homebrew supplies – Learning to Brew

Are looking to get into brewing your own beer? Well, the first step is to buy all the required equipment. Once you have your shopping list together the next step is to figure out where to purchase the equipment. There are several options for where you can buy your homebrew supplies. This article will share with you four places you can purchase equipment and one you should avoid purchasing from. Online Sellers A Homebrewing Kit Nowadays you can find almost anything you want online, and homebrewing equipment is no exception! There tons of reputable sources of homebrewing supplies online. Websites like Northern Brewer, Midwest Supplies, and Brooklyn Brew Shop are just a few of the many sites out there. They all offer various brewing kits along with other accessories to help make your brew day a little easier. For those who don’t want to buy a full kit, they also sell individual pieces of equipment as well. These sites aren’t online limited to equipment, they also sell ingredients too! Similar the equipment options, you can either purchase pre-packaged recipe kits or individual ingredients to experiment with and create your own recipe. For those who are just starting out, buying a starter kit from an online seller is the way to go. That way you are guaranteed to have everything you need for your brew day. If you shop piece by piece you will probably end up forgetting something. Amazon There are currently over 100 million Amazon Prime users (and I am one of them). If you are also one of the 100 million people who own an Amazon Prime account you should consider purchasing your homebrew supplies through Amazon. Many of the previously listed online sellers also sell their products on Amazon. When you order through amazon instead of their personal site you get the added bonus of free two-day shipping. Ordering your first homebrew kit is very exciting, and you are going to want it to arrive as soon as possible. With Amazon, the kit will be sitting on your doorstep in just two days. Local Homebrew Shops Another place you can buy your homebrew supplies from is a local homebrew shop. These shops are surprisingly pretty common. I live in a fairly small town and doubted there were any nearby homebrew shops. After doing a quick Google search, I was shocked to find there were almost a dozen homebrew stores within a 30-mile radius of my house. One of them is even located in a shopping center I pass almost every day. A local homebrew shop can be an extremely valuable resource to new homebrewers. While you are there, you can get advice from experienced brewers who know what they are doing. Many of these stores also offer beer brewing classes for beginners. Another benefit is they typically have connections with local homebrewing clubs too. Homebrewing clubs are a great way to meet others who share the same passion for brewing beer. To find a homebrewing shop near you simply open up Google and search “home brewing supplies near me” or something else along those lines. Even though buying from a store may not be as convenient as ordering online, it does come with a lot of additional benefits. Online Classifieds Homebrewing, especially when starting out is not a cheap hobby. Having to buy all the equipment and ingredients can cause the cost to add up fast. Not everyone is in a financial situation where they can just drop money like that on a hobby. Fortunately, there is still hope for them! One option for buying homebrew equipment is buying it second-hand through a classifieds site like Craigslist. Whether you are looking to buy a whole homebrew kit, or just upgrade certain pieces of your setup, buying it used is a good option. Another tip is to reach out to your local homebrewing club. I am in a homebrewing Facebook group and there have been tons of posts where people are selling or even giving away their old homebrew equipment. Buying used equipment is a great way to save some money, and your beer will still taste the same! Department Stores Departments stores are the one place you should not buy homebrew kits from. While it may be tempting due to the convenience, it is not worth it. Even though it may be a name brand kit there is one big problem – you don’t know how long that kit was sitting there on the shelf. The problem is that these stores aren’t known for their beer making kits. So, these kits most likely just sit on the shelves for long periods of time, causing the ingredients in the recipe kit spoil. The yeast will no longer be active, and even though the hops don’t “expire” they will start to lose their flavors and you will end up with a weaker tasting beer. So even though, the equipment will still work, you will need to purchase a new recipe kit. It’s better to simply buy the homebrew kit from one of the places above to guarantee you are getting fresh ingredients along with your homebrew equipment. Conclusion As you can tell, there are tons of places where you can buy homebrewing equipment. No matter what your situation is, there are plenty of options of where to buy a beer making kit. Once you have all the required equipment, then its time for the fun to begin!