Home brewing in Japan

[tektonjp]

Ok. Thanks.

I've think I've read something about Cornelius kegs being a thing of the past...
are they still being used here for soda machines?

I think that Coca Cola is still using them. I recall seeing some hooked up several years ago. Also, they used to be the kegs used in chuu-hai servers. If you know a liquor store or a distributor, they might have some around. But they won't have a pressure relief on the lid. You can work around that or buy new lids from China.

 

[sabotenfighter]

Ball lock kegs are the newer style and thus will be supported longer. I personally like ball lock too because they are more secure. Pin lock style twist on to lock so if you twist back, they can come off. Also, ball lock use a standard socket too remove the stem and also have a pressure relief valve on the lid as where pin lock style need a special tool and most don't have a relief valve built in.

I'm not sure here in Japan but 9 liter kegs are probably the smallest you can find stateside.

Not really true. Coke was the user of pin locks and Pepsi and others used ball locks. Pin locks are cheap cheap cheap, but are shorter and fatter than ball locks. Also, all of the Japanese market ball locks are converted pin lock kegs (read: stubby). If you can get your hands on some pin locks for cheap, there is no reason not to use them. But being as youre looking for smaller ones. They tend to be only ball lock (unless you can find some used Calpis/Coke kegs, 10L pin lock here). If you find some after you already have a ball lock setup, they can be easily converted with universal ball lock posts and a relief valve lid from Ali-Express.
If you want to use local fittings, go for Asahi/Sapporo kegs as they use the more common Sanke connector. Kirin uses some propritary sanke. Smallest of those you can find is 5L. 9L, 12L and 15L are also available and often cheap cheap on Yahoo Auction (though could contain expired beer)

 

[Nomofett]

I'm thinking of making a Sakura beer, you see any issues that might arise using this? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004047V6S/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Blue-Frog]

Well, yes, unfortunately.

I love sakura-mochi and the sakura leaves used to make them... it looks like that is what is meant by "pickled sakura leaves" however I am not certain of this. I‘ve had a pickled blossom tea and it wasn't what I am thinking of now.

Which is... the fact that the wonderful smelling aromatic in them (coumarin/クマリ&#12531 is a health concern... (carcinogenic) especially in fermentation... (bleeding) I forgot the details but if there is anything to it a search should turn up something. In any case, it has citric acid in it too... if you are watching your pH.

The companies free dial is 0120821561.

In general, Japanese companies seem to think the Japanese only eat a little of this stuff, and so are not worried. I don't know what to tell you. I love sakura-mochi which is harmful, but I have not really looked into this tea.

If you do decide to use it, I would suggest not fermenting it.
Just add it at the end.

I could try to find my notes on it if you want to follow up on this.

 

[Nomofett]

Thanks, that's a good amount of info.
Yeah, I would add it at the end after fermentation. I'd make a tea and just put the tea in (like with a coffee beer)

Thanks for the info, you gave me enough to look deeper into it. It's just been a dream since I started to try to make a Sakura beer. Half of me thinks it's not possible or probable because I haven't seen one but the other half of me thinks I may not have seen one just cause it's not so big yet to do tea or flowers in beers. I've had great tea beers before but they seem to be pretty rare.

 

[Blue-Frog]

I've had great tea beers before but they seem to be pretty rare.

Tell me more, Anything one can find here?
What are they like?

I'm pretty sleepy just now (5 am!) but I have some fuzzy image of such things, perhaps even a sakura beer. Maybe it was just a name, a design or a daydreammm...

 

[Nomofett]

The only ones I had here were by Gilgamesh. Mamba (black tea) and DJ Jazzy Hefe (Jasmine)
I missed out on the Stone green tea IPA. And I know they've done a Jasmine one but I've never seen it.

The DJ Jazzy Hefe was just decent but the Mamba was good. I liked the Mamba, my friends loved it. You can get it here.. http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/sake-taniguchi/

 

[tektonjp]

Thanks, that's a good amount of info.
Yeah, I would add it at the end after fermentation. I'd make a tea and just put the tea in (like with a coffee beer)

Thanks for the info, you gave me enough to look deeper into it. It's just been a dream since I started to try to make a Sakura beer. Half of me thinks it's not possible or probable because I haven't seen one but the other half of me thinks I may not have seen one just cause it's not so big yet to do tea or flowers in beers. I've had great tea beers before but they seem to be pretty rare.

What if you used sakura wood chips? The wood is fairly aromatic. I always thought a light pils base would match well with sakura chips, but haven't tried it yet.

 

[Nomofett]

Yeah, I've thought about that as well but I wouldn't know how to sanitize it. With oak I soak it in whisky but I'm not sure about Sakura wood and vodka so I kinda gave up on the idea, then I read a recipe for Stone's Jasmine IPA and thought I could just replace the jasmine with sakura and see what happened https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=67344

 

[tektonjp]

-

 

[gorobrew]

Just curious…does anyone have any good alternatives to Starsan? Just ordered some from Homebrewing service, but damn, it is costly…should be good for 6-12 months but, there must be a better way, no?? Hope this wasn't covered before, but thanks in advance!

Cheers!

 

[Nomofett]

1 oz bleach 1 oz vinegar for every 1 gallon of water. Put one in, fill in most of the water, put the other one in. It works great as a no rinse sanitizer. Do NOT put them in the water at the same time, wait until one is diluted in the water.

 

[tektonjp]

Just curious…does anyone have any good alternatives to Starsan? Just ordered some from Homebrewing service, but damn, it is costly…should be good for 6-12 months but, there must be a better way, no?? Hope this wasn't covered before, but thanks in advance!

Cheers!

That's at the top of my list from Morebeer!

And... if you use it in spray form, it will last forever. Go to the homestore, get a 3ml plastic eyedropper (supoito in japanese). 3ml per 2 liters of waters. Then go to the 100 yen store, get a sprayer head which fits 500 ml pet bottles. Spray away. I never soak things. Everything gets sprayed. Any bottled water works. Of course, distilled water is better, but hard to find. 2 liters of regular water will get used up before the ph changes.

 

[Blue-Frog]

Anyone know how long it takes for hanami request email to be answered?
Is there a deadline?

 

[gorobrew]

1 oz bleach 1 oz vinegar for every 1 gallon of water. Put one in, fill in most of the water, put the other one in. It works great as a no rinse sanitizer. Do NOT put them in the water at the same time, wait until one is diluted in the water.

Great advice…will be using that method once the the Starsan is done. I'm guessing just white vinegar, yeah? What about the bleach? Just your standard, liquid kitchen bleach I'm guessing…


Thanks!

 

[gorobrew]

That's at the top of my list from Morebeer!

And... if you use it in spray form, it will last forever. Go to the homestore, get a 3ml plastic eyedropper (supoito in japanese). 3ml per 2 liters of waters. Then go to the 100 yen store, get a sprayer head which fits 500 ml pet bottles. Spray away. I never soak things. Everything gets sprayed. Any bottled water works. Of course, distilled water is better, but hard to find. 2 liters of regular water will get used up before the ph changes.

That is what I'll do…yeah, don't know if I've ever seen distilled water here, or if I have, didn't recognize it as such…

 

[Touge180SX]

That's the one beauty about living on the military base, commissary had plenty of distilled water.

 

[tektonjp]

That is what I'll do…yeah, don't know if I've ever seen distilled water here, or if I have, didn't recognize it as such…

Man, I keep giving up all my secrets to you guys! haha.

http://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/beisia/1700.html

 

[Blue-Frog]

humm curious,
is it really distilled water or is it drinking water;
people often say distilled water is not as tasty as water with a mineral content... what are the specs on this water? I didn't see any, did I miss it in my haste?

If it really is just distiled water then itis a very good price;
I usually use seisei-sui from the drug stores & that works well enough for some silver halide emulsions....

 

[Nomofett]

They have distilled water at my low drugstore. I used this thread as reference http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+122597

And yeah I just use white vinegar. The interview I heard he (the guy that invented starsan) said to get the cheapest bleach possible, nicer bleach usually has other stuff in it. So I just get mine at the daiso. Huge jug of vinegar at Costco for 500¥ and 100¥ bleach will last you forever.

 

[Nomofett]

Or I don't know the diff. between distilled and RO water, but RO is easy to find at supermarkets

 

[tektonjp]

humm curious,
is it really distilled water or is it drinking water;
people often say distilled water is not as tasty as water with a mineral content... what are the specs on this water? I didn't see any, did I miss it in my haste?

If it really is just distiled water then itis a very good price;
I usually use seisei-sui from the drug stores & that works well enough for some silver halide emulsions....

Well, going by the title　”蒸留水”, I'm assuming it is indeed distilled water.
As for taste, I'm not planning on drinking it. Just to keep my starsan happy and healthy!

And, distilled vs R/O water: different process, nearly identical finish.

 

[Nomofett]

The distilled in about the same as small bottled waters cost. RO is quite a bit cheaper they have them at lots of Daie (I'm sure I'm spelling it wrong "die-a")

 

[Blue-Frog]

Never seen them at a Dai-e 100￥ store.

 

[Blue-Frog]

Do any of our group here, do any water manipulation? What sort of tests/logic/guidelines do you follow? What tools, water reports etc. do you look at?

 

[lordpx]

As a new Dad, I've been using the same product that we use to sanitize the baby's bottles. There's a few different brands out there... Milton probably being the big brand, but there are lower cost alternatives. They're all a no-rinse sanitizer. They all seem to say that you should leave stuff in for an hour, but I'd expect that you could get away with less.

 

[sabotenfighter]

Just curious…does anyone have any good alternatives to Starsan? Just ordered some from Homebrewing service, but damn, it is costly…should be good for 6-12 months but, there must be a better way, no?? Hope this wasn't covered before, but thanks in advance!

Cheers!

I just keep a 20L jug of starsan solution around until it starts to get opaque. Usually lasts 9 months or so of frequent use. Stuff is perfectly fine to use over and over, so a large bottle lasts me years.

Do any of our group here, do any water manipulation? What sort of tests/logic/guidelines do you follow? What tools, water reports etc. do you look at?

I found a water report for my neighborhood online and then plugged the valid information into bru'n water. Mostly I just add a tiny bit of chalk and decent measure of gypsum for hoppy or English brews. Food grade acids are readily available on Amazon and some other places. Actually on the FB group, a few months ago, someone posted a good shop here with loads of food grade chemicals and stuff.

 

[Nomofett]

Same, for hoppy beers a little gypsum and Epsom. Lately I tried citric acid to get the ph down and that worked great, but you only need a tiny tiny bit. I bought a ph meter off amazon to help me judge. I've heard lactic is better but it's kinda spendy from what I've seen.

 

[Nomofett]

Never seen them at a Dai-e 100￥ store.

Daiei is a supermarket, Daiso is the 100¥ store (I always get them mixed up)
It's usually in a big machine near the doors that looks like an ice machine

 

[Blue-Frog]

... FB group, a few months ago, someone posted a good shop here with loads of food grade chemicals and stuff

Can FB be searched? I am not FB savvy... any tips on how to pull it up?

I found a water report for my neighborhood online and then plugged the valid information into bru'n water

How complete was the info, I think mine only includes total hardness (?)

I bought a ph meter off amazon to help me judge.

I have a benchtop model, but haven't gotten it set up again yet. (ugh!)
Looking into getting a handheld one I saw a very cheap (1600￥&#65374aquarium type (etc.) digital pH meter - Anyone ever use or even trust these? They read to 0.1 pH units... is this tecnology at work or more voodoo science?