Hello everyone,
Having had a few drunken discussions with irish goat i decided to give this brewing stuff a go, kits to start, the rest hopefully to follow.
I live in rural spain, in the cava region west of Barcelona, so getting equipment/ingredients close by is impossible and delivery can be very expensive. We do have grapes growing that are just about ready so going to give wine a go too.
Anyway, first batch i went for coopers irish stout and a mixture of maltodextrin, dextrose and 1kg dark DME. My only real issue so far is keeping the temperature low, 26oC was the coldest place in the house/garage, this did drop to 22 but has since crept up again to 25. Dont think ill brew in august again but i was a bit to keen to get going. Bottling tonight, tastes ok so far and actually fired a pint into a beef stew yesterday that turned out very tasty so heres hoping.
Have to say the forum has been great for all kinds of advice so fair play to everyone who makes so many positive contributions.
Hey Facimus, welcome to the herd!
Those temps need to come down.
You could consider a swamp cooler to keep your brew temp down.
Try this...
Wrap sides and base of fermenter in a towel.
Secure with a bungee cord.
Sit in a basin of water - The towel will serve as a wick.
Point fan at Fermenter.
You may need to rethink this a bit but you get the idea.
Alternatively - Make a Fridge from Styrofoam.
Tape seams with Duct tape.
Leave space for a few frozen 2l Bottles of water.
Replace bottles daily.
Hello and welcome Facimus, have you tried these guys for ingredients and kit? http://cervezartesana.es/tienda/
You might consider a secondhand fridge with an stc 1000 and tube heater for temperature control, (lots of info on setting one up on the forum) . I've noticed that the second hand fridges sell for a lot higher in Spain than they do here. Wallapop or Milanúnicos might be worth a look