Hi from Modi'in - Israel!

[Saint_F]

Hello everybody!!

I've been brewing for the last two years. I'm located at Modi'in, half the way from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.

These days I'm upgrading my small brewery. I will be glad to upload some pictures soon.

Hope to be a valuable member of this community.

Best regards!

F.F.

 

[jbrookeiv]

Welcome to HBT, F.F.! How do you control fermentation temperature since it's so warm there?

 

[Saint_F]

It is warm indeed. I understood pretty soon that I cannot trust weather. Last May (2010) temperatures suddenly reached 35+ celsius (~100 F) and two batches were lost. July was even worse.
The solution was to find an old fridge and connect it to a PID controller. Actually the controller turns on the fridge (compressor) any time the temperature deviates from the goal by more than 1 degree C.
Today I have 2 fridges like that in my basement.

Thanks a lot for your greetings. Happy to be here.

F.F.

 

[TxBrew]

Welcome, we're glad you joined!

 

[KingBrianI]

Welcome! What kind of beer is popular to brew in Israel?

 

[Saint_F]

Thanks a lot.

I guess the most popular style for homebrewers is IPA. It is understandable that after years of drinking tasteless local lagers, people lost their minds when they taste real hopes the first time in their lives.
I can tell that all the basic styles are brewed here including: Pale Ale, Hefe Weizen, Belgian Ale (double & triple), Stouts, Porters, etc.

Unfortunately, we are lacking liquid yeasts so most homebrewers are using dry yeast. For that reason, a brewer with some experience will probably feel like most beers are similar. We are trying to figure out how to bring liquid yeast over here and mantain some kind of stock.

F.F.

 

[KingBrianI]

Can you order from Brewlab in the UK? They have a selection of mostly British ale yeasts that they ship on slants. Once you get a couple it would be pretty straightforward to maintain the cultures on slants or by freezing, or in distilled water, etc.

 

[arturo7]

Hey St F, welcome to HBT!

Where do you get your supplies? How far is it to the local hombrew shop?

 

[Saint_F]

Thanks a lot for the tip. I will check it right now and update you guys.

F.F.

 

[Saint_F]

Hi Arturo,

There are a few shops over here. I have 4 suppliers close to my house (30 km radius).
Supplies are quite tricky here. It is not rare to find out that the major suppliers are lacking basic malt types like Pale Ale, Wheat, Pilsners. The same goes for the yeast.
Very fast I learned that the best is to keep stocks at home. For that I bought a crusher from Monster Mill.
In general we order a lot of equipment from abroad (e.g., Hong Kong, U.S., and all the places between them )
Fortunately, we have a small community of 30 brewers all around Israel which cooperate and share stuff. This helps a little.
I guess that the lack of available equipment develops our incentive for self-designing and DIY. We cry for not being able to order cool stuff but on the other hand we enjoy a lot while trying to figure out how to build up with the available means.

F.F.

 

[r8rphan]

Welcome SF!
Home brewing in the Holy Land!
I like it!!