Brisbane Brew Shops

[jgriffin]

Hey guys, looking for some reccomendations of decent brew shops in Brisbane. I used to have a great one real close - western suburbs home brew. Unfortunately Mal sold the business, and in my opinion, it's gone down hill. I sen the GF to get some stuff for me the other week, and she came back complaining about how rude the new guy was.

I went today, and will certainly not be going back if i can help it.What's worse than the new (non) level of service, is that they plan to stop cracking grain fresh. The shop is now going to crack grain for all three shops owned by the new owner, cryo-vac it, and sell it "off the shelf".

Personally i think this is a stupid idea, and will have to either buy a mill, or shop elsewhere. With the new level of service, i think i'll be shopping elsewhere.

It also took him 40mins to crack 2.5kg of grain, something is wrong with his mill - he keeps saying that it is a "toy" but Mal used it for ages and never had a problem.

Anyway, any reccomendations from Brisbanites?

 

[JasonY]

It also took him 40mins to crack 2.5kg of grain

Bloody hell was he feeding it in a grain at a time :blink:

Sorry living in perth I cant help with an alternate brew shop. Your own mill is a good investment and you don't need to spend a fortune to get one (unless you really want that three roller crankenstien)

 

[Murray]

I haven't been there for ages, didn't know Mal sold. I don't know of anywhere else in Brisbane that sells refrigerated hops and liquid yeast. Annerly home brew on Ipswich road sells grain, they are helpful but IMO know very little about brewing from more than tins.

Edit: I have the same mill that Mal used. It is small but does a really good job and shouldn't take anywhere near that amount of time to crack 2.5kg grain with the drill setup Mal had.

 

[Hoops]

John

I would recommend Quality Home Brew in Slacks Creek (I know, it's not real close).
I was hoping WSB would be my HBS for next year. Looks like I'll be driving out to Slacks Creek next year.
When I was living in Brisbane I used to travel from The Gap to Slacks Creek for most of my brewing stuff. If you do use them then Lindsay is the man to speak to. He is an AG brewer so has a lot of good advice and is very helpful. The other 2 guys don't know much more tham dump and stir, so there's no point asking them about conversion temps or mash schedules etc.

Hoops

 

[sluggerdog]

Home Brew Oasis seems OK, the have refrigerated hops, not too sure about other things you might require but I have found it stocks everything I need..



Home Brew Oasis - 325 Gympie Road Kedron, QLD 4031

 

[dreamboat]

I saw a couple of weeks back that Mal had sold out.... and I agree that things are seeming to go downhill there. Looks like the hops are being packaged into smaller bags, grain sounds like going the same way. I spoke with the new bloke and thought that he was okay, but not a masher and not real keen on heading down that path. If they keep the stock of liquid yeast then I will still go there for that, but I crack my own grain, so don't have to worry about that side of things.
Annerly and slacks creek will, once again, be the only two shops worth a visit in Brisbane.


dreamboat

 

[Snow]

Yes unfortunately Tony the new guy at Chapel Hill is still learning. He doesn't even know the name of his own grain that he stocks in the shop, let alone other stuff I've asked him to get in for me. I've given him plenty of websites for him to do some research but he is not interested. I've asked hime to get some different grains in for me like melanoidin, which is not hard to get and should be pretty easy for him to sell if he knew grains. He didn't want to get it in because he reckons he wouldn't be able to sell it. He doesn't even know what it is. However, in his defence, he did get some carawheat in when I asked.

Trouble is, whenever I ring up many hours before I need some grain from him, I always get the impression from him that it's all too hard and this is just a special favour for me because I'm a good customer. I know this is probably not the case, but that's the impression he gives. Anyway, of course he's still picking up the tips of the trade, so I'll give him some leeway for the time being.

- Snow

 

[quincy]

Given Doc's recent poll "What keeps you in your day job?" isn't this an opportunity for you good folk north of the border ????

Cheers

 

[Murray]

Heh, could be, quincy.

I might drop in to Slacks Creek and check it out.

 

[sluggerdog]

Sounds like Brissy is missing out and whats even worse, North Brisbane miss's out even more.. :unsure:

As I am planning to move on and try new things very soon (liquid yeast, grains etc) does anyone have any suggestions to buy online for a wide range of products and good pricing..?

Thanx

 

[GOLIATH]

I'm sure I could assist.

Nearly 10% of Goliath business is in metro brisbane!

Just ask the question on this forum. I'm sure brewers will be honest, and that's good for me!

www.brewgoliath.com.au

Regards
Dave

 

[Murray]

Sluggerdog, I've gotten good service from Goliath.

 

[Jim_Levet]

The guys at Northern Districts Brewing in Sydney are pretty good. I was getting gear + ingredients from them when I was living in the bush last year/ early this year. I get even more stuff now I am back in the city with beer bludging mates around. Check out their site.

 

[jgriffin]

Yes unfortunately Tony the new guy at Chapel Hill is clueless. He doesn't even know the name of his own grain that he stocks in the shop,

Tell me about it. I asked for some "JWM Traditional Ale Malt" and he said "That's pilsner malt righ?"

And the "amount of effort it takes" to crack some grain.

I'm thinking that we western brewers may need to start doing our own bulk grain orders. I'd certainly like to try some melanoidin.

 

[Snow]

Well John, we'll need some melanoidin and some others if we want to do the Community ale, so we should definitely do an order. Any other Brisbaneites want to go in with us?

- Snow

 

[Hoops]

Snow

My brewing for 2004 is over but I would get some next year if you're doing a bulk order.

Hoops

 

[GOLIATH]

Yep,

It's unfortunate that new brewers are going to see these people and won't ever know that other brewing methods exist.

That's why there's unused fermenters in sheds all over OZ because the K & K method is too much work for a generally second rate result. That's what they think home brew is!

How much melanoidin do you guys need?

Grant Powell has kindly donated some malt for the Monster Mash and I am happy to send some up. Say 2.5 KGs in a 3 KG post Bag for $8.50.

Give it a go.

Regards
Dave

 

[davidk]

Hi, Brisbane brewers. I am new to this site and have just seen all the comments about the change of ownership at Western Suburbs. Probably in breach of protocol, but I am the owner (not manager) of the shop and would like to make a couple of quick comments about your concerns.

We have only recently purchased the shop to put with our other three Brewers Choice stores in Brisbane, with the hope of providing brewers with much better product and support across Brisbane. It seems that we are having some teething problems at Chapel Hill by your comments, and we will discuss these with the manager.

In regards to the grains, we are currently investigating different grain mills to speed up service for you. The old one is dying - bearings are shot, drill has to be replaced. We are struggling with it until we can find a decent high volume replacement. We would welcome any suggestions from other mashers about where to source such a mill.

The cryovac idea is definately not a replacement for freshly ground grain at the Chapel Hill store. Its an idea we may try as an interim measure for our other three stores, so they can offer some fresh grain to brewers in other parts of Brisbane, who have not tried grain brewing before. By cryovacing the cracked grain, it will remain fresh for over a year, rather than putting pre-cracked grain onto shelves and having it lose its flavour before our customers buy it. This is an idea I picked up from one of the BABBS meetings.

We purchased Chapel Hill because of its reputation for grains and we hope that we can maintain that reputation in the long run. If you have any concerns about the store, please email me as we want to become the best home brew stores in Brisbane and are more than ready to accept any feedback you would like to give us. Finally, if you have other grain related problems, you can also talk to Norm Gohdes, at our Stafford store. He has been mashing for more than twenty years.

Happy brewing

 

[Jazman]

try the barley crusher or crankandstien good price both on the web doa google search

 

[GOLIATH]

Well done Dave. With that attitude you deserve success.

I have recently installed a Barley Crusher to replace the ailing Valley Mill with great success.

Regards
Dave