Bulk grain from Midwest

So who has ordered bulk grain from Midwest? Are you happy with what you get, with their customer service?

I ask because I'll be making my first bulk purchase soon and after gathering pricing on the same order from Midwest and AHS (B3 and NB both fell off of my radar very quickly either due to high shipping costs or high malt costs/malt availability) I've determined that I can get the same order from either place and the prices are almost identical with shipping. The difference is that from Midwest I'm getting a 50# sack vs. a 40# sack that AHS has.

10# of Pale Malt = most of what I need for batch of my APA. I've been a longtime customer of AHS and am very pleased with what I get from them, but if I can change vendors and basically get a free batch of brew out of it I'll do it.

Please share your opinions and experiences with Midwest - good, bad or otherwise.

BAD!!!
I received a shipment from them and my invoice had the following written on it:
"Check to see if this As*hole still wants to cancel the order."

And on top of that the order was wrong!
I called and told Midwest to wait on the order because it had been over a week and I still hadn't received the package or a shipping notice via email. I wasn't sure I was going to be around to use the stuff I bought.
I had them send the package after all and found that lovely message on my invoice.
Needless to say I called them to correct my order and to "notify" the manager about my problem.
Looking back on it I have to laugh, but I guarantee Midwest will never see another dime from me.

Last week I ordered about 60 lbs of various grains from Midwest. I ordered on Monday and it was delivered on Thursday (granted, I'm only 80 miles from them, so it gets here in one day). Everything was correct and I'll definitely be ordering from them again.

I can buy 10lb of flaked grains for $1/lb and it's $2.29/lb at my LHBS. The reduced price on 10lbs of flaked wheat made up for the shipping cost. I'm not sure what the price of shipping a 50lb sack is though, because I drove the 80 miles to midwest to pick up 2 sacks last time.

I like the Midwest guys. I've ordered from them plenty of times and always happy with the timeliness and no mistakes. They package everything well. Their prices (including shipping) are better than the nearest place to me here in CT.

I have always ordered my ingredients from Midwest, and they've always been great for customer service. Orders will usually ship in about a day and arrive about two days later. You can't beat that. Their milling is consistently good and I can't argue with getting 10 lbs. of pale malt for $8.50. In fact, I once had to change an order of mine before it shipped because I changed my recipe. They added the extra Belgian biscuit malt I needed and made a note of it on the order. When I called up to see if I should pay for that extra malt on my next order, the guy on the phone said it wouldn't be necessary. Very courteous and prompt.

And no, I don't get paid by them. I just know what I like and they have the best prices I've shopped for.

I've had exceptional service from them. Bulk and otherwise.

Several times when they were out of a particular yeast they upgraded me for no charge. THey are also good about contacting you on your cell phone if there is confusion about the order.

I don't think I've ever ordered from Midwest. But since you are in Ohio, have you tried the Grape and Granary out of Akron. I have used them almost exclusively. I used to live in So. Ohio and if I ordered by noon, my order was on my doorstep the next day. The customer service has always been fantastic for me. I compared prices with shipping and there's only like a 2-3 dollars difference. So that might be another option for you. Their website is thegrape.net . For what its worth.

I am fortunate, I can drive by their place, and get whatever I need, whenever I need it. It's on my way home from work. I also like that they are open 7 days a week, for the hardcore brewer, or if you are in the middle of a brew, and need something right away.

I have always had really good luck with their service, and I can get whatever I need, literally at a moments notice, since they are only about 10 miles from my house.

idkid said:

I don't think I've ever ordered from Midwest. But since you are in Ohio, have you tried the Grape and Granary out of Akron. I have used them almost exclusively. I used to live in So. Ohio and if I ordered by noon, my order was on my doorstep the next day. The customer service has always been fantastic for me. I compared prices with shipping and there's only like a 2-3 dollars difference. So that might be another option for you. Their website is thegrape.net . For what its worth.

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I havn't ordered bulk from the Grape and Granary (get that from my LHBS) but I do order most of my specialty grains and other odds and ends from them. Have always gotten quick and accurate shipment. Their prices appear to be competitive and selection is good. If you are in driving distance you could probably save a bundle by picking it up in person.

As for Midwest, I've order from them a couple of times with no problem.

Craig

I've never had a problem with midwest. I order my bulk DME from them all the time. I won't go anywhere else.

As far as "Check to see if this As*hole still wants to cancel the order." goes it looks like someone there knows you...just kidding. (You know someone had to say it. )

Bombo80 said:

I am fortunate, I can drive by their place, and get whatever I need, whenever I need it. It's on my way home from work. I also like that they are open 7 days a week, for the hardcore brewer, or if you are in the middle of a brew, and need something right away.

I have always had really good luck with their service, and I can get whatever I need, literally at a moments notice, since they are only about 10 miles from my house.

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+1 Im not but a 15 minute drive and its on my way home from work. Ive never had a problem with their service. Friendly and helpful even when it is super busy.

Thanks for the solid input, guys.

I have ordered from Midwest in the past, and will probably do so again. They are a little fuzzy with their ship dates, though, and for that reason I usually turn to them only if Austin Homebrew Supply or Northern Brewer doesn't have what I need.

I hope I'm one of the lucky ones who gets good service. I priced a recipe's worth of ingredients on MW's site, and it actually came out to being cheaper than if I bought it from my LHBS. Even after shipping. Not even in bulk. Their hops were even more expensive than my LHBS, but it STILL came out worthwhile. I'm not too much of a fan of my LHBS as of late, so I'm definitely going to try using Midwest

Bike N Brew said:

I have ordered from Midwest in the past, and will probably do so again. They are a little fuzzy with their ship dates, though, and for that reason I usually turn to them only if Austin Homebrew Supply or Northern Brewer doesn't have what I need.

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What have you needed that I don't have? That way I can look into carrying the product.

Forrest

Austinhomebrew said:

What have you needed that I don't have? That way I can look into carrying the product.

Forrest

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this is a businessman!!!!!!!!

StankAle said:

BAD!!!
I received a shipment from them and my invoice had the following written on it:
"Check to see if this As*hole still wants to cancel the order."

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Inquiring minds want to know. Were you an a-hole to them on the phone?

fratermus said:

Inquiring minds want to know. Were you an a-hole to them on the phone?

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Yeah, and did the manager "fix" the problem for you, and then some?

That is just terrible customer service no matter what.

I just ordered from them for the first time. I remember why I never did before: when I went to their home page Firefox would lock up. It turned out that they're running a java applet on their home page (stupid) and I didn't have the correct version installed.

Anyway.....

My experience was great with them. I ordered 100lbs of grain and a bunch of hops. They have the best selection of both that I've seen and the prices were good. Got my order 3 days later, no problems.

I'm glad I stumbled into this thread and gave them a try.

Dude said:

Yeah, and did the manager "fix" the problem for you, and then some?

That is just terrible customer service no matter what.

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Seriously, that is enough for me to not want to do business with them again, if it is true and nothing was done to correct the situation. If this is how they talk about customers behind the scenes, they don't need any more support from me.

Please post up some details.

Let's remember there are two sides to every story.

For my experience, what happened is completely out of character, and I've dealt with them a lot over the last 13 months.

Observations:

• There is no excuse for slipping up and letting that note go out to a customer.
• People have bad days.
• We don't know the entire context of what happened.
• It's highly unlikely that a vendor wakes up in the morning wondering how they can randomly piss someone off that day.

I think the OP has enough testimony to make an informed decision.

The poster made his point about his dissatisfaction and gave a pretty good account of what happened.

Thanks again for all of the opinions, guys.

I actually ended up ordering with Grape and Granary (Thanks CBBaron). I ordered about 110# of grain, a couple vials of yeast, and 5 oz. of hops from them for the same price that it would have been at the other 2 big boys for the grain and the yeast, so it wound up being about equal to getting 5 oz of hops and 6 packs of Nottingham for free. :rockin:

I had to sacrifice a bit on the Old Ale that I'm going to do as they didn't have any Treacle (AHS does of course because they have everything) so I'm going to substitute amber candi sugar. Not a sacrifice I really wanted to make, but given the deal I feel that I got I think it was worth it.

ohiobrewtus said:

I had to sacrifice a bit on the Old Ale that I'm going to do as they didn't have any Treacle (AHS does of course because they have everything) so I'm going to substitute amber candi sugar. Not a sacrifice I really wanted to make, but given the deal I feel that I got I think it was worth it.

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Isn't treacle just half invert sugar and half molasses? I'm thinking you could split between your candi sugar and molasses and get something close.

Just guessing though--I've never used treacle.

BierMuncher said:

Before we go turning this into a bash session, let's remember there are two sides to every story.

For my experience, what happened is completely out of character, and I've dealt with them a lot over the last 13 months.

Observations:

• There is no excuse for slipping up and letting that note go out to a customer.
• People have bad days.
• We don't know the entire context of what happened.
• It's highly unlikely that a vendor wakes up in the morning wondering how they can randomly piss someone off that day.

I think the OP has enough testimony to make an informed decision.

The poster made his point about his dissatisfaction and gave a pretty good account of what happened. If you want even more details, I'd recommend you take it off line.

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First, I will take the specifics of this offline as you are a modorator and have requested this. However, I thought this forum was open to discussions of service and vendor reviews?

Also, I did qualify my post by saying "if the poster's statements were true", and was trying to get more of the context, but I will do this offline.

Please note, I have no issue with you or any other mod, or the enforcement of the rules, I was just supprised we are not allowed to discuss this here.

ohiobrewtus said:

I had to sacrifice a bit on the Old Ale that I'm going to do as they didn't have any Treacle (AHS does of course because they have everything)...

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Everything but Pale Chocolate Malt (hint hint), a must have for a lot of Jamil Z's recipes. I still go to them exclusively though, 1 day shipping and the best selection. Not to mention, AHS's website is a lot better than any of the other guys.

They have great service and great prices and a very knowlegable staff. I live about 20 minutes from them and that store is CRAZY BUSY 90 percent of the time I am there, and yet they always find time to help you out. I have ordered some stuff from them online and everything was great!

For the one guys that had problems I am sure there are other sides to the story

Ryan_PA said:

...I...was trying to get more of the context, but I will do this offline...

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Sorry Ryan.

I wasn't trying to squelch a dialogue.