Ahhh -- comfort is watching the airlock bubble! I boiled another batch Tuesday night and pitched the yeast yesterday morning. Tonight (Thursday) the airlock is popping about once a second. Another batch on the way! I ordered two more recipe kits for "California Steam" today and also ordered a Wort Chiller to allow me to cool the wort quickly and pitch the yeast in soon after boiling (it should prevent the possibility of contamination by airborne yeast strains). Here is a picture of the chiller:

Another forum I visited on homebrewing had a post from a guy that used one of these that got raided by the police (with guns drawn) thinking that he was running a still! I probably should be cautious with this since North Carolina is famous for moonshine stills even today -- LOL.

Robert --

Now that would be a delux wort chiller! I have actually read in some homebrewing forums that in some parts of the US that regular tap water will not cool the wort very rapidly (Florida and Arizona) because the ground temperature heats the water in the watermains. In those instances, some brewers have resorted to using pumps with a tub of icewater to pump cold water through their chillers!

You should be able to find homebrewing equipment and supplies somewhere in Europe. Probably the biggest roadblock you might find would be legal restrictions on brewing because governments like to tax alcohol products. Ivang pointed me to a picture of a homebrew setup in the Czech Republic that was pretty impressive, so, if you cannot find equipment in Poland, perhaps you might look there. One thing you definately will need to find a source for will be for the ingrediants. If homebrewing isn't an already established hobby in the Seychelles, you will need to find a source for the malt extracts and yeasts. Shipping could get a bit expensive. You need about 2 to 3 kg of malt extract to brew a batch. Other options are available, though. I have never used them, but there are dry (powdered) malt extracts and yeasts available which might be easier to have shipped to you. With the temperatures you probably see back home, the dry yeasts would probably be essential. Even here in the US, the supplier I use offers the shipping of liquid yeasts in an ice pack to prevent the heat from killing it off in shipment. When you look for sources for supplies when you get back home, one place you might look would be in South Africa. I have noticed a few home brewing clubs from SA on the internet. You might pop in to the MyOnlineTeam team thread and inquire about homebrewing in South Africa from my team mate, Fanie, who just returned to the forums after a couple months in the hospital. Fanie is located in Pretoria, South Africa, and he may be able to find sources for you. You can look him up on our team website and get his e-mail. I also found the website of a homebrewing club in South Africa. The name of the club is "The Wort Hog Brewers" -- LOL -- and their website is at http://www.worthogbrewers.co.za/.

Good luck -- it seems that homebrewing is as adictive as is crunching for the WCG!

Robert --

With all the pumps and hoses, it does look a bit like open heart surgery! These guys really do look like they are into brewing big time! Some of the pictures make me want to pop on down there and toss down a few with them -- they look like a nice group of guys. My guess is that we are only seeing the setups of a few of their members that have been at it for a while and have invested quite a bit in their setups. I am sure that some of their members have more modest setups like what I am using. I have seen some setups which you can actually have delivered and use immediately like Brew-Magic which cost about $4000. I am not so sure how that would fit into the decor of my dining room which I have converted into my "brew-house" -- LOL.

All of the first batch got finished off this week. Well, perhaps not -- I gave a neighbor a bottle to try and he hadn't as of yesterday. The second batch of the same recipe is in the carboy and I plan to bottle it tomorrow. I spent this afternoon boiling batch number three. This time I used a different recipe kit. I bought two kits for "California Steam Beer" which is supposed to be similar to the brand, Anchor Steam. The process was the same as the first time. I simmered a specialty grain in 2 1/2 gallons of water at 155 degrees F for a half hour. Then, with the pot off the flame so the extract wouldn't scorch, I added 6.6 pounds of "Gold" malt extract. After I stirred it in, I brought the pot up to a boil. I then added the bittering hops in a nylon bag to the boil and stirred and watched for an hour. The final 2 minutes I added the flavoring hops in a second nylon bag. I then tried to syphon from the boil pot into my brew keg using the self priming racking tube I bought. It wasn't working! I pulled it out and found out that the plastic pumping tube had deformed in the boiling water. So, I just lifted the pot off the stove and poured into the keg. I then added water to bring the batch up to a full 5 gallons. I have loosely covered it and am letting it cool overnight or until the temperature gets down below 80 degrees F. Higher temperatures will kill the yeast. Some time tomorrow, I will pitch in the yeast which is a lagering strain of yeast that works at room temperature. Usually lagers are brewed at about 45 degrees F. I have heard that this is where the "steam" beers got their name. The style originated during the gold rush days in San Francisco when ice wasn't so available and since it was brewed at the higher temperatures, it got it's name.

Hello Dave I hope you dont brew to much as you may have the feds. in your dining room