The Bar Towel

When I first strated brewing I did a batch at a brew-your-own place. I wasnt impressed so I started homebrewing. Ive been ordering ingredients from Northern Brewer because I cant find any homebrew stores in Ontario. Where are you all buying your ingredients from?

When I was in London, I was really happy with brewhaven for ingredients:
http://www.brewhaven.on.ca/new.htm

And if you're making the trip, this is the place for supplies:
http://www.dannyswineandbeer.com/beerselection.htm

I haven't been to the place in Brampton yet:
http://wineandbeerfactory.com/

I've mail ordered from:
http://www.homebrewersretail.com/
http://www.paddockwood.com/brews.html

Also, Magnotta makes the FestaBrew kits:
http://www.magnotta.com/Festabrew/Wort_B.aspx

I was getting bulk malt extract and occasionally specialty grains at Ein Stein in Oakville for a while, a BYO place.

Hey,

Ein Stein is prety good (I'm in Oakville too) but I like to go to Hamilton:

http://www.brewtime.ca/

Web site isn't updated much, but friendly staff and really good assortment of grains, yeast, hops...

Cheers,
J

I've had good luck ordering stuff from La Cachette du Bootlegger, just this side of Montreal. Very friendly, reasonable shipping. Website seems fairly up-to-date.

http://www.cachettedubootlegger.ca/indexe.html

I'm in Burlington and can give at least a qualified thumbs-up to Brew Time in Hamilton. They are indeed friendly and will order things for you. However, they are a BOP and WOP, not really a full-service homebrew shop catering to all-grain brewers. Like many people I buy base malt by the 25 kg bag directly from Gilbertson & Page in Fergus. You have to drive there, but it would be hard to beat the price, not much more than craft breweries pay. Three or four times a year I bite the bullet and make a trip to Niagara Tradition Homebrew in Tonawanda, NY (between Buffalo and Niagara Falls). The border delays are frustrating (I try to go on weekdays), but they are a real homebrew shop with quite a few Canadian customers.

The_Jester wrote:I've had good luck ordering stuff from La Cachette du Bootlegger, just this side of Montreal. Very friendly, reasonable shipping. Website seems fairly up-to-date.

http://www.cachettedubootlegger.ca/indexe.html

ive tried getting in touch with these guys but no one picks up the phone and i havent got any response to my email (2 days ago)

matt7215 wrote:

The_Jester wrote:I've had good luck ordering stuff from La Cachette du Bootlegger, just this side of Montreal. Very friendly, reasonable shipping. Website seems fairly up-to-date.

http://www.cachettedubootlegger.ca/indexe.html

ive tried getting in touch with these guys but no one picks up the phone and i havent got any response to my email (2 days ago)

I've never had a problem contacting them.

Where do people get their yeast from in the GTA? I picked some malt extract at better bitters in Burlington on the weekend and forgot to get yeast (smacks self on forehead)

The only beer yeast sold (in bulk by the gram) by Better Bitters in Burlington (four blocks from my house) is Danstar Nottingham dry yeast. Now they might give you some slurry of the house yeast from their microbrewery (it's a lager strain, but I confess I don't know which one) if you asked nicely.

Brew Time in Hamilton (quite a ways from North York, but if you make it as far as Burlington...) sells White Labs liquid yeast. They don't have a lot of strains regularly in stock, but they will order for you if you call ahead. It can take up to 10 days for them to get it from their US supplier.

I was only in Burlington to visit friends so heading back isn't super practical in the near future. I can get the Danstar ordered in to the local wine shop which i might do for this batch, but would love to find some liquid yeast closer to home.

The magnotta places have the Safale 04 & occasionally the S05. There's a few of them around. I think the one on yonge (near finch) has both.

As you noted, some of the wine-on-premise places carry dry beer yeast as well. The selection is really slim, but if you're just doing a pale ale, you might find something. Call around.

If that doesn't pan out, I do have a couple of S05 packets on hand.

I've had good luck with dry yeast... you just don't get the same selection as the liquid though.

matt7215 wrote:

The_Jester wrote:I've had good luck ordering stuff from La Cachette du Bootlegger, just this side of Montreal. Very friendly, reasonable shipping. Website seems fairly up-to-date.

http://www.cachettedubootlegger.ca/indexe.html

ive tried getting in touch with these guys but no one picks up the phone and i havent got any response to my email (2 days ago)

Just ordered from them today. Great service, as always. I use the toll-free number; I've never tied the email.

I stopped by the place yesterday.

Great store, and when they done have what you need, they can order pretty much anything for you if your willing to wait a week.

I buy my malts and yeasts there. They have good variety, and 2-row 25kg bags are around 50$, making it a lot more economical then alternatives I've found in Ottawa.

I ended up picking up some Safale at Magnotta. Thanks for the tip Derek!