Beer Kit Price Gouging?!

[JayDubWill]

I recently received an e-mail from a reputable brewing supply store for a IIPA kit that sounded pretty tasty. I'm sure most of us received the same e-mail, but I don't want to name any names since this seems to be a growing theme among supply stores. When I opened the web page I was pretty shocked at the price for the AG kit at $49.99. I compared it to the prices on their own web site for just the ingredients and here is what I came up with. Without the instructions from the kit, i'm not sure how many oz of each hop are included so I made a best guess.

15.25 2-row ($19.67)
1lb 60L ($1.89)
1lb corn sugar ($2.39)
2oz magnum (2@$2.09=$4.18)
3oz El Dorado(3@$2.50=$7.50)(not available online, price is from my LHBS)
3oz Galena ([email protected]=$4.18)

Total: $39.81 (25.6% cheaper)

Why the 25% price increase for the kit? I understand the kit will come with instructions and someone has already figured out the recipe for me, but is this convenience worth that much more? I don't think it is personally but would like to hear what your opinion is.

 

[Upthewazzu]

I've noticed a little all-grain kit price inflation lately, too.

 

[agrazela]

Might want to check on those hop amounts. Seems to me you need 4 to 6 more oz to get into IIPA territory.

 

[Spartan1979]

Yeast? That will cut into the margins.

 

[poptarts]

Ill name names, I know Austin homebrew diffidently spikes their kit prices like no ones business. IIRC their pumpkin limited kit was well over 25% more than the cost of ingredients on their site. Ive taken to finding recipes from here and other kits and just buying ingredients cause ive never seen a kit discounted like it should be.

 

[purplerat]

As recent as a few months ago I priced out a kit from one of the major online stores versus buying ingredients separately from various sources and the kit was cheaper. I'm sure that varies depending on a number of factors and individual ingredient prices probably change more than kits do (not including sales).

But $10 for the convenience of a kit isn't a huge deal to me. Case in point, two brews ago I had bought all of my ingredients separately because I had bought larger quantities to do multiple/different batches. As I was getting ready to brew one of them I realized that among all the bags of grain I'd purchased I'd missed the Special B that particular recipe called for. I had known I'd needed it before I ordered everything but somehow just missed adding it to my order.

I ended up tweaking the recipe to do without it but I was pretty pissed at myself. $10 is probably the upper limit of what I'd pay for convenience on a kit but in that moment if I could have paid an extra $10 plus the cost of the Special B to not have had that problem I surely would have done so.

 

[jrowland74]

I once questioned NB about this same concern. The response I received was that it was a combination of time, packaging, and warranty. They take pride in their kits and package them nicely. If you buy a kit from them and it comes out bad, they will replace it at no cost to you. If you buy the ingredients separately, they will not.

EDIT: Here was their exact response (this was in March '14)

Justin,
What our customers pay for with our kits (beyond the ingredients, the muslin bag, instructions, Beer Style Card in the LE kits, box and presentation) is our kit guarantee. While we encourage brewers of all different calibers to buy separate ingredients and create their own beers or clones of our beers, we would be unable replace all the individual parts if something were to go wrong with the beer. However, if one of our kits fails to produce the experience that expectation demands from our hand crafted kits, we will gladly replace the kit with few questions asked. It's with this confidence in hand that brewers of every experience level can brew our kits, not worry, and enjoy a homebrew. Beyond that, we hope the extensive recipe formulation, the great customer service, and the labor of putting together our hand crafted kits would be wrapped up in the pricing as well. Granted, we do post our recipes for free for our customers and non-customers alike, but we do so out of good will to all brewers. Hopefully you will find the answers here acceptable. If you have any other questions, please let us know.

Cheers!

Brett E
Customer Service
Northern Brewer, LLC
1-800-681-2739

 

[Hello]

NB will replace a kit if your beer is bad? That's a hefty warranty if you ask me. That means if I decide my beer tastes like crap, I can get another kit. I'm sold.

 

[ndinh]

My experiences have been that the individual ingredients end up costing close or slightly under the price of a kit. Many kits end up costing less....for example....NB's Pliney clone is around $46. Try pricing all the individual ingredients + hops for a Pliney and you'll end up spending more, granted you're not buying in bulk.

 

[jrowland74]

NB will replace a kit if your beer is bad? That's a hefty warranty if you ask me. That means if I decide my beer tastes like crap, I can get another kit. I'm sold.

They will, indeed. In the continued conversation I had with this person, I mentioned that I was surprised about that warranty. I lightly mentioned that I had previously had a 1 gallon batch not turn out very well, but was very adamant that I was in no way expecting a replacement. It had been a while and it was one of my first batches, so I was certain it was my own fault. A few days later, a replacement showed up at my door. By this time I was doing 5 gallon batches, so I ended up giving this kit away to get someone else into brewing.

 

[pegcitybrewer]

While I do agree that typically the kits cost more than the actual ingredients you can also find lots of deals. Perfect example is NB's deal right now. Buy 3 of 5 kits and you save 20.15 per kit. I think its 2 IPA kits, an imperial stout, and India dark ale and a barleywine so all the kits cost 46.00+ I believe. you can make off like a bandit, like 80 bucks for 3 kits! Up here in Canada it can easily cost 50-60 bucks for something like a barleywine.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

In the Fall, NB had a $15/kit sale with a list of allowed kits. I bought three (I think had to buy a minimum of three???? I forget), including their Irish Red (great recipe), Scottish Ale (with winter spices) and SMaSH ale. The only catch is that price didn't include yeast. I was ok with it. I live 15 minutes from my LHBS and picked some up myself.

 

[Psylocide]

You aren't buying in bulk.

25% to slap it together, throw it in a box, add instructions, package everything... yeah, sounds about right.

I only brew extract right now, but I won't buy kits... just as easy to get the recipe and put it together yourself and the cost is similar. The difference is, I usually have some ingredients left over or what-have-you, but I can store them.

 

[D-Train]

Some of NB's all grain kits are good deals (e.g. Pliny and Heady Topper clones). I wish they sold them in the stores but I understand that once the grains are crushed shelf life is low.

 

[JayDubWill]

I agree NB usually has pretty good prices and some of their deals are pretty nice. It's the shipping that normally kills it for me, regardless of who I go with, if not my LHBS. This kit was $15 more than what I priced at my LHBS but I wanted to make a comparison between what they are selling their kits for and their prices for separate ingredients. I've recently had my eye on Farmhouse Brewing Supply and their HT clone kit. Same price at $49.99 but has 14oz of hops plus a hop shot. I think there's also some grains thrown in for good measure.

 

[Rootski]

From my experience I would say that NB's extract kits almost always are significantly cheaper than if you bought the exact ingredients individually. When I create an extract recipe I almost always look for kits that have most of my ingredients so I get a cheaper price.

 

[hunter_le five]

NB will replace a kit if your beer is bad? That's a hefty warranty if you ask me. That means if I decide my beer tastes like crap, I can get another kit. I'm sold.

Huh.
I've suddenly realized that all of my beers taste terrible.
And that I am never going to run out of free beer.

 

[Mike_kever_kombi]

I don't see anything wrong with charging a premium for a kit. There is time involved in assembling, research and development (sign me up for this job), packaging, promotion, and instruction (print, copy, etc). Surely their time is worth something.

To put it another way, you can buy all the parts to make a killer BK separately, and save a good bit of money over buying a preassembled BK. You are paying a premium for the preassembled because of everything that went to get it to that point.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

Hi,

Thanks for your interest in the Limited Edition Double IPA kit. We understand some of you have questions about the pricing. We're gonna clear up it up for you using the all grain example from above. We don't normally share the specifics of our recipes this early on following a new recipe release because of the time and effort we put into developing our recipes. In this case we feel it's worth it to make the exception.

Component Qty Individual Retail Price Total

Pale Ale Malt (1 lb) 15.25 $1.49 $22.72
Crystal 60 (1 lb) 1 $2.09 $2.09
Galena (1 oz) 3 $2.09 $6.27
Magnum (1 oz) 3 $2.99 $8.97
El Dorado (1 oz) 2 $2.99 $5.98 We bought a bale of these pellets fresh from the farm not more than 1 week ago specifically for this promo.
Whirlfloc 1 $.29 $.29 For clarity
Yeast Fuel Vial 1 $1.49 $1.49 To promote healthy yeast action and growth
Corn Sugar (1 lb) 1 $2.39 $2.39
Priming Sugar 1 $1.19 $1.19
Sum Total: $51.39
Recipe Price: 49.99
You Save : $1.40 versus buying the full recipe individually.

We are also offering fully free shipping on your entire order when you buy an AHS Belgian tulip glass in conjunction with the recipe (promo code: liquidgold). Not only do you save money versus buying the individual components, you also get free shipping. If you have any more questions or comments please feel free to email us at [email protected] and we'll keep checking here. We hope this helps clarify the issue for you.

Cheers,

Your Dedicated Homebrew Experts at Austin Homebrew Supply

 

[seigex]

morebeer did this to me at the storefront a couple months ago. I told them I wanted to do a kit so I could get the 1oz and .5oz hops packets instead of buying 2oz when I don't need it so I could save money. They said no problem, gave me the all-grain kit, and when I calculated it out I noticed it was a $10 more kit than buying the stuff individually. The associate tried to tell me I had no choice but to buy it, ended up tossing it one one of their desks, walked out, and bought my stuff elsewhere for that brew.

EDIT: Oh, and I still had to go get all the grains myself for the kit, only the hops and instructions were in the packet.

 

[OswaldvW]

Well, I have ordered from Austin Homebrew, NB, MidWest and MoreBeer in the past year alone.

I find that these stores are competitive and sell good materials (and I have received great customer service from all of them). I don't know if I have a favourite, but understand that the kit has the benefit of having the exact amounts. Also, the purchaser doesn't have to track down a recipe and select each ingredient individually.

Having said that, I also am always trying to find a great deal (shipping and yeast cost are always a deal breaker). While I love a good IIPA, my next beer is a Saison, so it's a moot point if I will be taking advantage of the Austin special. But I also see myself ordering from them again in the future.