Good day from Nova Scotia

Hello to all. My questions, triumphs, and failures were getting too big for my local brewshop so here I came. "Big Cat Brewery", as the two US Navy guys serving on an exchange posting are Penn State and LSU alums searching for college football in a hockey world.

Hey BigCat, welcome to HBT!

Hey BigCat, welcome to HBT!!!....whereabouts in NS you at? i'm originally from there...now in NB...

Welcome on board!

Welcome to HBT!

You found just the right place to discuss triumphs and failures because we love to talk brewing around here and sometime (frequently) we even have better advice the LHBS.

Jmac00 said:

whereabouts in NS you at? i'm originally from there...now in NB...

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HRM. Lake Echo to be exact. Which is halfway out toward Porter's Lake if you know the area.

BigCatBrewery said:

HRM. Lake Echo to be exact. Which is halfway out toward Porter's Lake if you know the area.

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Yup, know the area fairly well. Head down there from time to time, have some family in the area. Man there's quite a few homebrewers from the halifax area. I guess you mainly deal with Noble down there? What kind of brews do you do? AG? partial? extract?

Welcome

Started pretty simple with the "Festa Brew" grab-a-wort and brew style. As with most things, success has bred more experimentation, so dry-hopping led to making a kit and boiling in a little finishing hops, and the ultimate goal now is a September brewed October drank Pumpkin Pie ale that we plan on ditching the kits for.

Noble grape is pretty much the only choice for anything beyond the kits, and the only place I have found to get hops. Did you know of another when you were here?

BigCatBrewery said:

Started pretty simple with the "Festa Brew" grab-a-wort and brew style. As with most things, success has bred more experimentation, so dry-hopping led to making a kit and boiling in a little finishing hops, and the ultimate goal now is a September brewed October drank Pumpkin Pie ale that we plan on ditching the kits for.

Noble grape is pretty much the only choice for anything beyond the kits, and the only place I have found to get hops. Did you know of another when you were here?

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We have a Noble Grape here in Fredericton. I've never been to a Noble Grape in halifax, but i've been to the one here in freddy numberous times. He gets all of his stuff from halifax/dartmouth. He hardly stocks anything for beer except the Festa kits.....anything else he'll order from halifax and get it sent up....at your expense of course....so he tacks on shipping (Wouldn't he be getting weekly supply orders for stock anyways???). If he included shipping in his prices and hid it, it wouldn't bother me. Even replacement o-rings for kegs....something small like that, don't even keep in stock. He seems to be more wine than anything. I'm pretty much fed up with going there, i've since ordered a bunch of keg supplies myself directly from Simgo, and put an order in from Midwest brewing from the US(some hops, yeast, and some bottling supplies)....i'd much rather support local....but i've tried on numerous occasions and nothing in stock. Another place around here that sells kegging supplies are redicoulously overpriced...i won't even get started on them..

If i'm planning on ordering from out of town, or from the US, i try and ask around to see if anyone else wants to go in on the order with me....i find it frustrating when i can barely buy anything local, so if i can help someone else out then that's even better.

Another suggestion if you're looking for grains or hops, is hit up the microbreweries....go talk to them, they may be able to sell you some stuff, or point you in a better direction. I remember someone buying kegging supplies from one of them, maybe it was Garrison??? I plan on visiting a Noble if i go down that way in September, to see what all they carry. Hopefully its better selection than up here.

Going to Garrison or Propeller is a great idea. I'll have to talk to those guys. I still remember when one of the first Canadians I met here in Halifax asked me if I tried the great local brew (meaning Kieth's). I have since realized not to ask him about anything taste related. But Garrison and Propeller are definitely worth hitting up.

Any good sites worth knowing from the states?

Edit-
And if you go to any noble grape, go to the one in Burnside. The other stores have the same frustration with supply as your store in Freddi . . . only without the shipping charges.

95 Akerley Boulevard
Dartmouth, NS B3B 1R7, Canada‎ - (902) 468-9463‎

Good to know which one is better, seeing as there's 5 down that way...Thanks for the tip.....and thanks for not helping my wallet, as it sounds like its really close to princess auto...hahahahaa..i'm good for at least an hour in there everytime.

As for US sites....there's a few, check the vendors section on here, but key thing is, find the ones that deal with USPS...not worth your time or money if they only ship UPS.....NEVER get anything shipped UPS up to canada....

austinhomebrew, morebeer.com, midwestbrewing, etc etc....communication is the key, to find out how they ship. I usually find quite a bit of stuff on Kijiji as well, depending on what equipment you're looking for.....that won't help with grains or stuff, but equipment is good to find on there.

No kidding with UPS/FEDEX. I love how they charge the "convenience fee" for paying the duty for me. What a racket. $15 on a $3 Duty.

I'm working Kijiji right now for a brewpot. I'm hoping for the Paderno estate sale or some beautiful copper gem . . . but will break down and start calling on the functional beasts here in a bit. Thanks for the sites and tips and good luck getting out of princess.