Hello from Germany

[tchuklobrau]

Well I am not exactly a new member, but have been away so long I might as well be one. I moved to Germany 12 years ago, having sold all of my wine and beer making equipment thinking it would be easy to get geared up again..........sadly not the case. Anyone here also living in Germany, or at least Europe who can recommend a good HBS or website? Since all the websites/stores I am familiar with are located in the US, and shipping would kill me. I really want to get back into making beer and wine( wanna start with wine again first as it a little less equipment intensive), and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Rocky]

Welcome back to the forum. Where in Germany are you located? I was stationed in Aschaffenburg many, many years ago and visited there in 2015. Lots of changes.

As far as winemaking, you might try to reach out to some of our members in the UK. Winemanden comes to mind and he may be able to provide some insight. I am not familiar with the current culture in Germany. Do you have something similar to Craigslist? Are there activities similar to our "garage sales" and "flea markets?" You could have some success there in amassing equipment. The harvest in Germany is in the Fall and that is about 5 months out. Can you get grapes from the growers? In your situation, I would start with these ideas.

Also, I would check the laws governing home brewing.

 

[winemanden]

Hi, and welcome back. Contact Luc Volders on [email protected]. Luc lives in the Netherlands, which is reasonably close to you. He is very well-informed and all his pages on his website are in Dutch and English. I'm sure he can come up with a supplier closer to you than the UK. Anyway, a supplier in Holland or Germany will be better as you won't have to pay duties or extra postage etc. due to the regulations cock-up after Brexit.

Failing that, here are links to UK suppliers
https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/
https://www.lovebrewing.co.uk/
https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/
https://www.lovebrewing.co.uk/wine/wine-kits/
https://www.balliihoo.co.uk/
I hope this may help you.

 

[tchuklobrau]

I live in Gießen, a bit north of Frankfurt: I personally enjoy making various fruit wines. Thanks a ton for the websites ill check em out. I found 4 located here in Germany dedicated to homebrewing and wine making, however compared to the online shops I'm used to( and compared to my small LHBS I find the yeast selection, and equipment severely lacking. Unfortunately beer and wine making equipment here is kind of a no go, customer service sucks, when i ask for a product, or item i need to build things ive made in the states i get told i cant do that, it does not exist, or flat out we dont have it. If i ask where i might find something i get a prompt i dont know.

 

[Mcjeff]

Welcome back to WMT. I used to regularly fly into Frankfort and go to Hanau for work. There has to be supply shops for the wineries along the Rhine and Moselle, have you tried checking there?

 

[back2it]

I lived in Mönchengladbach and Düsseldorf area for 12 years in the late 80’s, love the place although it has changed a lot recently.

“customer service sucks”. Customer service in Germany isn’t like the states, its fact based. If they don’t have it they will just tell you, if they don’t know they will say so, but they won’t just keep talking to make you feel better or keep you engaged so you buy something you don’t need.

It takes a little getting used to but it saves a lot of time in the end. Ask them if they have an alternative they can suggest. You may very well get a nein though.

If you ever take a visit down the Mosel, visit Bernkastel-Kues, your not that far away. There is a lovely small wine outlet/tasting place called Gutsausschank Weingut Molitor Rosenkreuz on Karlstraße. Nice family of growers with a great wine selection and they will bottle to request if you buy enough (a case or two of “the good stuff”).

Every few years we take a trip from the UK to fill up on Beerenauslase and/or Eiswein, it’s the only stuff my wife will drink. She is tea-total, well she won’t drink my stuff anyway, but I am working on that. The Ahr valley (Ahrtal) near Remagen is very good for reds. The trip is also a good excuse for me to push the car to 130mph while wife is sleeping. Shhhh...

Good luck in your search.

 

[Jovimaple]

Welcome back to WMT!

 

[Rice_Guy]

welcome back to the world of wine and beer.

* @balatonwine was in Switzerland and currently is in Hungary. He has been able to collect equipment.
* quite a bit of the equipment which we can get seems to be made in Italy. ex Italian floor corker, Merchismo grinder, destemer crusher, tanks. You should be able to back into the sales chain by contacting the manufacturer and asking who the distributor is.
* when hunting products as enological tannins I come up with a supplier in France/ Bordeaux and Scott Labs. Their customer service should be able to point you at vendors.
* carboys are food grade containers. I have some PET food bottles since glass ten liters isn’t available in the US. (I lust for some of the glass 8 liter and 10 liter bottles in Europe)
* a lot of the tools aren’t that hard to make With a little thought. ex an airlock is simply a vinyl tube that leads into a coke bottle.
* Scientific supply houses will have neoprene corks
* check with the university. I periodically see articles which have authors on France or Spain or even Germany.
* much of the five gram yeast that is for sale in the USA is actually manufactured in Europe . Ex Omega yeast > Austria, Mangrove Jack > UK, Fermentis > France, Red Star > Belgium. Again tech services knows where the distribution is.

 

[Christopher Anderson]

Welcome back to WMT. I enjoy this forum where the world can answer a question.

 

[tchuklobrau]

Thanks everyone. Man I have missed this. Ya'll are just as awesome as ever.

 

[heatherd]

Welcome back!