Morebeer or Austin Homebrew?

I'm switching to all grain....I'm about to buy some kits but I'm debating between buying from morebeer or austin homebrew. Which makes better kits? I've heard good things from austin, but morebeer's free shipping is appealing.

Any thoughts?

Shoemaker said:

I'm switching to all grain....I'm about to buy some kits but I'm debating between buying from morebeer or austin homebrew. Which makes better kits? I've heard good things from austin, but morebeer's free shipping is appealing.

Any thoughts?

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Morebeer typically sells things online that they dont have in stock, this has been a 24 month issue with them that seems to never get resolved. They have more out of stock items than any vendor I have ever seen.

I think hands down, AHS... flat rate shipping, and if you need anything Forrest will be here on HBT to answer your questions. I learned a while ago, you get what you pay for. And Forrest is here supporting HBT nearly daily.

Just to make your decision harder....

Welcome to Brewmasters Warehouse // Brewmasters Warehouse...I bet Ed can get it to you faster.

Id also choose Ed at Brewmasters over the other online stores. He also supports the HBTers here on the site daily. But you didnt ask about him

I've ordered from Northern Brewer, Midwest Supplies, Austin Homebrew, and Brewmasters Warehouse.

I only use Brewmasters Warehouse and Austin Homebrew now.

There is a lot to be said for doing business with someone from HBT. I mean Ed or Forrest... think about it. They have a vested interest in providing the best service to you, because they are a part of our community, they are a part of this forum. They have to answer to you here in a public forum is something isnt taken care of.

Here in NJ, Ed's stuff gets to you in 2 days using his flat rate shipping. Austin Homebrew takes 3-4 days. It's not as simple as shipping time, though.

Ed (Brewmaster's Warehouse) is great, but the selection and quality of kits at Austin Homebrew is probably the best anywhere. I'd go with Austin for a kit, especially a commercial clone, but I've been using the Brewbuilder at Brewmaster's Warehouse for my AG recipes, based solely on the quick shipping (over a smaller distance), and the fact that Ed is great to do business with. You can build and order any recipe you want there, which is great.

You can't get this one wrong. I've had great experience with both sites and the folks behind them. Both owners are active on this site and are great guys.

Have fun with AG. I made the jump this spring, and am having a lot of fun with it.

Every morebeer kit I've done was excellent. They support the homebrewing community and they are often cheaper.

Beerrific said:

Just to make your decision harder....

Welcome to Brewmasters Warehouse // Brewmasters Warehouse...I bet Ed can get it to you faster.

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GA to NJ...2 days. I did my first AG with BW's precrushed grain and hit 71% eff, which I'm thrilled with for my first attempt!

Austin Homebrew Supply is fine as well, just takes longer to get here.

The Brew Builder function at Brewmasters is phenominal, that was an ingenious idea. Ed has great pricing, FAST shipping and you call the owner and he will talk brewing with you.

Morebeer may have "free" shipping, but they charge more for many items, and that shipping means it leaves the store in many cases, 4-5 days AFTER you order it.

Also, AHS and BMW have an excellent grain crush... Morebeer will ship you a crush with whole grains left in it. I got 68% eff. for a full year with them, jumped to 78% with BMW crush and to 83% when I got my own mill.

Yeah, for kits, I'd forget Morebeer. Wrong coast, inconsistent inventory. Great folks, and supporters of the homebrew community, but as an East Coaster, they're just not your best option.

Really it depends on what YOU value.

Shipping price: B3 is "free" but it is SLOWWWW/AHS flat rate and pretty fast/BMW flat rate and FASTEST to your location

Service: B3 has probably had more gripes about service, out of stock items that show IN STOCK when you order etc than any of the 5 major stores/AHS great service and Forrest is an HBT member, always throwing HBTers deals and support/BMW great service and Ed is again an HBT member and throws us deals and asks US what we want to see just like Forrest

Kits: AHS has the most, and they are kick arse kits/ BMW has great kits from what I hear, not quite as many as AHS though/ B3 doenst have a large variety of kits, but I have liked the recipes

Grain Crush: this WILL matter to you. AHS and BMW have excellent crushes, B3 has a reputation as having a bad crush. I thought my system was maxed at 68% eff for a year while using thier crush... only to use BMW once and it shot up to 78%, then I bought my own mill and it stuck at 83%....

Shipping time: You are in NJ? BMW will be fastest, AHS and then B3... as stated earlier, if you choose the "free" shipping option it will take a week or more to get to you.

The Pol said:

Really it depends on what YOU value.

Shipping price: B3 is "free" but it is SLOWWWW/AHS flat rate and pretty fast/BMW flat rate and FASTEST to your location

Service: B3 has probably had more gripes about service, out of stock items that show IN STOCK when you order etc than any of the 5 major stores/AHS great service and Forrest is an HBT member, always throwing HBTers deals and support/BMW great service and Ed is again an HBT member and throws us deals and asks US what we want to see just like Forrest

Kits: AHS has the most, and they are kick arse kits/ BMW has great kits from what I hear, not quite as many as AHS though/ B3 doenst have a large variety of kits, but I have liked the recipes

Grain Crush: this WILL matter to you. AHS and BMW have excellent crushes, B3 has a reputation as having a bad crush. I thought my system was maxed at 68% eff for a year while using thier crush... only to use BMW once and it shot up to 78%, then I bought my own mill and it stuck at 83%....

Shipping time: You are in NJ? BMW will be fastest, AHS and then B3... as stated earlier, if you choose the "free" shipping option it will take a week or more to get to you.

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+1. That sums it up.

By the way, I have used all of these guys... FWIW

I buy everything in bulk now, so I dont online shop, but I did for a very long time and let me tell you, nothing is "free".

I DO have to recant something. I just looked at Brewmasters Warehouse recipes section... they have more than anyone I have seen! Ed must have changed this since I looked last (I dont shop online now, so I dont check often) He has FIVE frakin Oktoberfest recipes ALONE! Go look at it!

Brewmasters Warehouse has 70 styles and 382 recipes available to order

The Pol said:

I DO have to recant something. I just looked at Brewmasters Warehouse recipes section... they have more than anyone I have seen! Ed must have changed this since I looked last (I dont shop online now, so I dont check often) He has FIVE frakin Oktoberfest recipes ALONE! Go look at it!

Brewmasters Warehouse has 70 styles and 382 recipes available to order! BEAT THAT!

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But there's no quality guarantee- those are just recipes users have shared. I still think Austin Homebrew has the edge on consistently great kits. Brewmaster's Warehouse is the wikipedia of kits. Eventually, it'll be pretty reliable, but if it doesn't say "Bee Cave Brewery" at the beginning, I don't know who thought it was good.

elkdog said:

But there's no quality guarantee- those are just recipes users have shared. I still think Austin Homebrew has the edge on consistently great kits. Brewmaster's Warehouse is the wikipedia of kits. Eventually, it'll be pretty reliable, but if it doesn't say "Bee Cave Brewery" at the beginning, I don't know who thought it was good.

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Ahhh, see this is what I get for not shopping online... wikipedia of kits, who'd a thunk?

I'm sure there's a ton of good recipes on there, but maybe not all up to the standard of AHS. I think Ed's website if the best by far, but its newness means the user-generated aspects of it haven't necessarily taken effect yet.

Morebeer has been shipping next day to me lately. Don't listen to Pol, He's just bitter.

Conroe said:

Morebeer has been shipping next day to me lately. Don't listen to Pol, He's just bitter.

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Bitter?

You probably dont know this, since you obviously dont know me... but I will indulge you. I was for the longest time B3's staunchest supporter here on HBT.

The fact is I was OK with it taking a week or more to get my stuff with "free" shipping, and I was even OK with having whole grains left in my crush. I supported them here when everyone else was fully against them.

elkdog said:

I'm sure there's a ton of good recipes on there, but maybe not all up to the standard of AHS. I think Ed's website if the best by far, but its newness means the user-generated aspects of it haven't necessarily taken effect yet.

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Unless you know who uploaded it. There are a lot of beers there that HBT members have brewed/mastered.

Speaking of which....
Daniel's Killer Beers Janet's Brown Ale // Brewmasters Warehouse ....my upload. A great beer, click to buy, great idea. (Even though I can't )

Beerrific said:

Unless you know who uploaded it. There are a lot of beers there that HBT members have brewed/mastered.

Speaking of which....
Daniel's Killer Beers Janet's Brown Ale // Brewmasters Warehouse ....my upload. A great beer, click to buy, great idea. (Even though I can't )

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Agreed. If you know who uploaded (a lot of those recipes are talked about here), it's a safe bet.

The Pol said:

Bitter?

You probably dont know this, since you obviously dont know me... but I will indulge you. I was for the longest time B3's staunchest supporter here on HBT.

The fact is I was OK with it taking a week or more to get my stuff with "free" shipping, and I was even OK with having whole grains left in my crush. I supported them here when everyone else was fully against them.

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Come on you used to be the biggest B3 proponent on the net, one mishap and you latterly hate them. Their just a bunch of drunks not criminals.

AHS has had more people complain about slow shipping than anyone, do a search. But don't read the one thread of Pol's--worthless.

Conroe said:

Come on you used to be the biggest B3 proponent on the net, one mishap and you latterly hate them. Their just a bunch of drunks not criminals.

AHS has had more people complain about slow shipping than anyone, do a search.

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I dont hate them, but I dont ignore the facts either.

The fact is both B3 and AHS have improved. You ignored that didn't you?

Conroe said:

The fact is both B3 and AHS have improved. You ignored that didn't you?

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I can only speak from experience. I have not experienced this... our opinions are based on our experiences. I cannot attest to something that I have not personally experienced.

Like I said earlier, I dont buy online anymore, but when I did...

Conroe said:

AHS has had more people complain about slow shipping than anyone, do a search.

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This is a little out of context. AHS has had complaints by people that like to complain knowing the owner is a member here. They don't want to pay for fast shipping, then complain when it doesn't get to them the next day. Wah!

Nurmey said:

This is a little out of context. AHS has had complaints by people that like to complain knowing the owner is a member here. They don't want to pay for fast shipping, then complain when it doesn't get to them the next day. Wah!

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This is true... and I think in at least one scenario it arose out of sales volume from a sale that Forrest was running for HBTers.

Nurmey there were some real problems, Forest would probably admit to it as he has in most of those worthless threads. He seems like good guy.

This is getting really snippy but I have some unclouded observations to share.

I'm very new but I've ordered from MoreBeer and AHS and have had good experiences with both. But I have to say that AHS seems to be much more customer friendly. I've emailed some very stupid questions to them and they have responded quickly and nicely. That alone is enough to keep me as a customer but they also seem to do a great job on recipe kits. I've ordered 2 so far and everything about the orders from packaging to instructions (which may not be important to those who are experts) has been outstanding. Shipping has been insanely fast but I'm in Texas.

I can't say that MoreBeer is bad but I get more of a personal vibe to AHS. Same goes for Northern Brewer but I haven't had a chance to order from them much.

In the end it depends on what the OP values most.

I haven't shopped with either of the stores, I have shopped from Northern and had a good experience. I buy exclusively from rebelbrewer.com, as his shop is 5-10 minutes from my house. If you are looking for great service they are for you. The owner, Tom, will go out of his way to ensure that you have a great customer experience. He also makes some really good beer.

If you can't decide who to buy from exclusively then by from all of them and figure out who you liked the best. I personally don't buy kits from anybody. I seek advice from Tom and he helps me out, or I look at a clone recipe and tweak it to my tastes.

I have to agree with the previous posts and back to the reason why I posted this question in the first place.....

I have ordered a few kits from Morebeer and although the beer isn't finished yet, the samples were great. But, I ordered a few more kits recently, and it took them quite a few days to send me a confirmation and ship them out, something I wasn't happy with.

I think I'll try austin this time and brewmasters the next.

Austin Homebrew has been consistent as well as fast with their flat rate shipping to me up here in Washington State. The kit selection is vast and the quality really top-notch! I couldn't be happier!

Conroe said:

Nurmey there were some real problems, Forest would probably admit to it as he has in most of those worthless threads. He seems like good guy.

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I am a good guy. We have 2 shifts now and a lot of extra help. All year we have been getting close to 99% of all orders out the same day.

The threads that complained were a long time ago during a sale. We had a one day sale that was so successful that we received 2 weeks worth of orders in one day. That would cause any store to be a little behind. I am sure you understand.

Forrest

I ordered this past Thursday from AHS, and got a shipping confirmation later the same day.

I've had very good luck with the kits from them, and the kits from Northernbrewer.com, althought NB is much more limited in their selection. The "clone" kits from AHS are great.

I buy almost all of my brewing supplies from brewmaster's warehouse or austin home brew now. There isn't a store local to me, so I shop almost exclusively online. I've bought from all of the major online stores in the past- morebeer, midwest, Williams Brewing, Leener's, etc, and now stick with AHS and Brewmaster's warehouse. Great customer service from both of them, and great products at good prices.

I was one that complained about AHS a few months back when shipping took over a week from order date. I just ordered two batches DURING their Texas 10% off sale and get shipping confirmation the next day. The beer kits came the next day via UPS and I even got a second confirmation - they did not have the Coopers carb. drops in stock but shipped my order, then shipped the carb drops the next day. TWO shipments, no additional cost, so I could get my brewing kits earlier. Ok, I am man enough to admit when things improve, and they have. Good for AHS to recognize a sore spot with customers and fix it.

Now, the not-so-good news. I wanted to get a digital scale as well so I could measure oz since I have over a pound of fresh hops and I need to measure them out accurately. Their scale was $35 and the same scale was $30 at Northern Brewer. I called up AHS before placing my order to see if they would match that price. The guy who answered the phone basically blew me off and said he couldn't make that call, a manager would. I said so.... can I speak to the manager... He huffed and said "we are real busy today, we are having a sale." I told him I KNEW they were having a sale - that is why I am buying two kits and wanted to include the scale in the order. He huffed and said hold on... A minute later the manager (name withheld) picked up the phone and I asked him the same thing. He sounded put off and asked if the other place had flat rate shipping like they did (not really sure why that matters). I said yes, same price as yours - he said he could "investigate" it and if it was true he would match the price but would not give me the 10% off for the sale....

First off, $5 is not the end of the world. But, to be treated like I was basically made me say screw it. Not sure WHY they would not match the price of a competitor AND give me the sale price as well rather than risk loosing a customer from poor customer service. It kinda makes me feel they are hedging their losses from flat rate shipping by marking up their products - which ultimately means we all pay for that guy who uses their "flat" rate shipping for a 50 lb. bag or two of grain for $7.99.

Oh and the scale - I found the exact same on on Amazon for $25 PLUS free shipping AND no tax...

Sorry about the issue with the scale. This is the first I had heard about it. I am curious why you didn't have Northern Brewer match the Amazon price with free shipping?

The best thing to do is shop for the best price. I don't know of a homebrew store that has an across the board price matching policy. There are many items where we will match any price. There are some items we can't. Just bring it to my attention and I will do the best I can.

I had one customer that wanted me to match a local competitor on a list of items. One of the items the competitors price was $20 more than mine. He didn't want me to match that price as well.

No homebrew store has the best price on everything. If you compare the total delivered price, we should have the best price for your order.

If I would have known about this I would have taken care of it.

Feel free to contact me at: [email protected]

DD2000GT: PM me with mailing info and shirt size and I will send a care package of goodies.

Forrest

YooperBrew said:

I buy almost all of my brewing supplies from brewmaster's warehouse or austin home brew now. There isn't a store local to me, so I shop almost exclusively online. I've bought from all of the major online stores in the past- morebeer, midwest, Williams Brewing, Leener's, etc, and now stick with AHS and Brewmaster's warehouse. Great customer service from both of them, and great products at good prices.

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I'm with Yooper. I don't really have a store near me, so everything is done online. I tend to chime in and plug BMW any time i can for the simple reason that Ed has always done right by me. I like the fact that i can PM or Email Ed with questions or concerns and i always hear back from him right away. He has gone out of his way several times to help me out and because i live close to a fedex hub, i get all my stuff from him next day. I don't know if all the shops did this, but i got an email a few days ago about the nottingham recall from Ed. He is offering his customers the option of sending the yeast to him and he will deal with the recall while honoring the replacement + one packet deal from notthingham.

I also want to plug AHS. Forrest has also helped me out several times, including steering me towards a cheaper price for a 10 gallon pot that they were selling. When i ordered a better bottle from forrest last xmas it went out quick and was a very positive shopping experience.

I've never dealt with morebeer. Not for any reason other than geography. I know dealing with suppliers that are close to where i live will help ensure fast arrival and that yeast wont be exposed to the heat of travel for too long. But really, having the ability to talk to Ed and Forrest directly makes all the difference for me.

Austinhomebrew said:

Sorry about the issue with the scale. This is the first I had heard about it. I am curious why you didn't have Northern Brewer match the Amazon price with free shipping?

The best thing to do is shop for the best price. I don't know of a homebrew store that has an across the board price matching policy. There are many items where we will match any price. There are some items we can't. Just bring it to my attention and I will do the best I can.

I had one customer that wanted me to match a local competitor on a list of items. One of the items the competitors price was $20 more than mine. He didn't want me to match that price as well.

No homebrew store has the best price on everything. If you compare the total delivered price, we should have the best price for your order.

If I would have known about this I would have taken care of it.

Feel free to contact me at: [email protected]

DD2000GT: PM me with mailing info and shirt size and I will send a care package of goodies.

Forrest

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this is a good example of what i was saying. Though he doesn't have to, Forrest is willing to help and try to make things right, even though the person with the problem didn't ask for it.

Ed once left some dry yeast out of an order of mine. He bent over backwards to get it to me, but since i didn't need it right away i said he should snail mail it to me. Well, USPS lost it, so Ed again went out of his way to fedex it to me (he also included a pack of liquid pacman yeast for the hassle).

for those of us without LHBS' dealing with Forrest and Ed is great and really makes us feel like someone is accountable and cares about us.

On second thought - no comment.