New to the Forum, Not So New to Fermentation

[Bucky_Brewer]

Hey Guys,

Just a quick intro.

I've been lurking here a bit, but I've reached the point where I need to start asking some questions, so I went ahead and registered.

I grew up in the US, but I moved to a Third World country a few years ago to get away from the hustle and bustle.

I still work, doing various things on a contract basis, but I no longer spend my life trying to please a boss with a penchant for firing people first and asking questions later.

Now I have several bosses, but I don't have all of my eggs in one basket, and that's what works for me.

I brewed beer when I was a younger man, moved into making wine, and for the past few years I've been doing something involving fermentation that I can't discuss because it violates forum rules.

Now that I'm living in a Third World country, I don't have a brew shop on every corner, so for me to get back into brewing beer again, I am going to have to do it all the hard way: malt my own barley, grow my own hops, and culture my own yeast.

You're probably thinking: "Yeah, RIGHT!" But sometimes you just have to do what you've got to do if you want to get things done, right?

Fortunately for me, there seem to be a lot of really knowledgeable folks here on the HomeBrewTalk forum with experience doing this sort of stuff, and hopefully I can count on some of y'all for advice, looking forward.

Thanks for letting me onboard, and thanks in advance for all your help.

Bucky_Brewer

 

[kcmobrewer]

Not trying to be rude, I'm truly curious. What third world country has internet access but not some type of mail delivery?

 

[JohnSand]

Welcome Bucky! I'm sure many people are interested in seeing how you do it from scratch.
Kcmo, I think everywhere has mail, but even in South America brewers have reported having trouble finding ingredients. My guess is that tariffs and shipping make importing ingredients prohibitive.

 

[Bucky_Brewer]

Not trying to be rude, I'm truly curious. What third world country has internet access but not some type of mail delivery?

We do have mail here, but of the three orders I've placed over the internet thus far, only two ever arrived.

That's one of the realities in many Third World countries. You can order stuff, but it doesn't always get there, so you don't want to invest more in an order than you can afford to lose.

The other problem, unfortunately, is that it also takes about six weeks for things to get here by regular mail. So imagine yeast sitting in a hot mail truck for three weeks waiting to clear customs. Or a sack of specialty malt dropped in a puddle of water when it was being transferred from one truck to another.

Then, of course, there's zero accountability anywhere in the chain. Who do you complain to, right? The vender? This country's mail service? That country's mail service?

@JohnSand - Thanks for the welcome, and you're absolutely right about the tariffs and shipping. It's not such a big deal on small items, but on bulky stuff like a sack of malt, it really adds up.

 

[JohnSand]

Brew on Brother. I think I've seen threads here about brewers in Asia and Central America finding sources. You might be able to culture yeast from bottle conditioned beer, or use bread yeast if you must. Good luck and report your progress.

 

[Bucky_Brewer]

Thanks so much JohnSand. I'll do it.