Best homebrew website?

My lhbs isn't exactly that local at close to 30 miles away. Whats the best website as far as price, quality, and low shipping costs? I've used midwest supplies before but I got nailed with shipping costs through the roof. Just looking for a good balance for quality and price. Thanks in advance for the help.

Try austin homebrew or Northern brewer. Both are rated well by others here. Austin homebrew has a sweet selection of kits.

I have been stuck buying locally but limited to what they carry as soon as I get a big order together I am going Austin Homebrew $7.99 flat shipping on most items.

AHS is also 7.99 shipping flat rate. I've used morebeer extensively since they are closer to me and if you spend $60 you don't have to pay shipping.

I need to be more thankful that my LHBS is fully stocked and 2.5 miles from the house.

Now if they would open on Sundays......

The smoke and mirrors of Flat Rate shipping is a joke. Look at the pricing for a lot of items as the shipping cost is in the price. Midwest and Northern are both good at this. With the Northern Brewer in Milwaukee now I priced it out once and everything in the store is 10-15% cheaper in the store than online.

I use austinhomebrew.com, brewmasterswarehouse.com, and northernbrewer.com the most. I have ordered from morebeer.com, too, and been happy with them.

I really like the kits at austinhomebrew, and I like the selection at brewmasterswarehouse.com, so I'd say I order most often from either of them.

Brewmeister Jeff said:

The smoke and mirrors of Flat Rate shipping is a joke. Look at the pricing for a lot of items as the shipping cost is in the price. Midwest and Northern are both good at this. With the Northern Brewer in Milwaukee now I priced it out once and everything in the store is 10-15% cheaper in the store than online.

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That is all well and good if you live less than an hours drive from a true homebrew store. The rest of us are stuck with mail order and online advice.

Brewmeister Jeff said:

The smoke and mirrors of Flat Rate shipping is a joke. Look at the pricing for a lot of items as the shipping cost is in the price. Midwest and Northern are both good at this. With the Northern Brewer in Milwaukee now I priced it out once and everything in the store is 10-15% cheaper in the store than online.

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Yeah, I have looked into on-line resources thinking I would save some money on items. I didn't notice much if any price discounts on-line over my LHBS.

BendBrewer said:

Yeah, I have looked into on-line resources thinking I would save some money on items. I didn't notice much if any price discounts on-line over my LHBS.

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Consider yourself lucky. My LHBS is $1/lb more for grain and $1/oz on hops. Even with shipping costs built in, online is a better deal for me (and for 95% of homebrewing I would guess). I could also buy a used corney keg for $43 if I was interested.

Yes, I consider myself luckier and luckier every time I go in, which is normally twice a week.

Corney kegs are 35 bucks.

Hops are $1.65 an ounce, 2-row is about 90 cents per pound in bulk.

I am lucky enough to have two different LHBS within 30 minutes. The problem is each one on its own doesn't have enough inventory to put together a complete recipe if I'm using specialty grains and looking for a specific yeast. I was also surprised to see prices in the LHBSs are just as low as Northern Brewer and AHS and I can avoid the shipping charge.

Wow, massive instant response... Thanks. Does anyone know which shops ship grain pre-milled? I know midwest does and that would be a huge value once I go all-grain.

Thanks again too, every question I have asked as been answered VERY quickly.

NorCalAngler said:

I am lucky enough to have two different LHBS within 30 minutes. The problem is each one on its own doesn't have enough inventory to put together a complete recipe if I'm using specialty grains and looking for a specific yeast. I was also surprised to see prices in the LHBSs are just as low as Northern Brewer and AHS and I can avoid the shipping charge.

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That's great about their pricing being equivalent to online, but if they don't have the inventory that is also a deal-breaker for me. I have better things to do with my time than drive around getting ingredients. Brewmeister Jeff talked about the "smoke and mirrors" of shipping prices (which I don't see in comparing prices on my end, but whatever), so you also take into account the value of your time as well as gas you burn driving around if you are going to do the time/cost analysis.

Places like brewmaster's warehouse has both an excellent selection and price. The right stuff is on your doorstep 48 hours after you order. Even with the shipping cost added in I come out ahead.

Dave11980 said:

Wow, massive instant response... Thanks. Does anyone know which shops ship grain pre-milled? I know midwest does and that would be a huge value once I go all-grain.

Thanks again too, every question I have asked as been answered VERY quickly.

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All of them do- and I believe most of them are at no extra charge. One online brew store I ordered from charged $.10/pound for milled grain, but I can't remember which one it was.

The crush is pretty good at austinhomebrew, and at brewmasterswarehouse. I have a mill now, so it's been a while since I ordered crushed grain, though.

This is my LHBS and they ship as well. The prices listed on teh site are the same as in store prices adn the shipping is reasonable. For an Extract kit to ship to California standard groud is about 15.00. keg prices are really competitive as well.

http://www.homebrewing.org

I got my equipment kit, bottles and 2 ingredient kits from Brewgadgets.com everything seems relatively similar in price when I compared things to some other online retailers that are mentioned here. They also do pre-mill the grains at no charge.

I stopped at my LHBS last week for some hops I needed for a weekend brew. They were $4.95 per oz!! I'll only be going there for emergency orders from now on.

I used Northernbrewer for 90% of my orders, now I use Brewmasterswarehouse. I've used AustinHomeBRew as well once. All are good stores.
I use Brewmasters exclusively for his Recipe Builder. If I'm ordering equipment I look everywhere.

BendBrewer said:

Yes, I consider myself luckier and luckier every time I go in, which is normally twice a week.

Corney kegs are 35 bucks.

Hops are $1.65 an ounce, 2-row is about 90 cents per pound in bulk.

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You are VERY lucky.


Cornies are $54.99 here. Hops are $3.99/oz, and 2-row is $8.35 for a 5lb bag. If you want to buy it in bulk, its about $50/55


Unless you order from MidCountry Malt.