Home brewing in Japan

[Blue-Frog]

Went anyhow.

... all Weizen was sold out (not that there was a good selection provided on any other day);

German Plank Bier also sold out...

No Brett from Tamamura on hand...

One Helles ran thru a Randall (sp?) that contained a sliced orange.

A few bottled beers were on sale, so I took home a handful.

This was my first visit to this event; I was left wanting more; perhaps something more "educational" with a lecture or dialoge options, but all in all I had a good time.

After the closing ceremomy, they had a group photo so I snapped this image of the mood:

 

[tektonjp]

Went anyhow.

... all Weizen was sold out (not that there was a good selection provided on any other day);

German Plank Bier also sold out...

No Brett from Tamamura on hand...

One Helles ran thru a Randall (sp?) that contained a sliced orange.

A few bottled beers were on sale, so I took home a handful.

This was my first visit to this event; I was left wanting more; perhaps something more "educational" with a lecture or dialoge options, but all in all I had a good time.

After the closing ceremomy, they had a group photo so I snapped this image of the mood:

The mood must be blurry.

 

[smitty8202]

I know this is a slightly older thread but I will be moving to Okinawa from the states in April due to being in the military. I want to continue to brew but not sure if I will have the space to do it. So my question is is it worth it price wise to have ingredients sent over from the states or are there any homebrew stores on oki.

 

[Blue-Frog]

I am not aware of any walk in home brew shop in Japan.
There are a few online shops; but you will need to use Japanese.

I'd say it is definately worth it.

Choices are limited, options few,
If your commin in April...
Could you bring a rhizome or two?"

 

[tektonjp]

I know this is a slightly older thread but I will be moving to Okinawa from the states in April due to being in the military. I want to continue to brew but not sure if I will have the space to do it. So my question is is it worth it price wise to have ingredients sent over from the states or are there any homebrew stores on oki.

If you do facebook, check out the brewing club in Okinawa. https://www.facebook.com/groups/Okinawa.Brewing/

 

[Mctinmd]

All just moved to Yokota and there are a lot of questions around here on whether you can home brew or not on base. Anybody have any concrete guidance with some policies or something from anybody that says you can. Thanks

 

[Touge180SX]

Mctinmd,

Not 100% sure about Yokota but I am in Yokosuka and brew quite a bit as do others that I know and have never had a problem. I brew right out in the open on my back porch. I would say you are completely fine. Welcome to Japan!

 

[Mctinmd]

Thanks rouge! I've been doing a ton of research on this and it appears the 1 percent is based on Japan's liquor tax law and the same tax law covers consumption gas tobacco and other Japanese taxable items. That being said many if not all of these items are exempt when it comes to military installations since sofa allows for many tax exemptions. So I need to run to ground this logic and see if I can get an authoritative answer. Id rather dig till I find its legal or at least not illegal on base than just hope everybody's right that it's illegal but not enforced.

 

[tektonjp]

Thanks rouge! I've been doing a ton of research on this and it appears the 1 percent is based on Japan's liquor tax law and the same tax law covers consumption gas tobacco and other Japanese taxable items. That being said many if not all of these items are exempt when it comes to military installations since sofa allows for many tax exemptions. So I need to run to ground this logic and see if I can get an authoritative answer. Id rather dig till I find its legal or at least not illegal on base than just hope everybody's right that it's illegal but not enforced.

The only people I know of getting "arrested" were a couple of Japanese guys a couple of years ago who were brewing up doburoku, farm style sake. They wanted to be arrested to see if they could get the law changed. I haven't heard of anyone getting nipped for beer, although there are stories of neighbors' complaints (smell) leading to police coming to suggest acquiring another hobby.

 

[Blue-Frog]

Mctinmd, if you are in the military,
isn't there something called the "chain of command"?

I agree I think there are "on base" areas that are subject to US laws...

Humm, It looks to me you actually want to obey the law... whatever it is.

If so,
I meekly suggest this isn't the best place to get legal military advice -
you might get lucky - but I do think you should look "closer to home" for someone who really knows...

Maybe there is a base-wide policy?

If you do ask around, it would be interesting to hear about...

 

[ShizuokaBrad]

Hey fellas,
I've been out of touch for awhile and sadly not been brewing for the last year or so. It's not all bad news though! I was too busy because my wife and I had a baby girl last winter. Anyway, things have calmed down enough to allow me to start brewing again. All grain IPA ingredients are on their way as I type this!
Hope everyone has been doing well in my absense

 

[Blue-Frog]

Ｉ　ｒｅａｌｌｙ　ｗａｎｔ　ｔｏ　ｓａｙ　ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ，preferably something profound.

but I got nothin'!

おめでとう。

 

[espyusmc]

Mctinmd,

I'm in Iwakuni and brew a lot. So do others on base. Before I got out here I emailed both the MCCS director (base exchange CEO) and base legal about brewing on base and starting a homebrew club. Both said it was ok. The base legal attorney said it appears the beer laws only apply to commercial brewing, but it wasn't his expertise so he wasn't sure, standard lawyer answer.

After doing other research online I decided to brew and not advertise or start a club to stay on the safe side.

Interestingly enough our exchange started carrying Mr Beer kits, ha. I'm back to exploring the brew club idea but in a closed forum similar to the Tokyo Home Brewers page on Facebook. FYI, I also use to live off base for 4 years and brewed in front of my house with no problems.

My two cents.

 

[Mctinmd]

Espy thanks this is what I was looking for. Yokota base legal didn't know so they just guessed and said no but if I can get legal there to get guidance from other locations that fall under same rules I think they'll change their minds. Great post.

 

[ShizuokaBrad]

Anyone get up to any brewing this long weekend? I finally got around to my first batch in about 1.5 years. My technique was pretty rusty but pretty happy with the results so far. My IPA is bubbling away now...

I hoping to get a pipeline going soon so will be brewing up some smaller batches over the next couple of weeks. It's good to be back

 

[Nomofett]

I re-brewed the second beer I ever made. A rye coconut porter with yamazaki infused vanilla beans. First time around the OG was 1.07, this time it was 1.099 so I'm happy and excited. Hopefully will be ready on Xmas
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448330473.341907.jpg

 

[ShizuokaBrad]

I brew with what I call a 'modified swamp cooler'. It's about as simple as it gets, but it works perfectly. I have a 60l plastic garbage can with a lid that I put my 6.5 gallon carboy into. I pour water around the carboy, and I have an aquarium heater to keep that water at whatever temperature I choose. I put the lid on to retain as much heat as possible, but I had to cut a hole in the lid to make room for the airlock.

I live up in Fukushima and it gets pretty cold here. I keep it in my un-insulated genkan all throughout the winter and it keeps temps within to within 1.5C of my setting. Total cost was about 3000円.

I like this setup. Any things you'd do differently if you were to do it again. Also, which aquarium heater do you use? One with an adjustable temperature control? I'm having trouble finding anything like that for under 3000Y... and even those ones are for 10L-15L aquariums... seems like they would be under-powered to keep a 23L carboy warm.

 

[ShizuokaBrad]

A rye coconut porter with yamazaki infused vanilla beans sounds interesting. Where'd you get the rye? Been looking for that and CaraRye but no luck.

 

[Nomofett]

I got my adjustable one at homes for 2500, they were on Amazon for 2000 but I was in a hurry. I don't remember what size it's built for but its 100w and it works great keeping three nine liter carboys warm

 

[Nomofett]

I just used flaked rye from a baking store, the first time I made it I just used rye flour and that was alright as well.

 

[tektonjp]

I re-brewed the second beer I ever made. A rye coconut porter with yamazaki infused vanilla beans. First time around the OG was 1.07, this time it was 1.099 so I'm happy and excited. Hopefully will be ready on Xmas
View attachment 318248

A porter with an OG of 1.099? Just slightly beyond the style...

 

[Nomofett]

Haha, yeah. Not exactly sure what it is, but the recipe I tweaked was a Porter so I'll just stick with that

 

[sabotenfighter]

Anyone get up to any brewing this long weekend? I finally got around to my first batch in about 1.5 years. My technique was pretty rusty but pretty happy with the results so far. My IPA is bubbling away now...

I hoping to get a pipeline going soon so will be brewing up some smaller batches over the next couple of weeks. It's good to be back

I had a Thanksgiving party on Saturday. About 30 guests. They managed to kill my keg of dark mild (down to about 1/4 at the start), honey kolsch (1/3 full at the start of the party, getting a little old), a full keg of black wet hopped IPA (bummed about this, only got to have a few pints myself), a 10L polypin of English IPA, and almost an entire keg of pumpkin ale. My keezer hasnt been this empty since the day after St. Patrick's Day. SO I had to get brewing after cleaning up. Made an American Pale Ale that I plan on adding 60-90g of coffee to in secondary, and am lined up to brew another dark mild tomorrow and a Russian Imperial Stout on the APA cake the first weekend of Dec.

 

[ShizuokaBrad]

Anyone had any experience ordering from www.aliexpress.com and having things shipped to Japan? I'm looking to get a new grain mill and they seem reasonable. Under $100 for stainless steel two rollers shipped.

 

[tektonjp]

Anyone had any experience ordering from www.aliexpress.com and having things shipped to Japan? I'm looking to get a new grain mill and they seem reasonable. Under $100 for stainless steel two rollers shipped.

Yep. I've ordered keg lids and other parts. SS out of China tends to be a little less finished off than what I am used to, but the stuff has been serviceable. You should be okay. Have you used Ali before?

 

[ShizuokaBrad]

I haven't used it before but I've been warned that it takes forever to ship. I'm going to go ahead and make an order now... guess I'll just have to stick with a corona mill until the new one arrives.

Getting ready to dry hop my IPA tomorrow. Good times! Looking forward to having some homebrew on hand after such a long break!

 

[Funkychef]

I got a grain mill from aliexpress it has been good and have had no problems with it yet

 

[Tachinomia]

Looks like this one

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2InPdzv2fhg[/ame]

 

[12ozrebel]

Fellow Japan brewers,
I have a Strong Belgian Ale in primary and have some really fragrant apricot blossoms starting to bud in my yard. Was thinking of dropping 2-3 ounces in secondary just for aromatic purposes. Have any of you tried or had success/failure with such an idea. Any feedback is appreciated.

Happy New Year!
12oz

 

[ShizuokaBrad]

Interesting idea. I'd be worried about infection but maybe there'd be enough alcohol...? Let us know how it goes!
Happy new year!