Recommendations on shops in the Bay Area?

[Jimmya22]

I am asking for a homebrew kit for Christmas. With a 2 year old at home, and twins on the way, what better way to spend time at home.

I was wondering if anyone had recommendations on homebrew stores/shops in the Bay Area, or East Bay?

Thanks and have a great Thanksgiving!

 

[knownikko]

I honestly don't know if they have a storefront or not, but Williams Brewing is in San Leandro and I've ordered online from them several times with great results. Very quick and friendly, good prices.

 

[DylansDad]

Hi,
I'm new here too and I live in San Ramon as well (small world). I went to:

MoreBeer!
995 Detroit Ave. Unit G
Concord, CA 94518
Phone: 925-671-4958
Fax: 925-671-4978
Mon - Fri 9am to 6pm
Sat & Sun 10am to 5pm

Based on a recommendation from one of the guys I started brewing with 2 weeks ago. They are friendly and have a lot of stock on hand. In fact we spent about an hour in the store just talking about the brewing and what to expect.

Good luck!
Dave

 

[quixotic]

Try Oak Barrel in Berkeley. Oak Barrel Winecraft
They're knowledgeable and friendly. Prices on equipment are a little high though.

 

[DeathBrewer]

oak barrel is the best shop on the planet. support them.

tell them deathbrewer sent you.

 

[david_42]

More Beer has a store in Concord, but the Oak Barrel is the best.

 

[DylansDad]

Thanks for the info about Oak Barrel.




sorry about hijacking the thread, carry on.

 

[iheetderks]

Personally my favorite store is San Francisco Brewcraft.

 

[jigidyjim]

Oak Barrel.

I've also been to Hop Tech in Dublin and thought that the guy there was really really helpful.

Williams Brewing does have a store front, I've never bought from there though.

 

[DeathBrewer]

I don't think Williams has a storefront anymore. I may be mistaken, but I think they are warehouse online now.

Oak Barrel is the only way to go, anyway...absolute best shop on the planet (and the fact that I haven't gone to many other places doesn't factor into it )

 

[Palefire]

I actually don't think that Williams Brewing has a storefront - I called them about 6 months ago to find out and they said no. But maybe they've opened one since then?

Morebeer is fine, really good, even, but Oak Barrel is the easily the best. They have everything, it's relatively affordable, they know what they're talking about, and they even have beer on tap that you can drink for free. I've gotten good advice from the people there.

SF Brewcraft is kind of weird. I go there because it's closest to my house, but I pretty much only buy grain there (sometimes hops or yeast). They're definitely lots more expensive than the other stores, and I've gotten some pretty lousy brewing advice from different people there. Plus Griz (the huge old guy who own the place; always sitting in a chair in the corner) can be difficult to deal with.

 

[DeathBrewer]

MoreBeer has changed the way they handle grain now. All the specialty grain is pre-packaged and the quantities are a little off, so be sure to reweigh your grain to ensure you are sticking to your recipe. I really like the guys there, just not the way the grain is being done at the moment. They definitely have a lot more equipment than some of the more local homebrew shops.

As for Griz, well, I think he's just a bit set in some of the old brewing ways. I really disagreed with some advice he was giving the few times I went there. Decent place for ingredients, but if you can make it out to Oak Barrel, do it.

Damn, lol, this is an OLD thread.

 

[LayMeister]

My favorite is Beer and Wine Makers of America on Brokaw in San Jose across the street from Frys near 880. Large inventory, great selection, and good advice. What more could you ask for.

http://www.beerandwinemakers.com/Map_to_Store.html

 

[jigidyjim]

I wish oakbarrel would stock some organics... why is breworganic the only place that does it? Just not enough interest? I mean, come on, it's a store in berkeley! The probably have to pay a tax for not selling organics!

As for williams brewing, I was mistaken. I dropped off my "oaktoberfest" brewing competition entry at a place in San Leandro last August - I thought it was Williams, but I just looked it up, it's a place called "Brewmaster, Inc. ".

 

[DeathBrewer]

If there was enough demand for it, I'm sure they would carry it. There will be some new equipment and ingredients coming in soon...no mention of organic though...

 

[david_42]

wish oakbarrel would stock some organics... why is breworganic the only place that does it? Just not enough interest? I mean, come on, it's a store in berkeley!

The last numbers I saw showed 3% of homebrewers interested in organic ingredients. Might be slightly higher in Bezerkly, but probably not much.

 

[Jipper]

To do organics you have to pay to be certified to deal with them, you have to store them in a separate place from the rest of your grains, and you have to be re-certified every year or something.

I haven't heard of our grains being off at all, but I'll let the guys know about it so we can fix that. How much are they off by?

 

[Shooter]

Boy, this is one old thread! I'll give a thumbs up to all three places I normally use. I've made a couple of equipment orders from Williams Brewing. Sometimes I find things there I can't get elsewhere. It's a pain to pay shipping charges from a place I could drive to in 20 minutes, but I always get my product the next day. I like HopTech in general. Dan, the owner, is a good guy. It's a small shop, but they have GREAT root beer extract, carry most basic products and I've had good success with their extract kits. I probably use More Beer the most. I like the staff up there and they have a huge selection. I've had good luck with both their extract kits and partial mash kits. I have the mild recipe from Brewing Classic Styles planned as my first all grain and I'm sure I'll be using More Beer to fill that grain bill.

 

[DeathBrewer]

To do organics you have to pay to be certified to deal with them, you have to store them in a separate place from the rest of your grains, and you have to be re-certified every year or something.

I haven't heard of our grains being off at all, but I'll let the guys know about it so we can fix that. How much are they off by?

When I went there last Sunday, I emptied all the bags to reweigh them using your scales. Some size bags weren't available, so I had to open bags of larger quantities and reweigh them. When I did this, I weighed the remaining quantity, just out of curiosity. When I found it to be off by several ounces, I opened all the bags and weighed as I went. All of the bags were over weight.

Probably not a big deal for most brewers or even most brews, but the difference between 4 ounces and 6 ounces of black barley can make a huge difference in the brew, especially when compounded with other variations. I was making a stout for competition, so I wanted to stick exactly to my recipe.