Home Brew Shop Price Variations

[manticle]

There's one bloke who works there who may or may not have rubbed people up the wrong way at times in the past.

Mostly though, the good experiences far, far outweigh any negative ones and as a commercial entity, they are extremely supportive of the HB community as a whole including hosting grain bulk buys and being seminal in the organisation of ANHC.

 

[Juzdu]

I love my local HBS, every time I go in there I never get out in under 30 minutes. There's always something to ask about or they're always up for a chat or giving me different options on what to do, so I'm more than happy to pay the extra few $$ to support them, considering it's their livelihood and the advice I get is top quality (from what I've had anyway). Unfortunately it doesn't sound like everyone has a local like we do in Ballarat.

Well i'm frustrated to have to say my first visit to my local HBS today was a real disappointment...I was the only one in the store but the guy working there was just simply not interested, I had to drag info out of him, despite telling him I was a first time home brewer. I was looking for advice on yeast to use on my wheat beer, and how to brew an Irish Ale, and he just wasn't interested...other than trying to sell me a $60 kit brew off the shelf.

I was also asking questions about how to store left over fermentables post brew, and it was like trying to get blood from a stone. Such a disappointment given my excitement at this new hobby i've discovered.

I guess i'll drive out to Grain & Grape or the one in Greensborough next time. Or just keep buying online and getting my advice from these forums.

 

[stakka82]

+1 for Grain and Grape from me.

Been to a few brew shops over the last few years, but G &G trump them all. Only drawback is I can only ever go on saturdays, and it gets pretty pumped. Even though they're getting pumped, the guys there are still happy to offer advice, or explain alternatives.

I'm not close to them at all, but I buy up big when I go, so I only have to go every 2 months or so. Totally worth the drive.

 

[beerDingo]

I live close to you, and I regard my local HBS as Greensborough (http://www.greensboroughhomebrew.com.au/). His site isn't always up to date, unless he's started doing it more lately.

I make All Grain, so the Heidelberg shop is pretty useless for me unless I can't get to Greensborough, and only need a pack of yeast or some other odds and ends.

These guys are the closest for yeast (http://www.costanteimports.com.au/locate), but don't know the price as they don't keep it in the fridge... And not a HBS, but a food/catering/appliance shop

I've always found Dave (Greensborough HBS) extremely helpful to everyone who has walked in while I've been there.

Happy to give his shop a shameless plug, as he's treated me well over the years.

 

[beerDingo]

Sounds like I got Grain and Grape on a bad day, I rang to inquire about the price of kegging gear and what I would need for a basic 2 keg system and the bloke was pretty unhappy that I had called because he was serving a customer and was actually quite rude about it. I would have understood if it had've gone to voicemail etc. because they're a store, they can't man the phone all the time or they'd get no work done. Bloke didn't even want my number to call me back when he had a few spare minutes to chat, or even put me on hold, it was up to me to call back.. So that weekend I went elsewhere and gave my money to another business. But that's only my experience, most people seem to have good experiences with them, but I'm not going to drive down to Melb. just to see which side of the coin I will get.

Cheers

+1

they are extremely supportive of the HB community as a whole including hosting grain bulk buys

+1

It is good for the shop too, as it gets people through their doors who may not normaly go there. And then buy a few extra things at the same time.

 

[RobW]

Well i'm frustrated to have to say my first visit to my local HBS today was a real disappointment...I was the only one in the store but the guy working there was just simply not interested, I had to drag info out of him, despite telling him I was a first time home brewer. I was looking for advice on yeast to use on my wheat beer, and how to brew an Irish Ale, and he just wasn't interested...other than trying to sell me a $60 kit brew off the shelf.

I was also asking questions about how to store left over fermentables post brew, and it was like trying to get blood from a stone. Such a disappointment given my excitement at this new hobby i've discovered.

I think you'll find that's a common perception - certainly has been for me on the couple of times I've needed to go there.

I guess i'll drive out to Grain & Grape or the one in Greensborough next time.
Or just keep buying online and getting my advice from these forums.

Make the 10 minute trip to Greensborough and see Dave. He's a good bloke who knows his stuff and is always happy to have a yarn.

 

[HoppingMad]

Grain & Grape for everything. But you have to pick around it as otherwise you pay through the nose. But for range and sensible advice from people who know - they come up trumps. Some people swear by Dave at Greensborough too on the same front, but never had the pleasure of checking his stuff out.

Cellarplus - website issues aside they are freaking cheap on a lot of fronts. They mainly cater for the winemaking italian crowd and take it from me those guys won't pay full price if they can help it either. I challenge you to try finding an italian spiral burner or a stainless/ally pot cheaper at your LHBS. Particularly when they have a sale on, they blitz everything. I have found their 100g bags of hop pellets to be way cheaper than the 'up there' prices charged at most other LHBS. G&G stock theirs in 80g packs and you'll find that Cellarplus' are actually cheaper and they give you 100g! Mind you I wouldn't get all hops there as some don't even list the AA% right - but for something simple like East Kent Goldings why not?

Brewcraft - well haha okay, with most stuff you will pay a grain & grape price plus some more. Had the Brewcraft Richmond guy tell me that much of their stock comes through G&G and then has margin added to it, particularly the grain - so if you want to pay some of the 'loco' Brewcraft prices that's your folly.

Yours in tightwaddyness,

The Hopper.

 

[JaseH]

On my way home from work one night, looking to put down a brew that night, in desperation I popped into a Hydroponics/Home Brew shop near me looking for a pack of US-05.

Asked the scruffy looking old bloke behind the counter where his brewing yeast was. He proceeded to scratch around on a dusty shelf, eventually found a sachet of yeast which looked to have been salvaged from under the lid of an old kit can, blew the dust off it and slapped it down on the counter.

I politely declined. <_<

 

[manticle]

Cellarplus - website issues aside they are freaking cheap on a lot of fronts. They mainly cater for the winemaking italian crowd and take it from me those guys won't pay full price if they can help it either. I challenge you to try finding an italian spiral burner or a stainless/ally pot cheaper at your LHBS. Particularly when they have a sale on, they blitz everything. I have found their 100g bags of hop pellets to be way cheaper than the 'up there' prices charged at most other LHBS. G&G stock theirs in 80g packs and you'll find that Cellarplus' are actually cheaper and they give you 100g! Mind you I wouldn't get all hops there as some don't even list the AA% right - but for something simple like East Kent Goldings why not?

When I was kit and extract brewing I used to use the Cellar plus in north melbourne quite a bit. I found their friendliness and service to be amiable. they were more than happy to give advice and while I didn't know much at the time, I can't remember ever being given really awful advice.

However in regards to hops - the pellets are always kept on shelves rather than in the fridge, at least at North melbourne.

Still I rarely buy 40 or 80g packs unless trying a new hop - those I use regularly come mainly from ellerslie hops. Small bag hop prices are pretty ridiculous, especially when you are extract brewing (the most expensive method ingredients wise in my experience)

 

[going down a hill]

Dave is a great bloke.

Best way to get there from Thornbury is to drive down Plenty Road and turn right into Grimshaw Street, when you get to the KFC turn right and drive straight through the weird round about till you get to Louis Street. A lot easier than going up Bell St IMO.

You wont be sorry for long!

 

[FuzzyDropbear]

There's one bloke who works there who may or may not have rubbed people up the wrong way at times in the past. Mostly though, the good experiences far, far outweigh any negative ones and as a commercial entity, they are extremely supportive of the HB community as a whole including hosting grain bulk buys and being seminal in the organisation of ANHC.

Fair enough, next time I'm headed to the big city I'll have to try and drop by and have a look.

The price is the only downfall to extract brewing, I'll agree with that, but it's still comes in cheaper and a better product than some of the stuff on the shelf.. and it's another reason to move to grain, lol. Might have to look into that.

 

[Jay Cee]

Check this guy out, even though he is in Syd NSW, the shipping is reasonable to your location. His prices are cheapest I have found in Sydney (unfortunately its about 40kms from my house)
http://www.thebrewshop.com.au/

I think you'll find that Absolute Home Brewing in St Marys is cheaper overall.

http://www.absolutehomebrew.com.au

 

[Juzdu]

In terms of online shopping it seems the "Discount Home Brew Warehouse" has some pretty impressive prices. $28.20 for a complete FV set (30l, airlock/grommet/tap/o-ring/temp strip)...that's $50 at Liquorcraft, $35 elsewhere online.

Has anyone used them and got any comments? They've answered a few of my questions really quickly. Their online shipping calculator is wrong, for example I put together a shopping list for my next brew which included a 30l complete FV kit, grain, hops, yeast, 2 x grain/hop bags, 2 tins of malt extract, carb drops and stericlean. $77.50 worth of items, shipping calc said $66. But I emailed them, and they replied back to say shipping would be only $15.

As a comparison on price only, the same 9 items from Grain & Grape's website is $102.65, so $25 more. If it was the same at $15, that's a hell of a saving from DHBW.

The difference is so big i'm waiting for someone to reply with "their stuff is all out of date" or something?!

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I enjoy going to my local HBS to buy stuff, sure I could save a few $$ buying online, but every now and then they "look after you", eg one day I asked about some swing top Grolsh bottles, sure enough he had about 24 at home that were gathering dust. $10 for the lot including new seals.
There are other benefits as well, like the advice you can get from them, or someone else who is in the store at the same time.

 

[Juzdu]

I think you'll find that Absolute Home Brewing in St Marys is cheaper overall.

http://www.absolutehomebrew.com.au

That shop's definitely close, but still not as cheap as the Discount Home Brew Warehouse prices, e.g.
WB-06 yeast - $6 compared to $4.20
63 qty bottling tree - $37 compared to $34.90
Coopers LME - $9.90 compared to $13.50

I've just found an old post on this site linky that bags the absolute bejebus out of DHBW for saying they were one of the cheapest online stores in the country. Last post was over a year ago, seems they may have done something to fix the problem given i'm yet to find another online or bricks n mortar store with better prices.

 

[bum]

Mate, just shop with them and see what you reckon.

Different shops charge different amounts because they have different overheads, different turn-overs and different profit needs. Also, let's not forget that they offer different levels of service (as already well discussed in this thread).

Supermarket X cost more than supermarket Y costs more than supermarket Z. It's just how retail works.

 

[Juzdu]

I've put my order in with DHBW, will report back with a review once I receive my gear. But as a last word on this topic, the list of items (11 in total) I have purchased from DHBW came to $139.30. I compiled the same list with Brewcraft's online site, with the only difference being two Briess malt extract cans vs Coopers, as Brewcraft don't sell Coopers online (although their Heidelberg store does curiously. I was told "most people consider them lower quality than the other brands". With that in mind, the total cost of the same items at Brewcraft/Liquorcraft is a whopping $223.30.

I even sent an email to Brewcraft to ask about their prices. Sure most items are smallish variations, but there's some glaring issues, such as the exact same fermenter being $28 vs $49, and 50 grams of Amarillo hop pellets being $13.90 vs $4.50. Those differences are so huge i'm tempted to think they're a mistake? How can hop pellets be more than 3 times as much? If i wanted to buy 500gm of hops we'd be talking $45 at one shop compared to $139 at Brewcraft. Just doesn't seem right?

They haven't replied, even though it's been a week. That's certainly their prerogative. It's just a shame, i'd rather use a local store, but not at those kind of prices i'm afraid. Especially when the bloke working there wasn't exactly effusive.

 

[DU99]

:icon_offtopic: Brewcraft is big multinational,lot's of overheads.

 

[GalBrew]

Grain and Grape is a great shop and I buy lots of stuff from them (and others), but damn there is one guy who works there who is in a stink about something 99% of the time. That being said their online service is fanstastic, very quick turn around and never had a problem with anything. Like Manticle said the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. :icon_cheers:

 

[Juzdu]

:icon_offtopic: Brewcraft is big multinational,lot's of overheads.

Not quite sure how that works...usually being a big multinational means you get better wholesale prices, which allows you to pass these savings on to your customers. Kinda like how we get $1 a litre milk from Coles/Woolies.

Of course if you said they're a big greedy multinational that would make perfect sense!