Corrado’s Wine and Beer Making

As far as brewing beer, it really depends on what they have in stock at the moment. The last time I went they had a great selection of extremely fresh yeast, but were out of #6 stoppers and didn’t have much of a hop selection. On the other hand , the previous time I went they had a great hop selection. I also bought some better bottles on sale for a great price the first time I went there. I purchase most of my stuff from http://morebeer.com, but at one point Corrado’s had hops that they didn’t and some at better prices. At this point I’ll probably always call ahead to make sure they have what I’m looking for. As far as the help, the guy with the long hair is pretty cool and knowledgeable when it comes to beer.

Corrado’s, as has been said, is the only homebrew shop in Northern NJ. It has a large selection or kits, extracts, some grains, yeasts, eceteras. If your willing to pay the price they are pretty well stocked on equipment. However they are 20% to 30% more than online. Add tax and subract shipping your still at least 15% to 25% more Brewing supplies are really hit and miss, sometimes they have a lot, other times they don’t. As an extract brewer they generally had what I needed, now as an all-grain brewer, I could never fill a good recipe with their grain selection. I still go in, when I get caught short, or need to replace a piece of equipment but I have learned to order ahead to save money and frustration. As for help. There are genreall 2 people that work the store. Ike is knowledgable, and helpful if not a bit gruff (it is NJ after all). The woman is not helpful, unless she is calling for Ike to answer your question. Seems to me a well stocked homebrew shop in Northern NJ, would do quite well.

Not a lot of options for home-brewers in the NYC area. I borrowed a car just to get some supplies - but it was worth it. They had more than I expected.

Good store for most everything you need in a pinch for brewing. Before th shortage they had tons of grain and tons of hops in the refrigerator with the yeast selection. Which they still have good yeast selection. They also have a ton of wine making supplies which I have not needed but it looks fun. The staff is generally not helpful at all and the guy at the register is the least enthusiastic person in the world and this blank look on and will never help a soul. Get what you need and know what you need and get out and the place is fine. The grocer store accross the street is awesome and has everything. The olives, meats and cheeses are amazing. As hophead said, it is a great place for the location especially.

A great store...good price and selection on grain overall, although availability of some products can be spotty. Wide variety of WhiteLabs yeast and a few quality dry yeasts as well. Great selection of equipment, and some really high end stuff available for the really serious homebrewer/winemaker. Staff somewhat helpful, but since their expertise seems to lie mostly on the wine end of things, as far as homebrewers are concerned this is probably more a place to go when you know specifically what you want.

Disclaimer: I am spoiled by homebrewing websites such as morebeer.com and northernbrewer.com so take that into account. as a homebrewer, this is a store I frequent. It is great as long as you are just buying stuff like bottles, spigots, siphons, or a relatively common strain of white labs pitchable yeast. Some employees seem to have no knowledge of homebrewing at all. as dickinsonbeer mentioned, is good for the all grain brewer(although they will not mill any grain for you). The selection of canned extracts is not too bad, but they don’t seem to have an employee working who could help a newbie out if they wanted to make a specific recipe. Also, prices on dried extract are very high. Prices on some equipment such as polarware brew kettles are ridiculous- 400 bucks for an item you can get for 2-250 on certain websites. They do not sell 6.5 gallon glass carboys which is a very common size for homebrewers doing 5 gallon batches. In short, good place if you a) already know what you are doing as a homebrewer and b) just want to pick up specialty grains, cleaners/sanitizers, spigots, airlocks, etc. Always call before you go there to make sure they have the item you want. But, this is a great place for northern NJ, I’ll have to ask if they would special order items then perhaps I’ll re-rate.

Surprised no one has rated this place yet. This is probably the best homebrew shop I have ever been to. It is in a good location, near GSP, rt 20, 21, 46 etc. I think there is the larger part of the store which is like a whole foods, then off to the east side of the building is the gigantic homebrew shop. When I was there (beginning of sept 06) they were crushing up some grapes to make juice for winemakers. They had a great selection fo white labs yeast and dry yeast- no wyeast. Tons of different hops, good specialyt malt selection, and good bulk pricing on bags of malt- approx $35-$40 per 50-55 lb bag. Overall pricing was very good. They had some monstrous boil kettles going into the 500-600 gallon range- bigger than some brewpubs I have seen. haha. Service was pretty good too. They pretty much have everything you could possibly need for homebrewing or winemaking.