The hop tea made a big difference to Beer four (Triple Cock(-up) IPA). It’s now at the level where it’s enjoyably drinkable and I’m very happy with that!
Two deliveries arrived the morning. One is my new regulator from Yahoo Auctions, the other is Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels. I want to do some brewing this weekend in the primary that I have free, before the summer hits. I’m currently formulating the recipe for an IPA. I don’t think DGB will have much input into this beer – I’ll barely have time to scratch the surface of Designing Great Beers before brew day – but it should help with future brews.
Beer five (Brewferm Kriek) has finished fermenting. I’m toying with the idea of bottling half and then racking the other half onto some cherries to see how much difference they make. It’s only a 11L kit so I don’t have much leeway though. The Kriek need 6-8 weeks bottle conditioning so it’s going to be a long time before I can try it!
Homebrew Japan 
April 23, 2009 at 6:05 am
I recently started doing the “Wet” dry hopping method and I find it far better than simply dry hopping. Give it a try, I think you’ll like. By the way, how hard is it to get hops in Japan? I notice from the pics that they look pale and yellow. That may be why the dry hop flavor is not coming through. Could be just the color on my monitor also?
Keep bloggin’
mark
http://www.backyardbrewer.blogspot.com
April 27, 2009 at 4:12 pm
That beer was a kit. Originally I added Cascade pellets to the boil but they had no effect at all – I definitely put that down to the hops. I dry hopped with Centennial and it made a difference at first but then disappeared, presumably because fermentation had not finished. The hop tea made the difference.
I was getting my hops in Japan. The Centennial was very aromatic and good quality, but the other hops I’ve bought were not. I’ve since got a whole load from the US sent over – the bag I opened had a decent amount of aroma so should be better than the Japanese hops.
April 28, 2009 at 12:50 am
I have been going to Mexico for the winters the last couple of years and have found that it is difficult to find brewing ingredients down there. I take enough extract and hops to do several batches. I just recently discovered a Mexican source for the malt extract but will probably still have to get the hops from the US.
Do they have homebrew stores in Japan?
mark
http://www.backyardbrewer.blogspot.com
April 28, 2009 at 1:14 am
There are a few (see the right hand section of my blog for links) but they all tend to sell the same things – only one type of DME, limited hop range. You’re almost forced to go all-grain here and use imported hops.
However they do have essentials like Star-san, o-rings for kegs, buckets, etc. Given that the market is so small here, it’s good that we have access to those. I’m pretty sure you could get access to grain in Mexico – your biggest challenge would be the heat, no?