Hi from SC

[starrfish]

Just stumbled blindly across your site. REGISTERED Immediately!

Just finished brewing my first batch in 10 years, (extract/specialty grain Milk Stout) which came out well.

Things have changed since I last brewed. Dry yeasts have improved, and hop availability has decreased but there are varieties out there that didn't exist 10 years ago.

looking forward to posting here (and getting advice) as I start my brew journeys again!

 

[McKBrew]

Hi! and welcome to Homebrewtalk. Welcome back to the hobby of brewing.

 

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Welcome! What part of SC are you in? I'm down in Beaufort.

 

[Weizenheimer]

Starrfish....where is SC are you?

 

[starrfish]

Florence SC. Been using the Bet-Mar shop in Columbia. good selection, great knowledge, and I'm supporting a "local" shop. wish there was one closer though.

 

[HighPlainsDrifter]

cool. I went to Bet-Mar once...and I plan to keep it that way. They just didn't do it for me. Sold me the wrong size CO2 cartridges to go with the portable set up I was buying. Hiked deep into the woods with a corny full of beer and the cartridges didn't fit the charger!!! I did get it to work finally, but it required a lot of wilderness engineering and a little blood. I swore that I'd never go back to that shop again. I should have known from the Bud Light extract kit they had prominently displayed.

If you like them then thats good, maybe I was just unlucky.

 

[starrfish]

A BUD LIGHT EXTRACT KIT! Oh man that is sooo wrong! lol. Glad I didn't see that!!!! would have lost ALL FAITH.

didn't need any special parts just some advice on new variety of hops and some dry yeast. I would have been ticked if my keg didn't flow after hoofing it in!!!

Found shop in NC up around Charlotte that can ship to me in 24hrs, helps since bet-mar is closed on sunday and monday. Had to have an emergency bottling spigot sent to me two weeks ago. Did something stupid to mine LOL filled bucket with bleach sanitizer and didn't lift bucket from bottom of tub... CRACK.

 

[Edcculus]

Great to see another South Carolinian! I'm up in Clemson. I visit Florence a good bit becasue my girlfriend goes to Francis Marion. Maybe we can trade some brews next time I'm down.

 

[Slappy White]

I'm in Cola and go to Bet-Mar frequently but not a big fan, but its my only option. The kits that they sell sit on the shelves for a long time. The hops at room temperature for a very long time can not be good. Not sure about the life of the extract either. The guy that owns the shop seems to always give me good advice, but think i'll start ordering kits from somewhere like northern brewer for fresher ingredients. Definitely wouldnt make the drive down just to go there tho. Plenty of online sources with better selection IMO. Welcome to the boards. I am sure it will be a useful tool. it has been for me.