My Friend Rob Makes His Own Beer

Rob really doesn't like to drink Hite or OB so he has started to make his own. Here is is writing about making beer in Korea.



I have wanted to brew my own beer for the past few years, but had never gotten around to it. So a few months ago after moving into a bigger place I bought all the gear and started brewing. You can buy the basic starter kits from a bunch of places in Korea. All the basic kits include the fermenter, airlock, thermometer, hydrometer, some bottles and some sanitizer and cost around 60,000won. I bought mine from www.winekit.co.kr. You can also get them from www.housebeer.co.kr and www.goodbeer.co.kr.

All of these sites also have the beer kits that you need to start brewing. They are all really easy. All of the work has been done for you. Just heat up some water and dissolve the contents of the can (or two). Then add cool water (I used bottled water as I don't want my beer tasting like chlorine) to bring the volume up to 23 litres, making sure that your final temperature is where it needs to be (different types of yeast need different temperatures). Then tuck the fermenter away somewhere where it will stay at the proper temperature for a week or two until fermentation is done, then bottle or keg it. After you get the hang of this, there are better kits which require a bit more work or you can even cook up a recipe all your own, which I have yet to do.

Growing up, my Dad made a lot of wine and beer. My job was washing the bottles, which is awful. After the first batch reminded me of how much I hate washing bottles, I decided to really get after it and make a kegerator.......this is where it gets good!!!

After a few phone calls and people telling me I couldn't get Corny Kegs in Korea, I finally found a place in a restaurant supply market in downtown Seoul, 중앙시장. Just a tiny place....중엉 케그 (Joongang Keg), (02)-2238-8339/011-216-9536. I grabbed up two of these kegs for 60,000won (used and still had cola in them, but held pressure). I also got a 20lb (I think) CO₂ tank off the guy for 60,000won and a regulator for 30,000won. Then around the corner I picked up a used mini-type fridge for 60,000won.

I had to cut the plastic shelves out of the door as it wouldn't shut with the kegs in the fridge.

I tried my hardest, but I couldn't find anywhere to get a nice beer tower/tap in Korea. I ended up ordering a dual tap beer tower, all the beer and gas lines, the beer and gas disconnects for the kegs, new o-al rings and grease from LearnToBrew in the U.S.. Shipping was a killer....cost me just as much as all the parts, but now that its all hooked up it was definitely worth it!!!!

The two kegs and the CO₂ cylinder fit perfectly into the fridge.

Installing it all was easy. I traced the coolant lines in the fridge and made sure (well, pretty sure) that none of them ran through the top of the fridge. I drilled out a hole in the center and ran the beer lines and screwed down the beer tap. It's on there pretty good, but it's a tiny bit wobbly. When I get around to it, I want to put a piece of wood under the plastic in the top of the fridge to give the tower something stiffer to screw down into.

That's pretty much all there was to it. You need to set the CO₂ pressure according to the temperature of your beer and how much you want it carbonated. Check out this carbonation chart, tells ya everything you need to know.

That's it.....Happy brewing and just think in a few weeks you'll never have to drink Hite, Cass or OB again!!! Here are a few pictures of the final product...