What's your favorite online store for beer kits?

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grahamtwatson

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I've used both MoreBeer.com and NorthernBrewers.com, and like them both. NorthernBrewer.com has, IMHO, a much better web site - in particular all their kits are rated by actual customers, so you can get a good idea of what the kit is actually like. BUT - MoreBeer.com offers free shipping, and times are tight....

What's your favorite online store, and why?
 
Homebrewstuff.com you can order specialty grains by the ounce. Fast shipping and flat rate shipping. I use to use northern but hated waiting so long for supplies.
 
With so many local stores nearby, I only order specialty items online anymore (or if I know I won't be in the area of a LHBS and want supplies quick). Northern Brewer and Midwest Supplies are my favorite, as they deliver quickly to my area.
 
I've been quite happy with NB's kits, and would normally oder them from them a few at a time rather than pick up the ingredients from my local... Watch their shipping rates though - 7.99 flat rate is gone

I've also really liked morebeer's and Austin Homebrew Supply's kits as well, and would order from either.
 
With cooper's stuff,I use amazon.com & makebeer.net. Makebeer's are fresher than amazon,but amazon is pretty quick. I also love midwest,since they have fresh,high quality ingredients & have really fast Fed-Ex home delivery. If they tell me 5 days,it's usually 2-4 days. And stuff gets here in perfect condition.
 
Adventures in Homebrewing. I ordered from them and it was at my house the next day. Of course I'm in Michigan which they are too. But I'm pretty stoked to get stuff so fast.
 
Austinhomebrew.com. They have hundreds and hundreds to choose from, made up fresh when you order them. You can buy "clone" kits, certain recipe styles, and so on. I've done quite a few of their kits, and would highly recommend them.

A quick note on AHS - I just got my order. I like the way they were packaged, each set of components in it's own sealed plastic bag. No risk whatsoever of spills. Now to brew their Stone Pale Ale clone this weekend ...
 
Have to cast my vote for Midwest. Good customer service, wide variety of kits, reasonable prices, and clear directions.
 
I haven't really liked the Extract kits from Northern Brewer or MidWest. I recently switched to All Grain, so we shall see.
 
I only did extract and partial mash kits from Northern Brewer so I can not say about the others. I was very satisfied with their kits.

I like that Northern Brewer publishes the ingredients online and use them for the basis on some of my own AG recipes now.
 
I'm a fan of Austinhomebrew, and MoreBeer for ingredients. I've gotten my equipment from Midwest, though.
 
I stopped buying assembled kits, but when I did I got them from either Midwest or Northern Brewer. I preferred the recipes from Northern Brewer.

As for recipes and formulation, I would choose More Beer. They build their recipes from ultralight extract and specialty grains for color and flavor. More like doing it all grain.
 
Midwest for sure. They have great kits, ingredients, customer service, and I really enjoy there catalog in relation to other catalogs I have read through.
 
I like Midwest because they actually have an app for the iPhone so you can browse through their catalog from the phone.
 
I like northern brewer a lot, but I haven't used many of the others because NB is so close to me that I can normally get my orders within a day or two. Great customer service, great products, and I love that they post the ingredients/instruction sheets online and have user reviews attached to each kit.
 
stevehardt said:
Have to cast my vote for Midwest. Good customer service, wide variety of kits, reasonable prices, and clear directions.

This. I'm in AZ and haven't had issues at all with heat in transit. Plus their customer service is great. Had a wyeast packet swell in transit. Called up and they talked me through making a starter. NB is a bit cheaper for me overall but customer service wins my money each time.
 
Brewgadgets.com is my favorite they are in Michigan and also do a reward program. The owner and his sons run the store as well as the online store and they are very helpful as well as knowledgable.
http://www.brewgadgets.com
 
NB not having the flat rate anymore hurts. I always like to buy a couple at a time. I may try out More beer or Austin.
 
I like midwest but i recently found out about brewmaster's warehouse and i'm super interested in the ability to save recipes and even try out other users.
 
"I like midwest but i recently found out about brewmaster's warehouse and i'm super interested in the ability to save recipes and even try out other users"

I use both and they both have done a great job. If you're up for it try brewmasters "build a brew" which is a kick in the pants. Both are competitively priced and are always pretty close in total cost (product + shipping). When one offers a sale price (10% off) pounce.
 
I've gotten very good service from midwest & amazon for brewing stuff. I had to drive over to JW Dover for some yeast,& was told when asked that he has all kinds of grains. Didn't take the time to look just yet. But my next PM will likely have ingredients from them. It'd be great to get all the makins locally.
 
When I was using kits Midwest Supplies never let me down but at the time I didn't know about MoreBeer. Now MoreBeer is my go to place. The free shipping is nice and they are only a few hundred miles away, usually order on a Monday and the supplies arrive in time to brew the next weekend. Always fresh ingredients, great customer service.
 
I've had nothing but great luck from Midwest and NB using mostly all grain kits but just tasted my first kit from AHS, their Red IPA and it's pretty good. It's only been in the keg 6 days so I reserve final opinion for another week or two but it is a nice kit.
 
Northern brewer always seems to have what Im looking for and I haven't had to wait too long for anything I needed. I'm going to start branching out though.
 
As far as I'm concerned,midwest is in MN & I'm in OH. close enough for their Fed-Ex home delivery to be fast & perfect condition. And I mean 1-2 days early fast. UPS never matched that. Their hub for me is in Barea,& they wait till they have several orders coming my way to deliver the goods. Fed-Ex doesn't do that at all,ime.
 
Whoever I can get the best shipping from for what I'm purchasing at the time. I've used NB, HomebrewHeaven, Midwest, Learn to Brew and a couple of others.
 
I've been really happy with the AHS kits. Both my neighbor an I have ordered quite a few in addition to kits from NB and MW. I think Forrest consistently comes up with my favorite recipes. We just kegged the ("Belgian") Tripel IPA - fantastic.

Now they have kits where you supply the base grain, clever and saves money.
 
If you like organic, Seven Bridges at BrewOrganic.com is my favorite (though i do wish they had a better selection of malt extracts!)
 
My favorite is www.ritebrew.com

I've brewed ~9 kits and each one has turned out great. You can't beat the prices. They have a ton of kits for ~$20

I made my first purchase from ritebrew a few weeks ago, the beers at in the primary right now, I agree you can't beat the price. I will be interested to see how the beers turn out.

I had thought about buying some kits from Austin a few years ago but at that time they didn't include the recipie in the kits, the ingredients were a secret, is that still the case?
 

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