Home brewing in Japan

[Fastforwardx2]

Mr. Beer is how many start. You can get a drinkable beer but once you go into extract kits you will make very good beer that others will beg for from you. MoreBeer is the best place for getting things shipped here. They are priced well and quick.

As for your Lager, if you are down south then you will need some kind of temp control right now. I would recommend that you wait until later in the winter then all you need is to keep the beer warm. Right now even in Tokyo we need a way to keep the beer cold enough. Without a freezer or refridgerator you won't be able to keep it cold enough and consistant.

That is what I am expecting from this new starter set and recipes. I hope to make really great beer. Also I am looking into getting some kegs and getting into kegging. I have a good contact for getting kegs relatively cheap. I was wondering how different Japanese kegs where from american with regards to fittings and such. Thanks for the advice and I am still on the search for a decently priced refrigerator that I can turn into a fermentor chamber.

Hope to hear from you guys some more,
John

 

[OppamaBrendan]

As far as commercial style (not cornelius) kegs go, there is a mix here in Japan for fittings. American (and Canadian) kegs usually use a sanke valve for the connection. Here is a link for easy ID of valve types http://www.kegworld.com/keg-valve.htm

I had brought a Japanese 15 liter keg (Kirin I think) to Canada with me a few years back and it took a G system coupler to connect. I still have that and an A system German style coupler waiting for the day I get kegging again.

 

[Drifting79]

The problem wih the sanke style kegs is they are very difficult to clean between brews
The big breweries use a mechanical cleaner with strong acids to remove any material before they are refilled
The choice to use a Cornelius style kegs for home use is ideal
For this reason
This by no means you can't use a sanke but will be highly benificial
For many uses
Lately I saw a whole bunch of Cornelius style kegs which were the 10 ltr size

I brew 20 ltr batches but you could put 10 in each but you will always lose a bit of beer to the bottom of each keg
Something we should all take into account when brewing a batch
I actually start with a minimum of 26 ltrs of wort in the boiler I end up with about 23 ltrs post boil by the time it's transferred into the keg I have about 2 ltrs left over which I bottle!
Something to take into consideration

 

[Fencdar]

I clearly need to make friends in the military and use their awesome shipping abilities to smuggle in some good stuff, like liquid yeast. Anybody want to volunteer?

 

[mpearce]

That is what I am expecting from this new starter set and recipes. I hope to make really great beer. Also I am looking into getting some kegs and getting into kegging. I have a good contact for getting kegs relatively cheap. I was wondering how different Japanese kegs where from american with regards to fittings and such. Thanks for the advice and I am still on the search for a decently priced refrigerator that I can turn into a fermentor chamber.

Hope to hear from you guys some more,
John

The major difference you will find is in regulators for your CO2. The Japanese use metric and US doesn't. So if you get a regulator from the US you will need to buy an adapter for it, which means more cost.

 

[ShizuokaBrad]

Hey ya'll! It's been a while. Hope everyone is brewing up a storm!

I'm trying make a new mash tun from a cooler and am having a hell of a time getting the parts I need locally. Particularly the piece that goes through the opening of the cooler. I've been to several plumbing places and then have nothing that fits the bill. I'm getting super annoyed!

Anyone else on here make one in Japan? Any tips?

Cheers dudes!
B

 

[mpearce]

Hey ya'll! It's been a while. Hope everyone is brewing up a storm!

I'm trying make a new mash tun from a cooler and am having a hell of a time getting the parts I need locally. Particularly the piece that goes through the opening of the cooler. I've been to several plumbing places and then have nothing that fits the bill. I'm getting super annoyed!

Anyone else on here make one in Japan? Any tips?

Cheers dudes!
B

Sorry dude, I got no ideas. You might want to take the cooler down to the homecenter with you and just mess around with different things. Remember though you want something that can handle heat and won't put something harmful in your wort.

 

[OppamaBrendan]

I used a cooler with a drain port built in to the bottom, and just drilled a hole through the cap of that for a barbed connector. Then I threaded silicone tubing up through the hole, fit it onto the barbs and pushed the barb back through the hole. It is a pressure fit seal that way, and I can unscrew the cap if I need to remove it. It has never leaked under 20 L of hot mash, and I have used it like this for several brews.

I have recently thought about getting one of those tap/die kits I see at the hardware stores. I wonder if that would be useful for threading my own ports into coolers, and if I could just get some cheaper stainless tubing and make my own fittings. Right now I have a pump and a bazooka screen that I need to start looking for fittings to match the threads, and I would like to re-do my mash tun drain to the side of the cooler where I think I can drain it better.

edit* I just took a look and Monotaro.com has lots of fittings listed under building supplies- plumbing, and the stainless ones are listed as such so you could probably find all the parts you need right there without needing to go to any other stores.

 

[Guzzibrew]

I've posted this in the Japan Brewing group as well but there appears to be little traffic over there.

I've found a bunch of decommissioned corny kegs (both pin and ball lock) and had to buy the lot so I've got a few extras. Most are the tall ones (approximately 18 Liters) but I've got a couple of smaller 11 liter ones too. If anyone is interested in some PM me.

I also bought a couple of huge military surplus super chef insulated beverage dispensers one is 5 gallon the other is at least 8 that I was thinking about using for fermenters- until I found the kegs - they might make excellent electric brewing kettles too.

 

[Fencdar]

I've posted this in the Japan Brewing group as well but there appears to be little traffic over there.

I've found a bunch of decommissioned corny kegs (both pin and ball lock) and had to buy the lot so I've got a few extras. Most are the tall ones (approximately 18 Liters) but I've got a couple of smaller 11 liter ones too. If anyone is interested in some PM me.

I also bought a couple of huge military surplus super chef insulated beverage dispensers one is 5 gallon the other is at least 8 that I was thinking about using for fermenters- until I found the kegs - they might make excellent electric brewing kettles too.

Wow Guzzibrew that is tempting, but I think SWMBO would force me to commit seppuku. Our small apartment is a bit crowded already.

Does anyone know of a homebrew group in Tokyo / Chiba, or a way to find out about one? If there isn't an active one I might try to start one.

 

[Ki-ri-n]

A bit off topic but....

Does anyone over "there" know what is used when brewing Kirin? I'm trying to develop a clone recipe and haven't had any luck, other than making an American style lager. I know that they use "first press" which is essentially no sparge and there's no rice, all 100% malt. If anyone could give me some insight, that would be awesome!

 

[mpearce]

Does anyone know of a homebrew group in Tokyo / Chiba, or a way to find out about one? If there isn't an active one I might try to start one.

There are a bunch of guys brewing in Tokyo, I only know two in Chiba...me being one. There is a brewing club through Advanced Brewing but I think it is mainly Japanese.

 

[OppamaBrendan]

Fencdar I would suggest if you are a customer of Advanced brewing to sign up for their mailing list club. When they organize a get-together (seems to be two or more times a year) a lot of people come out of the woodwork. There are more Japanese brewers than foreigners at those events but we are united in one common language. Beer.

Guzzibrew you found the right thread as this seems to be where 90% of the Japanese posters end up. That is really awesome of you to offer and several people have enquired on here about cornies. I am not going to bite this time but I am sure others here will take you up on those.

Ki-ri-n there are several Kirin beers on the market here and seasonals come and go. I assume you are referring to the draft lager though? I have not done the brewery tour but if I ever do I will try to find out any recipe I can for you. I recently tried one called "the aroma" Kirin premium and it was probably the best Kirin beer I have had. It comes in a glass bottle with a pull tab cap. If you are interested there are good reviews of Japanese beers on this site : http://japanbeer.wordpress.com/. Even though they are maybe not doing sparge those giant breweries make their money by getting insane efficiencies so any recipe you try at home will have to be an approximation I think. If you tried a recipe verbatim it would be nearly impossible to replicate the extract efficiency at home and it would come out lower original gravity I think.

Cheers!

 

[Ki-ri-n]

I was referring to the orignal lager. I can't get anything else other than that here. Even the lager is brewed by AB now. Not what I'd consider the same.

 

[Fencdar]

Fencdar I would suggest if you are a customer of Advanced brewing to sign up for their mailing list club. When they organize a get-together (seems to be two or more times a year) a lot of people come out of the woodwork. There are more Japanese brewers than foreigners at those events but we are united in one common language. Beer.

I'm down with the nomunication.

I was thinking of something a little more often than 2-3x/year... I guess I'll have to wait until the next one, and try to rope wrangle of them into meeting more often.

 

[Guzzibrew]

Fencdar,

I know all about wife enduced seppuku. I'm so broke and the wife is getting so cranky about all the kegs about the place that I may have to commit harakiri with my bamboo mashing paddle- ouch!

OppamaBrendana,

Sorry to hear I can't entice you on the kegs. How are your hops? Are you going to have more cutting come spring?

 

[Guzzibrew]

ShizuokaBrad,

What you may want to try is to ask the SO to look for a plumbing supply store in the phone book- or call the operator. I know it will cost you, but unless you know a plumber or you get really lucky you won't find the place.

You should be able to get a stainless nipple (that's a short length of pipe that is all threaded) there. (Hope I'm not telling you what you already know).

Then you want a threaded connector (that's a straight piece with internal threads.) And a hacksaw.

Cut about a 1/4 an inch off each end of the threaded connector they will serve as your 'nuts'. You won't be able to find a proper nut for it.

Remember the pipe threads are tapered so if you make the 'nut' too wide it won't thread on easily. Then you need washers which should be available at a good hardware store. But you will need to order a high temp silicone washer from ebay. The best gasket material I could find in Japan looks to be BunaN rubber. Probably not up to a brew kettle, but might do for mashing...

You could also try finding aquarium silicone (it's supposed to be food grade)- won't kill the fish right? I'm guessing it's available in a good pet store.

When you assemble you could use a pipe wrench or just hand tighten. If you get the proper big fat silicone o-ring you shouldn't over tighten anyway as the o-ring will squirt out.

The biggest problem with sourcing stuff in Japan is that the standard home centers have nothing but air fresheners. Find a proper pro shop. The staff there are usually really nice, inquisitive and very friendly. They are also- gasp- knowledgable, but will probably not feel comfortable advising you on how to seal a mash tun.

 

[OppamaBrendan]

For gasket material that is food grade silicone take a look at the baking section of any Daiso or 100 yen shop. You should find some silicone baking pans with uniform thickness of rubber that would be suitable for mashing and probably boiling temps.
* I have not tried this* but I don't see any reason it wouldnt work.

 

[ShizuokaBrad]

Thanks for the advice guys. I was able to finally get all the pieces together that I needed. I'll report back after I give it a go sometime in the next couple of weeks.

 

[Guzzibrew]

OppamaBrendan,

The silicone baking sheets/ pans is a good idea.

Shizuokabrad,

Where did you finally source all your parts? Keep us informed about how the build goes.

 

[ShizuokaBrad]

I ended up being able to get most of the parts by going to several DIY places. I did a test yesterday and nothing seems to be leaking. I'm not entirely satisfied with it though. It cost a lot more than I was hoping it would and each fitting was individually wrapped in plastic (HUGE pet peeve of mine). I'm thinking about trying to find something similar to a false bottom, but one that I could fit into my 48q cooler. In Japanese it's called パンチングメタル... not even really sure what it's called in English :/

 

[tektonjp]

If you're sticker shocked now, wait till you price out punched stainless. Ouch.
My MT using the stainless kettle strainer. Works great. You could make your own by rolling up stainless mesh/screen.

 

[Guzzibrew]

ShizuokaBrad,

Have to agree with Tektonjp. If you are buying new punched stainless will be pricey. I suggest politely asking at scrap yards to look at their stainless pile.

I found a 4 ample pieces of stainless screen 4mm gauge for pennies. I think they cost me two cans of coffee (they were too light to weigh so the scrap yard said take them- but I think it's better to pay heavy for the light stuff and hopefully you'll pay lighter for the heavy stuff later). I made a hop bag and a large (fits the bottom of my kettle) pick-up screen. by folding the edges together.

GB

 

[OppamaBrendan]

I had the same beef with individual wrapped parts, how the f@#! do I test the thread fit properly? I dont trust my eyes to say "yeah thats the same thread"...

I see a section in my local hardware store that holds the punched steel, and other sheets of various materials like copper or aluminum. I agree that it is likely to be more pricey to buy the parts than to find scrap or another off-the-shelf item that contains the part you are looking for (or can be repurposed). My father buys those little tea-light LED lamps from dollar stores and just takes the batteries out when he needs new batteries - he says the cost of the batteries alone is 4 times that of the tea lights...
The problem for me is being certain of the content of the material I am buying though. How do you ID stainless vs nickel plated or some other shiny stuff GB?

 

[Fencdar]

Well guys I messed up. I accidentally ordered whole grains instead of crushed, and now I have 4.5kg of ale malt taunting me for not owning a mill. Do you think a neighborhood rice store would be able to crush it for me?

 

[Drifting79]

I would suggest purchasing a mill as you will have fresh malted grain at you finger tips for ever
Buying un crushed malt should be paramount for a brewer
But a mill is a little pricey and only gets used for a few minutes per brew
Look at the milling options
You could use a bag and a rolling pin to get you on your way!
Corona mills are a cheap alternative but I'm not to sure how easy they are to get this side of the pond

 

[ShizuokaBrad]

Mills are way too expensive in Japan. I've also searched high and low for corona mills but to no avail. I was actually considering trying to convert a pasta maker into a mill. That will be my next project after I test out the mash tun.

 

[mpearce]

I would look on eBay for mills. You might get it cheaper even if from the US. I agree though having a mill is awesome. While I am in the same boat as everyone else with keeping the costs down. I am finding while it is pricy upfront ultimately I am saving later. After all you probably will be getting all the stuff everyone is mentioning so why buy it twice?

 

[mpearce]

Also with Christmas around the corner you can always tell everyone you want gift certificates to MoreBeer. That will cut the price for a lot of stuff.

 

[Fencdar]

Haha, yeah morebeer gift certs were already on my list.

I'll take a look at ebay and yahoo auctions, maybe I can find something. SWMBO has forbidden me to buy the JPY 12,000 corona mill I saw on brewland, so I have to find something cheaper.