Buying brewing equipment at a non-HB store....

What brewing equipment have you guys been able to purchase at non-HomeBrew stores?

I've heard of buying kettles from a kitchen supply store or department store, and buckets/funnels/brushes at a home improvement store, but is there anything else that can be found at a "normal" store?

Siphon tubing, maybe? Can Star San be purchased at a HomeAceLowesDepot store? What about a bottling spigot?

Where else could I buy a hydrometer?

I ask because the closest thing to a LHBS to me is a Winery that has a very limited selection. Also, paying $8-$10 for a 8" funnel and $15 for a plastic bucket is a bit steep to me....

If you are creative enough, you can find just about everything at stores other than a LHBS. Tubing can definitely be found at a hardware store, buckets are easy to find to, you just need to make sure they are food grade. Hydrometer I doubt you will find anywhere except for a specialty store, but I can almost guarantee that your wine store will sell them.

You can get hydrometers at pet supply stores, but they are for aquariums. The difference is that they aren't triple-scale like brewing hydrometers, and the scale only goes to 1.060, so they are no good for OG on big beers. But when mine broke on brewday with no spare and LHBS an hour and a half away round-trip, it worked ina pinch.

As for buckets, check with local bakeries. they may have frosting buckets lying around that they'll give you for free.

Siphon tubing can be gotten at Fleet Farm in the farm department. They sell it by the foot.

Also check if there are any restaurant supply stores near you for funnels, sanitizers, and other what-nots you may need.

Don't buy your strainers, funnels...or any cooking utensils at the LHBS...You can find those at hardware, cooking sections of grocery stores...and the dollar store is your friend as well.

I've found quite a few things at junk stores. I've got a couple of flip top growlers there as well as a two and a half gallon carboy. You can also find drip tray options there.

I once found 5 gal glass carboys at a discount outlet store for really cheap. I bought a couple of them. Wish I would have bought more.

You can get Hydrometers and many other things at Lab Supply stores.

you won't find star-san at any store but a brew shop. its marketed as a brewery sanitizer.

Two items:

Check the donught shop and other high volume bakeries for food grade buckets. They tend to go through tons of food grade buckets. I had no idea you could buy strawberry jelly in a five gallon bucket... but I got one for two bucks.

Second, look on the internet for hydrometers. For "about" the same price as a LHBS hydrometer you might find a much nicer, more precise 3 scale hydrometer, shipping included.

Bottled water suppliers (Like Culligan): Glass & PET Carboys

Wal-Mart: Mash Tun Coolers, false bottoms, thermometers, brew pots

Lowes & Home Depot: MLT fittings, Oxygen, MLT's

I can go on and on.... time for din din!!!

malkore said:

you won't find star-san at any store but a brew shop. its marketed as a brewery sanitizer.

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True but many restaurant supply stores will sell similar acid-based sanitizers.

I found a carboy cap at Cal-Ranch supply store. There goat nipples, when cut off, are the same size for an airlock and they fit snug on the BB and glass CB.

I am surprised nobody has mentioned their local health food store..I have always gotten stuff there (of course the one here in town carries homebrew stuff too)

Things like dextrose and other add ins are a good bet at a health food store.

About getting used buckets--I would think that a frosting bucket from a bakery would work, but don't bother messing with most other buckets that food was packed in. I know that the big buckets restaurants get pickles delivered in will NEVER loose their pickle aroma, no matter what you do.

(Believe me, I now have a completely useless bucket that smells like brine and bleach. I was thinking about using it to catch anti-freeze).

Rockybottom said:

I found a carboy cap at Cal-Ranch supply store. There goat nipples, when cut off, are the same size for an airlock and they fit snug on the BB and glass CB.

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Another thing besides cheap Iodophor (8 dollars/gallon) that can be found at the farm and feed!

Do you have apicture of this thing?

The very first thing I brewed was using ingredients soley from walmart (back in 1993).

Apple juice, Bread yeast, cane sugar, bucket, bleach, and empty soda bottles.
Ideal, no even close. More of a "Look, I can make alchohol before I was 21" type of thing.

As for food-grade pails, most restaurants throw out plastic 5-7 gallon pails every day. (used for pickels, gravy, juice, etc). Obviously food grade.

Revvy said:

Another thing besides cheap Iodophor (8 dollars/gallon) that can be found at the farm and feed!

Do you have apicture of this thing?

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Here it is I paid about $1.15 for it:

The local CVS has gallon jugs of cheap wine that look like great little 1g fermenters...

bensyverson said:

The local CVS has gallon jugs of cheap wine that look like great little 1g fermenters...

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Enjoy emptying it!!!! But watch for the headache! It is CHEAP wine dontjaknow.

thermometers, oxiclean, wallpaper tray, hoses

bulk honey @ natural foods store

At Limbo (a produce/healthfood store) I saw bentonite, irish moss, sweet orange peel, and coriander, all for $1/oz.

EvilTOJ said:

At Limbo (a produce/healthfood store) I saw bentonite, irish moss, sweet orange peel, and coriander, all for $1/oz.

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You know after reading this, there needs to be a chain of stores like, "Dollar General" or "The Dollar Store" that just sell home-brew items.

Wouldn't this be absolute bliss!! :rockin:

I bought dan near everything I use at some plaec other than a homebrew supplier. Probably the only equipment I could not get just as easily and more cheaply would be a hydrometer, drilled stoppers, airlocks, and corny kegs.


TL

At non-HB stores, I've bought: my MLT (all parts), my pot, my keggle, my burner, propane, a paint mixer, my kegerator (all parts), foil, cheesecloth, Oxyclean, CO2, growlers, some ingredients, tap handles, and probably more...

this is the best thread i could have found, i have been researching homebrewing for the past six months, but havent had money to purchase a kit yet. now i dont think i will have to.
how bout ingredients? i work at the Vitamin Shoppe, we sell brewers yeast, i checked the label on a few of them, but it didnt state a particular species, so i was skeptical and assumed they couldnt be used, if anyone knows otherwise, let me know. i will probably brew my first batch with a nice ingredient kit, to make it easy.
keep it coming with the equipment ideas brewers! this is GLorious!! Im headed to walmart!

A good tool to add to your sanitization arsenal, besides a sponge and spray bottle is a wallpaper soaking tray (another 5 dollah harware store deal.)



Fill it with sanitizer and lay in any long things- your racking cane or autospiphon, your long spoons, hoses...anything that wont fit in your bucket or sink.

You can buy concentrated bulk Iodophor for 8 dollars a gallon at a farm and feed store...Nipple Sanitizer. I know it says 19.00 on this gallon...but someone posted last week they bought it for 8 bucks.

It's foodgrade because it's used to sanitize the nipple and the milking machine prior to milking cows...so go figure.

Anyone know where to get a good floating thermometer? I've looked and have been unsuccessful so far.

GreatWhiteSlark said:

Anyone know where to get a good floating thermometer? I've looked and have been unsuccessful so far.

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Pet stores...for aquariums or fish ponds.

And cooking supply shops.

Not to be a downer... but I buy everything I can from my Local Home Brew Store. I want to support him with as much business as possible. I would never give my hard earned money to a home depot or walmart when I could be handing it to a real person from my community you is bold enough to open a homebrew store to supply me with his knowledge and connections to everything I need. I realize some things don't make sense to buy from a LHBS, but if it within a reasonable price range (it ALWAYS is) then I hope you will support your local stores.

Sorry just my rant about supporting local businesses. (You should see me get rolling on chain restaurants)

okay, so after reading this thread, i went looking for supplies. heres what i found at walmart

mesh tea ball- $1.97
i'm pretty sure i saw a floating thermometer for bout $4
5 gal stainless pot-$40 - expensive, if you ask me, im looking into turkey fryers at homedepot

homedepot- my dad called me when he was there and i had him look at plastic carboys, he said they had them, i had him check the recycle symbol, and it was pet /1\.

and i hear that hursh drug in my area (pharmacy) has brew supplys.

question- does oxiclean work as a sanitizer in place of b brite and star san?

Boerderij Kabouter said:

Not to be a downer... but I buy everything I can from my Local Home Brew Store. I want to support him with as much business as possible. I would never give my hard earned money to a home depot or walmart when I could be handing it to a real person from my community you is bold enough to open a homebrew store to supply me with his knowledge and connections to everything I need. I realize some things don't make sense to buy from a LHBS, but if it within a reasonable price range (it ALWAYS is) then I hope you will support your local stores.

Sorry just my rant about supporting local businesses. (You should see me get rolling on chain restaurants)

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i understand where you are coming from, but this thread is really helping out people like me. i live in a crappy town, (bellville, OH). there isnt a LHBS within a 2 hour radius of me. plus i dont have a whole lot of money, so being able to buy stuff at walmart for half the price of ordering online, is great. everyone of my ancestors has brewed there own beer, and i want to bring the tradtion back.

.....
then again, maybe instead of complaining, i should open up my own LHBS.

DiewithBeerinmyHand said:

okay, so after reading this thread, i went looking for supplies. heres what i found at walmart

mesh tea ball- $1.97
i'm pretty sure i saw a floating thermometer for bout $4
5 gal stainless pot-$40 - expensive, if you ask me, im looking into turkey fryers at homedepot

homedepot- my dad called me when he was there and i had him look at plastic carboys, he said they had them, i had him check the recycle symbol, and it was pet /1\.

and i hear that hursh drug in my area (pharmacy) has brew supplys.

question- does oxiclean work as a sanitizer in place of b brite and star san?

Click to expand...

Oxyclean is just that, a cleanser (It cleans everything)...You still need a sanitizer after cleaning to, well to sanitize ...Starsan and Iodophor are the 2 most recommended sanitizers around.

I found my 5 gallon Stainless pot at a Family Dollar for I think 10 bucks (mebbe 12)...Someone posted on here about it. So if you haven't bought the pot at wallmart look at a family dollar, dollar general or Odd Lots.

Oxiclean is not a sanitizer, just a cleaner. It also needs to be thoroughly rinsed

the Brewers yeast that is sold at health food stores is NOT active. it is dead yeast but it does supposedly work as a nutrient for live yeast (darn little cannibals) I tried it before I was 21 once because my LHBS wouldn't sell me anything because I wasn't of age. even though theres no law against yeast... stupid store policy.

At that time I got just about everything I needed from home depot to start brewing, and a 3 gallon food storage bin from the container store for just 12 bucks. The containers go up to 5 gallon size but they dont have the absolute greatest seal. as long as you have internal pressure they work fine, and the price is a real steal too.