I can't win - trying to find a good LHBS

[PADave]

I'm really a fan of buying local, supporting the little guy. I've been ordering all my supply's online, but wanted to make an effort to try and find a local shop to pick up my ingredients. Especially to buy grains in bulk. This past weekend I make the hour drive to shop A. Pick up grains for a future brew and inquire about a 55 lb bag of 2-row. They discount bulk grains very little and it ends up being cheaper to pay the $18+ shipping and getting it delivered from morebeer. Today was a trip to shop B, another 45+ min trip. First impressions were that I was bothering the guy, and from the brief conversation we had he seemed quite stuck up. Went there for 3 different hops, and he only had one. And half of the hops were out of stock, claimed he had them ordered. Order before you are out, not when you are totally out. The plus, his bulk 2 row is a decent price. Just wish I had a good local shop that had good selection and decent prices. Guess I'll have to stick with online ordering, can't say I didn't try to support local.

 

[swampbrewcrew]

I feel your pain. There are only a handful of shops in Mississippi and the only one within two hours is tiny with a rather limited selection. The guy who runs it has a wealth of knowledge and won't hesitate spending time working out recipes and other problems with you. I don't mind tossing money his direction, my beer wouldn't be as good as it is if it wasn't for him.

 

[DoesItMatter]

As much as I like to support local only, I also use More Beer to get supplies.

The way gas prices fluctuate, the free shipping from them really helps the wallet!

 

[catdaddy66]

As much as I like to support local only, I also use More Beer to get supplies.

I agree. I have a very good lhbs 15 min from my house and love patronizing his business. The reality is that no lhbs can match online pricing for everything. So I do use Morebeer and Northern Brewer on hops and fermenters. I kinda feel guilty that I can't use him for all my purchases but he knows he has difficulty competing with internet resources. He is actually the second owner and the original owner was a great guy also.

 

[IslandLizard]

When we were shopping for a new supplier for our area bulk grain buy, 2 of our (quite local) LHBSs wouldn't budge a dime on their full sack list prices. We're good for 40-80 sacks every 2-3 months.

We're now getting our grain through another homebrew shop that's part of a small local brewery. Win-win for all of us! The pricing is fair, just not as rock bottom as we had before. But we do have a much, much larger selection that makes up for it.

I still get many grain supplies and sundries from those other 2 LHBSs, just not sacks of grain. Bigger equipment wise, the internet has a much better selection that's hard to beat.

When I called the one LHBS for a refill on my 20# CO2 tank, I was quoted $68! When my jaw dropped he said they sell it by the pound. $3.40 a pound? I can get refills or exchanges elsewhere for around $25.

So yeah, we like to give our LHBS business, but it's not always feasible. If they also have an attitude, simply look elsewhere.

 

[PADave]

So yeah, we like to give our LHBS business, but it's not always feasible. If they also have an attitude, simply look elsewhere.

Especially when I can sit here in my underwear, any time of the day or night, order everything I need, and have it on my porch in two days, all for less money. At least I can say I tried.

 

[brewtasting]

Do you guys try and work with your LHBS on pricing? If buying in bulk etc..

I see IslandLizard has with buying bulk grain.

If you have, I was curious of their reaction.

 

[IslandLizard]

Especially when I can sit here in my underwear, any time of the day or night, order everything I need, and have it on my porch in two days, all for less money. At least I can say I tried.

Someone recently mentioned he bought several 10# bags from MoreBeer, and after his total reached $59, the shipping became free. According to him it was a better deal than buying a 50# sack from them plus shipping.

Occasionally one of my 2 LHBSs runs a 20% off anything special, excluding Blichmann and a few other things. That's always a good time to stock up on things too. Like that gallon of Starsan. I'm pretty much set for life with that now.

If you go through a lot of grain, look for a bulk grain buy in your area. Or if you know someone who lives in an area that does, he/she may be able to pick it up for you.

Ranching (liquid) yeast by overbuilding starters is a great money saver too. Or repitching from (good) slurry.

Many of us buy hops by the pound. And this IS the season! You need to round up a few pounds to make the shipping worthwhile. Split the order with some friends to reduce the shipping per pound, or if a pound of each is too much. Store in freezer and keep the air out of the bags while you use them up. Vacuum sealers are very helpful with that.

 

[IslandLizard]

Do you guys try and work with your LHBS on pricing? If buying in bulk etc..

I see IslandLizard has with buying bulk grain.

If you have, I was curious of their reaction.

There's very little room for negotiation on their side, from what I've experienced. They may give you a little discount if you buy a pound of hops from them compared to their 1 oz prices, but it may still end up around $36-40 for a pound of Mosaic or Simcoe or so.

I do get 10% off at both places because I'm an AHA member. That helps a bit.

I do buy my (liquid) yeast from them, unless I want something from ECY or so, then I wait and mail order when the weather isn't extreme and L2B has them in stock for an hour or 2.

 

[woo_pig]

I agree. I have a very good lhbs 15 min from my house and love patronizing his business. The reality is that no lhbs can match online pricing for everything. So I do use Morebeer and Northern Brewer on hops and fermenters. I kinda feel guilty that I can't use him for all my purchases but he knows he has difficulty competing with internet resources. He is actually the second owner and the original owner was a great guy also.

My LHBS matches morebeers prices .Saved a butt load of money when I bought my perlicks.

 

[brewtasting]

There's very little room for negotiation on their side, from what I've experienced. They may give you a little discount if you buy a pound of hops from them compared to their 1 oz prices, but it may still end up around $36-40 for a pound of Mosaic or Simcoe or so.

I do get 10% off at both places because I'm an AHA member. That helps a bit.

I do buy my (liquid) yeast from them, unless I want something from ECY or so, then I wait and mail order when the weather isn't extreme and L2B has them in stock for an hour or 2.

I will be in a position soon to work with other home brewers, and I will work on pricing flexibility with them. I feel it can be a win - win situation under the right circumstances.

 

[brewtasting]

My LHBS matches morebeers prices .Saved a butt load of money when I bought my perlicks.

I have to compare pricing closer, but that could be a good idea. thanks

 

[woo_pig]

He still makes money on it. And I go in there A LOT. So he gets plenty of my money .

 

[Thorsbrew]

I guess i'm fairly lucky in this regard. I have maybe half a dozen shops within an hours drive. Visited most of them but still got a couple more to check out. Probably only 2 i'll use though.

One is quite large and has pretty good prices on lots of smaller gear that is nice when i just need a few things and dont want to pay shipping at ritebrew.com for a small order, lots of items like keg barbs and stuff like that is only slightly above ritebrew. Their prices on bulk grain arent all that good but they have an excellent selection of yeast. 2 guys work at the counter, basically just minding their own business.

The other place is a tiny little shop but the one guy that works in there was very friendly, tried to help a lot. Definitely makes you want to give them your business when they go out of their way like that. Too bad he has very little in there and the prices on most gear, even the smaller stuff (o-rings, keg barbs and other parts like that) are literally 2-3 times the price of online or even the other shop. The one saving grace is they have the best price on bulk grains by a mile. 50lb sacks of 2row for $40-$42 and great prices on a few others as well. He's definitely getting my business for the grains.

Got a gas supplier that does 20lb co2 exchanges for about $17 (and even said they could exchange my 5lb tank for a filled 20lb tank for $72 which is pretty cool)

Pretty lucky but still have to visit multiple places.

Hops though I buy online in bulk. Wow some of the prices are literally double or more what it cost online IF they even have 1lb bags at the LHBS, often they dont in which case it can be 3 times the cost of online 1lb bags.

 

[glick]

I have an lhbs that used to be ok to deal with, but after the price of a sack of Marris Otter went from $65 this spring to $80 now it's online for me.

 

[PADave]

Back to my initial post, the grains I bought were wrong. I wanted Munich, they didn't have that grain, but the guy said they had Caramunich and was the same. Not knowing any better at the time I took his word for it and now have 4 lbs of Caramunich for a 5 gallon brew. After doing some research I find out they are totally different grains. Problem is all the grains are mixed, so they are basically junk. I so want to support local, but now I'm out $20+ in doing so. Really would help if they knew what they were selling. Online for me, so I can make sure I'm getting what I want.

 

[bja]

Back to my initial post, the grains I bought were wrong. I wanted Munich, they didn't have that grain, but the guy said they had Caramunich and was the same. Not knowing any better at the time I took his word for it and now have 4 lbs of Caramunich for a 5 gallon brew. After doing some research I find out they are totally different grains. Problem is all the grains are mixed, so they are basically junk. I so want to support local, but now I'm out $20+ in doing so. Really would help if they knew what they were selling. Online for me, so I can make sure I'm getting what I want.

That doesn't always happen either. Morebeer has sent me C120 when I ordered C60, then they basically told "too bad". I don't buy anything from them now unless I have no other choice.

Occasionally there are group buys in this area, though at the moment I don't know of any. If one turns up I'll try and let you know.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Online for me, so I can make sure I'm getting what I want.

Vaya con Dios.

Cheers! ("An educated consumer is the best customer")

 

[Thorrak]

That doesn't always happen either. Morebeer has sent me C120 when I ordered C60, then they basically told "too bad". I don't buy anything from them now unless I have no other choice.

Occasionally there are group buys in this area, though at the moment I don't know of any. If one turns up I'll try and let you know.

I'm surprised at that Morebeer experience. I've had several things I've had to return to them/have reshipped, and they've pretty much bent over backwards to make things right.

 

[stylus1274]

It's a sign man... open your own shop. I had the same problems with my LHBS. Got fed up so now I'm physically in the process of opening my own store

 

[kh54s10]

now have 4 lbs of Caramunich for a 5 gallon brew. After doing some research I find out they are totally different grains. Problem is all the grains are mixed, so they are basically junk. I so want to support local, but now I'm out $20+ in doing so. Really would help if they knew what they were selling. Online for me, so I can make sure I'm getting what I want.

You aren't going to throw this out are you???

If so you ARE out $20....

Brew that up... It will be different than you wanted but it should still be a good beer!!

If not, send it to me.

 

[IslandLizard]

It's a sign man... open your own shop. I had the same problems with my LHBS. Got fed up so now I'm physically in the process of opening my own store

So now the investment becomes >$20,000 to save a $20 grain bill.

 

[IslandLizard]

You aren't going to throw this out are you???

If so you ARE out $20....

Brew that up... It will be different than you wanted but it should still be a good beer!!

If not, send it to me.

Last year I read a brand new published homebrew book that has an ESB recipe in it that uses 3 pounds of crystal in a 5 gallon batch. So 4 pounds is only a tad more... I'm sure it will still be good drinkable beer.

Seriously, 2 pounds would be the absolute limit for me in such a beer, but I prefer to limit it to half of that. So you could brew 4 ESBs easily, with added base malt. Use different hops and WY1968 yeast. Make a starter and repitch 3x from the saved slurry of the first batch.

 

[PADave]

You aren't going to throw this out are you???

If so you ARE out $20....

Brew that up... It will be different than you wanted but it should still be a good beer!!

If not, send it to me.

I contacted the shop and they did say that they would exchange it for the correct grains. But they have VERY limited hours and I'm not sure when I can get there. Like I said above, it's almost an hour one way.

No way I'm using it to brew, way too much malt for me. If I would and it comes out bad, now I'm out $20 for grains, what ever I spent to the hops and yeast, and my time. I'd rather cut my losses now.

 

[dallasdb]

I find shopping online I not only save myself time and money from cheaper pricing but I save from impulse buying!

I like to support local but when it makes sense. I'm not going to buy the local shop's kit when it is $40 + tax and I can get one from www.RiteBrew.com for $25-35 shipped.

When the prices are close, I'll buy local. For example, wine kits are $80 at the LHBS and ~$78 shipped online. With that I'll probably buy local.

But I can't justify $10-15 more for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[kh54s10]

I contacted the shop and they did say that they would exchange it for the correct grains. But they have VERY limited hours and I'm not sure when I can get there. Like I said above, it's almost an hour one way.

No way I'm using it to brew, way too much malt for me. If I would and it comes out bad, now I'm out $20 for grains, what ever I spent to the hops and yeast, and my time. I'd rather cut my losses now.

Then why don't you split it in 2 parts, add base grains and make 2 brews? They may not be a particular style, but why waste it?

 

[PADave]

Then why don't you split it in 2 parts, add base grains and make 2 brews? They may not be a particular style, but why waste it?

So then I've got 10 gal of something I don't want and probably isn't too good. Plus the additional cost of hops.

The wife kinda volunteered to take them Sat. when she is going that way.

 

[kh54s10]

So then I've got 10 gal of something I don't want and probably isn't too good. Plus the additional cost of hops.

The wife kinda volunteered to take them Sat. when she is going that way.

Why do you think it would probably not be good? I would see it as a chance to experiment. A different base grain for each brew, some different hops and different yeasts.

So you got Caramunich instead of Munich, yes that would be more malty. As is probably too malty, though I might even make a recipe that way on purpose. If you add base malt it cuts that at least in half. There is so much that you could do with that rather than blowing $20.

Or as I said, send it to me! :rockin:

 

[stylus1274]

So now the investment becomes >$20,000 to save a $20 grain bill.

Lol exactly

 

[dallasdb]

So then I've got 10 gal of something I don't want and probably isn't too good.

You seem a bit picky there Dave!

Have some fun and do a little experiment.

Luck will have it you'll end up brewing the best beer ever and you won't be able to replicate it because it was a mistake!!!

 

[bja]

I contacted the shop and they did say that they would exchange it for the correct grains. But they have VERY limited hours and I'm not sure when I can get there. Like I said above, it's almost an hour one way.

If you don't mind me asking, what shop is this? I'm about 15 minutes away from you.

 

[PADave]

Returned the grains and got what I wanted. I think I have more spent on gas sourcing the ingredients for this brew than the ingredients themselves. Only problem is the shop is not local buy any means, guess it's back to online ordering for me. Oh well, can't say I didn't try.