moving homebrewing equipment from US to Europe

[navethechimp]

Hey all,

My wife and I are making the plunge and moving to Barcelona, her hometown. We plan to ship most of our home goods--furniture, art, kitchen things, etc--overseas in a big container. It's actually quite reasonably priced.

My question is, for any of you global citizens, who have spent time homebrewing in Europe and the US, are there any big incompatibilities that I need to be aware of? If so I may just sell it off and rebuy.

For example:
-Kegerator: I know the fittings are different if I want to put a commercial beer on tap, but that's an easy swap. But 120V to 220V? Not sure if can just get an adapter or something.
-Propane: I would imagine the standards are different and my burner might not easily hook into my propane source.
-CO2: different tank standards? Would be great if all my regulators worked.
-O2: hope I can just buy an equivalent to the little canisters I can get at Home Depot.
-Ingredients: goodbye west coast IPAs

Any other considerations that any of you guys may have experienced?

Thanks for reading! Appreciate it

 

[IslandLizard]

Good for you and your wife!

The sea container is definitely the smartest part of moving most of the stuff you want to keep.
If we wanted to make a similar move we'd do the same.

Here are some ideas for the electrical side, don't know much or anything about the rest.

Anything that's 110V and not dual voltage needs a voltage adapter. Larger equipment and appliances would need a large(r) transformer.
Occasionally I still use a 1200 watt 110V to 220V transformer to power some of my European equipment I brought along from Europe 33 years ago, so I can use a nearby regular 110V socket. Again, I rarely use any of that stuff anymore.

Now equipment that's not dual frequency and thus relies on net frequency to function properly cannot be converted so easily. 60Hz here vs. 50 Hz there. For example, I bought a 60Hz conversion set for my open reel tape deck at the time, one pulley and 2 capacitors, IIRC.

Your kegerator... can it work on 50Hz? Is it worth the cost of a net voltage transformer? Or just buy or build one there?

There must be comparison tables and checklists out there for compatibility of typical items tailored to movers such as you.

See if the larger hop suppliers (e.g., YVH) mail overseas and at what rates.

Wishing you and your wife good luck with your move!
You're brave!

 

[day_trippr]

Pretty sure anything related to compressed or liquified gas is going to be Spain-specific.
Their standards are totally different from US/Canada...

https://www.tedpella.com/company_html/Compressed_Gas_Cylinder_Outlet_Connections.htm#1

Cheers!

 

[brumer0]

When I moved overseas I wasn't allowed to bring any compressed canisters, even if they're empty. Ditch the 110v-only electrical stuff, unless you have a lot of money invested in the device, and will not keep it turned on that much. So, goodbye kegerator, unless it's dual voltage. You can definitely pick up some step-up transformers, but IMO use those sparingly. If anything's dual voltage, you can find plug adaptors very easily.

Living overseas is awesome. I was an expat for 5 years or so, but it was never a permanent lifestyle for me. Wasn't a home brewer at the time, but got immediately into it after moving from Europe because I missed good beer so much. I was never impressed with Spanish beer, so you'll love your own homemade beer

 

[homebrewer_99]

Yeah, we couldn't ship any canisters too. Even brand new ones.

Be sure to check on-line for any Spanish homebrew supply stores.

I'm also a member of https://hobbybrauer.de/forum/ a German HB forum. There are lots of links to HB sales, etc.

I haven't been there in a while, but I remember them having a page translator if you don't know German.