I stopped by Beer Crazy about a week ago and found out it will be closed by Thanksgiving. It has been my LHBS since the day it opened since it was less than 2 miles from home (that wasn’t a good thing according to my wife the family bookkeeper). I have admit, it felt like being told a good friend was dying.
I’ve been looking around on the interwebs for reasonably close by options and not finding much.
Soooo, my question is simply “with the loss of Beer Crazy, where are you going to purchase your supplies?”
Any places in Central Iowa that you could recommend?
Recommendations for online stores with decent rates on bulk grain?
Bummer. I am so blessed to be within a few minutes of my LHBS (which recently added a tasting bar for hard to get craft beers and its own ciders to enable it to stay open in an otherwise profit-limited enterprise).
Full sacks of base grain will probably be your hardest package to get, as almost all charge shipping by bulk; a friend of mine gets 10 lb. bags of grain from More Beer with free shipping - not sure if that is still out there or if it has been discontinued…
this is one of my biggest fears is the HBS that’s about 10min away from me will close. I would end up having to drive at least 45min to nearest one after that… but looking at this map, Iowa is a freaken desert for beer.
it doesn’t look like you have any homebrew shops anymore. you might try talking to some of the brewers on the list and see what if any options they could offer you but it looks like you may be going online shopping… I feel for ya buddy!
I haven’t found any LHBS within ~1 hour in any direction from Des Moines. We had 3 or 4 at one point in the Des Moines area alone.
I’ve found one in Boone, 2 or 3 in the Cedar Rapids area, one in Osceola but they’re all 50 minutes to 3 hours away. It’s going to take some time to adjust to the new reality.
Welcome to my world. It’s a very small selection at a health food store or online for me. I use More Beer and Great Fermentations as well as Atlantic Brew Supply. Sunset Hydroponic out of New York will ship sacks free but of course the sack price is a bit higher. …but the total beats any other I’ve found when shipping is calculated in.
I live in Cedar Falls and we lost ours about two years ago. Have you talked to the Iowa Brewer’s Union club in Des Moines? There is BIY Homebrew Supply in Marion & North Liberty. There is also Bluff Brew Haus in Dubuque. I use Northern Brewer in Minneapolis.
My nearest is 1.5 hours away. I rely on MoreBeer for most things. $59 purchase gets you free shipping, so I buy a lot of 10lb bags of grain. Not quite 50# sack pricing, but the best I’ve found. It’s a good way to try a lot of base grains.
I live in Boone. There is definitely is no homebrew store up here.
I had been getting supplies from C & S in Ankeny before they closed. Never really cared for Beer Crazy too much. Never liked dealing with the Grimes/Urbandale traffic.
Now I just order yeast, specialty grains and equipment from Northern Brewer/More Beer/Great Fermentations. I try to order sacks of base grains through a local brewery. That has been a pretty good solution so far. Usually Northern Brewer orders get delivered overnight (after they get it shipped-sometimes it takes a few days for them to get it in the mail), so liquid yeast has always arrived in good shape.
I live in the Iowa City area. We have BIY in North Liberty close but honestly I rarely use them because the store by my place never seems to have what I need. I’ve heard that location is going to close when their lease is up in April. Sad news but not surprised. The Marion location will still be open. I hear it is stocked better but I’m about an hour away from that store.
I usually end up using RiteBrew.com. They are out of Wisconsin and if I use Spee-dee Delivery they have next day shipping that is reasonably priced. It allows me to brew with pretty short notice. I usually try and plan a few brews to reduce shipping charges. I have had good luck with the liquid yeast I got there even in dead of summer (used ice pack). It was room temp when I got it but I put it in the frig and it fermented just fine when I used it. I plan this spring to stock up though to get me through the summer. It looks like your location would be two-day shipping.
I know others in the local club use Farmhouse Brewing Supply too.
I found a couple of shops in Omaha (about 2.5 hours away) and I have family over there. I made trip to see Mom in November and was able to stock up on grain at Patriot Brewing Supply in Elkhorn. They are open on Sunday for a few hours which helped a lot! I ordered yeast and stocked up on hops online that will cover the majority of what I brew. I’m going to give yeast farming a shot for awhile too. A long time ago, I used to do yeast harvesting but had to give it up when the refrigerator I was using quit.
Unfortunately Mom passed away in December. We are cleaning out her apartment this weekend so I will have an opportunity to pick up some odds and ends that I forgot the first time.
This has forced me to start planning ahead quite a bit more. We’ll see what happens in 10 or 12 months when start running low again. It might be a sign I need to drink less too but I’m not ready to go that far yet. 8)
Take a short drive 2-3 hour drive on I-80 west to Omaha. Spend the weekend there.
There are 3 LHBS’s in Omaha (maybe one reason we were were listed as a top 10 drunkest city in the country a couple years back) They are: Patriot Homebrew Supply, Cornhusker Beverage and Fermenters Supply.
While all have most things you might need, I highly recommend Patriot Homebrew supply on north 204th street in the western suburb of Elkhorn. They are heads and tails above the rest. Their selection and service are the best. In fact, they were voted one of the top 4 Local homebrew stores in the country at last year’s Homebrewcon.
Their grain selection is great and they sell it by the ounce, lb or bag (mill it onsite yourself if you want). They also have a good selection of hops, yeasts and Brewers Best extract kits.
From an equipment standpoint they have pretty much everything you might have seen online available for sale including kettles, kegs, bottles, parts and pieces. Their prices are competitive. They also sell winemaking supplies. If you are needing something specific, you can facebook message them.
They are open weekdays (except Monday) 11-6:30, Saturday 10-3, Sunday 10-1.
Patriot is where I stopped in to get my bulk supplies from. You are spot with you assessment of their operation. Everything you could want, within reason and their prices are very reasonable. It was great that they are only 2 miles down Maple from the retirement community my Mom lived at and are open on Sundays.
I’m hoping that somebody gets the bug to try a store here in the Des Moines area soon but I can definitely make Omaha work now and then if need be. I used to live at 144th and Pacific back when that was the end of town. 8^) A lot has changed over there in 35 years.
Also sorry. We both have lost our parents. Cleaning out the house ot apartment has to be done, but damn, m.j the emotions you go through are hard. The pain will pass, remember the good times.
When I lived just north of Iowa City and (many years) prior to BIY in NL and Marion I would plan out a year of brewing supplies and would make a trip to Northern Brewer and buy all I needed. Back in those days Chris still owned the biz and would give me a nice discount for my purchase. Even with the sale of NB/Midwest were I still in that part of the world that would likely still be my plan. Personal preference but I find a lot more to do in the Twin Cities for a long weekend vs Omaha, YMMV.