I’m John, a homebrewer based in Okinawa. Alechemy Lab is where I share the recipes, experiments, brew days, and beer trails that keep me curious about beer.
I started in 2012 with a Mr. Beer kit I got for Christmas. By my second batch I was controlling fermentation temperature with a cooler and frozen water bottles; by my third I was toasting and steeping grains. Two years later I was brewing all-grain. That’s what this hobby does to you.
The name is ale plus alchemy — water, grain, hops, and yeast becoming something completely different from what you started with. And Lab, because I can’t leave a recipe alone. Most of what happens here is some kind of trial: different yeasts on the same wort, different process on the same recipe, always asking what actually changes in the glass.
These days I brew on an Anvil Foundry 10.5, ferment in a modified mini fridge, and run small trials on a stovetop setup and two one-gallon iGulu S1 systems.
What you’ll find here:
- Experiments — yeast trials and process trials, fully documented
- Brew Days — recipes with the reasoning behind them
- Tasting Notes — what’s in the glass
- Beer Education — concepts explained plainly
- Beer Travels — brewery visits and discoveries from the road
- Gear — equipment notes from my own setup
The featured project right now is the Saison Yeast Trials: one base recipe, different yeasts, tasted side by side.
I also post shorter moments from the Lab on Instagram at @alechemylab.