Regards from Venezuela

[ericgj11]

Would like to start by saying you guys have a great community of beer crafters. I've been reading your forums for a while and finally decided to join since I'm a few weeks from brewing my first BIAB.
I live in a country called Venezuela located in South America and home brewing is a new thing here. Getting all my brew equipment wasn't easy since they don't sell it here but managed to buy most of my stuff through Amazon. Grain availability is limited and I can only find base grain for the moment and some variety of hops (centennial, chinook, cascade and cluster), but this won't stop me from brewing!
Hope to get some good experience to share with everybody.

 

[dicko]

Welcome to the forum mate and happy brewing.
There is a wealth of knowledge on here and lots of people that are prepared to help.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

G'day and welcome.

 

[Mardoo]

Howdy! Y'all got some pretty women down there! Welcome to the forum. BIAB has been a great entry into all grain for me. And even though you can only get base malt you can still do some great SMASH (if you don't yet know Single Malt And Single Hop) brews. I'm just getting into them myself. I'm told its the best way to learn what base malts bring to a beer, as well as each hop. What sort of hops do you have access to? Enjoy

 

[booargy]

I'm going to jump off Salto Angel in the next few years.

 

[Bribie G]

Welcome, I note that in a recent survey, Venezuela came in as one of the happiest countries in the World, although it must be a worry that the USA wants to remove your government. However you are not alone there :lol:

 

[vykuza]

Welcome! You can always make your own crystal malts at home with a bit of time and patience.

You'll need to soak some base malt, then head it in an oven for 1-2 hours wet, then dry it in the oven until it's the colour you want. It's a bit more involved than that, and this link should see you along the path.

Good luck!

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2012/01/homebrewing-make-your-own-crystal-malt-for-beer-how-to-technique.html

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Hello from the greatest side (Western) of Australia
Nev

 

[Lincoln2]

Bienvenido Amigo. Do the best you can with what you have. I'm sure you'll soon be drinking mucho muy deliciosa cerveza. Fermentar con Dios.

 

[Phoney]

Hola Eric! ¿Como estas amigo?


A work colleague of mine is over in your beautiful country right now. I will be heading over to your neighbor Colombia in December. Looking forward to check out the emerging craft beer scene in Medellin & Bogota

 

[ericgj11]

Thanks for the warm welcome! It’s nice to see that most of you know about Venezuela´s women (Mardoo yes they are very fine), attractions (booargy you´ll have the time of your life in Salto Angel) and lifestyle (Briebi G don´t trust every survey you read). Hola Phoney, todo bien, y tu? I´ve heard Colombia has some good beers but I haven’t been there. Venezuela is booming with new home brews so you should visit and taste some.

Excellent article Nick R! I plan on roasting this weekend so I can have a different grain flavor for my recipes, but I do plan on doing some SMASH recipes for my first brews. I currently have in my freezer some cascade, cluster, chinook, and centennial hop pellets (about 40 gr of each) and a couple of packages of Muntons yeast.

Although I haven’t received all my equipment to start on a big batch (10 gallon pot, siphons, brew bags, safale yeast, carboy and bottle brushes, and all the works), I decided that I´ll start with a small 5 l batch to test out a SMASH recipe. My plan is to start with the cascade hops since I have more of those. I´ll be brewing this Saturday once I´ve gotten all the measurements for grain, water, hops, yeast and priming sugar.

I´m open to any suggestions

Cheers (as you guys would say)

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Another suggestion would be - if you are having difficulty sourcing yeast (or it's expensive), look at saving and reusing yeast.

Oh, and the women are very very fine.

 

[ericgj11]

Thanks for the suggestion. I looked at a thread by chiller who gives some good instructions on how to do this. Luckily finding yeast is not a big problem, but this solution might help me cut down on expenses. I'll have to continue reading on the subject.

Another suggestion would be - if you are having difficulty sourcing yeast (or it's expensive), look at saving and reusing yeast.

Oh, and the women are very very fine.

 

[ericgj11]

Hey there. Can someone help me with this issue, I’ve been thinking about it for a while.

Venezuela is a hot and tropical country (maybe not as hot as Australia) and I don’t have air conditioning in my apartment, only ceiling fans. I´m a bit concerned about my fermentation temperature (I´ll be using Muntons and Safale S-05 Ale yeast). I´ve read that I can wet a shirt and put it over my fermentor to keep it below 25°C

Has this method worked for anybody? Are there any other alternatives?

thanks

 

[dicko]

Some here use a wet towel.

Another method is to freeze some water in plastic bottles and put your fermenter in a small cupboard with the frozen bottles and change them regularly.
A small fridge with temp control is the ideal piece of equipment.

 

[Truman42]

Even better is sit your fermentor in a tub full of water that covers at least half the side of your fermentor. Then use a towel over the top that drapes into the water so it wicks. The water having more thermal mass will take a lot longer to warm up.
And you can thriow frozen water bottles in to keep it cool.

 

[ericgj11]

Thanks for the suggestions dicko & Truman. The temperature here has been around 28°C and 29°C and I can´t get a fridge yet but I'm planning on it.

Sounds like I´ll be putting my fermentor in a tub with water and a towel over it and leaving a frozen bottle of water in the cupboard during the day.

 

[ericgj11]

Did my first brew this weekend!

What an experience, never imagined that it was going to be that nerve wrecking. I mean I did enjoy it and all, but there are so many things to do that my mind was on over drive. I guess the more I brew the easier it will become and since I wrote down everything that I did I’ll have an advantage for next brew.

Had a nice fermentation going after 12h and now the long wait.

Thanks for all the advice, hopefully I’ll be doing another one this coming weekend (Same SMASH but with different hops and a little more experience).

Saludos!

 

[ericgj11]

Hey!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update. I finally bottled my first batch this Saturday and I have to say that first times (brewing and bottling) are verystressful processes (worried about bubbles, contamination, you want to try it…). Didn’t have an auto siphon so the process was a bit more complicated, I guess, it’s only my first.

I have to say that this page has been of big help. Any time I’ve had a doubt I would type it in the search and find an answer.
Well hopefully its easy sailing from now on with my second bottling session next week. Again, thanks for all the tips.

BTW, can anyone tell me what is the percentage of specialty grain to malt grain (if there is any) that I should use in batch?
Also, if I’m using the full volume mash BIAB method, can I add my specialty grain with my base malt when mashing?

Saludos,
Eric

 

[mr_wibble]

BTW, can anyone tell me what is the percentage of specialty grain to malt grain (if there is any) that I should use in batch?
Also, if I’m using the full volume mash BIAB method, can I add my specialty grain with my base malt when mashing?

Well, the amount of speciality grain obviously depends on the recipe.

I just had a flick through the book "Brewing Classic Styles", and in there it's roughly less than 10%.