Home of the BrewNosers

Hey,

I am kind of new to Halifax and looking into getting back into homebrewing. Ive got a plastic fermenter, carboy and a few other pieces of equipment. However I would like to do some brews with just pale malt extract, one hop and to keg it. So I am looking for where I can buy a big pot, a keg, co2 and some interesting hops.

The best deal I have seen for a pot is from Rona at $60 for a 48l pot. http://www.rona.ca/en/stock-pot-0836500 ... tore=05505" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The keg I was thinking of getting from Noble Grape but if anyone is looking to sell a keg or co2 tank and regulator I would be interested.
My last question is where do people get there hops from? I am looking for some fairly unique varieties like El Dorado, Calypso and a few other experimental ones but the only places that seems to do these are all in America and charge $30 for shipping. I would be happy with anything slightly unique and I would prefer to buy from Canada.

Any views or help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Andrew

Check out our vendor section for some hops that may not be available at noble grape. I seen a 60qt aluminum pot at the cash and carry today, I forget the price thought (may have been $60ish) Noble grape my be your best bet for kegging gear if you need it right away, other than that keep checking Kijiji.

I think the pots at cash n carry are more expensive, but they're much better quality aluminum - thicker. That said, I've got the hardware store 48L aluminum pot and I've brewed with it for 2.5 years of all grain, only issue is that it dents easy-ish, and I can't quite do a 10gallon batch in it.

If you can afford the extra cash, I'd strongly recommend going with an Ontario Beer Kegs stainless pot. They're on sale for $120 right now, and 15 gallons will allow true 10 gallons batches down the road. (They have 9 gallon too for $90.) They have a $15 flat rate shipping deal, and a good hop selection, so you could throw in a bunch of hops for $0 on shipping. My 2 cents. I love my OBK pot.

http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/15_Gallo ... -2weld.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

jason.loxton wrote:If you can afford the extra cash, I'd strongly recommend going with an Ontario Beer Kegs stainless pot. They're on sale for $120 right now, and 15 gallons will allow true 10 gallons batches down the road. (They have 9 gallon too for $90.) They have a $15 flat rate shipping deal, and a good hop selection, so you could throw in a bunch of hops for $0 on shipping. My 2 cents. I love my OBK pot.

http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/15_Gallo ... -2weld.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

second that. these pots are awesome and will never need to upgrade.

As an aside though, I am 99% sure that the Rona pot you posted was my old pot before I upgraded to OBK. If it is, it is a good pot too. It has a nice wide footprint and can sit over two burners, if you get lazy or cold and want to boil in your kitchen. I made a lot of beer in that pot. It gets the job done. That said, get the stainless one with a ball valves. The valve in particular is a life changer.

Thank you for all the advice. My flatmate has a festabrew so were going to make that one today. So I will probably pick up a keg and do a test run of that first. So I checked out the Noble Grape today for a keg (probably buy one next week) and just looking for Co2 and a regulator now.

Thanks for the kettle advice. If I was going to be doing more brewing or large batches I would go with the Ontario Beer Kegs kettle but at first Im just wanting to make 20l batches to experiment with new hops. I will maybe upgrade at a later date but I think a mash tun would be the next upgrade.

Thank you very much for all the help and advice.

Andrew

If you do plan on filling (exchanging) your Co2 at Noble Grape, they will only exchange cylinders bought from them, or so I'm told. I bought all my kegging goodies from OBK but I bought the Co2 from Noble Grape for the simplicity of the exchange program.

There is a good CO2 source in Dartmouth now.

mr x wrote:There is a good CO2 source in Dartmouth now.

Well didn't I piss away good money that could have been spent elsewhere? I thought the only real local place was Brenton's.

ethier.sc wrote:

mr x wrote:There is a good CO2 source in Dartmouth now.

Well didn't I piss away good money that could have been spent elsewhere? I thought the only real local place was Brenton's.

Nope, cheaper than Brenton's and very happy to cater to home brewers from my experience.

jeffsmith wrote:

ethier.sc wrote:

mr x wrote:There is a good CO2 source in Dartmouth now.

Well didn't I piss away good money that could have been spent elsewhere? I thought the only real local place was Brenton's.

Nope, cheaper than Brenton's and very happy to cater to home brewers from my experience.

Agreed. I forgot they only accepted cash; buddy offered the fill for free! Luckily Becky had cash on her.