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

[DiewithBeerinmyHand]

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)

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.

 

[Revvy]

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?

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.

 

[IrregularPulse]

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

 

[jameswardpeterson]

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.