Canadians: local temperature controller source?

I've got access to a spare fridge at my folks place so I've decided lagering is something I want to try. I've been looking all over and the only source I can find for a temperature controller (in Canadian dollars) is this one kegworks.com. After shipping and customs (which kegworks includes at checkout which is nice) it's almost $100.

Has anyone found a Canadian source for these? Or am I likely to end up paying about the same regardless?

I was unable to find one. In the end, I got some smokin' deals off eBay (shipped from US). I would be interested to hear if anyone had better success in Canada, though.

I cheaped out, myself, and used a digital house thermostat with a relay. Works like a charm, though the temp range only goes down to 41F. Definitely good enough for fermenting and cold crashing. After that the kegs can go in my keezer.

Edit: total cost was $19.99+tax for the thermostat (Rona) and I yanked a relay out of some junk equipment (12v relay). I already have 12V availible from the fan so it just switches the compressor 120V on/off. Even better, it is designed so the the compressor will never run less than 4 minutes, or restart within 4 minutes of shutting off. Very important for maintaining the compressor's health.

*shameless bump*

I saw those during my searches, I'm not looking to do any wiring though, I just wanted one of those ones you plug the fridge into and set the temperature.

Brad, ive held off posting on this untill i can retrace my steps. i was looking for kegging parts online, and found some controllers for fridges only....specifically for lagering......but ill be derned if i cant find the site....im thinking midwest supply, but they were half the price of the rancos, or any other freezer/fridge controller ive seen.
although still in the states, maybe save a few bucks.

Mike

I emailed Midwest about something last year and they said they don't deliver to Canada at all anymore. Northern Brewer has 2 models and ships to Canada but only by UPS - which would end up costing more than the kegworks order by the time I pay their ridiculous brokerage fees (even after the savings on the price of the controller).

I think I'll bite the bullet and order the kegworks one on Monday if there is no further information by then. At least with that order, after checkout all the shipping and customs is paid already.

Edit: morebeer actually has them and will ship USPS apparently. I don't know why I always forget about them.

bradsul said:

Edit: morebeer actually has them and will ship USPS apparently. I don't know why I always forget about them.

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They certainly do ship USPS. I have placed three orders with them in the last 4 months, and they have all come within a week WITHOUT duty or brokerage fees. I highly recommend them to Canadians.

FlyGuy said:

They certainly do ship USPS. I have placed three orders with them in the last 4 months, and they have all come within a week WITHOUT duty or brokerage fees. I highly recommend them to Canadians.

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No duty or brokerage? Sold! I wonder what else I should order.

FlyGuy said:

They certainly do ship USPS. I have placed three orders with them in the last 4 months, and they have all come within a week WITHOUT duty or brokerage fees. I highly recommend them to Canadians.

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Slight OT: I once had a UPS guy tell me to use anything BUT UPS. He said they get dinged by customs every single time. He said to use Purolator, or USPS.

I had great service with USPS from AustinHomebrew, it only took about a week longer than UPS and my customs fee at the post office was about 1/2 of what UPS was (the USPS order was worth 3 times more).

DHL is another good option for shipping from US to Canada. Not only is the rate lower, their customs brokers are much more intelligent. I had a friend order a bunch of penmaking supplies (which are not dutiable) and UPS and USPS shipments both got dinged - the duty was refundable, but not the $7 charge to collect the duty! DHL had no such problems over a number of shipments.

I bought one of the Johnson Controls A419 from Johnson themselves, down in the industrial section of town here in Coquitlam. Paid cash, but for the life of me can't find the invoice now. I remember being surprised though... I think it was around $60? I'll keep searching for the invoice.

I love the thing though.

I just received my controller so I thought I'd post a follow up to bring some resolution to the thread for those who are interested.

I ordered this controller from morebeer and I received it in 11 days via the USPS shipping option. Shipping was a little under $19 (only $5 more than the cheapest UPS option) but when I went to the post office to pay customs it was just under $13 (based on previous UPS experiences I believe they would have charged me at least double that, probably more).

I don't think I'll bother with UPS from anyone in the US anymore, if they won't ship USPS they won't get my business.

Thanks for the good information Bradsul.

Just wondering if you went to a local Canadian Postal outlet to pick up the delivery?
I guess tracking the package might of been a bit sketchey?

Cheers
BeerCanuck

BeerCanuck said:

...Just wondering if you went to a local Canadian Postal outlet to pick up the delivery? I guess tracking the package might of been a bit sketchey?

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I was left the same tag in my mailbox that gets left when an xpresspost delivery is missed. When I went to my local post office just up the street I just gave them the ticket as usual, paid the customs and off I went.

I am actually surprised that you paid any duty or taxes. Most of my orders from morebeer (3 out of 4) have just showed up at my door, no fees at all. Luck of the draw, I guess.

FlyGuy said:

I am actually surprised that you paid any duty or taxes. Most of my orders from morebeer (3 out of 4) have just showed up at my door, no fees at all. Luck of the draw, I guess.

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Wish I was that lucky, I've never had an order from the US without some sort of customs fee. Still, only paying the customs fee and no stupid brokerage fee is fine with me. Especially since UPS only does about 3 days faster service most of the time.

thanks for the information Brad and Flyguy

The Controller and the Water Filter Kit from MoreBeer sounds like my next purchase. I will check out a local RV place before purchasing the Filter Kit but for $40 bucks I think I cant go wrong.

Cheers
BeerCanuck

FlyGuy said:

I am actually surprised that you paid any duty or taxes. Most of my orders from morebeer (3 out of 4) have just showed up at my door, no fees at all. Luck of the draw, I guess.

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That's often the way it is with me too. With USPS sometimes I have to pay, sometimes I don't.

I'm a little late, but here's a Ranco on ebay.ca that's a little cheaper than your Johnson. The shipping is a little bit more but you'd still save a couple of bucks. This is how I got mine. Hit and miss on the duty and taxes, as you know.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Ranco-Electronic-Temperature-Controller-ETC-111000-New_W0QQitemZ270232909637QQihZ017QQcategoryZ38172QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks for the heads up Fingers...I like the predone aspect and simple interface of the controller that Brad bought along with the price.

The one thing I find funny / sad is that that there is no real Canadian equivalent online Home Brewing retailer for us Canadians. There was Paddock Woods at one point .... enuf said.

Cheers to Free Trade when it actually works out though

BeerCanuck

I keep trying to get my LHBS to open up even a simple OSCommerce site or something. I doubt they'll do it but it at least lets me feel pro-active.

Hi Brad
Curious to know how the new controller is working for you?
I haven't placed my order with Morebeer yet and was wondering how the unit is holding up for you.

Cheers
BeerCanuck

neo82087 said:

http://www.coleparmer.ca/catalog/product_view.asp?sku=9352000

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Wow, nice find. For that price and those features I might even pick up two. I've got to see if my local supplier has them, if not at least I can order it straight from CP.

BeerCanuck said:

Hi Brad
Curious to know how the new controller is working for you?
I haven't placed my order with Morebeer yet and was wondering how the unit is holding up for you.

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My first lager (Vienna Lager) is actually running through the CFC as I type. So I haven't used it for real yet, however I've had a full primary of water in there for the last few days and it is holding steady at 50F (which is what I have it set at) so I'd say it looks good so far. I can report back for sure in a couple weeks when primary fermentation is complete.

For my main fermentation I'm going to drop the temperature from 50F to 47F so that hopefully primary fermentation will stay between 50-55. I'm not sure how much heat lager yeast (WLP830) generate compared to ale yeasts so it will be trial and error for the first couple batches.

I bought my Ranco off ebay...was $80 dollars buddy shipped it USPS didn't have to pay a dime for brokerage fees. But took almost 2 weeks to get in my hands. Had to use a cheap timer from canadian tire to run my freezer for 10 minutes every 2 hours =)