[LLLqz]

Welcome to the forum from a Texas Brewer. My Chinese Mother in Law used to make beer and rice wine. Where are you located in China? I spent decades working over there.

Hi,sir!I'm from Shandong province,a coastal province in eastern China.

 

[TexasTea]

Hi,sir!I'm from Shandong province,a coastal province in eastern China.In some ways,Shandong is just like my stereotype of Texas,the stronghold of Chinese conservatives and there is a high enthusiasm for joining the military and so on...But is my impression of Texas correct? I apologize if I have offended you.

I know where Shandong is. I have been there to visit a company called Chalco (aluminum smelter) in Zibo city years ago. I think they may have shut that particular plant down back in 2018 due to high energy costs but I'm not certain since I haven't been to China since 2016.

Hey, maybe we can trade beer making tips.

I drank alot of beer in China. Tsing Tao, Mons, Harbin and Wusu beer brewed from water from the tianshan mountians (when I was out in Xinjiang province). I liked most Chinese beer. The germans had a lot of breweries in Shanghai and the Chinese make some good beer.

 

[TexasTea]

Yeah！a homebrew double milk stout with coconut and coffee beans.Apart from the most common style,lager, the most popular style is IPA.Unfortunately, Chinese breweries often cannot to purchase fresh hops, such as the freshest batch of Citra in China was produced in the previous year.

Did you ever try growing hops in China? Shandong is about 36.1 degrees lattitude which should be pretty good for growing hops. Can you get hops rhizomes (roots) in China? I know of a place in Romania that ships hops rhizomes to Hong Kong but I don't know if they ship to the rest of China.

 

[LLLqz]

Did you ever try growing hops in China? Shandong is about 36.1 degrees lattitude which should be pretty good for growing hops. Can you get hops rhizomes (roots) in China? I know of a place in Romania that ships hops rhizomes to Hong Kong but I don't know if they ship to the rest of China.

Nope.To be honest, this is the first time I've found out that the temperature in Shandong is suitable for growing hops. Hop rhizomes are also hard to get. At present,most of the plants grown in China are Qingdao bigflower and Cascade, with a small amount of aroma hops. However, brewers have reported that the oil content is not high.

 

[TexasTea]

Nope.To be honest, this is the first time I've found out that the temperature in Shandong is suitable for growing hops. Hop rhizomes are also hard to get. At present,most of the plants grown in China are Qingdao bigflower and Cascade, with a small amount of aroma hops. However, brewers have reported that the oil content is not high.

To Grow Hops that produce cones you need about 15 daylight hours on the longest day of the year , 120 days per year frost free, and 6-8 weeks of soil temperature < 40 F (4.4 C ). I would think Shandong would be OK for this (better than my location at 30.1 degrees lattitude). So far cascade does the best in my location.

As for low oil content, just use more. For example if you run short of bittering hops you can substitute aroma hops but you have to use more to get the same oil content (taste, bitterness).

Thanks for letting me know about Qingdao bigflower. I had never heard of that one before. I ran that through a hops comparison tool at Beer Maverick. See Beer Maverick Hops Subsitution/Comparison tool

Do you ever use that tool? I find it quite useful.

 

[LLLqz]

To Grow Hops that produce cones you need about 15 daylight hours on the longest day of the year , 120 days per year frost free, and 6-8 weeks of soil temperature < 40 F (4.4 C ). I would think Shandong would be OK for this (better than my location at 30.1 degrees lattitude). So far cascade does the best in my location.

As for low oil content, just use more. For example if you run short of bittering hops you can substitute aroma hops but you have to use more to get the same oil content (taste, bitterness).

Thanks for letting me know about Qingdao bigflower. I had never heard of that one before. I ran that through a hops comparison tool at Beer Maverick. See Beer Maverick Hops Subsitution/Comparison tool

Do you ever use that tool? I find it quite useful.

Thank you very much! I have never used this tool before, which is also the reason why I came to this place, to communicate and learn more from others! By the way, the features of the Qingdao bigflower listed by Beer Maverick have been somewhat embellished, as they actually smell like spoiled dairy products with a hint of lemon flavor.

 

[TexasTea]

Thank you very much! I have never used this tool before, which is also the reason why I came to this place, to communicate and learn more from others! By the way, the features of the Qingdao bigflower listed by Beer Maverick have been somewhat embellished, as they actually smell like spoiled dairy products with a hint of lemon flavor.

Ah, They do not embellish. If those hops smell like spoiled dairy they are old and spoiled (pre rotten). I lived in China for decades. You know China better than me. You can't trust some of these companies. You are getting old, spoiled hops.

I'm an old chemist and like experiments. Can you get a Qingdao bigflower rhizome? If so, plant it, grow it to flowering and look at, crush/smell the cones when they are ripe (just the tip brown, crushes, springs back, resinous smell when crushed between fingers) and compare to what you are getting now.

I think you will notice a big difference.

Cheers!