I'm going to make this short and sweet. A buddy of mine and I both would love to start a micro or brewpub. I currently live in Colombia, South America in a huge tourist town and I would love to do a brewpub there. I actually think the time to strike was about 6 months ago as there is a microbrewery/gastropub in the capital that this year expanded to distributing where I live and the day before I came home from the holidays I saw they are building a bar location where I live. However this is ok, as it provides a growth of the market.
Here's the thing, I used to homebrew but never really learned the science behind it. I had just graduated to experimenting in all grain when I left for Colombia three years ago. My buddy dabbled in it too. At the end of the day we love beer and the idea of working for ourselves and having this but the truth is we don't know jack about really doing it. I mean I remember I probably did some things when I was in college that would make a legit brewer sick, jerry rigged stuff, screwing up recipes. heck I never even improvised a true lauter turn, just put everything into a cotton brew bag. I remember calling a friend over when I opened a busch light keg because I figured if I lost some fingers I needed someone there. put three batches of cherry stout in that thing and carbonated it in the kegerator, thats up there with national merit finalist in my list of life accomplishments at 25. I remember one time I left an october fest in primary far too long and saw things crawling on the top. then let it sit in secondary refigerated ferment for far too much longer..... finally boddeled it in december...one of the best and most complemented beers I ever brewed. Hey the beer was always good (well except for my like 2nd extract honey spruce lager, just not a good mix there). but man that cherry stout, I made friends with that thing.
haha ok, sorry for the reminiscing. the point is I realize full well that I have no idea really behind brewing science and really doing things the right way. but I want to really learn. I have charlie pappazan's (sp probably) book which is how I learned and where I took most of my recipes back when I was brewing. I have Radical Brewing, and today I bought the Homebrewer's Bible. I know these are at the end of the day only going to provide a very introductory lesson on brewing chemistry but its a start. I also recently stumbled upon some companies that I can order ingredients from in Colombia (limited choices, but hey back to the old improvisation). I plan to pick up a couple things that I think will be hard to find to take back with me and at least get back into home brewing. the caribbean heat will be a new challenge.
What else would you recommend? Tonight I've been kicking around the idea of looking into taking some biology/chemistry courses when I get back. Not sure if the cost, Spanish, and quality will be inhibitive. This is probably a couple years away as we have next to no money and no brewing education, however some things are happening that might make the money thing a little less inhibitive within the next couple years.. Coming home and taking brewing courses and/or begging a brewery to let me wash kegs for a little hands on experience seem like reasonable options in the near future as well. My idea right now is to have a brewpub/Irish pub although not necessarily specializing in only Irish beer as there is no Irish pub in this huge tourist city where I live. I think there's a market there to be exploited and a craft brew awakening coming in Colombia, but I need to learn the process (and the business) to exploit it.
Any and all suggestions, books, etc. if its free, cheap or can be pirated the better....haha but en serio I want to learn and at least say I am an expert on brewing and evaluate doing this as a life. Living in Colombia on the Caribbean is great but I've accepted I am not a life long teacher there or anywhere. Cheers and Happy New Year to all.
Here's the thing, I used to homebrew but never really learned the science behind it. I had just graduated to experimenting in all grain when I left for Colombia three years ago. My buddy dabbled in it too. At the end of the day we love beer and the idea of working for ourselves and having this but the truth is we don't know jack about really doing it. I mean I remember I probably did some things when I was in college that would make a legit brewer sick, jerry rigged stuff, screwing up recipes. heck I never even improvised a true lauter turn, just put everything into a cotton brew bag. I remember calling a friend over when I opened a busch light keg because I figured if I lost some fingers I needed someone there. put three batches of cherry stout in that thing and carbonated it in the kegerator, thats up there with national merit finalist in my list of life accomplishments at 25. I remember one time I left an october fest in primary far too long and saw things crawling on the top. then let it sit in secondary refigerated ferment for far too much longer..... finally boddeled it in december...one of the best and most complemented beers I ever brewed. Hey the beer was always good (well except for my like 2nd extract honey spruce lager, just not a good mix there). but man that cherry stout, I made friends with that thing.
haha ok, sorry for the reminiscing. the point is I realize full well that I have no idea really behind brewing science and really doing things the right way. but I want to really learn. I have charlie pappazan's (sp probably) book which is how I learned and where I took most of my recipes back when I was brewing. I have Radical Brewing, and today I bought the Homebrewer's Bible. I know these are at the end of the day only going to provide a very introductory lesson on brewing chemistry but its a start. I also recently stumbled upon some companies that I can order ingredients from in Colombia (limited choices, but hey back to the old improvisation). I plan to pick up a couple things that I think will be hard to find to take back with me and at least get back into home brewing. the caribbean heat will be a new challenge.
What else would you recommend? Tonight I've been kicking around the idea of looking into taking some biology/chemistry courses when I get back. Not sure if the cost, Spanish, and quality will be inhibitive. This is probably a couple years away as we have next to no money and no brewing education, however some things are happening that might make the money thing a little less inhibitive within the next couple years.. Coming home and taking brewing courses and/or begging a brewery to let me wash kegs for a little hands on experience seem like reasonable options in the near future as well. My idea right now is to have a brewpub/Irish pub although not necessarily specializing in only Irish beer as there is no Irish pub in this huge tourist city where I live. I think there's a market there to be exploited and a craft brew awakening coming in Colombia, but I need to learn the process (and the business) to exploit it.
Any and all suggestions, books, etc. if its free, cheap or can be pirated the better....haha but en serio I want to learn and at least say I am an expert on brewing and evaluate doing this as a life. Living in Colombia on the Caribbean is great but I've accepted I am not a life long teacher there or anywhere. Cheers and Happy New Year to all.
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