LHBS Prices... First time not buying a kit.

I am getting ready to step into a/g and I have a recipe I want to try instead of buying a kit. I have done a couple extract kits and they have turned out decent, but I want to get away from. Not that I have anything against it. I just want to try the other methods. So, I emailed my lhbs which is about 20-30 minutes away to see if he had what I need in stock and to get prices. He emails m e back and says he has eveerything. No prices. I email back and ask for prices again (I don't want to drive down there and find that the prices are way out of wack). He emails me back and says 2 row is 1.95 a pound or 16.00 for a 10 pound bag, specialty grains are 2.95 a pound and hops are 2.50 an ounce. Does it seem odd that all hops and spec grain would be the same price no matter what kind?? I guess I don't have a problem with him only selling full pounds of grain, just stinks I have to buy two pounds to get 1 pound 3oz. Here is what I need for this recipe.

Hops
2oz Cascade
1oz Nugget

Grain
1/2lb chocolate malt
1lb 3oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine
1lb 7oz Caramel/Crystal Malt 40L
8lbs 14oz 2-Row

At his price I am at like 38.00 with all 4 grains having some left over. Or I could get exactly the amounts I need from Brewmasters for 32.00 shipped.

There is one other local place I want to check, but it is more of a wine place with SOME beer stuff, and I don't think they stock much.

What are your thoughts on those prices? I have only purchased online so those are the only prices I have to compare to.

Thanks

Yea that's pretty steep. Check out Rebel Brewer. They have the best grain selection of any store in the world. Literally. Not sure their prices on shipping though since they are my LHBS. They have 2-row at $1.04 per pound, chocolate malt at $0.12 per ounce, carapils for $1.50 per pound, and C-40 at $1.35 per pound. Cascades are $1.49 per ounce and Nuggets are $1.79 per ounce (I would go to another site and buy hops in bulk for much cheaper, like Hops Direct). They also have good connections with the folks at White labs so they have specialty yeasts like Rebel Brewer American Pub and Pacman available pretty frequently. Plus their customer service is absolutely incredible and their prices on other equipment are some of the cheapest around. I highly recommend them for anything homebrew related.

Edit: Also, you can buy in bulk and save on grains. For example, for 2-row, 10-205 lbs gets a 10% discount.

One note on the extra grains you may end up with if having to purchase by the pound; since going to AG, it will be nice to have some extra grains (base anyway) on hand to compensate for potential efficiency issues or bumping bigger beers down the road. Can also sub with LME/DME but the point is you should be able to find a use for your extra grains.
I wish I had a LHBS. Stupid MS.....

I agree about the extra grain not going to waste, but I still don't want to over pay for it. I was really hoping to be able to save by buying local, but at this rate I might just break even after shipping. Only advantage would be not having to wait for it.

My LHBS charges $2.95/lb for all grains regardless. Hops are $2-4/oz. They are a last resort emergency stop only.

Check around online, you can find much better places that are cheaper with the shipping. Probably more selection too.

At the place I use now, I can typically fill two recipes and have it shipped for less than what my LHBS charges for one recipe. It takes a bit more planning, but definitely worth it.

I don't suppose the LHBS would price match your order online?

Yea you're right about the shipping. For 10 lbs of 2-row, it's like 15 bucks to your zip code from Rebel (most of that is initial shipping cost so anything else won't add too much to the price). Maybe you can find a better homebrew store that's within 2 hours or so and drive and buy bulk. That's what I did before I moved right down the road from Rebel Brewer. I drove and bought 250 lbs at once. I saved a lot of money, but I had to put out the money up front, so that's the trade off. Good luck searching. Let us know what works out best for you. Cheers.

Ask, if you don't ask you'll never know. I had my lhbs price match on some stuff....

My normal LHBS usually sells in 1#, 10# or 55# with a few sporadic malts being available in 5# bags. A few others in the area (a bit more of a drive) do bulk grain, which is cool and all, but I find that having those extra bits of grains around give me an incentive to brew more. Has also had me making a couple kitchen sink beers to use up the scraps that ended up being really good.

The pricing seems a little on the steep side. I don't know what the normal going rate is in your area though. My LHBS prices seem to be pretty close to the online prices, usually close enough that unless I'm placing a huge order, it works out to be cheaper with the shipping removed. Plus I like the idea of keeping the local shop in business.

One thing I would recommend is only buying liquid yeast locally, regardless of price. I bought a couple packs from Northern Brewer last summer in the middle of a heat wave, and after making starters one was really low viability, the other was completely dead.

+1 to asking for price match. Just tell them you will buy elsewhere if they don't (which is probably true).

I might ask... He knows he has ya by the balls though unless you order online because he is the only shop around. He really rubbed me wrong when it took asking for a price 3 times and all I got was the basic prices instead of an exact price on what I was asking for. I emailed back saying so I am looking at $38, and he replied yeah somewhere around there. If I tell you exactly what I need you should be able to tell me exactly what it costs.

Those prices seem fairly typical for an average LHBS. Some are cheaper and some are more expensive. I don't know about anyone else but I don't shop at LHBS's for the price, I do it for the experience, comradery, and the support of local small business. There is an awesome home brew shop in Alabama that was my local shop for a few years. The owner and his wife are so damn cool that I would have paid double an online company for their ingredients. The local brew club meets in the shop after closings once a month and the owner is a member of the club. Everyone in the area shops there and the conversations that arise in there are extremely educational. I miss the crap out of that shop.

Now on the other hand. I recently moved to Atlanta and the shops I've been to so far are so so. I was used to picking out, weighing, and milling my own ingredients in AL. In GA they do it all for you. One place does it in a back room so you'd never even know if they screwed up your order till it was too late. The prices are higher here. Yeast is 6.5 or so a vial. AL it was 5. Hops are sold in 1oz packets instead of weighed out. The workers seem cool, but I don't know if I'll ever really get to know any of them.

It all comes down to the business itself. I wouldn't shop at a brew shop if the business was poor or if the owners/management had attitudes, regardless of pricing. But, if the company is good (as in both business company and other people company) I'd be willing to overlook some edgy pricing.

I'll just wait 4-5 days for shipping to brew instead of bothering to check the LHBS anymore.

amandabab said:

I'll just wait 4-5 days for shipping to brew instead of bothering to check the LHBS anymore.

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That's such a bummer. Kinda makes me want to open a brew shop and do it the right way. I have never in my three years of brewing, ordered ingredients online. I hope to keep it that way. There's something about being able to walk into a brick and mortar shop, pick up what you need like a good chef would, and brew the same day...or the next after making a starter.

Prices at Rebel Brewer were great until I added shipping to south west Florida.... Then not so great. $15 to ship $20 in grain and hops.

Those prices are really bad. I pay $1.09 for base malt unmilled (1.19 milled). Specialty malts vary, but your typical crystal malt is $1.69 /lb. hops are $1.99/oz

Those are fair to me. If I buy 2row in bulk it's $45/sack, so the prices are pretty good

Well seems like no matter what site I go to, by the time I add in shipping the price is the same as going down to this shop.

Brewmasters Warehouse is who I use most of the time. Its cheaper for me to pay shipping than drive to town even if there was a lhbs which there isn't. I placed an order Wednesday at noon and it was on my porch the next morning. You couldn't ask for anything better than that. I'll be brewing this weekend !
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TBaGZ said:

Well seems like no matter what site I go to, by the time I add in shipping the price is the same as going down to this shop.

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Order 2 batches at a time from a site with flat rate shipping, like BMW or Northern

Spintab said:

That's such a bummer. Kinda makes me want to open a brew shop and do it the right way. I have never in my three years of brewing, ordered ingredients online. I hope to keep it that way. There's something about being able to walk into a brick and mortar shop, pick up what you need like a good chef would, and brew the same day...or the next after making a starter.

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I know what you mean, the closest to me though is 1.5 hours drive each way. I do go there on once in awhile. The customer service is very spotty, some very helpful and freindly some barely speak to you.

Prices are a little on the high side but still in line with what I pay in my area. You're not going to see a big saving until you buy in bulk. LHBS has to make a living too or they go out of business, I dont think they are getting rich off selling home brew stuff.

Go with rebel brewer. I live about 2 hours away from them a d still have things shipped. I choose the fed ex route and things get to me overnight. Their prices are great and service is awesome. Good luck.

My LHBS is comparable in prices to online. They charge by the lb for grain along with by the 4 oz( costs a few pennys more per lb) I can buy a half oz of hops. The owners are awesome to deal with. My only complaint is their hours, I just wish they were open on Sundays and Mondays( the days I always seem to need something).

My not so lhbs is 75 min away. I use it to fill gaps and buy liquid yeast so It doesn't get shipped in this heat. My advice op is buy 5 or 6 batches worth of ingredients online to save on shipping and allow more flexibility in your brew schedule.

Not to revive an older thread but my LHBS works with us on AG recipes by ordering 55# in bulk. While it's not the BEST price in the world, a $1/lb price is completely affordable for my 2 Row. So I choose to buy that in bulk and pay a little more for the specialties. The only thing that kills me is $4/oz for hop pellets which are sometimes .5, .75 or .90 if not 1oz.

I don't mind paying higher for some things but $4/oz, or in most cases less, of pellet hops is just stupid.