Beer Diary...

The standard in Mexico I've tried pretty much every cerveza available here in San Miguel. I knew coming to Mexico that the beer would be light lagers and so I settled into accepting the loss of those bold, malty and ultra hopped beers I was used to on the west coast and tempered my taste buds to fit the local offerings. Modelo is the 'Bud', or should I say Coors/ Molson of Mexico and they have an extensive selection of beer that ranges from minimal malt and hop flavor (Negro Modelo ), to effectively No hop and what appears to be just the remnants of malt (Corona). I settled for awhile on Victoria which has some beer like flavors that my pallet could detect. Also the 'Mega' Super Mercado has their brand name version of a Bohemian Pils that was surprisingly similar to what one might expect from a European import (in the can only). Then, to my surprise I discovered 'Bohemia' which , although light in malt, had a distinctive Saaz (?) hop flavor and aroma. B...

The new burner in action. . Getting back to my first brew here in Mexico. At the time of this writing the beer boiling in the picture has been in the bottle for a week now. But I want to fill you in on the process. After setting up the burner I discovered that the flame was far to low to bring 6 1/2 gals. of wort to a boil. I needed the control valve orifice to be larger to provide enough flame. I was able to ream it out with a rusty bent nail I found on the ground nearby. The nail reference is because I don't have any tools accept a used crescent wrench I bought at the outdoor market. Tools are any home brewers best friend. I used bottled water because I suspect that the water here is very hard and because I don't know what else is in it. I had to order all of the ingredients on line except the Honey which is available at the local supermercado (Bonanza) and the Columbus hops which I brought down with me. I also brought us56 dry ale yeast. All of the equipment I was able to ...

That's a lot of choices! I'm at a cross road in my life. A moment where answers may be discovered. Answers to questions about where to go from here with my passions and desires? How to leave the past behind? How to end my patterns of familiarity for the sake of comfort. How to be comfortable in the unfamiliar. My work has afforded me my comforts, but I'm tired. Tired of the need to continue in order to pay for the necessary commodities of life; food and shelter, gas for the car, insurance, bla, bla, etc. etc., just to be able to continue some more. I'm at a place where the value of the things I do are more important to me than just doing to keep doing. If that makes any sense. So here I am in Mexico, not getting my questions answered but brewing beer. Maybe brewing beer is the answer.

Patience is a virtue in the world of brewing, and a pint helps! . Finding the equipment has proved to be easier and cheaper than finding ingredients. The local ferreteria had a pretty good burner on a stand for 300 pesos ($30 usd). After a series of exagerated hand gestures and some badly expressed spanglish I was able to explain my needs for "mucho fuego" to the young clerk. Of course I was assured the burner in question would provide adequate fire. I carefully inspected the spoke shaped burner head and the clerk graciously replaced a cross threaded fitting where the gas line attached. I proudly carried this floor model back home. Hardware stores in Mexico are different than the States. They have all the same stuff including an extensive supply of very cheap Chinese versions, but you don't walk down aisles picking up what you need. Here you step up to a counter (kind of like an auto parts store) and you ask for what you want. I had to learn quickly to say in spanish ...

The entrance to one of the local Cantina's near our house I'm no expert on brewing. I don't know all the aspects of the chemistry involved in brewing that say, a commercial brewer probably needs to know. I couldn't even guess about some of the technical aspects of moving liquid in a large brewery while at the same time preventing contamination and the introduction of oxygen. I haven't had the hands-on exposure to that kind of beer making. What I do have is about 8 years of personal experiential knowledge of making small batches (10 gals.) of the type of beer I enjoy drinking. I have the kind of experience you get from trial and error. I have retained a little information from books I've read on brewing and the history of fermented drinks. I've also picked up a few pointers from fellow homebrewers like the ones from the homebrewing club in Santa Cruz, Ca. http://zymurgeeks.org/ or from the question and answers on the http://hbd.org/ internet discussion boa...

Review the choices for homebrewing classes Today, more than ever, people are looking for ways to improve on the quality of their lives by taking control of the processes that provide good quality food for themselves on a local level. This means growing, harvesting, preserving and preparing your own wholesome food in the place that you live rather than relying on farms and processeser from far away to provide you with the essential foods of your life. Brewing beer at home is part of this movement and its revival is a reflection of the desire to provide essential foods for ourselves as we did as far back as the time of the establisment of this country. Most of the early American settlers brewed their own beer right along with baking bread and canning fruits and vegetables for the winter months. This site is the home page for The Back Yard Brewer homebrewing school and is the portal to the different home brewing classes available in the Santa Cruz and San Miguel, Mexico. I also want to ...