lower priced ingredient kits

I've been looking around for some lower priced complete ingredient kits, that come with the yeast, malt etc etc. Basically trying to save a few dollars and give myself a hobby. On the internet I can't seem to find anything that will beat my local store when it comes to price with shipping.

Any suggestions?

cheese9988 said:

I've been looking around for some lower priced complete ingredient kits, that come with the yeast, malt etc etc. Basically trying to save a few dollars and give myself a hobby. On the internet I can't seem to find anything that will beat my local store when it comes to price with shipping.

Any suggestions?

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What price are you finding at your local store so we can compare to the places we shop at?

I'm in the market for the same thing and the cheapest I have seen are of these 5 kits on morebeer.

5 Beers Under $.50 a Beer | MoreBeer

Those seem to be the best priced, but northernbrewer has a few kits that are in the same ballpark. I think morebeer has a deal where if its over $59 you get free shipping.

Be happy if your local home brew store has great prices that beat or compare to online stores when shipping is taken into account. Sadly I've yet to find a better deal local than online. With 10+% sales tax + gas money to drive to a LHBS + prices that are no better than online stores I find that its hard to not shop online.

Your best bet might be to visit an online store with flat rate shipping and buy several kits at once.



EDIT: I found that midwest has some decent partial mash brews in the low $20s. Sure midwest doesn't have flat rate shipping but if you fiddle with your order (buy more than one kit) the shipping cost doesn't go up horribly.

Yeah, I agree my LHBS charges $40 for a kit and around $25 for a 6 lb LME, so I am shopping online.

Have you checked out Austin Homebrew Supply's Session Series kits? He has a nice selection of kits at good prices. With the flat shipping rate I think these are pretty darn inexpensive.

Austin Homebrew Supply

Most kits at AHS are at the cheapest $24-25 + yeast.

Prices are around $13-$20 for a 2 gallon ingredient pack, or $30-$45 for a 5 gallon pack, everything included.

http://morebeer.com/search/103560/beerwinecoffee/coffeewinebeer/5_Beers_Under_%24.50_a_Beer

I looked at this, it doesnt have the yeast or the grain, anything that has it all?

Austin Homebrew Supply

More what I'm looking for, although it doesnt have the yeast. Good price though!

cheese9988 said:

5 Beers Under $.50 a Beer | MoreBeer

I looked at this, it doesnt have the yeast or the grain, anything that has it all?

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Our recipe kits DO NOT include grain bags or liquid yeast. This kit includes a recommended dry yeast. All grain kits will come milled unless otherwise requested at the time of purchase.


I think you read it wrong. They give you dry yeast, but no grain BAG. You still get the grain to my knowledge.

I thought Northern Brewer kits had yeast included in the price. Check it out >> Northern Brewer

cheese9988 said:

5 Beers Under $.50 a Beer | MoreBeer

I looked at this, it doesnt have the yeast or the grain, anything that has it all?

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I made the blonde ale in the link yesterday- came with extract. grain,yeast, whirfloc tab.

It says does not include grain bag, which I got at the kitchen capers store for $3 and have used it a bunch of times.

Patton191 said:

Our recipe kits DO NOT include grain bags or liquid yeast. This kit includes a recommended dry yeast. All grain kits will come milled unless otherwise requested at the time of purchase.


I think you read it wrong. They give you dry yeast, but no grain BAG. You still get the grain to my knowledge.

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I think I read it too quickely, so it looks like thats everything I need? That is definetely a better price.

Yeah, it seems to have it all, but I am not sure I haven't ordered them yet. I am about to order 3 of those I think, the english ale, blonde and the scottish 80.
I have ordered from northernbrewer and they have everything you need in the kit.

I know Midwest was already mentioned, but I just really enjoy their products. I think their prices are reasonable and they have all of the upgrades for yeast (Wyeast, White Labs, etc). They don't flat rate but shipping hasn't been bad...

Home wine making supply and home brew supply available on-line at Midwest Homebrewing Supplies. Search for wine recipes and beer recipes

My problem with midwest is the shipping and they give muntons for dry yeast on almost every kit. From what I have read munton's doesn't seem to be a great dry yeast.

Maybe I am wrong about this but it almost seems like it is cheaper just to buy the ingredients on their own from your local home brew shop and skip the whole kits thing.

otto111 said:

Maybe I am wrong about this but it almost seems like it is cheaper just to buy the ingredients on their own from your local home brew shop and skip the whole kits thing.

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Usually it's just the opposite. Buying individual ingredients tends to cost more than kits. There is of course exceptions to this but that is normally because of a difference in the brands of ingredients.

Gotta agree with nurmey, unless you buy in bulk, but I personally am not ready to commit to 10 batches.

From doing some research on northernbrewer it is about $5 more if you buy the ingredients separately.

My suggestion: Buy hops in bulk from hopsdirect.com, replace as much extract as you can with grain in a partial mash, and harvest/wash your yeast for later use.

Hops, extract and yeast are the most expensive parts of a beer recipe, and these three steps will cut the cost of a batch significantly without requiring expensive new equipment. Just some initial outlay for the bulk hops.

I guess ill be pulling the trigger on the morebeer deal unless someone knows of cheaper?

I like morebeer.
Just be patient, they ship ground from california.
For me, its worth the wait. I got 2 kits and a fermenter for:
KIT115 Kit - Mild Brown 1 1 22.5500 22.55
DY25 Yeast (Dry) - Safale S-04 (11.5g) 1 1 1.7000 1.70
KIT133 Kit - Blonde Ale 1 1 23.0000 23.00
FE360 Lid For Bucket (With Hole for #7 Stopper) 1 1 2.1000 2.10
FE340 Plastic Bucket (6 Gallon) 1 1 7.9500 7.95
FE370 Airlock - 3 Piece 1 1 1.1000 1.10
FE440 Stopper - #7 With Hole 1 1 1.0000 1.00
Recipe of the Month 1 1 -3.45 -3.45
Product Total 55.95
Shipped and no tax!

Recipe of the month had a coupon code.

Cheapest I've found are the Morebeer $0.50 per beer kits and Midwest's 20 minute boil kits.

Remember the old saying "You get what you pay for?"

I'm just saying...

That saying is true to an extent, but do you have any experience with morebeer? I mean we arent dealing with dirt cheap kits $22.50 is moderate priced to me IMO. If you have any experience with the quality of morebeer kits please feel free to tell me.

I haven't used the Morebeer kits, or even ordered from their site. I have, however, used the Midwest kits, and have been thrilled with my results.

I haven't used the 20 minute boil kits I mentioned earlier, but if they're close to the normal extract kits, I'd happily try them.

these will be my 7th and 8th kits from morebeer, and I like them.
I especially like the mild brown, and will probably order a double of that in a couple weeks.

good to hear thank you.

llazy_llama said:

Cheapest I've found are the Morebeer $0.50 per beer kits and Midwest's 20 minute boil kits.

Remember the old saying "You get what you pay for?"

I'm just saying...

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FYI - The Midwest 20 minute kits are canned prehopped kits with some extra grain.

We have about 100 kits at about 50 cents a beer or less. I guess I need to make a list on the website.

Forrest

Austinhomebrew said:

FYI - The Midwest 20 minute kits are canned prehopped kits with some extra grain.

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This is true, which is why I haven't tried them yet. Off topic, but I hope your Fat Tire clone is as good as people are telling me it is. It's on deck for next week's brew session.

Austinhomebrew said:

FYI - The Midwest 20 minute kits are canned prehopped kits with some extra grain.

We have about 100 kits at about 50 cents a beer or less. I guess I need to make a list on the website.

Forrest

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Which kits at AHS are under $24 including yeast?? I looked around there and even the Texas blonde was gonna be $25 with yeast and that was the Cooper's dry.

Edit: assuming one gets 48 beers out of a batch.

Patton191 said:

Which kits at AHS are under $24 including yeast?? I looked around there and even the Texas blonde was gonna be $25 with yeast and that was the Cooper's dry.

Edit: assuming one gets 48 beers out of a batch.

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About 50-52 bottles usually.

I've used morebeer (B3), I got the Irish Red Ale. I thought it was a great kit.

Patton191 said:

Which kits at AHS are under $24 including yeast?? I looked around there and even the Texas blonde was gonna be $25 with yeast and that was the Cooper's dry.

Edit: assuming one gets 48 beers out of a batch.

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Our kits are designed to have 5 gallons of beer at the end not 4 1/2.

5 x 128= 640/12= 53 bottles x 50 cents = $26.50.

Are you looking at extract or all grain? All grain would be less but requires additional equipment and time.

All of this beer by price reminds me of a cartoon I saw once. The man was in Walmart and he was talking to a clerk. The caption said "I am looking for a book in the 3 dollar range"

If people want a line of inexpensive generic beers that taste good I can do that. Style is out the window, but price and taste is still there.

Let me know. I am here for you.

Forrest

Austinhomebrew said:

Our kits are designed to have 5 gallons of beer at the end not 4 1/2.

5 x 128= 640/12= 53 bottles x 50 cents = $26.50.

Are you looking at extract or all grain? All grain would be less but requires additional equipment and time.

All of this beer by price reminds me of a cartoon I saw once. The man was in Walmart and he was talking to a clerk. The caption said "I am looking for a book in the 3 dollar range"

If people want a line of inexpensive generic beers that taste good I can do that. Style is out the window, but price and taste is still there.

Let me know. I am here for you.

Forrest

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Honestly, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a couple of these recipe kits on hand. I know that I have a lot of friends who can't appriciate good beers. If you had a cheap kit that would taste decent, low ABV, and be mostly lighter styles, I would keep a few of these on hand to satisfy the thirsty masses.

Anyone else?

I could easily come up with a line of 6 gallon kits that would only cost about 3 dollars more than the 5 gallon ones. That would be 64 beers instead of 53. But that would shake up the industry too much. The rest of the industry would not like me doing that. Everyone has 5 gallon carboys.

I could switch all of my kits to 6 gallon and the beer equipment kits would come with a 6 gallon secondary.

What do you guys think?
Maybe make it an option.

I think it would be cool to shake up the industry.

Forrest

P.S. I said it first, let's see who steals it.

You do that, and I personally promise to buy several 7 gallon buckets from your site, as well as the recipe kits.

We now have a catagory called 50 cent beers (or is that Fiddy cent).

There are about 120 kits at that price or lower.

In the extract column are the less expensive (not cheap - cheap implies quality) kits.

In the all-grain section are the less expensive all grain kits.

Forrest

Austinhomebrew said:

We now have a catagory called 50 cent beers (or is that Fiddy cent).

There are about 120 kits at that price or lower.

In the extract column are the less expensive (not cheap - cheap implies quality) kits.

In the all-grain section are the less expensive all grain kits.

Forrest

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Fiddy Cent Beers WOOT WOOT..lol.

I would absolutely buy from AHBS if i didnt have my LHBS so close to me (minute drive on a windy day). I will but from either you or my LHBS in the future if she cant keep ingredients in supply but even during the christmas season she did very well with demand. So austin dont be mad i havent bought from you yet but I have been looking....

From every website I have searched morebeer seems to be the cheapest, if you want to brew one of the 5 beers they have in the 50c section. $22-23 including yeast seems to be the best I have found. Austin homebrew has kits in that range, but without yeast.