Peru Brew

[GratefulBrewing]

Hello,

My name is Casey Workman. I am from Portland, OR but currently live in Peru with my wife. Peru is full of opportunities. Growing up on great NW micro brews I have started building the dream of a nano-brew pub here in Arequipa, Peru. One of the small hurdles is I haven't brewed much. I did some in Oregon but I was helping mostly. So I am determined to do it here. I have watched tons of Youtube videos but most of the stuff they talk about are not available here. WE have to outlets to buy supplies. One is out of a craft brew restaurant and the other is out of a crazy guys garage. Starsan, bottle trees, racking canes, extracts, kits and most of the rest of it is not available. I couldn't even find a thermometer for 3 weeks and in the end I found an old glass one. I have been researching Smash 1 gallon brewing and think that will be a great way to learn. I have a couple of questions if the benevolent forum wouldn't mind helping.
1. It is summer here now in Lima and the temp is in the 80s. Is it even possible to brew here now?
2. Bleach has been a pain and our last batch had some strange flavors and some of the bottles were rotten. Does anyone know of a sanitizer I can make? Maybe with iodine.
3. I can only get what they call "Pilsner" malt, what they call "caramel" and a darker malt. Can I use these caramel for my base grain to keep in line with my Smash approach.
4. Is there any substitute for brewers yeast? We tried bakers yeast but haven't tried the results yet... I'm not optimistic.

Thank you for your help. If anyone knows of a brewing group in Portland I will be there from March 1st - August 1st 2014 [email protected]

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[ColoHox]

Hey there, welcome to the forum and to brewing. I loved my time in Peru, and can't wait to go back.

Anything is possible, although 80F is pretty warm. One method used by many brewers without sophisticated temperature control is a make-shift swamp cooler. Put the fermenting carboy in a large bucket full of water, pull a t-shirt or towel over the jug/carboy and into the water, so it wicks the water up the cloth. Then, adding ice packs or ice to the water keeps things pretty cool. Is that an option?

Bleach works, although you have to rinse the bejesus out of your equipment to avoid the chlorine contributing off-flavors. Make sure you are using it at the proper dilution, about 1/2 - 1 1/2 tsp per 5 gallons. You can use iodine from a drug store, but it can be pretty messy. Here and here are some threads that discuss DIY sanitizers. An oven or dishwasher could also work to sanitize things that wont melt.

You can use pilsner as your base malt for a SMaSH beer. Caramel and this darker malt will be specialty grains that you can steep to add complexity, such as roasty, sweetness, body, etc. Normally, specialty grains aren't used in a SMaSH beer, but you could make a wide range of beers using just those 3 grains in different proportions.

Can you find any wine yeast? That would be a good option if you can only find bakers yeast. Technically, you could attempt adapting the bakers yeast to higher alcohol, but that takes some resources. What about growing the yeast out of a bottle (if you could find one)? It sounds like you should purchase a few dozen packets of dry yeast when you are back in the states.

Good luck!

 

[b-boy]

I was in Peru about 10 years ago for a few weeks. My sister-in-law is Peruvian.

What's the beer culture like now? When I was there people seemed to prefer liquor. I did have some good beer, but it was mosly lagers and they reminded me of some of the Mexican beers I had in Mexico. Overall they were good, but not great.

I think I'd definitley go the dry yeast route. Can you mail order that into Peru? There's quite a variety now, and since it will probably get hung up in customs, the liquid is probably out of the question. I've seen it on EBay in case you can't get it shipped from vendors.

I brew in the 80s during the summer. The key is to use ice to cool your wort and keep your fermentation temperatures down. A swamp cooler is a good option.

You could look at brewing Belgians. They tend to like a warmer fermentation and many use pilsner as their backbone.

The one thing I couldn't stand in Peru was the Inca Cola. Everywhere I went people kept trying to get me to drink that stuff. Yeesh. Tasted like bubble gum.

 

[GratefulBrewing]

Thanks guys! Really appreciate the time and interest! the craft brew world here in Peru is exploding. There are about 5 micro breweries going right now but the demand is growing. I grew up with the NW microbrew movement and even have some family friends that were some of the pioneers in the Portland area. I think it is ready here. The beers are flat, clear, watery, and tasteless. Yes, think Mexico. I'm hoping to be part of the change. I will be up in Portland this summer to try and beg an internship working at a microbrewery in the Portland area. Thanks for the advice. Really helps.