Folks, we’re trying to get the best things available. While we have access to Ruby St Brewing all grain system (and the most competitive prices, just ask), it is a bit large for our humble floorspace. Oh, we’re still looking into that, but for now I’d like to share what we’ve squeezed in.

EQUIPMENT

Blichmann Engineering’s Top Tier brewtree is now in stock (with three burners and the basic setup it runs just over $1k). It looks impressive to say the least! We’ve got a couple of Blichmann pots (15 gal) on hand as well to round out the “wow, that stuff looks awesome” experience. It does, really. The drool stains in front of them are disproportionately mine.

Coming soon, we hope to have an inexpensive “getting going on grain” system. Working out the details, but it should make the entry to all-grain brewing easier.

HOPS

Also, we’re very well stocked for the brew season. I don’t think our shop has ever had so much grain on hand at once. Or hops. To that point, look towards our webstore in the coming days to see all hop varieties we carry. Sure, some will be out of stock from time to time. That’s the nature of hops these days with new microbreweries popping up everywhere. I spent a part of yesterday on the phone with a Hopunion representative getting  a bit of a scoop. Seems they are struggling to keep up and simply realize the demand is beyond what the fields will produce.

This means if you know you really like certain hops, you should keep your eyes peeled for announcements of hops by the pound. The majority of our hops-by-the-pound offered will be packed by Hopunion using the best packing technology available. Stuff like Simcoe that we were told would be no problem this year… well, it will be. We were under the impression we would be able to grab pounds and pounds of the stuff, but it doesn’t look like anyone will be able to do so. So the point is: we’ll announce when we have certain hops by the pound, and that will be your best bet if you know you’ll want a good amount. Think Simcoe, Amarillo, Citra,  Palisades, and perhaps a few others. Most of the rest should be in good enough supply. Hey, I’m not happy about it, but I wanted to give everyone the heads up.

Also, we pledge to carry all the hops available to us. Hopunion has pledged to get more of their hops available to us. I can’t wait to see what is released next (and I have some guesses…).

NEW CLEANING PRODUCT (to us, anyways)

Oxygen Brewery Wash. Great stuff, very potent on stainless or plastic. $8.95 the first time you buy, but unlike the competing brands (that we will continue to carry), you can pay $6.95 to get your container re-filled at the shop. We love when a great product can save money, too.

FINALLY…

Congrats to all who placed or had the curiosity to enter SNERHC. http://www.undergroundbrewers.org/snerhc/results/Results_2011.htm

We see a lot of familiar names there, great job you guys! 

Hope everyone is brewing something great!

Cheers!

Rich