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surume said:
On another note, I will be moving to Higashi Kanagawa station at the end of this month and the place I will be living in is really small. I suppose I can still find place for fermenting and stuff, but there is only room for 1 pot on the cooking stove, and I was wondering if it was possible to brew in such a small kitchen.

I am wondering if it is possible to brew in such an environment, and if anyone has similar experiences, would like to hear them. I may have to consider leaving my brewing equipment at my parent's house, although I don't want to (for obvious reasons :p
Click to expand...

Have you tried BIAB? 1 pot on the stove is all you need! And if your sink is too small to wash the pot, you can always use your bathroom. If you have room for your fermenters, I don't think you'll have a problem.

tektonjp said:
Yokohama doesn't grind their own? Surprised.
Click to expand...

That's real surprising.
 
I've been wanting to try BIAB but I can't find the right kind of net to use as a bag... any suggestions? I tried Sarashi cloth but it clogged up very fast, preventing water from seeping through.
 
surume said:
I've been wanting to try BIAB but I can't find the right kind of net to use as a bag... any suggestions? I tried Sarashi cloth but it clogged up very fast, preventing water from seeping through.
Click to expand...

100 yen shop. Mesh laundry bag. Works great.
 
I was worried about them being polyester, and was searching for nylon laundry mesh bags. I just looked up the melting point and I suppose polyester is fine also :D
 
tektonjp said:
OB, where did you get the rennin? Just use regular milk?

I got that on Amazon.jp but the price for 3gm was 1100 yen plus shipping, kind of pricey. Regular milk will likely be ultra high temp pasteurized, luckily it seems almost all the Japanese milk cartons list the temperature they use. Anything under 77 C should not denature the proteins.

I met up with Surume and got my half of the malt bag from Asahi. I will try some of that English Ale malt he had in my next brew, it does look quite fine! I will use lingerie bags from the 100 yen shop for BIAB, they have a finer mesh.

I talk about beer with my coffee boss, and he now has bought a bench bottle capper and beer bottles to bottle his ice-coffee haha! Crossover between work and hobby! :rockin:
Click to expand...
 
Gday fellow japanese amatuer brewers.

I have only just joined this forum and after a week of browsing i decided to search for any info on japan

LOW and BEHOLD!!!:ban::tank:

there are other highly motivated brewers in japan

this is great news

I have probably met a few of you briefly at the Advanced brewing meetings I have only been to 2 meetings as i work in australia and live in japan

I also went to the winter bash which was awesome

I will be back in japan after the 1st of april for 5 weeks

I have been building a single tier 3 vessel system for a while and using it as a gravity system until i can get my pumps set up

the information you have all contributed is awesome so far

I did find an interesting article on modifying a co2 regulator imported from
the US to match the japanese bottle

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/japan-standard-tank-us-standard-regulator-338713/index2.html

this is an easy fix if you cant find a reg in japan

I have built one of the stc-1000 temp controllers so if anyone has any issues with these let me know and i will be sure to help

I also built a stir plate and got most of the gear from tokyu hands
they do sell potentiometers in the model electrics section it cost a coupla bux

It would be great to meet some new people who are interested in brewing and learn some new tricks maybe do some brew days together

I dont really have the space issues at my house that a lot of Japanese brewers must have but i still try to keep my system pretty compact

I have not been able to find the link to the asahi malt supplier
if someone could share that with me that would be great

I have been getting my malts from AB and sakeland but the price for the asahi malt looks to be very good and i will just keep getting my specialty malts from AB or sakeland

the link to labware is awesome so i will be going to Kanda for a look asap

do they have 5 ltr erlynmyers?

maybe this would be a good time to line up and get together for a beer

fellas i also have a malt mill if you need some of your grain to be milled
i live in kanagawa area odakyu line

to be honest the malt mill was one of my first purchases as i cant just brew spontaneously with my job there is a fair bit of planning with my roster

I can really only brew in the first or second week so the brew is ready to bottle in the last week before i have to commute to work

another reason why i am going to kegs in the near future

great thread guys and one i believe is long over due
 
Welcome to the group! Wow we are at 19 members now!

I just brewed an EPA with the ale malt from Asahi, and like Surume said it is tough to work with, a good proportion of it is crushed into flour and the husks are broken pretty small as well. I had trouble draining the mash tun when batch sparging and it took at least 30 minutes longer than anticipated. I use a braided stainless hose but may switch that for a copper manifold after this experience.

That being said, I got better efficiency than my previous 4 batches.. and overshot my abv target for style by a few points haha, I may actually water my beer down a bit if the flavor is full bodied enough to handle it when it is done in secondary.

I finally got a motor on my corona mill and it was a dream to do the rest of the grains for this beer. All I did was get a super cheap drill (21V driver + 92 bits for less than 4000 yen on rakuten), thread a bolt into where the handle normally attaches, and attach the drill to the bolt.

I got to test out the larger unwoven PE sink strainer bags for my hops additions. They were large enough to comfortably fit 30gm additions and have plenty of "free-swimming" within the bags. I tied the bags shut with the excess of the bag, but if I used kitchen twine they would have had a ton more space. I let them float around and they didn't melt when contacting the sides or bottom of the pot either. Now here is the thing; I had a decent bit of break material and I am not sure if there was any hop material that made it through the bags or if it was all from the super fine malt.

Cheers!

DSCF7017.jpg


DSCF7018.jpg
 
Ha! I used the same bags last weekend. They seemed to work well. I have a tied up hook attached to a pulley left over from my biab setup. I tied the bags to that and let them dangle into the pot.
 
Bought a 20kg bag of uncrushed English Ale malt and a 20kg bag of uncrushed Pilsener/German 2 row from Asahi Malts which I've done a few brews with so far. Crushing the grains in a Corona mill, doing BIAB, and have been getting great efficiency with them:rockin:

Seem to getting around 85% from the English Pale malt and beercalculus is telling me I'm getting 96 to 98% from the Pilsener malt that I've used in a couple of partial mashes :drunk::drunk: I'm thinking that the figure on the Pilsener is partly due to the 90 minute boils I've been doing and partly down to mashing for 90 minutes, too.

By the way, whilst I'm at it, just wondering if anyone here has used the Pilsener malt, without doing vigorous 90 minute boils, and experienced any DMS issues.

Anyway, very pleased with these malts, and ecstatic about the price compared to what I had been paying previously, so just wanted to express my appreciation and thanks to you guys (especially Scott:mug:) for the resource you've managed to put together here for HBers in Japan.:rockin::tank:
 
@Drifting
I did find an interesting article on modifying a co2 regulator imported from
the US to match the japanese bottle

-It's easy enough to use the J regulator. The quick connect lines are great. Get one with a dial and using the "bar" instead of psi is easy too.

I have not been able to find the link to the asahi malt supplier
if someone could share that with me that would be great

-http://www.asahibeermalt.co.jp/product/malt-hop/ See also the posts in this forum from about #50 onwards re: asahi.

do they have 5 ltr erlynmyers?

-Watch yahoo acution. You can sometimes find 5l ones for 1500 yen!

Brew on!
 
Hey Tekton

could you please explain this j type regulator in a bit more detail

I have to agree with the over all savings with this malt in bulk , it is a lot more reasonable cost wise, i will be ordering my base from asahi in future thanks so much for the links.

can you order it in english over the phone ?

this is a great resource for the Japanese gaijin amateur brewers

would be good to meet you all at some stage and have a brew day
 
tektonjp said:
@Drifting
I did find an interesting article on modifying a co2 regulator imported from
the US to match the japanese bottle

-It's easy enough to use the J regulator. The quick connect lines are great. Get one with a dial and using the "bar" instead of psi is easy too.

I have not been able to find the link to the asahi malt supplier
if someone could share that with me that would be great

-http://www.asahibeermalt.co.jp/product/malt-hop/ See also the posts in this forum from about #50 onwards re: asahi.

do they have 5 ltr erlynmyers?

-Watch yahoo acution. You can sometimes find 5l ones for 1500 yen!

Brew on!
Click to expand...
What kind of kegs does everyone recommend here? I want to get to kegging as soon as I can.
I am currently looking for a 5L or 10L kegs. Under what catagory on Yahoo auctions do you normally look? Would love to get a few on the cheap.
 
Drifting79 said:
Hey Tekton

could you please explain this j type regulator in a bit more detail

I have to agree with the over all savings with this malt in bulk , it is a lot more reasonable cost wise, i will be ordering my base from asahi in future thanks so much for the links.

can you order it in english over the phone ?

this is a great resource for the Japanese gaijin amateur brewers

would be good to meet you all at some stage and have a brew day
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to plug my tutorial, but there is a pic and a brief description of one there.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/entries/japanese-beer-server-dispenser.html
 
Ogri said:
I reckon you'd be well justified in plugging it a bit more:rockin:

Read through it the other day and it definitely got me thinking, for the first time, about the possibilities of kegging and getting a server for home.

Great job, mate.:mug:
Click to expand...

Yeah, me too. I just read it and now I want to get to kegging.
 
Drifting79 said:
Hey Tekton

could you please explain this j type regulator in a bit more detail

I have to agree with the over all savings with this malt in bulk , it is a lot more reasonable cost wise, i will be ordering my base from asahi in future thanks so much for the links.

can you order it in english over the phone ?

this is a great resource for the Japanese gaijin amateur brewers

would be good to meet you all at some stage and have a brew day
Click to expand...

I'll try to get you a pic later on the regulator. I'm away for a few days.

Orders with Asahi are done by fax. You send in an order form, they send back an estimate. You furikomi the funds, they ship. If you need an order form let me know.
 
I saw several people with those valves embedded in caps for PET bottles at the off-kai last night. I think that is a great intermediate step to full kegging. You can force carb a beer for testing with a CO2 tank easily. I used one of those caps back in Canada and carbed everything from beer to soy milk and curry because why the hell not? I don't know if I have the space for a keg and server yet but I do think I can fit a CO2 tank in the closet now I have an excuse. CO2 is great for purging the O2 from fermenters if you need another excuse.
Cheers!
B
 
image-431307956.jpg

Is this 10L keg from the liquor store refillable? I want to get a smaller keg for my beer but have never legged yet.

image-3155429080.jpg

What about this keg? Also how hard is it to use these if they are refillable for homebrew? Do I need special tools? Thanks for any help.
 
mpearce said:
Is this 10L keg from the liquor store refillable? I want to get a smaller keg for my beer but have never legged yet.

What about this keg? Also how hard is it to use these if they are refillable for homebrew? Do I need special tools? Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

Asahi and Suntory use the same system. Kirin is SOL.
 
Thought I would post a reply after seeing the title for brewing in Japan. Does anyone have a AG clone for Baird angry boy brown ale? My sushi joint here in ohio has it and its the only place I've seen it.
 
Jug, no help from our Kinki group. Sorry.
Mpearce, I use those kegs. You can get a valve remover from this guy:http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~wyi/beer.html Not cheap, though. As he doesn't guarantee you can open any sanke style keg, but no refunds! You can make your own, as I did, if you can solder. I found I could remove the spear from the larger kegs (sapporo), but not the 10s (asahi). But I use them both anyway. Using a keg tap, I rinse, wash with oxyclean, rinse, and starsan( using co2 to move the liquid out each time. I have had no problems. Cornies are hard to get here, and kegs are easy to borrow.
 
juggabrew said:
Thought I would post a reply after seeing the title for brewing in Japan. Does anyone have a AG clone for Baird angry boy brown ale? My sushi joint here in ohio has it and its the only place I've seen it.
Click to expand...

I don't have a recipe either, but I think you will have some luck straight up asking the fellows at Baird brewing. At least one that I know of started out as a homebrewer and they are supportive (they held a HB appreciation party at one of their taprooms in Feb with a small batch of a Homebrewers' recipe). Here is their brewery blog: http://bairdbeer.com/en/blog_numazu/ and contact page: http://bairdbeer.com/en/contact

mpearce - I have opened 3 types of keg valves - sanke, G, and A systems - all without the proper tools. Sanke is pretty straight forward and there are good youtube tutorials. The other 2 valve types I did in a way that also bent the secondary safety catch that is your backup to prevent the spear from launching out like a rocket. The kegs were still functional and refillable afterwards but lacked that extra safety feature. For safety I am not going to describe it here and can't recommend doing it without the proper tool. The spear can kill someone even if the pressure isn't all that high. My wife's uncle got a face full of stale beer while releasing the pressure because I couldn't explain to him in Japanese fast enough to correct him 2 years ago. :eek:
 
Thanks for all the input. Will do some more research on it. Hope to have something working by June.
 
If I got a Corny keg from the US. One of my buddies in the military has one. Would I be able to use a tap system from here in Japan? Or is there some size difference like metric to imperial?
 
The tool mentioned previously pretty much requires you to release all the pressure before continuing. Remember to tilt the keg away from you. On the same page you can see a homemade tool for removing the safety latch inside. With being forced to remove the pressure from the beginning, the safety latch isn't much if an issue if removed... Just make sure to put it back on when you return the keg.
 
mpearce said:
If I got a Corny keg from the US. One of my buddies in the military has one. Would I be able to use a tap system from here in Japan? Or is there some size difference like metric to imperial?
Click to expand...

I don't use them yet, personally, but if you have barbed connectors, they can be forced into Japanese tubing and the Japanese tubing will then attach fine to Japan parts.
 
OppamaBrendan said:
I don't have a recipe either, but I think you will have some luck straight up asking the fellows at Baird brewing. At least one that I know of started out as a homebrewer and they are supportive (they held a HB appreciation party at one of their taprooms in Feb with a small batch of a Homebrewers' recipe). Here is their brewery blog: http://bairdbeer.com/en/blog_numazu/ and contact page: http://bairdbeer.com/en/contact

mpearce - I have opened 3 types of keg valves - sanke, G, and A systems - all without the proper tools. Sanke is pretty straight forward and there are good youtube tutorials. The other 2 valve types I did in a way that also bent the secondary safety catch that is your backup to prevent the spear from launching out like a rocket. The kegs were still functional and refillable afterwards but lacked that extra safety feature. For safety I am not going to describe it here and can't recommend doing it without the proper tool. The spear can kill someone even if the pressure isn't all that high. My wife's uncle got a face full of stale beer while releasing the pressure because I couldn't explain to him in Japanese fast enough to correct him 2 years ago. :eek:
Click to expand...

Ok thanks
 
juggabrew said:
Ok thanks
Click to expand...

Help is on the way on the recipe. I posted on the Baird site a few days ago.

"We’re not really into providing precise recipes, but I can give you some hints and clues and point you in the right direction — with good homebrewing skills, you guys should be able to get close. Give me a few days."

So let's wait and see.
 
tektonjp said:
Help is on the way on the recipe. I posted on the Baird site a few days ago.

"We’re not really into providing precise recipes, but I can give you some hints and clues and point you in the right direction — with good homebrewing skills, you guys should be able to get close. Give me a few days."

So let's wait and see.
Click to expand...

Sweet!
 
tektonjp said:
Help is on the way on the recipe. I posted on the Baird site a few days ago.

"We’re not really into providing precise recipes, but I can give you some hints and clues and point you in the right direction — with good homebrewing skills, you guys should be able to get close. Give me a few days."

So let's wait and see.
Click to expand...

He'll yeah nice work! Can't wait
 
Got it!!!! Right off the blog:

"Okay, here’s some info on Angry Boy that should get you close.

For malt, we use a blend of barley and wheat with some sugar: Crisp Maris Otter (74%), Crisp Wheat (5%), Weyermann Munich II (5%), Crisp Caramel 150-170/80L (4%), Weyermann CaraAroma (1%), Weyermann Chocolate Wheat (1%), brown sugar (10%).

For hops, bitter with something fairly clean, like Warrior or Magnum. Go for ~22 IBUs for the bittering addition. Then go with Summit and Nelson Sauvin in the middle, Cascade and Glacier near the end, and a blend of Nelson Sauvin, Cascade and Glacier at the end of the boil. Dry hop with those last three as well. (We’ve used different hops with equal success: Simcoe, Columbus, Citra, even Chinook would probably be fine.)

Shoot for a starting gravity of 1.060-1065, 45 IBUs total, and a color of around 20 SRM. Our yeast ferments down to around 1.012 — you want this beer to be pretty dry."

Big Big thanks to Chris the head brewer at Baird's.!
 
tektonjp said:
Got it!!!! Right off the blog:

"Okay, here’s some info on Angry Boy that should get you close.

For malt, we use a blend of barley and wheat with some sugar: Crisp Maris Otter (74%), Crisp Wheat (5%), Weyermann Munich II (5%), Crisp Caramel 150-170/80L (4%), Weyermann CaraAroma (1%), Weyermann Chocolate Wheat (1%), brown sugar (10%).

For hops, bitter with something fairly clean, like Warrior or Magnum. Go for ~22 IBUs for the bittering addition. Then go with Summit and Nelson Sauvin in the middle, Cascade and Glacier near the end, and a blend of Nelson Sauvin, Cascade and Glacier at the end of the boil. Dry hop with those last three as well. (We’ve used different hops with equal success: Simcoe, Columbus, Citra, even Chinook would probably be fine.)

Shoot for a starting gravity of 1.060-1065, 45 IBUs total, and a color of around 20 SRM. Our yeast ferments down to around 1.012 — you want this beer to be pretty dry."

Big Big thanks to Chris the head brewer at Baird's.!
Click to expand...

Holy crap that's good. I have no patience so I also emailed them. I got a response yesterday but its confusing to me as a beginner.

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the note and interest in Angry Boy. A few recipe/brewing tips below:

*English floor-malted Maris Otter is our go to base malt – bready, biscuity, flavorful. I am a fan of European malt
*We substitute about 10% of the grist with brown sugar (kokuto) to lighten the body while bumping up alcohol slightly
*Starting gravity in the 15.5 Plato range and aim to finish around 3 Plato (80-plus percent apparent attenuation) – mash low (65 C) and long (60-90 minutes)
*Hops: currently we use Warrior, Chinook, Simcoe, Nelson Sauvin and Glacier (all whole flower and dry-hop with a combination the last four)
*Yeast: clean and neutral strong fermenter (our house yeast is a Scottish ale yeast)

Happy brewing!

Bryan Baird (from Ohio too – Oxford)


Baird Brewing Company
Numazu, Japan
www.bairdbeer.com
 
Hey everyone,

This is my first post on here so Id like to say thanks for all the valuable info on various things brewing in Japan. If anyone wants someone to go in on one of those huge 20/25kg bags from Asahi malt or Ohnishi, Id be happy to oblige. I do need a precrushed one thought as I dont have a mill.

I think someone said on here that the crush is a little to fine, but thats ok with me because Im going to try BIAB to start with anyway.

Also I had another question; has anyone had any experience with using the hoppy bottles? I recently procured some for free from a family member, but when I got home, I compared them to some of my other bottles and they seem slightly thinner. I was going to use just one of them for my first batch so if they do have some structural weaknesses, I only lose one, not a whole batch...
 

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