Getting Brewing Supplies

[merrydown]

Hi,

I'm trying to get some ingredients to get a couple of brews underway and as you can imagine, I am having a bit of a 'mare. One of them is a Salted Caramel Chocolate Milk stout too, so requires a couple of ingredients that the simplest homebrew stores don't sell.

I favour The Malt Miller because they will do a fine grind / crush and I am all BIAB at the moment. However, due to demand they only open their shopping cart for 15 minutes a day during the week. I have my cart full and ready, but the last twice there has been an unavailable ingredient which threw a spanner in the works. The site freezes when I try to search out an alternative and so I am getting no grain and hops!!! With my Birthday a few days away, I am hoping to remedy this.

Has anybody got any tips for another good homebrew supplier who will fine grind and preferably sell pellet hops by the 50g or 100g or by the gram? I know I am asking a lot in these times and it doesn't matter if I can't make my first choice of brews, but I really, really want to get another brew on the go. I am bored of my current ale and the lager won't be ready for another 2 or 3 months... :)

Thanks for any ideas!

All the best,

Jim

 

[MyQul]

CML are good for hops as you dont have to pay shipping and you can get them in different amounts

 

[Rodcx500z]

If the cml web shop is closed check amazon they sell on there as well as ebay, and its cheaper

 

[GerritT]

Hi,

I'm trying to get some ingredients to get a couple of brews underway and as you can imagine, I am having a bit of a 'mare. One of them is a Salted Caramel Chocolate Milk stout too, so requires a couple of ingredients that the simplest homebrew stores don't sell.

I favour The Malt Miller because they will do a fine grind / crush and I am all BIAB at the moment. However, due to demand they only open their shopping cart for 15 minutes a day during the week. I have my cart full and ready, but the last twice there has been an unavailable ingredient which threw a spanner in the works. The site freezes when I try to search out an alternative and so I am getting no grain and hops!!! With my Birthday a few days away, I am hoping to remedy this.

Has anybody got any tips for another good homebrew supplier who will fine grind and preferably sell pellet hops by the 50g or 100g or by the gram? I know I am asking a lot in these times and it doesn't matter if I can't make my first choice of brews, but I really, really want to get another brew on the go. I am bored of my current ale and the lager won't be ready for another 2 or 3 months... :)

Thanks for any ideas!

All the best,

Jim

Did you try ringing them?

 

[Clint]

What is it you're after?

 

[merrydown]

Hi, thanks for the replies folks.

I have looked at Amazon, but nobody does it all, so I'd pay a premium for shipping. That might have to be the way though.

I will try the other store suggested though thanks.

The bits that smaller homebrew stores don't do are cocoa nibs, lactose and chocolate wheat (though some do midnight wheat which is probably as good).

I wanted to make a Punk IPA clone which is only rricky on the hop front - getting all those required and a salted caramel chocolate milk stout.

I have clearly picked the wrong ruddy time to make something more complex... got to give it a go though...

Cheers :)

 

[Leon103]

Geterbrewed or HBC?

Cocoa nibs and lactose you can get on ebay. Most have free postage.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I got my cocoa nibs from Holland and Barrett.

 

[merrydown]

I got my cocoa nibs from Holland and Barrett.

Yeah, I'll probably have to accept higher prices with multie deliveries to get all that I want.

Cheers for the advice.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Try a supermarket for Cocoa nibs

 

[MyQul]

Any health food shop should carry cocoa nibs

 

[merrydown]

Hi, yes. Getting the ingredients from the fewest sellers is my goal.

Perhaps I will have to ignore my financial restraints enough to buy from several, even though it will add a fair few quid. :)

 

[MyQul]

Hi, yes. Getting the ingredients from the fewest sellers is my goal.

Perhaps I will have to ignore my financial restraints enough to buy from several, even though it will add a fair few quid. :)

The other thng you could do is go for simpler recipes so you can get all your ingredients from one place

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Has anybody got any tips for another good homebrew supplier who will fine grind and preferably sell pellet hops by the 50g or 100g or by the gram?

Well selling hops in 100g packs is pretty much the standard retail format outside the US. Brewstore are unusual in that they offer a choice of 50g or 200g, CML are about the only ones who offer more choice than that IIRC. (no affiliation to either!) Beerhawk used to get in US packs in ounces back when their parent AB InBev had a homebrew store in the US, but that got sold off and they stopped doing homebrew.

You won't find anyone selling hops by the gram - you want them spending the minimum amount of time exposed to air, so they should be repacked from 5kg wholesale boxes and vacuum-sealed into retail packs ASAP, which doesn't allow for custom amounts.

I wouldn't sweat the crush thing too much, you won't get too much of a hit to efficiency by BIABing a regular crush - and it's easy enough to buy a bit more grain and/or mash overnight if you're that bothered by it. Suspect someone like Brewstore who are small enough to be flexible could do a finer crush if you asked them.

 

[merrydown]

Well selling hops in 100g packs is pretty much the standard retail format outside the US. Brewstore are unusual in that they offer a choice of 50g or 200g, CML are about the only ones who offer more choice than that IIRC. (no affiliation to either!) Beerhawk used to get in US packs in ounces back when their parent AB InBev had a homebrew store in the US, but that got sold off and they stopped doing homebrew.

You won't find anyone selling hops by the gram - you want them spending the minimum amount of time exposed to air, so they should be repacked from 5kg wholesale boxes and vacuum-sealed into retail packs ASAP, which doesn't allow for custom amounts.

I wouldn't sweat the crush thing too much, you won't get too much of a hit to efficiency by BIABing a regular crush - and it's easy enough to buy a bit more grain and/or mash overnight if you're that bothered by it. Suspect someone like Brewstore who are small enough to be flexible could do a finer crush if you asked them.

Yeah sure, thanks.

Experience so far suggests around 2% difference if I mash for the same time, but as little as 1 hour extra mash time seems to even that out. My system isn't that precise that my experience means much and I am happy to mash for longer if I can't get a fine grind.

Yeah I definitely could go for a simpler recipe, but I'm seeing if when I aim high, I can hit it. The world won't end if I don't. :)

Cheers folks.

 

[merrydown]

Just a quick update to say that with an updated shopping list pre-added to my cart, I was able to beat the frozen shopping system during the 15 minute shopping window on the Malt Miller website today!

I've ordered everything I need for a Punk IPA Clone, Salted Caramel Chocolate Stout and Mosaic SMaSH India Extra Pale Ale :)

I am now sorted for the rest of the year! Wonderful things birthday buys!

Cheers again for the suggestions.