Melbourne Home Brew Shops

[chimera]

Shock horror - a shop trying to sell their product!

The two gripes i have is that nowhere can you find out what the proportions/contents of their brew enhancers are, and they dont stock idophor.

As for asking about AG brewing - i never got any negative blowback.
The woman said it was a choice they made to keep away from AG brewing and stick to selling cans, she even mentioned G&G and gave me some rough directions on where there shop (was) in Canterbury Rd

If you think some shop selling their cans is holding back people from brewing AG then you're being hypercritical. If someone wants to make top beer they will look for other resources they can find, which will soon lead them to books like Palmer, Papazian, forums like this one where they can learn to take their hobby as far as they feel the urge.

Im in no mood to defend BC anymore, like em or not, they've never rubbed me the wrong way

 

[Wardhog]

+1 for Greensborough Home Brewing Supplies. Was planning my first extract brew when I happened to mention tasting LCPA for the first time really liking it.
The guy there (Dave?) instantly reeled off the modifications necessary to my plans to transform my English bitter into something resembling LCPA, and was extremely helpful without prompting.
By the end of the conversation, he'd even invited me to one of his brew sessions so I could see an AG in action.

Excellent customer service.

 

[Jerry]

I'II also give a vote to Dave at Greensborough Homebrewing. Good range of products (that he's improving all the time), good prices, very helpful and is always up for a chat. :beer:

I haven't been to G&G yet (bit too far away) but its probably the only other HBS I'd go to. Tried one in Boronia about 8 years ago. Wasn't that happy so didn't go back for a while. Went back about 18 months ago when I got serious with my brewing again. Wont be going back again......................................EVER! :angry:

Scott

 

[warrenlw63]

By the end of the conversation, he'd even invited me to one of his brew sessions so I could see an AG in action.

Excellent customer service.

:lol: You should have went there when Paul Bowlen used to run it. You'd walk in and ask a question about some hops and walk out 3 hours later with about twice the amount of hops you paid for, he's really a top bloke. IIRC he's still doing partial mash demos once a month at G&G these days.

I can remember walking in once and asking him about mashing equipment and if he sold it. Paul was is a very accomplished A/G brewer. As it turned out he sold no A/G equipment but had plenty of spare HDPE white plastic buckets which he basically gave to me free of charge with detailed instructions on how to make a mash/lauter tun with them. Those buckets were instrumental in about my first 20 AG beers. :beerbang:

Good old days. :lol:

Warren -

 

[Bigfella]

I have been going to Greensborough for the last couple of years. The shop is a bit rough but Dave sure makes up for it with his service, I usually loose a couple of hours when I go there. Sittin chatin like old mates over a home-brew.

 

[Fents]

Dave @ Greensborough is an absolute legend. I've been going there for 3 or 4 years. First time i went there Paul still owned it but then Dave brought the shop. Dave sold me my first K&K and my Kegging system...Helped me make my first Partial and has now set me up for AG. Always up for a chat, helping with my recipes, and i too loose about 2-3 hours chatting over a coldie. I live just around the corner too so its great. Tried Brew Craft Heidelberg once or twice but didnt like the service.

Greensborough Home Brewing Supplies
22 Louis Street

Greensborough, VIC, 3088

Phone 9432 0283

 

[voytekl]

Cowfacedman.

Not trying to dissaude you by any means but may I ask why you're so firmly set on getting Whitelabs yeast? Wyeast have an equivalent for virtually every Whitelabs strain and are easy enough to source in Melbourne, combined with the fact that XL smackpacks contain a higher pitching ratio. In fact Grain and Grape carry virtually every strain you could ask for now. If not they'll order it in for you pronto.

No affiliation just a happy long-term customer.

Warren -

mostly out of laziness and paranoia. h34r: What i've just started doing is taking a little bit out of the tube and stepping that up and putting the whole tube back in the fridge hopefully uncontaminated. I think that's probably better than mucking around with stepping up a whole bunch or using cake and trying to store it myself, and having constant fear of infection.... and the tubes are good for reuse.

that said, given i'm getting a heap of batches out of one tube, i guess worrying about a few bucks postage is a bit on the tight side

 

[lucas]

I've recently decided on Greensborough to be my local. I'm sort of midway between a few hbs shops and have been alternating between them, but Dave comes across as the most genuine brew shop owner i've met. I actually thought most people would probably be going elsewhere because the shop is nothing flash, but it seems that many others arent fussed about that sort of thing either.

I really like grain and grape as well, they have such a lovely range of shiny things to oogle but it is a fair hike from home.

 

[NRB]

Oakleigh's close to work, nothing's close to home. I always visit G&G for my supplies. It's a long way, but it's worth it.

I've never been to GHBS, but have heard other good reports outside this thread.

 

[ldleon]

I've been going to a local home brew shop in Boronia, (The Brewers Den) and have continually got great service, and advise. I've also been over to BrewCraft in South Oakleigh once.. (I'll leave that at the point and go no further.)

Though I'm happy with and will to continue to go over to The Brewers Den, I'd really like to know what other places you guys deal with.

Cheers!

Francis, the brewer's den is my local too, and they're pretty helpful but they do have pretty definite ideas about what's right and wrong, like when they insisted that glass bottles are the only way to go because PET is porous and beer can't be stored in them long term but if you can store other carbonated beverages in them then why not beer and like my beer is going to last that long anyway...

However, I'm sticking with them because there really aren't that many HBSs around this area and they have all the supplies you need, but just double-check any advice they give you because they're helpful but pretty conservative with their ideas.

Daz

 

[bhami]

I normally go to G&G as they have the best range that I know of for the AG brewer. They can be a bit expensive on some items but the advice is normally first class.

If you are looking for other stores then you could look them up here:
http://pint.com.au/links/homebrewshops/victoria/

We compiled this list from a range of sources including our own knowledge, the yellow pages and google.

Cheers
Ben

 

[mr_tyreman]

Sam at Grain And Grape has been a life saver for me, I highly reccomend him for a chat if your unsure on anything

 

[Yob]

I was going to post something and dug this one up, it's old but better than a new topic.

Having recently moved to the Eastern Burbs I thought I would go and check out the LHBS, I wanted some Notto and some Windsor Yeast. The nice lady told me that they hadnt stocked Notto for years but they had Windsor.. cool thinks I, made the decision of which yeast to go for for the dark ale in the planning.. erm..

she came out with a 7g packet of vac packed something... never seen windsor in a 7g silver plain packet before so told her not to worry about it... suspect was my gut feel so jeft with 5kg of dex and 5kg LDME and probably something else..

but no yeast.. went into richmond (on other buisness) and stocked up there on both.

just my experience with the store, I will continue to get fermentables there but I will get my yeast elsewhere,

I didnt admittedly ask about smack packs, will do next time

Yob