desert drinker
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2013
- Messages
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I live in Egypt, so many of the problems encountered by UK home brewers are turned on their head here.
We can only really get four types of beer here, all pretty poor examples of lagers: local versions of Stella and Heiniken, as well as Sakara and Luxor. After living here for nearly ten years, relying on friends bringing out the odd bottle of 'proper' beer homebrew became a viable method of maintaining sanity!
There are a few problems: we don't have drinkable mains water so everything is bottled. Water here is more expensieve than petrol!
Temperture control is also a challenge; summer can be over 50*c, so a fermentation fridge is a must. Power costs are pretty low, our power bill is around £30pm and is only that high because of running the aircon whenever we are home.
Any kits or equipment I source from the UK, except for Ginger Beer and Cider where it can all be bought locally.
Logistically it can be a pain, especially as I only return to the world once a year. A bit of prior planning works wonders though, and I've built up a healthy rolling stock. Other ex-pats can be willing buyers too, which helps with running costs!
All up, an average bottle of homebrew costs me around £1. When I remember that for me to go to a proper pub and have a real pint is an annual event, to be able to reach into my beer fridge and just take one is priceless!
We can only really get four types of beer here, all pretty poor examples of lagers: local versions of Stella and Heiniken, as well as Sakara and Luxor. After living here for nearly ten years, relying on friends bringing out the odd bottle of 'proper' beer homebrew became a viable method of maintaining sanity!
There are a few problems: we don't have drinkable mains water so everything is bottled. Water here is more expensieve than petrol!
Temperture control is also a challenge; summer can be over 50*c, so a fermentation fridge is a must. Power costs are pretty low, our power bill is around £30pm and is only that high because of running the aircon whenever we are home.
Any kits or equipment I source from the UK, except for Ginger Beer and Cider where it can all be bought locally.
Logistically it can be a pain, especially as I only return to the world once a year. A bit of prior planning works wonders though, and I've built up a healthy rolling stock. Other ex-pats can be willing buyers too, which helps with running costs!
All up, an average bottle of homebrew costs me around £1. When I remember that for me to go to a proper pub and have a real pint is an annual event, to be able to reach into my beer fridge and just take one is priceless!
