Home Brewing In Cambodia ?

[pete_andrews19]

I'm off to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for a year and i'm trying to work out whether brewing over there will be possible.

Biggest hurdles I can think of are heat during fermentation, water quality and availability of ingredients. It looks as though it's not illegal to brew in Cambodia (unlike Thailand), but the closest home brew store I can find on the internet seems to be in Singapore

I think temperature and water should be OK with a fridgemate and water filter. It's the ingredients i'm not so sure of, probably have to go back to extract rather than AG, but it may just not be possible to import or work out too expensive.

So, what do you think, should I give it up for a year or try to tap some of that home-brewer ingenuity ? Anyone else tried brewing in SE Asia who can give me some advice ?

Cheers

 

[Katherine]

You lucky bugger! My favorite country.... You working?

I would give it up for a year personally. Though I don't think it would be impossible though would probably end up expensive. Could not imagine them having to many hb shops. Though there are alot of expats in Phnom Phen...

 

[raven19]

If you are really out in the sticks bring a heap of yeast with you (sachets and the like).

Surely the rest can be sourced from local supermarket / markets.

You shall be a legend amongst the locals if you can pull it off!

I would give it a go if I was in your situation & time and resources were available.

 

[raven19]

Rather than packing your clothes in a suitcase, pack them in a 80L kettle!

Weight may be an issue though...

 

[pete_andrews19]

Thanks! My partner's landed a job with an NGO over there, so i'm heading over too. Hoping to find some work or volunteering when I get there.

The thought of no brewing for a year isn't great, i'm English and well into my ales so spending a year drinking SE Asian lagers isn't all that attractive !

 

[Katherine]

It's being over 10 year since I have being in Cambodia, I can not imagine them having malt extract.....

Make sure you eat Amok (omg so so good)...

As Raven said you would be popular, the Khmer love a drink first time I have ever seen a group of man drinking cans of beers through a straw... and that was the Police... LOL!

Look out the the Herbie Herbal wine... interesting!

 

[Katherine]

Thanks! My partner's landed a job with an NGO over there, so i'm heading over too. Hoping to find some work or volunteering when I get there.

The thought of no brewing for a year isn't great, i'm English and well into my ales so spending a year drinking SE Asian lagers isn't all that attractive !

As I said previously... it was over 10 years ago.... But check out the Banana Learning Centre, (which is near Wat Phnom (a landmark you will get to know) they were always looking for people to teach English... The pay was not great but enough for rent and food which suited me.

They brew there own beer called Angkor! Also Bayon.... Apparently the Angkor stout is good... Beer Lao is ok....

 

[Carbonator]

i'm English and well into my ales so spending a year drinking SE Asian lagers isn't all that attractive !

Find a Pie warmer for your beer when poured before drinking! :icon_cheers:

Seriously;

Be sure NOT to tell anyone what you are doing. Be sure to tell your partner not to mention a word of what you are doing to anyone.

I'm sure you will be targeted for bribe money or be imprisoned for doing something illegal if the word gets out.

Make sure you have some legal use to declare when the Customs Police in that country if they take you aside to find out what you are intending to do with the equipment you take. Make sure it's something there is no money in it for the Police when thinking of something to say, like something already being done by every other peasant locked in poverty.

Good luck with it!

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Take Yeast for sure, posting hops will not be too expensive. With the malt, check out if there is a brewery around then make some friends who work there or just offer to pay for it. You will find out a lot more when you get there. I just got back from Vietnam and met some expats who were distilling using bread yeast for fermentation. Not recommended for Ales. Off to Cambodia next, might see you there !
GB

 

[Jase71]

Ive thought about this (during one of my daydreams of winning the lotto and living in Cambodia for the rest of my life). You could get a barrel with a tap somewhere quite easily. Ice is in abundance and dirt cheap (from the ice vendors who cart the stuff from the ice factory) so you could make a ghetto chilling tub. You coiuld approach the Angkor Brewery and ask them for some fresh wort once a month, get it carted back to your place, and import the yeast & hops varieties from wherever you want. Sure, it may not be the best beer you're used to making, but at lewast you get some control over the flavour.

Ah, just checked, Angkor Brewery is in Sihanoukville - which is a bloody long way from PP. Still, someone might run you up a carload for a mega-batch one in a while. Maybe me if my numbers come up tonight!

Good luck for the next year, it sounds like an awesome opportunity.

 

[mckenry]

Slightly off topic, but the Cambodians brew excellent beer themselves and dirt cheap. Might not be worth the hassle if what others say is right. From memory there are two that sound the same and get travellers confused. Anchor & Angkor I think are the spellings. The locals dont understand our accents properly and we cant pronounce it how they do, but hey, thats half the fun of travelling. One was better than the other, but cant remember which it was. Sorry. You're there for a year - Maybe you'll get a chance to try them both h34r: :lol:
Also - I believe Coopers sends goo to Singapore. So might be easier than trying to get an extract batch from singapore?

 

[Katherine]

Slightly off topic, but the Cambodians brew excellent beer themselves and dirt cheap. Might not be worth the hassle if what others say is right. From memory there are two that sound the same and get travellers confused. Anchor & Angkor I think are the spellings. The locals dont understand our accents properly and we cant pronounce it how they do, but hey, thats half the fun of travelling. One was better than the other, but cant remember which it was. Sorry. You're there for a year - Maybe you'll get a chance to try them both h34r: :lol:
Also - I believe Coopers sends goo to Singapore. So might be easier than trying to get an extract batch from singapore?

I think its Anchor.... that is good (I was not a beer drinker 10 years ago)... the stout is meant to be really good... Just avoid the ABC stout which is sickly sweet...

Hey Jase does that mean we have something other then beer in common! lol....

 

[Jase71]

Ah yes, sitting in a bar on the PP riverside sucking down ice-cold litre-glasses of Angkor for $1.00 this time last year. Sweet as.

I dont want to acknowledge our common interests, Katie. That would mean I'd have to be nice to you LOL.

Any Cambodian lovers been to neighbouring Laos ? We're heading off there in 25 days from today! (but who's counting...) Ive heard that BeerLao is an excellent drop.

 

[Katherine]

Have not being to Lao but drank the beer....(was meant to be couldnt get across Cambodia or Vietnam border at that time) Bloody good coffee in Lao.

 

[pete_andrews19]

Thanks for all the replies! Some great ideas there.

Carbonator - i'd already thought about the bribery / corruption angle and was planning on keeping a lid on my activities I'm not quite sure what legitimate activity I could use to justify bringing a hydrometer, thermometer and fridgemate into the country though, any bright ideas let me know!

Cheers

 

[Carbonator]

I'm not quite sure what legitimate activity I could use to justify bringing a hydrometer, thermometer and fridgemate into the country though, any bright ideas let me know!

Perhaps get items posted to you individually.

I'm not sure about the home brew and alcohol laws in any other country, but best to be over-cautious if you don't know too.

Take the fridge-mate in you wives bag and thermometer in yours, claim their for air-con control and testing (Being an English National, 15C is a comfortable temp, those tropical dudes will understand). As for the hydrometer - get it posted in at a later date and claim lead-acid battery testing for your UPS-Power Gererator. I wouldn't combine them all.

 

[jonw]

Ah yes, sitting in a bar on the PP riverside sucking down ice-cold litre-glasses of Angkor for $1.00 this time last year. Sweet as.

I dont want to acknowledge our common interests, Katie. That would mean I'd have to be nice to you LOL.

Any Cambodian lovers been to neighbouring Laos ? We're heading off there in 25 days from today! (but who's counting...) Ive heard that BeerLao is an excellent drop.

I recall BeerLao's pretty good. Ah yes, sitting in a bar on the Luang Prabang riverside sucking down ice-cold litre-glasses of BeerLao for $1.00 this time last year. Sweet as. ;-)

Jon