Best Value Online Home Brew Supplies

[pearlbrew]

Hi there,

I'm new to the forums at aussiehomebrewer and have been brewing now for about 10 months and bypassed the bottle stage and went straight to kegs. I live in Broome W.A which is quite isolated from the rest of Australia, and 8 months ago a home brew shop opened which was great, although it was quite expensive as everything is up here. The shop lasted about 6 months and had to close down and hence our only options are the standard Coles & Woolies products (Coopers, Tooheys, etc) and do'nt allow for much experimentation. can any recommend an online supplier who's prices are competitive where freight doesn't kill the value of homebrewing? Additionally, I'd be keen to hear from anyone who traditionally uses the Coopers range (available at Coles & Woolies), and who add/order in the specialty hops/wheat malt/yeasts etc which will be lighter for freight charges and also produce great results.

Appreciate any feed back and glad to be a new member

pearlbrew

 

[Mearesy]

Welcome to the forum pearlbrew!

Have you checked out any of the site sponsors for supplys?

Ben

 

[Gout]

I have used some of this site sponsors to great effect!

I pick up my grain from the shop however as i dont know what the freight would be for heavy items.

grain and grape, craft brewer, beer belly are all in my bookmarks and i am sure the other sponsors are just as good!
they seem really fast to post out the goods and the prices are great. They also provide good assistance via email.

 

[phinnsfotos]

I think getting together with a group from the local homebrew club (and/or creating a local homebrew club) to do bulk orders and try to minimize the postage costs might be the trick. Call the sponsors and plead your case

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

say goodbye to weekend productivity and hello to your F5 key on the craftbrewer 'new products' section.

 

[gjhansford]

My guess is your biggest cost is always going to be freight. So as everyone else here is saying ... contact the sponsors and see what their deal is. I live in Toowoomba which is less than 2 hours away from CraftBrewer in Brisbane and his freight is only $8-10 per 25kg. Good luck and welcome to the forum ... love your username!

 

[pearlbrew]

Thanks for the welcome and to the 5 guys who responded to my posts. Your responses are appreciated and yes I have looked at some of the sponsors pages (except beer belly) which I will hunt down. I guess most of them are hamstrung by Australia Posts outrageous costs, but a good suggestion is to bulk order and hopefully use freight companies which are comparable (and often better). By the way, I'm a Beez neez fan and have been brewing replicate recipes for the past 10 months with some pretty good outcomes based on the recipes from this site. I bought a couple of cartons whilst on the east coast over christmas and I swear they hae changed their recipe I think. It was shite and very bland, with little to no honey taste. have sent Matilda Bay and email to see if they have an explanation.

Pearlbrew

 

[Adamt]

Beez Neez is very variable depending on the freshness and handling of the product in freight.

 

[T.D.]

Sounds like you are a kit and kilo brewer, is that right? If so, ESB produce some of the best kits in the business. Before I went to all grain I used a lot of ESB's kits, both the 3kg and 1.7kg versions. Can't go wrong with them.

Edit: link: http://www.esbeer.com.au/category20_1.htm

 

[gunbrew]

"I'd be keen to hear from anyone who traditionally uses the Coopers range (available at Coles & Woolies), and who add/order in the specialty hops/wheat malt/yeasts etc which will be lighter for freight charges and also produce great results."

I use to brew with Coopers cans and they can give great results.
Some suggestions below.

Light stuff you could have mailed cheeply would include:
- better yeast, like Safale 04 or safale 05. About $7
- Grain infusion packs (200g of cracked grain you steep and add to your brew) About $3
- Hops, buy 100g and spread it over a few brews. about $8

Using the yeast that comes with your coopers kit as a yeast nutrient.
Simply empty the coopers yeast you are not using into some water, boil the yeast up then add it to your fermenter with the kit.
This kills the coopers yeast and the resulting left overs are nutrients to help your yeast during fermentation.

2 cans of coopers making 23 litres was a good beer.

European lager, 500g of light malt extract with some extra hops was nice.

Keeping the temprature of your fermenting brew stable makes your beer better.
I generally ferment at about 18 degrees.
Do this by getting a fridgemate or similar, then you can set the temprature of the fridge at 18 degrees or what ever you chose, stick your fermenter in there and your good to go.

You could add honey to coopers cans also if thats what you like.
I read that you should avoid honey made from eucolyptus trees as it can impart a bitter taste.

Happy brewing.

 

[manticle]

I have used some of this site sponsors to great effect!

I pick up my grain from the shop however as i dont know what the freight would be for heavy items.

grain and grape, craft brewer, beer belly are all in my bookmarks and i am sure the other sponsors are just as good!
they seem really fast to post out the goods and the prices are great. They also provide good assistance via email.

Grain and grape freight costs are postage. I assume most/all of the others are too. Postage within the state is very good - $7.45 covers up to 20 kg within metro melbourne (not sure about greater melbourne) as long as it fits in one box. I've had 15+kg of grain sent, burners sent, fermenters and demijohns sent etc etc. I don't drive so paying less than $8 for over 15kg of grain plus yeast and hops for a few brews worth delivered to my doorstep makes things dead easy.

 

[np1962]

While the sponsors are great and I endorse the sentiment that you could try them but as mentioned postage to Broome could be the killer.
I can't believe no-one has mentioned the Perth HBS's. Gryphon Brewing where are you? I also know of T.W.O.C over there.
I would suggest you contact them, a bit of a Google should give you the contact details or GB may stumble onto this thread and give himself a plug.
I'm sure there are other WA based retailers, Perth guys let us know who they are.
Cheers
Nige

 

[pearlbrew]

Beez Neez is very variable depending on the freshness and handling of the product in freight.

Good to know and that may be the problem. Thanks Adamt

 

[pearlbrew]

Sounds like you are a kit and kilo brewer, is that right? If so, ESB produce some of the best kits in the business. Before I went to all grain I used a lot of ESB's kits, both the 3kg and 1.7kg versions. Can't go wrong with them.

Edit: link: http://www.esbeer.com.au/category20_1.htm

Yep T.D a kit man at the moment not necessarily by choice, and keen to get into All grains. Thanks for the link, will check it out

 

[jyo]

While the sponsors are great and I endorse the sentiment that you could try them but as mentioned postage to Broome could be the killer.
I can't believe no-one has mentioned the Perth HBS's. Gryphon Brewing where are you? I also know of T.W.O.C over there.
I would suggest you contact them, a bit of a Google should give you the contact details or GB may stumble onto this thread and give himself a plug.
I'm sure there are other WA based retailers, Perth guys let us know who they are.
Cheers
Nige

Welcome to the forum. Lots of great advice and shit funny threads on here.
+1 for Nev from Gryphon Brewing and Roy from TWOC. Both provide great products and service. Would be cheaper postage from Perth too mate.
Cheers, John.

Gryphon: www.gryphonbrewing.com.au/store/index.php
TWOC: www.homebru.com.au/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=12_22

 

[pearlbrew]

"I'd be keen to hear from anyone who traditionally uses the Coopers range (available at Coles & Woolies), and who add/order in the specialty hops/wheat malt/yeasts etc which will be lighter for freight charges and also produce great results."

I use to brew with Coopers cans and they can give great results.
Some suggestions below.

Light stuff you could have mailed cheeply would include:
- better yeast, like Safale 04 or safale 05. About $7
- Grain infusion packs (200g of cracked grain you steep and add to your brew) About $3
- Hops, buy 100g and spread it over a few brews. about $8

Using the yeast that comes with your coopers kit as a yeast nutrient.
Simply empty the coopers yeast you are not using into some water, boil the yeast up then add it to your fermenter with the kit.
This kills the coopers yeast and the resulting left overs are nutrients to help your yeast during fermentation.

2 cans of coopers making 23 litres was a good beer.

European lager, 500g of light malt extract with some extra hops was nice.

Keeping the temprature of your fermenting brew stable makes your beer better.
I generally ferment at about 18 degrees.
Do this by getting a fridgemate or similar, then you can set the temprature of the fridge at 18 degrees or what ever you chose, stick your fermenter in there and your good to go.

You could add honey to coopers cans also if thats what you like.
I read that you should avoid honey made from eucolyptus trees as it can impart a bitter taste.

Happy brewing.

Ta gunbrew,

Yep the cans will form the basis of my brews for now, but will continue to get the specialty stuff (hops, malts & yeast ) posted. I've been using Muntons Premium Gold Yeast as it handles our warm tropical temps here better. I'll need another old fridge with the Fridgemate, as my spare houses my 2 kegs at the moment (missus wont be happy). I brew in the laundry with the aircon on to try to maintain as low as possible, but the best I get is around 24-26 oC. Gotta get serious I know (maybe a bar fridge is a good compromise. Your right about the honey - i try to stay away from the Eucalypts as well. The Coles brand has performed well, and interesting the Wescobee which is often recommended, didn't taste as good as thee coles replicating the same recipe with the only difference being the Honey.

pearlbrew

 

[pearlbrew]

hey everyone who is posting to me (pearlbrew). If you are interested, we have a Cat 4 cyclone bearing down on us over the next 48 hours (check out www.bom.gov.au and go to W.A weather warnings and Tropical Cyclone Magda threat Map). Living up hear is a challenge. If it continues close to broome we lose power and I had planned to brew on saturday. How is one supposed to keep brewing with the interuptions from mother nature?

 

[thanme]

Haha. Maybe leave your fermenter outside and heavily strapped down and pioneer some form of "cyclone fermentation". It could be awesome

 

[pearlbrew]

Welcome to the forum. Lots of great advice and shit funny threads on here.
+1 for Nev from Gryphon Brewing and Roy from TWOC. Both provide great products and service. Would be cheaper postage from Perth too mate.
Cheers, John.

Gryphon: www.gryphonbrewing.com.au/store/index.php
TWOC: www.homebru.com.au/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=12_22

Well played John - checked out both places that are now booked marked. prices are very competitive. Appreciate it

pearlbrew

 

[pearlbrew]

Yep T.D a kit man at the moment not necessarily by choice, and keen to get into All grains. Thanks for the link, will check it out

might give these a crack as they look simplistic too.