Homebrewing in South Korea

Welcome to this site that gives you all the information you need for making your own delicious beer in Korea. Cass and Hite are the most popular beers in South Korea, but there are most certainly not delicious and you can surely make better at home.

There are lots of helpful tips on where to get the supplies, how to go to get more information on making beer in South Korea and some things that are unique to Homebrewing in Korea. It's not the easiest place in the world to get the equipment and supplies that you need, but it is most definitely possible. I hope this site is helpful for you, and that your first batch of beer made is delicious! After all, South Korea is the fermented food capital of the world.

Beer making is not so popular in South Korea yet and although things have been changing in recent years, it can be quite difficult to get ingredients. These shops will help you acquire the basic ingredients you need to make beer but it is much more difficult to get any sort of specialty ingredients that you might need such as hops.

Many people ship ingredients from the USA and get them delivered to a friend on a US military base because they only pay US shipping prices. Beer ingredients are quite heavy, unfortunately.

You can buy it through Korean Websites

You can buy the basic homebrewing kit from either Good Beer or Beer School for 65 000 Won. It contains a fermenter, air-lock, some plastic bottles with lids, a thermometer and a hydrometer.

While you can buy almost all of your supplies from Good Beer or Beer School, this can be quite expensive. A better option is to just buy the actual beer making bit from them and find a local kitchen supply shop in your neighborhood. You'll be able to spot it easily because they'll have a million industrial size pots and plastic buckets out front. You can buy a lot of beer-making equipment there very cheaply and easily. Things like a brew-pot, scale and big spoon. Here is a helpful post on the Homebrew Korea Forums about what you should buy from the kitchen shop:

The best option for sanitizing equipment is to use iodine from the local pharmacy. They have a brand called "Povidine" which you can ask for and any pharmacist should know. It's 500-1000 Won.

When you add sugar to encourage carbonation, a good choice is corn syrup. You can buy it at any local grocery store. Just look for "Mool-Yeot"

A group of people who organize Homebrew Tasting Events, classes, as well as make custom beer upon request. They are the people to be connected to in the Homebrewing in Korea world.

It's possible to buy some decent beer these days in Korea, if you're running low on your homebrew. Of the big 3 supermarkets, Homeplus seems to have the best selection, although bigger Lotte Marts and Emarts have a moderate selection.

Most towns in Korea have an "Asia Mart." This is a perfect place to get some South-East Asian beers, most notably Beer Laos.

And of course, if you have a friend in the US military, they can go shopping on base for you and you can get whatever your heart desires!

See, you just have to plan ahead. If you don't, you'll get stuck with the selection at the Family Mart and you probably won't be that happy with your life.