Wing Nut
Well-Known Member
So I brewed my 1st batch in over two years last weekend. Since it was a spur of the moment brew session I had to buy my grains locally. Because I had moved since my last homebrew session I wasn't sure where to get my ingredients so I did a quick internet search and found the only shop in Regina Sk, that had a decent selection of grains and hops.
I went in to the shop and it was your usual wine store. You know the type that sells the whole selection of wine expert kits and the line of canned beer kits with a few brew in a box kits. In the center of the store was a small island of grains and other adjuncts. I was a little put off by how the grain was stored, just open bags under the table. I would have rather seen some sort of storage bins. I am sure that having the bag open on the floor isn't good for it.
So I put the grain bill together, there wasn't enough Marris otter malt so I bought all 9lbs they had and will complete my grain bill with pale malt. Their selection of malts wasn't bad and neither was the selection of hops. I wasnt able to get my first or second choices so we ended up using the BYO hop guide to make substations. Having sampled the wort I can say the hop profile is very close to what I was looking for.
The Yest selection wasn't great either. I wanted the Wyeast smack packs but the owner explained that they don't get enough demand to warrant carrying them. So I got some Safale yeasts. It was weird that they were not packaged in the usual foil packets but in small ziploc bags with about half an ounce of yeast. They had the same tacky sticky bubble jet printer labels on everything. It was very armature.
I hadn't been paying attention to the prices while we where grabbing the ingredients. When we totalled everything up it came to over $240! Now mind you I was expecting to pay a fair bit because I was making two 10 gal. batches. But that was too much. Feeling obliged to make the purchase I asked if their was a discount for such a large purchase but the owner said no so I just passed the old visa card and left the store feeling a little violated.
When I got home I dissected the receipt. I started to get angry I was charged nearly $8 a pound for base malts and $8 an ounce for hops. I understand that they cant compete with the big home brew shops with their small volume, but the prices we were charged are pretty much highway robbery. I will not be going back to that store. I looked and with shipping it would have been at least $100 less to order.
If these store owners want to get into selling beer grains they need to be more realistic with their prices. At these prices they wont sell any grains at all. Realistically they need to take grain more seriously. Alsothey should get rid of the hand powered carona mill and get a real mill.
I went in to the shop and it was your usual wine store. You know the type that sells the whole selection of wine expert kits and the line of canned beer kits with a few brew in a box kits. In the center of the store was a small island of grains and other adjuncts. I was a little put off by how the grain was stored, just open bags under the table. I would have rather seen some sort of storage bins. I am sure that having the bag open on the floor isn't good for it.
So I put the grain bill together, there wasn't enough Marris otter malt so I bought all 9lbs they had and will complete my grain bill with pale malt. Their selection of malts wasn't bad and neither was the selection of hops. I wasnt able to get my first or second choices so we ended up using the BYO hop guide to make substations. Having sampled the wort I can say the hop profile is very close to what I was looking for.
The Yest selection wasn't great either. I wanted the Wyeast smack packs but the owner explained that they don't get enough demand to warrant carrying them. So I got some Safale yeasts. It was weird that they were not packaged in the usual foil packets but in small ziploc bags with about half an ounce of yeast. They had the same tacky sticky bubble jet printer labels on everything. It was very armature.
I hadn't been paying attention to the prices while we where grabbing the ingredients. When we totalled everything up it came to over $240! Now mind you I was expecting to pay a fair bit because I was making two 10 gal. batches. But that was too much. Feeling obliged to make the purchase I asked if their was a discount for such a large purchase but the owner said no so I just passed the old visa card and left the store feeling a little violated.
When I got home I dissected the receipt. I started to get angry I was charged nearly $8 a pound for base malts and $8 an ounce for hops. I understand that they cant compete with the big home brew shops with their small volume, but the prices we were charged are pretty much highway robbery. I will not be going back to that store. I looked and with shipping it would have been at least $100 less to order.
If these store owners want to get into selling beer grains they need to be more realistic with their prices. At these prices they wont sell any grains at all. Realistically they need to take grain more seriously. Alsothey should get rid of the hand powered carona mill and get a real mill.