Marks Home Brew confirmed to stay open then sold

[QldKev]

Then where am I going to get my grain (crushed), hops and yeast from locally? (Newcastle area) I really dont want to buy a mill and bulk grain. Dont know of any local suppliers

Support the LHBS while you can. I was without one for too long so have gotten kind of used to it, but to get out of the habit of having soo much grain and hops on hand would be nice.

In the other thread on this, they discussed another local option for you.

 

[dicko]

Support the LHBS while you can. I was without one for too long so have gotten kind of used to it, but to get out of the habit of having soo much grain and hops on hand would be nice.

In the other thread on this, they discussed another local option for you.

I have just merged the two threads and moved them to the "The Pub"... MHB may be closing? one thread on it is enough.

 

[SJW]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Hopefully he makes a decision soon as beer production needs to keep on rolling. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]If he shuts down I will be back to 25kg bulk bag buys and cracking grain myself. [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]L[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]He did not sound overly optimistic last week but we should not speculate.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]I'm sure Mark will let all his customers know one way or another. But as I have 4 kegs that are sucking slurry at the moment I am down for a few bags in the Sydney bulk buy. Goes against the way I would like it, but if Marks got no malt............we can’t buy it.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Sit tight, and drink VB in the meantime. [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]J[/SIZE]

 

[Bizier]

I wish MHB all the best. He has provided the community with a great service for longer than I've been brewing. One of the few retailers who are worth listening to.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I wish him well. I've regretfully never bought anything from his store, but his contributions here have been invaluable and his knowledge of the science of brewing is equalled by few on this forum.

I guess it goes to show that being in business for yourself is bloody hard.

 

[GABBA110360]

one of the problems the lhbs faces is I reckon I can buy it cheaper at bigw or coles.
whether bigw or coles sell homebrew cans or not they will still be there .
but they don't sell the little bits like taps grommets airlocks etc.
if you don't support your lhbs it wont be there when you want the little bits.
my2cents
ken

 

[Hpal]

It will be sad to see Mark go, he is a top bloke and a wealth of knowledge. I hear that the Newcastle brew shop will be getting more grains in (weyermann etc) possibly Friday or next week. And maybe they will take over the brew builder software, this will be a good thing. Prices may be higher but if it ensures that we can get ingredients when we need them, so be it.

 

[barls]

one of the problems the lhbs faces is I reckon I can buy it cheaper at bigw or coles.
whether bigw or coles sell homebrew cans or not they will still be there .
but they don't sell the little bits like taps grommets airlocks etc.
if you don't support your lhbs it wont be there when you want the little bits.
my2cents
ken

those two dont stock grain or hops mate.

 

[SnakeDoctor]

After discovering Marks Home Brew relatively recently I often thought they were really cheap (and shipping to Sydney was amazing cheap too) and I was looking forward to never having to buy a sack of grain / 1kg bags of hops to make up a brew up without it costing the world, with extremely limited storage space being able to order the pack and have it all together was awesome.

I really hope the shop fires up - it really does have the potential to become the key supplier for all of NSW AG home brew as nothing else that i'm aware of comes close to offering the same functionality as the brewbuilder and his custom ordering system did.

It would take me all of 30 seconds to order my favourite custom recipe pack from his website / brewbuilder, i'd have 4 fully custom AG brew packages setup, weighed out and all packed together waiting for me on a Thursday morning after ordering and paying on the Tuesday. Brew all weekend and great times.

Will be sorely missed..

 

[GABBA110360]

those two dont stock grain or hops mate.

I was meaning stuff bigw or coles buy from your lhbs for an extra dollar
cheers

 

[black_labb]

Just made an order for some things I'll probably want soonish. Either it will help business a bit or it will ease clearing out what stock is left.

From the one in shop visit and the email exchanges I've had with him it seems that he puts his passion before the business and does his best to support brewers. I hope he can figure something out to try and get the business side of things running well without taking the passion out of it; hopefully it's not too late.

The homebrew industry is a difficult one to be in. Some industries are propped up by customers who will spend big money regularly but home brewers tend to be a pretty frugal bunch and it's hard to make some profit on some things. I remember when I was in and Mark was frustrated that someone went through the trouble of reverse engineering a product he developed and posted the part numbers and where to get them from. The worst part was that it only saved about 20% which was pretty much his (measly) profit margin which included his time in researching and developing the item, putting them together and paying up front for the products that hadn't yet been sold. It makes the industry quite frustrating.

Good luck to him.

 

[Dropper Grogan]

Marks Home Brew

I put in an order last Wednesday and called in Friday afternoon to pick it up. Mark said he had no basemalt and that I probably wouldn't be getting another order as he was closing down. Said he would talk to his accountant and bank manager and then email his clients. Nothing received yet.

I really am sorry to see Mark probably go out of business. He is a great bloke, fantastic knowledge and Brewbuilder is great to use. I love all grain brewing and Marks new shop was awesome. He said that there are just not enough all grain brewers to support his shop.

This is terrible but I wish Mark all the best in what he does next. He would be a great brewer at any top class craft brewery.

Will have to look for a new supplier in Newcastle.

 

[Camo6]

If this is the case I wish him all the best with whatever he does and hope he still finds the time to post here. Like stated throughout this thread his posts are second to none and I always glean something from them.

 

[Bribie G]

Not wishing to sound preachy, but as mentioned in previous posts perhaps a couple of nails in the coffin have been groups of brewers, yes from this forum, who have got together to do bulk buys that basically bypass the Retailers or - if done through a retailer who makes SFA out of it - is still assured of add-on sales when the guys rock up to collect their sacks and pick up hops, yeast and gadgets while in the store. However with HB stores I'd guess it's the base malt that pays the electricity bill and the rent.


Wow monster mill deals from the USA, Hops Direct, Yakima Hops, etc.

Sure I've been guilty of this myself but after a couple of dud batches (and don't mention China :blink: ) I went back to only buying from Aussie suppliers and got excellent stock at reasonable prices from Ross and Mark over the last few years.

Well we got out bulk buys and weren't we clever to cut out the greedy mark ups of the grasping retailers. In the words of the old song, don't wish too much cause you might get it, then when you get it ..........

/sermon.

 

[catcher]

I am in the process of opening my own HBS and Mark has been a massive supporter. However I haven't had any response from him late this week. I hope he is ok, I am going to give him a buzz on Monday.

Mark is an absolute legend!!!

Hope he leaves Brew Builder up, it's a fantastic program.

 

[Hpal]

I am in the process of opening my own HBS and Mark has been a massive supporter. However I haven't had any response from him late this week. I hope he is ok, I am going to give him a buzz on Monday.

Mark is an absolute legend!!!

Hope he leaves Brew Builder up, it's a fantastic program.

 

[Hpal]

Sounds great! Where's your shop going to be at?

 

[Nath83]

I heard a rumour last night that he is staying open. He just came across some more money and is purchasing a tonne of base malt.

 

[TheWiggman]

Well I've dealt with many excellent retailers on this forum. Normally when I recommend somewhere to a friend, it's either due to price, product range or service. I really have a hard time picking between one and the other, but my biggest cost is postage. $30-$40 is the going rate for 2 AG brews. Country Brewer in Bathurst doesn't have the range I'm after, so either I spend an extra $20 for a $25 recipe or I don't brew.
A few weeks ago I headed into Newcastle and arranged a few recipes for pickup from MHB. Until then I didn't realise he offered pre-milled, packed orders and the brew builder is a winner. Coupled with a phone call to discuss yeast, this is my new go-to store. Postage out of Newcastle has to be cheaper than Qld or Adelaide. When I read the OP, I was bitterly disappointed.
If the latest post is true he's definitely got one stable customer and has already been recommended to my AG mates here. Though as has been discussed, with such excellent service across the retailers it's a very difficult market to be in considering how niche AG brewing is.
Godspeed Mark.

 

[Phoney]

We should probably await his response before speculating on the reasons of him shutting down (bulk buys etc). Financial difficulties could mean anything really.