Where do you buy your supplies?

[stevemac]

Hello again all,

Having read through most of this part of the forum i am wondering where everyone buys their supplies(yeast,acids,equipment etc) from?

I know a lot of the answers will be wilko's but unfortuntely they are not this far north.

I used to do basic winemaking a few years ago so have most of what i need but need to stock up on acids,yeast and a few bits and bobs.

Any recommendations of stores/websites/ebay sellers to use?

Thank you in advance

Steve

[Hilary B]

We have a shop nearby which has 'diversified' into winemaker's supplies. It started out as a 'corner shop' in a village a few miles from us, and when corner shops were dying, it put in the home-brew/wine dept. There is also a specialist shop in another town we visit. Both these shops ALSO do mail order, but the 'tubs' that pectolase etc come in are expensive to post these days, due to the 'letterbox' test. There are websites, but the only one I ever found charged a massive postage unless you were buying £60 of stuff at a time (for the above reason).

[SarzWix]

We've tried quite a few of the websites, based on our experiences I would say;

Easybrew - don't bother, office totally disorganised, our last order never appeared at all, ones before that had stuff missing etc.

Art-of-Brewing - okay, website not brilliant, prices a bit higher, but the stuff does arrive

Hamstead Brewing Centre - had our first order from these last week, great service, fast turnaround, prices good, small problem sorted really quickly. They're our new favourites


Hope that helps

[Sanjo]

I haven't bought from there yet but Ebay does wine making bits and bobs like yeast. I do have a fairly local chemist that stocks stuff but they obviously have a slow turnover as the last lot I bought was only just in date!! I'm thinking that with the credit crunch a lot more people will revert back to the "good old days" when a lot of towns had a little shop selling brewing/preserving goodies. In the meantime I am going to give Ebay a go because the postage seemed reasonable especially as I only want a few sachets that the chemist lacked. It might be worth your while investigating it anyway. Sorry can't be more helpful. Sanjo

[burnie]

There's one on the high street in Forfar,will keep my eyes peeled for one a bit nearer to you.

[burnie]

Just "googled"(must stop doing that I might go blind) and found ,Fermentation Stop.122 Commercial St ,Kirkcaldy.

[stevemac]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone....

Burnie

I am in dunfermline so kirkcaldy is'nt far away.However they do'nt have a website and the phone has gone unanswered the few times i have tried the number so i am unsure if that shop exists.

[bluemoon]

There's a shop here called 'Brewmart'. A specialist place that stocks everything we could ever need. As far as I'm aware though there is only the one local shop, although they might do mail-order.

[burnie]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone....

Burnie

I am in dunfermline so kirkcaldy is'nt far away.However they do'nt have a website and the phone has gone unanswered the few times i have tried the number so i am unsure if that shop exists.

Mail order seems to be rare in the brewing game,could be that the demi-johns get broken

I'd recommend a trip to a shop as they usually open up ideas that you might not have thought of and you can find about societies and clubs as well,don't always get that on line.

[stevemac]

Burnie
I took a trip to kirkcaldy yesterday and managed to get a few supplies from that shop.There was'nt a great deal of items there but i was able to buy enough to get me started.

cheers for the help everyone