LHBS Pet Peeves

overflow said:

I didn't even know there was a HBS in Aurora; I'll have to hit it up this weekend. I'm in Bolingbrook and was going to Two Brothers when I first started brewing. Like others, I found it kinda sucks - they have weird hours, not much of a grain selection, and I was always having to substitute things. The staff gave always gave off the attitude of "you're bothering me" (seems like since the brewery is attached they just send whoever is available up to deal with you.) Been a few years since I've been there though; maybe it's improved. Presently I use Northern Brewer, Midwest Supplies, and Morebeer for everything; just plan your brew session a week or so in advance. Two Brothers does make some fine beer though.

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Brew & Grow in Bolingbrook for the win! Check it out, they're open now...

My new pet peeve is listening to a shop LHBS employee justify the price on pre-crushed grain. I simply asked "these are priced differently simply for being pre-crushed, correct?" She took this to mean I was angling to get it for the same price and launched into a spiel about "yeah, it takes me hours and hours to crush and re-bag all that grain, so yeah, I'm going to to charge you for it". I'm sorry, I was just asking for clarification on the GIANT 25 CENT PRICE DIFFERENCE, wasn't trying to pull anything.

bgburdman9 said:

The store i have been going to sells hops for 4.25 an ounce and yeast for like $8-9. I cant remember grain prices but probably not much less than this.

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Go to hopsdirect.com. You can get hops at rock bottom prices. I bought a pound of 4 different pellet hops ranging from $6.75 to $10.75 per pound. That's less that a buck an ounce.

Also quit buying yeast. Get a flip top bottle or something even a glass bottle with a screw on top like Sobe if you must. Sanitize it and siphon some of your yeast cake into it. You can use it like 4 times before you need to replace the yeast strain. I've used 6 month old yeast before without a hitch. Just make a starter with it to make sure it's viable before use.

Put your yeast cake into a bottle seal it, refrigerate it and release the pressure 2-3 times over the next 1-2 weeks and forget about it till you need it.

With re-using my yeast and the cheap hops I knock like $10-$15 bucks or more off of my bill. I think my LHBS charges like $1.25/LB for grain. So I can easily brew 5 gallons for under 20 bucks. I use my savings to include an extra pound of grain or so to a recipe and kick up the alc content a tad.

Brews like Pliny the Elder which use a truck load of hops I would never brew with the cost of LHBS hop prices. With cheap hops it doesn't hurt your pocket book so much.

I frequent three different home brew shops in Maine. One is in my home town of Bangor - it's actually an all natural grocer with an impressive selection - and they are able keep their prices very competitive because they have a ton of revenue streams beyond brewing, which is nice. They only have a brewing guy there on the weekends, though, which is fine by me.

The two in the greater Portland area have their perks. The one I prefer, but is further way, is small, dusty and perfect. The guy is exceptionally helpful, doesn't mind shooting the breeze, doesn't put pressure on you to buy, etc. The closer for the two is neat, tidy and trendy. The service is marginal, prices are average, but the selection is worth it. Place has everything you'd ever need. But, I'll always take service over selection. That's probably just me, though.

YooperBrew said:

I don't have any shops local, except for one place in northern Wisconsin about 50 miles away. They are new to homebrew supplies, so there isn't a good selection, and the prices aren't great. The good part is that they will order things for me. I just got a sack of maris otter, Vienna malt, and 2-row. Their yeast is way too old and overpriced, and their supply of specialty malts is very poor. But I'm thrilled to have any place at all, less than 150 miles away.

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"Super H" in Ashland? Used to live in Ashland before I homebrewed and before Super H began carrying supplies. Was just up there last month to visit friends and was pleasantly surprised to see that they were carrying stuff. But yes, their prices were a little out of hand. Beats nothing, though.

Don't really have any gripes. Prices are a little higher than I'd like, but that's the nature of the little guy. I try and support local businesses whenever possible, and that's almost always going to mean paying a little more.

MrInternet said:

Brew & Grow in Bolingbrook for the win! Check it out, they're open now...

My new pet peeve is listening to a shop LHBS employee justify the price on pre-crushed grain. I simply asked "these are priced differently simply for being pre-crushed, correct?" She took this to mean I was angling to get it for the same price and launched into a spiel about "yeah, it takes me hours and hours to crush and re-bag all that grain, so yeah, I'm going to to charge you for it". I'm sorry, I was just asking for clarification on the GIANT 25 CENT PRICE DIFFERENCE, wasn't trying to pull anything.

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Thanks for this! I swung by there (Brew & Grow) Saturday and this place is fantastic. I talked with the head brewing guy a while and he is really friendly and knowledgeable. I was also brewing that day and it turned out NB had shipped me 2lbs of my base malt (instead of the 12lb I ordered) so they saved my brew day. They're doing 20% off your highest priced item until the end of November as well - I grabbed a bulk sack of Briess 2 row for $40..

I'm also an indoor/hydro grower so this place is like a dream come true.

Pro: My homebrew shop is Rebel Brewer - so they always have the best prices and the largest selection of grain. The last two times I've bought yeast from them, it was made less than 2 weeks ago each time.

Cons: I'm moving soon and will have to start paying shipping.

Just out of curiosity I did a price comparison between my LHBS and the online guys, and the local one is wwwaaaayyy more expensive - even if you include shipping from one of the online shops.

Just as an example, they’re selling 1oz of Amarillo pellets for $3.99 when most places online have them for $2.99 (NorthernBrewer, Brewmasters Warehouse, AustinHomebrew). 1LB of breiss 2-row is going for $1.95 at NT where it’s $1.25 - $1.50.

I want to support the local guys, but man, they make it tough.

yea Mine is the same way... but at the same time they have to pay for overhead and many of the online hbs are completely based on the internet and have little overhead to speak of.

I try to support my LHBS as much as I can. They used to be absurdly priced with bulk grain... $80 for a sack of 2-row and $90-$100 for anything german or Belgian.

But they have come down to $65 on the sack of 2-row, which is only $15 more than I pay at the brewery upstate. But they can't touch my price on Pilsner malt.

I must be pretty lucky then. I have two LHBS to choose from, one is pretty subpar I think, but the other is actually Northern Brewer so I don't even have to pay the $8 flat shipping. The place is like 10 minutes from my work.

Bowtiebrewery said:

yea Mine is the same way... but at the same time they have to pay for overhead and many of the online hbs are completely based on the internet and have little overhead to speak of.

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I am having a hard time thinking of an internet only home brew store now that BMW is not internet only.

Certainly the big names all have store fronts. B3 and NB have multiple store fronts.

Bowtiebrewery said:

yea Mine is the same way... but at the same time they have to pay for overhead and many of the online hbs are completely based on the internet and have little overhead to speak of.

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I don't know of any online-only HBS. I was just doing the comparison between NB, BMW and MB. I guess I just don't understand the economics of running a place like this.

Still, I think for my future orders I'll be going online. It just sucks, because sometimes you get the urge to brew a few days or so before the weekend (or whenever your brewday is) and you need stuff NOW. I guess I'll have to be a better planner.

There are two LHBS in my area and I have the same gripe about both of them. They both tend to discard the recipe that I came in there with trying to buy and upsell me to a recipe that they have which is without question more expensive. I understand that they are experienced brewers and that if done correctly their recipe may ultimately taste better than the one I came in there with. However, being a novice I don't necessarily need liquid yeast over dry yeast, etc.

Being a newbie I want to focus on a simple recipe that I can execute correctly. After I get brewing somewhat down I will move up to liquid yeast and yeast starters, etc. For now just give me what I asked for.

I suppose what irritates me the most is they don't even ask if I prefer one product over the other. They just give me the more expensive one. This has happened once at each of my LHBS. I went to one shop to get some liquid extract. The guy there filled a small bucket with extract. It wasn't until I looked at the receipt later in the day that I noticed he charged me $4 for the bucket! Had I known that the bucket was $4 I would have just got the extract in a can. Again, I'm not arguing over which ingredients are better, I'm just saying that I should have been given the option to choose.

Now that I have got my feet a little wet you can be sure that it won't happen again. Why? Because instead of going to my LHBS I ordered my latest ingredients from BrewMaster's Warehouse. Using their Brewbuilder I got exactly what I wanted. If I need advice on what and what not to use I'll come here to Homebrew Talk and get solid advice for free!

i Use The Brew Hut in Aurora CO its down the street and really resonably priced 1.50 for 2 row and 1.75 for all the other specilatys always very well stocked with anything imaginable even more so since they just did a huge expansion. Very helpful staff and a great bonus kicker its in the same room as dry dock brewing so there is great beer too.

One thing that is bothering me lately is my LHBS' lack of Wyeast. They have every type of White Labs (3/4 of their stock.) But I want to use a smack pack, and I don't want to pay shipping on it.

My biggest issue is the amount of money I tend to spend in there but this is really not his fault.

If I had to really nit-pick it would be the initial asthetics of the store. Its really like walking through someones overfull storage area or garage. Things are laying around with no apparent order - he knows where everything is, and within a couple visits, I figured it out.

hops = $2.00-$2.25/oz
yeasts = $.90 for most of the drys - not sure about liquid
prepackaged beer 'kits' = $20-$30 - though it seems if he's not busy he'll piece together a 'kit' for you if its a couple bucks cheaper
not sure on grains as I'm not there quite yet but I'd have to assume they're pretty good judging by the lines I've seen in there and totals I've heard him tell people at the register.
hours = ok I guess - 11-7 Wed.-Sun. but If you call and he's not busy He'll let you in (I think he lives next door)

The wife and I have been there a few times together and every time she's asked me how he stays in business 'cuz my total is so much cheaper than the 'estimate' I told her before we got there. Hell, I bought a brewing starter kit while I was there cheaper than than I could get it online.

The biggest perk is if you're walking around shopping he'll offer you a drink, or two, or five. Most of what I've brewed has been a recipe of something I've tried there while shopping.

Sorry to gush.. I just am so happy and consider myself lucky to be so new at this and have a real live person so close that is so helpful and doesn't take advantage of a 'noob'

The only LHBS I know of (other then kegkits.com hehe) is "Pearly Gates" a natural foods type shop, and the homebrew is almost an afterthought for them. You could fit their entire inventory in a spare bedroom of your house (if you had plenty of shelves in there). Their prices aren't too bad, and they have the "bare necessities" but that's it.

However it seems RebelBrewer is about 90 miles away so if they're open on weekends at ALL I can imagine they'll see me in there soon

nickster51 said:

$3-5 per pound grain prices. Very expensive extract kits. my LHBS pales in comparison to most online shops.

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Holy dickin' grain prices, brewman!

I don't get my local supplier:

- He's friendly, has decent prices, is open hours that most people can work with.
- He has samples, and a recipe for it if you need it, is willing to discuss things, and humour peoples eccentricities.
- It's more than a 9 minute drive to get there, and he has a decent adapter and h/w set selection.


Some people.

brewmonk said:

I don't get my local supplier:

- He's friendly, has decent prices, is open hours that most people can work with.
- He has samples, and a recipe for it if you need it, is willing to discuss things, and humour peoples eccentricities.
- It's more than a 9 minute drive to get there, and he has a decent adapter and h/w set selection.


Some people.

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Jerk . . .