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Brewing in austere conditions

Master

Brewer
Joined
Feb 2, 2015
Messages
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Location
Virginia Beach, VA
So I'm going to be out of the country for a year to 18 months, living where it's not illegal to make or have beer, but I can't BUY beer or ship it in.

Going to have to do extract. Don't want to deal with grain import BS. DME is fine, checked with local customs already.

Storing, no kegs.. No way to get C02, and won't have a dedicated fridge.

Glass bottles are probably a no go as well, so I'm thinking of alternate bottles.

Has anyone used any of the following:
12/16/20 ounce soda bottles. I'm pretty sure they will hold the pressure.
500ml water bottles
32 ounce Nalgene bottles (like for hiking)

These would be bottle carbing ales in my hovel/shack in an air conditioned room. I'm planning on using carb tabs.

I'm also trying to make my brew kit as small (read as easy/cheap to ship) as possible.

DME and pellet hops seems easy/cheap enough to ship in. Won't be doing all grain. Am also thinking of if there are any good hop alternatives.. I can keep things in my dorm sized fridge, but I don't know how hot the hops will get and for how long on the trip.. Typical third world delivery services. Might be 3 days from US, might be 3 weeks.

Definitely running dry yeast, at least until I can get my own culture going.

Heat source? Probably going to be just stove top and a pot.  Cooling will likely just be put pot in fridge. Any potable water is bottled here.
 
I like 500 ml and 1000 ml green or brown poly bottles available from homebrew shops. They work well for brewing and are made to handle the pressure and keep beer from getting off flavours. Caps are better than water bottle ones.
 
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