Homebrewing. I've wanted to try it for years, but then one move lead to another and I've found myself a little too unstable to give it a go until now. I realize that it's not cheaper or necessary to homebrew in Berlin, but I'm a hopeless hop addict and want to cook up some closet access to a good IPA. My question(s): Is there already an underground homebrewing community in Berlin? Any of you local homebrew enthusiasts want to lend advice (like..uh... where in the world do I get started?), brew together (more is always merrier, they say), or (assuming so many uncertain variables) get together to taste what I may or may not be able to create?
I've homebrewed in Germany for about 3 years. I don't brew German styles of beer. Germans brew their own beer better, and a million times cheaper. You can get world class beers for a wonderful price, provided you like German styles. Due to the massive scale of production, I can't compete with them on price, or on quality. Yet I crave variety in my beer palate: stouts, porters, dubbels, IPAs, and anything American or unusual. So, you either buy the relatively few foreign exemplars commercially in Karstadt, Kaufhof, or wherever you can find them, or you produce them yourself. You MAY find a homebrew club, but not likely. The only way to homebrew in Germany is buy your stuff online. You can pay by credit card or by Überweisung, or bank transfer, which is the most common. You won't find all the stuff you remember from homebrewing in the USA here in Germany. First, carboys are unheard of. Most use plastic tubs, which I found can lead to infections which are impossible to get rid of. You can buy Gärballons, or glass fermentation "ballons" and get some super big ones, for I got the 50L version for 40€. The first question is... how's your German? All but one of these sites are solely in German. Brouwland is the only one I know that offers a multi-language site. They're in Belgium, take Überweisung, and deliver promptly to Germany. 2nd, you want to brew IPA's and other beers that you can't get in Germany. One can find an occasional British or Belgium brew, but they're expensive, which makes the homebrewing costs relatively equal to foreign, non-German, beers. Again, things are tough but getting betting when finding ingredients for brewing IPAs. Most German homebrew websites offer only malts, hops and yeast for brewing German or British beers. Boring, I say. Again, Brouwland is one of the best, though that is starting to change. I found Magnum, Amarillo and a few others on some other German homebrew sites, but it's hit and miss. Ludwigs Sudhaus is a site that offeres Amarillo, Summit and Cascade as pellets and Dolden, or leaf hops. The concepts of "craft beer" and beer as a gourmet product is just now showing green shoots in Germany, like Propeller or CREW Ale, or an occasional IPA at traditional commercial German breweries. Though I didn't answer your questions on brewing communities, I hope this helps. IF you speak German, you can use Hobbybrauer to ask around and find a club, but that's only if you speak German. Your best bet is Toytown, an expat site for life in Germany, or simply ask people you know if they want to join you. Good luck.
https://www.hobbybrauerversand.de/ Great selection of German and English malts. You will have to get a little creative with hops and some of the psecialty grains, but overall I am happy with them. They have beginner kits and recipe kits too if you are just starting. 5 euro flat rate shipping and you'll have it in about 2 or 3 days. BTW, I don't speak german, but I use google translate pretty well.
If you want American hops or malts that are not just German, especially Belgian malts, the best place is Brouwland, and they have the site in ENGLISH too. Brouwland is good. The other site I often use also has leaf (Dolden in German) hops of Amarillo --- Hopfen und Mehr (https://www.hobbybrauerversand.de/), which Sarge so nicely mentioned above.! Both ship very quickly. The preferred method of payment is almost always Überweisung, or bank transfers, for not many Germans have credit cards still in the year 2012. (Their ATM cards don't have a Visa/MC number.) Did any of this help, Catnorth? Tell us if you decide to homebrew and if you need any help, Beermail me please. Cheers.
