Colorado Springs brewers?

[mcwilcr]

And also to Clawson:



I appreciate your replies. I am looking for a local store I can go pick up some supplies if you have any suggestions for those. I have been looking at kegconnection online and that seems like a good resource, but I prefer local if possible.



The one here in Monument is more geared towards wine making and has beer one the side. They don't carry the taps & shanks type of equipment I'll need. I know google exists, but a reference is always better if you know someone that has been to the store. Thanks again.

Wine crafters/ Rocky Mountain homebrew shop in the springs has some kegging equipment, and so does Old west homebrew downtown. That being said, I use both of them for the small stuff but the big stiff I have gotten it all online from kegconnection, adventures in homebrewing, and cornykeg.com

 

[Clawson]

Castle rock homebrew I.think is better than what you can find in the springs.

 

[Backslide]

Old thread, but I'm in Colorado Springs. I've brewed up 20gal since July 4th.

Jason

 

[zeccahj]

Anyone brewing anything in the new year yet?

Also Old West is fantastic, seems to be run by some great people plus with the stogies right there it truly is one stop shopping

 

[Backslide]

I have a Belgian Quad in the fermenter right now. I also prefer wine crafters over old west!

 

[butterpants]

If you're in the north end (I'm in Monument too) avoid the homebrew shop here like the plague. Woody is a nice guy but all his stuff has a SUPER slow turnaround rate on it. Essentially the extract/hops/yeast are old. Old West doesn't stock enough kegging supplies and hops. Fermentations off academy is geared to wine and worthless for beer.

Do yourselves a favor and take the 20min drive to Castle Rock Homebrew. They literally have everything....most yeast packs I buy have been date stamped that month. The only other shop with the selection Castle Rock has is The Brew Hut in Aurora.. but that's another 30 min north and 90% of Aurora is a hell hole.

 

[zeccahj]

That's been my experience with wine crafters, lots of money wasted on essentially dead smack packs and stale hops. Also the fact that nothing has a price tag on it is not something I'm totally cool with. Though he does stock colorado malting company which I think is cool and want to support.

I do agree that castle rock is the best around but for most things I find old west more than enough

 

[quirkzoo]

That's been my experience with wine crafters, lots of money wasted on essentially dead smack packs and stale hops. Also the fact that nothing has a price tag on it is not something I'm totally cool with. Though he does stock colorado malting company which I think is cool and want to support.

I do agree that castle rock is the best around but for most things I find old west more than enough

Funny, I just used wine crafters for the first time a couple of weeks ago because they had the yeast I was looking for in stock (3726). I came in and the guy behind the counter grabbed the yeast for me while I was weighing/milling my grain. I paid for everything and the prices were extremely reasonable. Then I got home and noticed that the yeast was super clumpy and looked totally flocculated and very old. Best by 2/11!. At this point it was too late because I was brewing the next day, thankfully I pitched it into a starter and it worked fine, but it was still super sketchy to sell someone 4 year old yeast.

Not sure if I am going back because I do really like the fact that they carry Colorado Malting Co. and the price seems good.

Old West is my usual store because I work downtown so it is often just a stop on the way home.

 

[butterpants]

Castle Rock Homebrew sells Colorado grown/malted 2-row. The owner Eric is quite fanatical about local small businesses.

No offence but if you patronize a store that sold you 4 year old yeast, you're an idiot.

 

[Backslide]

I've never seen expired yeast at wine crafters. In fact the only liquid yeast they sell comes from uccs. They do sell dry yeast, but I don't use that garbage so have no comment on it.