Greetin's from the Great Wet North

[hnefatafl]

Hi all. I'm getting back into brewing after a ten year hiatus, and excited to find a great group of people online. I'm sitting watching the pouring rain in Vancouver BC, with a nice pint of Scots Export, the first new batch of beer.

I had to replace all my equipment, but this glass makes it all worth it.

 

[Fingers]

Hey! Another one of 'us'! Good to see ya, hnefatafl. You bottling or kegging?

 

[bradsul]

Welcome! Always great to see another Canuck!

 

[hnefatafl]

Hey! Another one of 'us'! Good to see ya, hnefatafl. You bottling or kegging?

Good to see a few of us in here! I'm bottling at the moment, but I'm looking at getting into kegging. When I bottled last time, it was a whole lot easier to find bottles that weren't screw-top. I've managed to convince four different bottle depots between here and work that I'm NOT crazy, and yes, I do want to buy bottles FROM them. So far I've gathered an awful lot of the 650ml bottles that are used by the smaller breweries out here - Tree, R&B, Old Yale, etc. For some reason though I keep finding some filled with beer, and have to empty them before I can do anything else.

Kegging looks to be a good new step to take. Particularly after a Saturday's worth of cleaning bottles. The cost might be the hurdle at the moment though.

 

[Fingers]

Like those quitters always say, 'One day at a time.'

 

[FlyGuy]

Welcome -- always nice to see another Canadian on the site (there are a few, but I think we are in the minority).

I am curious - do you buy your homebrew ingredients and equipment from Dan's Homebrew? I have bought a little there, and he seems to carry a lot of stuff from his website. I am curious if he actually carries much stock in the store.

Where are you going to buy your kegging gear from? I just bought one after hunting around Canada, and not having much luck (had to get something shipped from the states).

Cheers

 

[hnefatafl]

Right now Dan's is the only place I'm buying from; his prices are reasonable, and it's conveniently on my way home from work. There used to be a Brew King out where I live, but it's been gone for years (I'm actually in a suburb of Van called Coquitlam). There are plenty of U-Brews around too, but they've all stopped carrying malts.

So far, everything I've been looking for from his website has been in stock, with one exception; two weeks ago he ran out of the 50ml smack-packs of Wyeast Irish Ale. Something to do with an International Stout Holiday. When I was brewing previously, I'd had to buy the specialty malts (from Spagnols) in packages of a pound, and grind them myself with varying degrees of success. The first time I walked into Dan's and tried to buy 4 different pounds of malts (Choc, Crystal, peat and Spec.B) he asked me what on earth I was making. When I explained that I only needed 1/4 of each this time, he only sold me exactly what my recipe called for, ground them for me, and labeled the bag. The malts are I think $0.50/lb more if he grinds them, but I'm not going back to a plastic bag and a rolling pin again.

As for kegging, Dan's a big fan of that too. I think he's got all the equipment for sale there, but since I haven't started the process of pricing equipment, I don't know if his prices are good or not. I don't know where else I'd pick the stuff up around here other than say, eBay. Or the Coke bottling plant down the road.

 

[FlyGuy]

That's good info about Dan's shop. Glad to hear that he keeps a good stock on hand. I might have to try ordering from him more often -- I usually use Paddock Wood, but lately they are out of at least a third of the items I want on every order.

Thanks!

 

[bradsul]

...I usually use Paddock Wood, but lately they are out of at least a third of the items I want on every order...

I've noticed this too. They used to be fantastic, I wonder what's going on over there.