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BruDaddy

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After 2 years of internet buying I've finally found an LHBS near my home town. The Fermentation Trap (Fermentation Trap Brewing Equipment Wine Making Supplies) is located in Ruckersville, VA (a bit north of Charlottesville). Apparently they've been open a year or so, but I just found out. They have a nice inventory - Brewer's Best and True Brew kits plus a good variery of grains, extract, hops, yeast, etc and a nice selection of equipment. Prices are reasonable, plus no shipping (and of course the instant gratification of bringing it home right away). Also a lot of products for wine makers. Met Bob, one of the owners, on my visit - he's been homebrewing for about 15 years and seems quite knowledgeable.

Really nice to have my own LHBS - I've been so envious of folks who talk about that.
 
Are you in C-ville? Have you been to any CAMRA meetings?

yeah, those guys up there are really nice, and helpful. Great to have them around for stuff I need right away...though, the prices on liquid yeast are out of my range. CAMRA members get a 5% discount, you know...
 
No, I'm in the other direction - Culpeper. Does CAMRA have a website?
 
Man, talk about service...

...Randy, one of the owners of Fermentation Trap, emailed me asking me what a reasonable price would be for liquid yeast (he had seen this thread, and what I said above). I told him they'd need to get them down around $8. You know, I like to support the place whenever I can, because they're really good guys and run a great shop, but when yer yeast is ~50% more than it is online, it's just too far out of my range. So I went in there last week, and lo and behold, they've gotten the vials down to $7.99. That's definitely doable. Yeah, still a buck-fitty more than I'd pay online, but I don't have to worry about shipping, and I get to support these guys. Plus, I won't have to pay for the ice pack in the summertime. Awesome!
 
this brings up a question i've had for some time.

do homebrew shops have yeast shipped to them via ups, fedex etc. or do they have a separate distribution system? all local shop loyalty aside, it'd be worth a couple extra bucks to me to know that the yeast was shipped and stored under proper conditions. i bet it depends from shop to shop, but that's just speculation.

glad to hear you guys have a nice shop run by solid guys down there. i'll have to swing by next time i'm down charlottesville way.
 
Not sure how everyone else does it, but I think Randy told me that the labs (White Labs, et al) require a specific shipping method (overnight, maybe with ice packs?) for their yeast to go out, so that's what FT does.
 
myLocalHomeBrewShop is now open! is inside the beltway... I live in Gainesville. The owner doesn't ship but if you attend the WortHogs meetings he will bring your order to you.

The next meeting is March 11th in Herndon.

My brother-in-law gets his supplies from the FermentationTap and has lots of nice things to say about it.
 
yeah, i visit derek at mylhbs a lot, i try to throw business his way when i can. i just meant i'd stop by FT to check it out.
 

That's where I got my starter stuff, the owners seemed friendly and didn't try to rip me off. On a number of things they either said "you don't really need it" or "the cheaper one is just as good" when I was asking about various items and what to get, even when I was pretty clearly willing to spend money. That's good business, I'll be going back for sure.
 
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