8.20.2008

Where do you buy brewing stuff? (ingredients, equipment, books)

While I'm asking questions I thought I would ask this one. Where can you buy stuff to brew beer with? Apart from growing your own hops and grain and culturing yeast from some sacred monastary you're gonna need to find a store that has what you need.

So Beer Bits 2 readers. I ask you. Where do you get your stuff? Does anybody buy it at their local grocery store?

7 comments:

Jason said...

I get mine from my LHBS in NH (Jaspers) and some other stuff occasionally at the Brew on Premisis shop Barelycorns. I will sometimes buy stuff on Morebeer.com or berr-wine.com as well. Anyone know where you can get organic ingredients online?

Cheers,
Jason

Adam said...

Northernbrewer has some organic malt I think.

Most of mine is through the internet at Northernbrewer. When I absolutely need something I'll go local. If traffic is bad I don't go to my favorite Keystone. Sometimes I have to go to others where stuff is really expensive.

Why can't I get it at the local grocery store? Shouldn't malt be there next to flour or something?

Anonymous said...

I get mine from LHBS's as well.
Jason, Northern Brewer has some organic kits as well as grains.

Brian said...

Hey Adam, I actually use Northern Brewer 90% of the time. Being in Chicago I can place an order in the morning and receive it 2 days later (with the shipping deal they have its great for me).

I'm with you when I really need something I'll go to local "Brew & Grow" which in Chi-town is much more of a gardening center but have some really knowledgable folks (and Larry the brewmaster there is always serving up some awesome brews to shoppers). But..I often plan most of my brewing out (mostly ;) ) so I rately have those last minute needs.

So to answer your question-I prefer the interwebs.

Cheers!
Brian

Chibe said...

Sadly, despite the fact that a live a block from my LHBS, I only buy my yeast and last-second emergency items from there. Otherwise I go with Northern Brewer or, more recently, Midwest Homebrew Supplies. My LHBS tends to run out of malts and I don't like substituting, say, a Belgian Pils malt for German Pils malt when I'm brewing a German Pilsner. And they certainly don't carry Carafa III or Weyermann Rauchmalz. In the end, I know if I order a certain malt online that I'm going to get it, and the cost of shipping is offset by the absence of a ridiculously high Cook County sales tax.

Adam said...

Thanks for your comments everybody.

I have some follow up questions coming. Back from camping with the family. So, I'm back in homebrew thinking state of mind.

No grocery stores eh?

kmudrick said...

Most of the time I get stuff at my LHBS (usually Home Sweet Homebrew, but occasionally Barry's.) I usually order hard to find hops online, along with other ingredients or equipment I can't find around here - usually northernbrewer or williams brewing.

I do get some stuff from grocery stores - malta goya for doing no-boil starters & sugar, flaked wheat, and flaked oats for various recipes. I also once made a chocolate porter with hershey's cocoa powder and that came from a grocery store too :)