[spikbeatz]

Hello all. Boris here. I reside, for now, in NM. I've been homebrewing for almost 4 yrs. Fathers will be 4yrs exact. Made the leap to AG last summer.

I'll be moving to Germany(USAF member) mid July and was wondering if anyone had some insight as to how the homebrewing community or culture is in Germany. I'll be stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base. It's in the SW part of the country.

I'm guessing the biggest draw back of ordering online from US homebrew stores that ship to APO addresses would be yeast. Even with a cold pack, I would think the yeast would die before it got to me during the summer months. The rest of the ingredients, I feel I'm safe to order from the US if I'm looking for American hops and American malt.

My plan was to ask any local brewery if I could just have some of their yeast as they transferred beer from fermenters. I was going to seriously show up with mason jars and a cooler and say "Hello. May I have some of your yeast please?"

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Kinetic]

They have homebrew shops in Germany that sell White Labs and Wyeast.

http://www.hobbybrauerversand.de/home-1

[reverseapachemaster]

You really shouldn't have a problem finding homebrew shops in Europe but the local breweries might be willing to give you some yeast as well.

[hopfenundmalz]

There is a German Homebrewing forum.
http://hobbybrauer.de

You will be close to the Bitburger brewery, which is a large industrial brewery.
Not too many breweries or brewpubs in that part of Germany.

http://beermapping.com/maps/maps.php?m=germany#lat=undefined&lng=undefined&z=8

[corkybstewart]

My BIL in France showed me a bunch of homebrewing catalogs from England and Belgium so you shouldn't have any trouble getting supplies.  Where in NM are you?

[theoman]

Brouwland (http://www.brouwland.com/en/) is probably your best bet. I hate recommending them, as they're pretty much the evil giant of homebrewing in western end of Europe, but they are the best I've found. I've also used these Swedes, but the exchange rate and shipping can be a bit harsh: http://shop.humle.se/

[phillamb168]

Get used to not having nearly the selection in yeast that you have back home. Brouwland carries the largest variety of Wyeast. White Labs from what I've seen can only be got from the Swedes or the Danes. Brouwland also does not handle their stock very well. I have had several bad or expired yeast batches from them.

I dunno if this is something you can do, but if you're willing to have some Blichmann 55 gallon boilermakers shipped APO I'd be happy to compensate you with a very fun leave in Paris. :-D

[theoman]

Get used to not having nearly the selection in yeast that you have back home. Brouwland carries the largest variety of Wyeast. White Labs from what I've seen can only be got from the Swedes or the Danes. Brouwland also does not handle their stock very well. I have had several bad or expired yeast batches from them.

Yeah, I've had mixed results with Wyeast from there. They do have a good selection of dry yeast, though. Online ordering has been painful in the past, too. But, they supposedly recently revamped their ordering and shipping procedures. We'll see... Maybe that means they're handling their yeast better, too.

[klickitat jim]

Yeast, barley, and hops should be pretty easy to find over there. But if you want to use fruit, corn, rice, spices, etc, you'll have to buy those in France and smuggle them in at night. If you get caught just tell them you are making pudding

[hopfenundmalz]

Yeast, barley, and hops should be pretty easy to find over there. But if you want to use fruit, corn, rice, spices, etc, you'll have to buy those in France and smuggle them in at night. If you get caught just tell them you are making pudding

When I lived in Germany, 98-99, I would ask about homebrewing there. The reply's were along the lines of: it is not done, it is not allowed, and why would you want to do that.

A few years back a German lady sent some information to the wife about Hobby Brewing being taken up by young "artists". It has become more popular, but not to the levels in the US.

For the OP - This guy is an American living there, I think I have read about him somewhere not so long ago. Looks like the online shop is in the Darmstadt area, not so far from your base. Dry yeast only, but some of the dry yeast is pretty good these days. Use Google translate if it appears in German.
http://amihopfen.com/
http://amihopfen.com/About-Us:_:4.html

[S. cerevisiae]

The OP can also learn how to plate and slant yeast if he desires more variety.   Maintaining a yeast bank on agar slants is not rocket science.  I learned how to plate and slant yeast back when dry yeast left a lot to be desired and liquid yeast cultures were difficult to obtain.  If US-05, S-04, BRY-97, and W-34/70 had been available in dry form when I first started brewing, I would have never bothered to learn how to manage yeast in a home brewery environment.

By the way, Hefebank Weihenstephan sells lab-quality W-68 and W-34/70 cultures to hobby brewers in Europe at a reasonable price.

http://www.hefebank-weihenstephan.de/index-en.html