I don’t know what the exchange rate is, but those yeast prices sound average or low for the US.
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That’s quite an unjustified stretch
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i did not give the context of canada’s current situations, but thats entering the realm of politics in a way.
but based on govt regulations past and on-going and media reports (our largest media outlet is a government corporation btw) i think its inarguable that people in power in canada are trying to discourage all alcohol consumption. the reasons are many and varied, but thats what i wont get into.
i would say the first intoxicant (other than say caffeine) that a young person would try in the 2020s would be either marijuana in some form or nicotine likely in vape format. not alcohol.
so -related to the subject of the thread - i do have concerns that my ability to get homebrew ingredients here may be reduced in the future. re: this - not through restrictions but by a lack of public demand for homebrewing and beer in general.
Things are getting rough here in Denver and we’re still a pretty big craft beer metro. The homebrew shop I used to hit also brews beer but they seem to be temporarily closed with no real info on the website or social media. That’s where I would buy supplies and refill tanks. The next closest shop to my house is a 30-40 minute drive. There’s one about 15 minutes from work but I can’t tell from their website if they fill/swap CO2. I also used to be able to fill tanks at a paintball arena near my house but they moved too far to go. There are grow shops here that sometimes sell but none are super close and often it requires dropping the tanks off and picking them up a day or two later. I guess I need to get on the phone and start looking for other options.
When MyLHBS closed they referred me to a local place that supplies hospitals and other medical facilities.
Given the massively increasing cost of physical retail space in cities like mine (Seattle), as well as the diminished profit margins of not being able to compete with online vendors who order in bulk, I greatly fear that my one local homebrew store will go under. I don’t even want to think about the potential negative impact the impending threat of tariffs will have, given how much of the grain is from other countries, as well as the equipment is either manufactured in China or manufactured in the US from imported steel. The next closest store is 20 miles away (often a 45 to 60-minute drive in Seattle), and I don’t want that to end up being my closest.
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This makes me sad …
I live in the northeast PA area and my closest HBshop is about 35 min away. Great staff and has an option if I order by Wednesday evening to have my order at a local brewery near me on Saturday at noon for pickup. This is a great option if I am not wanting to make the drive there and do not need it immediately. It also “forces” me to enjoy some great beer from the pickup location. My affiliation with my local homebrew club also gets me a perk of a discount whenever I order online or in store. Great perk there as well.
I believe that homebrewing is down but as we are a larger club we are always open to have new “friends” come to the monthly meetings. We do community serving events and also run a homebrew competition. It is a lot of work to keep it all current but it is worth it in the end to keep the love and interest alive in our hobby.
Where in NEPA? I’m in the North Pocono area and consider Simply Homebrew in Drums the closest to me. ≈ 40-45 minutes.
I am down in the Lehigh Valley area. About 45-60 min from the Pocono area.
Thats how I got my first homebrew kit. It was a mail in catalog my major professor had. He made copies of the order forms for us grad students so we could start brewing. Carboys and buckets lined the top of our lab cabinets. Those were the days!
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My LHBS might be the last in Maryland after a couple of other closures, and the owner mentioned that it’s a rough time for beer. I personally haven’t brewed in a few years due to some real life responsibilities (age 5 and 3 now), so hopefully it isn’t all my fault. It does seem like good beer as a thing in the American consciousness has become an afterthought.
People who picked up hobbies like homebrewing during the pandemic moved on. Maybe getting together in clubs or doing thing that aren’t easily tik tokked aren’t appealing to the younger generation? Perhaps they all moved on to “healthy” things, like gummies or Ketamine therapy.
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I find it interesting the prevalence of expensive homebrew equipment and the decline of homebrew shops. Not sure what to make of that
I suppose people are ordering online but I am not sure what one does with liquid yeast
Unless I absolutely cannot find it locally only then will I order online.
Even in the Chicago area we have limited shops.
I think a lot of damage was done during the pandemic when people tried to “brew”. I personally know of a couple that tried brewing extract and end up dumping the entire thing and of course got turned off on brewing
I tried to explain brewing is like any other form of cooking. Don’t expect gourmet food from a can of Campbell’s soup. While an all extract brew and serve stout may have been tolerable in the late 80’s early 90’s before the rise in microbrews it won’t cut it in 202X.
Microwave lasagna and an extract amber ale anybody?
“Maybe getting together in clubs or doing thing that aren’t easily tik tokked aren’t appealing to the younger generation? Perhaps they all moved on to “healthy” things, like gummies or Ketamine therapy.”
lol. i encounter a lot of people my age who are vocal about "trying non-alcoholic beers. ‘and theyre actually really good!’ "
i cant kid myself, i tried drinking de-caffeinated coffee for a while as an after-work thing. it simply wasnt attractive, just like ultra low alcohol or de-alcoholized beers. please just dont bother, and definitely dont pay craft actual beer prices for an alcohol-free version of it.
@HEUBrewer
I feel like everyone out there now “knows” some facts about homebrewing, and these include “its more expensive than just buying beer, EVERY TIME!” and “you can’t make beer as good as a craft brewery, it simply isnt possible”. Have they tried personally? no, but their friend has.
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I’ve brewed a few times. I definitely find it more expensive than buying the beer I like to drink.
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Really? Not to beat this dead horse, but I have found that, in general, cost wise, 24 bottles of Good Craft > Homebrew > Macro yellow stuff.
I guess it all depends on how we define the cost of homebrew. Just ingredients or ingredients + some added amortized cost of equipment.
Doesn’t matter to me. I get far more enjoyment out of a 4-hour brew-day than a 10-minute trip to the bottle shop. 
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Agree, and on top of that if it is something like a good Belgian it is no contest. I make a 5 gallon batch of the Holtrop Rochefort 8 recipe at a cost of around $80, and if my math is correct, at $7.50 for an 11 ounce bottle that would set me back $430+ for the same.
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I can beat the cost of commercial on aged wild ales. Those run $15+ per 375-ml bottle for imported gueuzes. Or $20+ per 750-ml for local craft versions.
@megary - your cost breakdown is accurate IMHO for the USA. and that’s kind of what I mean, as i don’t really count macro NAILs as something i intend to drink. so it’s basically good commercial beer vs. homebrew.
i would get full satisfaction from a 4.5 hour brew day too, if those pesky things called work and family got out of my way too btw.
@denny we’ve gone over this many times. one could change the data in a few ways to make it say what someone on either side would want. examples:
- expected cosumption rate per year being very low thereby not offsetting the cost of equipment and stuff or being very high thereby offsetting any equipment cost
- quality of homebrew product being described as equal to the best commercial beers in the world falsely thereby saying “i can make perfect pliny the elder for $2 a bottle!” when that hasnt been demonstrated to be true or not
- claiming the only beers you like to drink are barrel aged for 2 years on ripe cherries (example of time/cost increases), so that the investment on these things hugely inflates your cost per homebrew vs. a company that can spready out these costs over more production
- you buy very, unusually expensive equipment and don’t produce a huge amount of beer, adding these costs to each litre of beer you produce. i think this is what is causing the perception that homebrew is expensive since there are so many ready-to-use automated and high quality homebrew equipment choices now.
etc.
people who have several pints of average styles of good-quality american craft beer per week probably save money by making their own beer and drinking more of that than commercial beer. they are spending work-hours in exchange for cost savings using a competent, average brewing system.
people in germany (other examples may be korea/japan/poland with good but cheap beer) are probably losing money by brewing their own beer vs. buying adequate quality domestic traditional/craft beers.
people in canada are 100% saving significant amounts of money by brewing their own homebrew of decent quality. the trade-off is the same as america that you are putting in work-time as a hidden cost, but it is a hobby.
i and other people have done the math, in general we are saving money by doing this hobby. if you disagree please explain.
@kilroywashere - belgians are a great example. IMHO making a GOOD, solid delicious belgian is not that hard. making an excellent one can be tough, but for 1/5th the price and being very obviously tasty - that is a no-brainer.
@drew c.
i used aged beer with fancy ingredients as an example of how a commercial operation can kind of utilize these materials with more efficiency than a homebrewer due to scale. but on the other hand, there is ZERO pressure on a homebrewer to get stuff packaged and sold. so well aged beers homebrewed can be a cost-saver for sure.