Favourite place to buy ingredients?

[Jonathan Musther]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering where everyone buys brewing ingredients.  Personally, I haven't found a place that ticks all the boxes, large range, good information, and great service.  Typically, large range is the hardest to come by.

I generally buy from:
Liberty Brewing - www.libertybrewing.co.nz
Brewers COOP - www.brewerscoop.co.nz
Hauraki Homebrew - www.haurakihomebrew.co.nz
Dunedin Malt House - www.dunedinmalthouse.com

I'm based in Hawke's Bay, and as far as I know, there's nowhere to buy local, so it's always online, usually from one (often from more than one) of the above.

Where do you buy yours?  Anywhere with a really good selection, and also preferably with good info (about the products) on their website?

Cheers!

[martin w]

received my hops today, doreen said theyve been really busy recently hence the delay in replying-and no mention of any minimum limits
i now have-
a kilo of nelson sauvin,
200g centennial
200g amarillo
200g nz cascade
200g motueka
100g pacifica
100g hallertau

to play with- should keep me happy for a while!

[Jona Hjelmstrom]

Doreen quoted me a per kilo price for pellets but did not add NZH were ok with less than 5Kg orders.
NZH website lists 5Kg lots as minimum.
A bit of confusion there?

[James P]

.... straight from the website

http://www.nzhops.co.nz/products/pellets.html

100 Gram Pellet Sachets

Developed for the homebrew market these sachets are also ideal as samples of our New Zealand hop varieties.
Dimensions: 15 cm x 20 cm
Net Weight: 100 grams
Gross Weight: 105 grams
Available in all varieties

[MrC]

This is where I buy from:
- Liberty Brewing for malt & hops.
- Great Expectations (my LHBS) for fermenters, bottles, caps, steriliser.
- RealBeer for liquid yeast.
- Craftbrewer for everything else (including dried yeast).

[jamis]

The prices/variety for malt and hops at Liberty Brewing are hard to beat. They have NZ Pils malt 5kg for $15! if you need it milled its 50cents per kg but its still the cheapest in the country I reckon.
There Hop selection is amazing at the moment, if they could package it like NZ Hops in the foil bags or go one better resealable foil bags, they could be onto a winner.

[Reviled]

"if they could package it like NZ Hops in the foil bags or go one better resealable foil bags, they could be onto a winner"

My hops never last long enough for it to matter, and if it keeps the cost down its all good with me :o)

[JoKing]

I just came across this thread now...

We do store our hops in Vacuum sealed bags in a -25 degree freezer though. We open the bags for every order then re-vaccuum-seal them. So in that respect, the hops are always fresh - we just can't afford to vacuum seal them on departure: the bags would drive the price of hops up through the roof.

NZ Hops have a huge industrial sealer with a nitrogen purge. They cost mega bucks, but the foil material is cheap as chips (on the scale of their purchase). We seriously can't justify it - but I do go the extra step to ensure that when I store the stuff in bulk, the hops stay fresh.

Ironically, I do get some hops from some of the suppliers (don't assume that it is NZ Hops please) that are in pretty bad shape when they arrive here... so don't get a sense of security when you see hops in the little foil sealed bags. I break up the oxidised hops and turn them into sleeping pillows. Columbus is a bit strong for that though...

[Reviled]

"Columbus is a bit strong for that though..."

Id love a columbus sleeping pillow ;o) Do you sell these pillows on the website Jo? haha

[JoKing]

Nah - just give them to friends and family.

[jt]

I'm based in Hawke's Bay

You should probably catch up with the other Hawkes Bay Brewers, there's a few about .. not always frequently on the forum - but I'm sure that they have some good suppliers

[Mike Neilson]

Forum Fellatio goes to Liberty Brewing, need I say more?

[Daron]

By luck I live in Ellerslie so I started visiting Brewerscoop. After visiting a few shops I realised that the range and ingredients there are really good and Mikes very knowledgeable (even with my n00b questions when I first started)....well ok, I still ask dumb questions !

Living that close to a brewshop must have been a sign !