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I'd like to ammend my review of TorontoBrewing.ca
My last order took 7 business days to process...I don't understand that, I think the turn around time can be better than that.
They have a great selection, good website and good prices for the Canadian market, but that processing time is too long.
My last order also took long.

Does anyone know if PayPal processes payments slow or something? I figured it was the quickest way, never had this length of time on other PayPal purchases.

Think I'll try somewhere else next time.
 
i'm surprised it took that long. i pay with visa and it has take 2-4 days for the last couple orders. i don't think it's a real big company so staffing may be an issue. i just placed another order today, so we will see how long it takes.
 
My first stop is always Ontario Beer Kegs. Their selection has been growing rapidly, to the point where they now have just about everything you could want for brewing. In addition, they sell all their grains for $1/lb. (up to a 20 pound limit) and they ship extremely quickly.

That said, there are a few things they don't seem to carry or have trouble getting in stock, so my second choice is Canadian Homebrew Supplies. If CHS doesn't have it, then it's likely that *nobody* has it.
 
JDGator said:
i'm surprised it took that long. i pay with visa and it has take 2-4 days for the last couple orders. i don't think it's a real big company so staffing may be an issue. i just placed another order today, so we will see how long it takes.
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Ya, seems odd, never had that long of a processing time thru PayPal on any other online transactions.
My supplies just arrived today: 7 business days to process and 2 days to mail 700 km, something is backwards in that!
 
kombat said:
My first stop is always Ontario Beer Kegs. Their selection has been growing rapidly, to the point where they now have just about everything you could want for brewing. In addition, they sell all their grains for $1/lb. (up to a 20 pound limit) and they ship extremely quickly.

That said, there are a few things they don't seem to carry or have trouble getting in stock, so my second choice is Canadian Homebrew Supplies. If CHS doesn't have it, then it's likely that *nobody* has it.
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The problem with the $1 grain prices is that you pretty much need to order that 20 lbs to break even after shipping.

I can buy 20 lbs of the same grains and pick it up locally at TorontoBrewing.ca (Yonge and Eglinton) or pay the $1 OBK asks for and it turns out about the same cost after shipping. If I had no LHBS things may be a different story.
 
JDGator said:
i'm surprised it took that long. i pay with visa and it has take 2-4 days for the last couple orders. i don't think it's a real big company so staffing may be an issue. i just placed another order today, so we will see how long it takes.
Click to expand...

If I'm thinking of the same place, it's actually a young guy in his 20s (maybe early 30s) running it out of his house. You would never guess that visiting the website - very professionally done. I find that prices are slightly marked up, but I don't get the impression that he's making a killing - so it seems like he's trying to make an honest go of it. I put in an order for equipment and picked it all up several hours later.
 
I order almost all of my supplies from Brewer's Pantry -- great service, quality, and prices: brewerspantry.com

Having said that, I just received a big order of kegging bits from OBK and was very impressed so far, including their AWESOME price on WL yeast, so I may start ordering my supplies from there...
 
ercousin said:
I can buy 20 lbs of the same grains and pick it up locally at TorontoBrewing.ca (Yonge and Eglinton) or pay the $1 OBK asks for and it turns out about the same cost after shipping. If I had no LHBS things may be a different story.
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That's a valid point, if you live close to a LHBS. My problems are a) my LHBS is a 20 minute drive away; and b) they have a pretty limited selection of malt, hops, and yeast in stock.

With OBK, I'm much more confident that they'll have all the ingredients I'll need, and I save 40 minutes of driving. I order it online from my iPad while I'm watching TV, and 2 days later, it magically shows up in my mailbox. To me, that kind of convenience and reliability (in knowing they'll have everything I need) is worth paying a little extra. YMMV.
 
I've placed 3-4 orders from Toronto Brewers and had good service there too. I'm in northern Ontario so selection is next to none. i have to order pretty much everything.

I'm gonna check out brewers pantry and maybe place an order.
 
JDGator said:
I've placed 3-4 orders from Toronto Brewers and had good service there too. I'm in northern Ontario so selection is next to none. i have to order pretty much everything.

I'm gonna check out brewers pantry and maybe place an order.
Click to expand...

I have ordered from both and have been very pleased.
 
badnews for people who were purchasing from beergrains.com the free shipping over 100 dollars has changed to 18 dollars shipping over 100.
 
andy6026 said:
If I'm thinking of the same place, it's actually a young guy in his 20s (maybe early 30s) running it out of his house. You would never guess that visiting the website - very professionally done. I find that prices are slightly marked up, but I don't get the impression that he's making a killing - so it seems like he's trying to make an honest go of it. I put in an order for equipment and picked it all up several hours later.
Click to expand...

That would make sense, I agree that the website is very well done, and I've compared prices across all the main Canadian suppliers and my conclusion was that he's the cheapest - although maybe that was just for what I was buying and by cheapest it was only a few bucks on the total order.

Not trying to slam the guy, it's a great site, great selection and everything comes well packaged, I would definitely order from there again without hesitation. But it would be nice to have the order processed a bit faster, thats all.
 
G & P in fergus

55lb bags starting at $40 for cndn 2 row to $60 for organics

it's worth the drive to fergus :)

The lhbs will hate me for sharing this. Cash n carry open only on weekdays
 
Does anyone know where I can order strip thermometers in Canada, even if it's an American company that ships to here? Amazon is really p!ssing me off right now!!!! Thanks!
 
cramar said:
That would make sense, I agree that the website is very well done, and I've compared prices across all the main Canadian suppliers and my conclusion was that he's the cheapest - although maybe that was just for what I was buying and by cheapest it was only a few bucks on the total order.

Not trying to slam the guy, it's a great site, great selection and everything comes well packaged, I would definitely order from there again without hesitation. But it would be nice to have the order processed a bit faster, thats all.
Click to expand...

Put another order thru on Sunday night, everything arrived this morning (wednesday), now that is an awesome turn around time, I think he did some minor updates to the site as well. I keep coming back to this site for my supplies, it has good selection and prices.
 
Does anyone know if Austin Homebrewer Supplies still ships to Canada and whether a beer kit will make it through customs?
 
I'm surprised how few homebrew stores there are in ontario. I live in Windsor and there are only 2 brew your beer on premise stores in the city. They sell some basic supplies for the Homebrewing but nothing more.

I'm fortunate that I am a 10 min drive from Detroit MI where there are 2 really good homebrew stores in the Metro area. This is where I get all my supplies and equipment. The store I usually go to is Adventures in Homebrewing. They sell online and they do ship to Canada. I'm not sure if it would be worth it after the shipping, brokerage and duties.

In my opinion Homebrewing should be more popular in Canada because of the high cost of commercial beer.
 
budonze said:
I'm surprised how few homebrew stores there are in ontario. I live in Windsor and there are only 2 brew your beer on premise stores in the city. They sell some basic supplies for the Homebrewing but nothing more.

I'm fortunate that I am a 10 min drive from Detroit MI where there are 2 really good homebrew stores in the Metro area. This is where I get all my supplies and equipment. The store I usually go to is Adventures in Homebrewing. They sell online and they do ship to Canada. I'm not sure if it would be worth it after the shipping, brokerage and duties.

In my opinion Homebrewing should be more popular in Canada because of the high cost of commercial beer.
Click to expand...

Not sure why you say there are no good stores in Ontario...

There are two amazing homebrew stores in Ontario that ship nationwide cheap and quick. In general they are both better than 90% of USA homebrew stores since they both have really great selection and prices lower than most USA homebrew stores.

http://www.torontobrewing.ca/
Best selection of ingredients in the country form what I've seen. Really high quality hops and malt, including some obscure maltsters that many stores don't carry.

http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/
Really low prices, lots of equipment and kegging stuff.
 
Thanks for the links. OBK has a good selection and their prices are really good (almost the same as US). The only problem is they are 2.5hrs away from me. I like to try and by my stuff at a brick and mortar store where you can talk to the people working and get advice. That said, I still do buy things online and will definitely keep these guys in mind.

I just wished we had a homebrew store in Windsor.
 
Didn't read it all, but check out Beer Grains Supply, is the cheapest I've seen, and they are located in Ontario
 
wow lots of ontatio people on here... im a west coast brewer.

dans home brewing has alot of what you need, they can be a little rough and tumble when it comes to customer service but if you know your stuff they are awesome.

also theres a new place in new west: http://www.barleyshomebrewing.com/

has anyone been there?
 
larryburns said:
badnews for people who were purchasing from beergrains.com the free shipping over 100 dollars has changed to 18 dollars shipping over 100.
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With bulk grain sacks they won't let you ship more than 1 per order. Comes out at $26 to get it to Ottawa. Sadly even with this shipping adding 50% it's still about half the cost than at my LHBS. Extra BS I guess... My brother lives about 15 minutes from there, I'm having him pick up an order for me next time he comes over to visit. Shipping cost now: A 12 pack of homebrew.

On the topic of Canada Malting based from Montreal:
paraordnance said:
You're correct, they stopped selling to induviduals and will not set up accounts unless you LHBS or brewery.
Click to expand...
Any updates? Montreal is about 2 hours away and it's all highway. Until you get there of course. If they've got good enough prices it would be very worthwhile to go on a small road trip now and then.

Quote source
 
Gilberson and Page in Fergus, ON will sell to homebrewers. They distribute Wyermann, Muntons, and Canada Malting.

http://gilbertsonandpage.com/

Also, I'm pretty sure that OBK and TorontoBrewing are cheaper than beergrains.com and bigger selection.
 
I dug a little deeper in Ottawa and found that my LHBS (Defalcos) does sell bulk grain. It is mostly at the main terminal in Orleans (about 20 minutes east if there's no traffic) and available by special request at the location I usually go to. Their prices beat beergrains.com, and it isn't 6 hours away to G&P.
PDF prices for those interested.
 
I found Grain Process Enterprises in Scarborough ON, they have base grains in 25 Kilo sacks about $44 25kilo , great and easy to deal with. I have a product guide for those interested.
 
I live in Edmonton, if you think ontario is bad dont sweat it. I wont name some of the stores here but it's honestly awful. I hate going to them. There's one store that is an exception. They have very nice friendly staff but the pricing here is just not comparable to other canadian sites.

Ontariobeerkegs.com is awesome, not only that you get rewards points. I'm quite sure i've annoyed the hell out of the owner patrick with all my questions. I noobishly bought a keg system and didn't upgrade to the perlicks and asked if I shipped back the ones it came with could I get a refund for the difference ($30) and all conversation just stopped haha. Oh well.

Ontariobeerkegs is my #1 place to go. Toronto Brewing and Hopdawgs are also awesome choices. OBK's packaging of hops can't be beat from my experience and their prices are awesome. However they dont all seem to have the same grains and hops so I buy from different places when I need something.
 
natural said:
I live in Edmonton, if you think ontario is bad dont sweat it. I wont name some of the stores here but it's honestly awful. I hate going to them. There's one store that is an exception. They have very nice friendly staff but the pricing here is just not comparable to other canadian sites.

Ontariobeerkegs.com is awesome, not only that you get rewards points. I'm quite sure i've annoyed the hell out of the owner patrick with all my questions. I noobishly bought a keg system and didn't upgrade to the perlicks and asked if I shipped back the ones it came with could I get a refund for the difference ($30) and all conversation just stopped haha. Oh well.

Ontariobeerkegs is my #1 place to go. Toronto Brewing and Hopdawgs are also awesome choices. OBK's packaging of hops can't be beat from my experience and their prices are awesome. However they dont all seem to have the same grains and hops so I buy from different places when I need something.
Click to expand...

Hey, I'm in the same area as you. I compared prices between OBK and the LHBS and online is coming in maybe $3 cheaper on small orders and $10 on huge orders. Prices are low, but the shipping charges really add up. How much cheaper are you averaging?
 
heckler73 said:
Centennial Home Brewing is a new shop in Vancouver I've been digging. Brian ships in the lower mainland same day, and across Canada for a fee (pretty hefty, but that's Purolator for you).

http://centennialhomebrewing.com/en/content/1-delivery

He's knowledgeable, very friendly (knows my name when I walk it), and is building his stock as his customer base grows.
Click to expand...

$29 shipping... might work if I can place a huge order and maintain that price.
 

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