Best Ingredient Purchase Sites

I've been doing alot of research on pricing of ingredients and shipping charges etc.. Wanting some input as to what sites people use for their purchasing of grains, hops, equiptment, etc... Working on a pretty tight budget but Im brewing a large amount of beer to give out as wedding favors for my 09-01-2012 wedding and I want to get cracking on it shortly so the beer can age a bit.

I have a decent hombrew shop in my town but its only open wednesdays and saturdays from 8am to 12 noon and its hard to get there. Also another about 45min away. Prices are not that great compared to what I've seen online but obviously I skip on shipping charges. I wouldnt mind using different sites for different ingredients as I am sure certain sites specialize in different ingredients.

Thinking of making a something that combines the light taste of an Light American Ale with the alcohol content of a Blonde Ale.....as I have a guest list of Miller Lite drinkers (I know, I know) at the same time as being drunks so I'd like to find a crowd pleasing brew.

Any input on either topic is appreciated!

 

Have always had good experiences with Northern Brewer. Pretty much anything you could need and cheap shipping.

 

I've had very good results with Midwest Supplies. Good stuff & fast shipping,great customer service.

 

Well maybe I should let you guys know about the brew shop near me. Their site is www.homebrew4less.com and Northern Brewers prices cant touch them....Midwest Supplies is close and might even out depending on shipping charges not sure. Looks like my best bet just might be making the drive down there because Im looking at a purchase of about 60+ lbs. of merchandise.

 

Austin Homebrew is my go-to, and they're doing FREE shipping for tomorrow only

 

BMW, and AHS are my go to online stores.

 

Love Brewmaster's because they are on the east coast and I get my shipments the same week. Never had an issue with them. Ed, answer's his emails and phone calls. Good business.

 

I mainly use BMW. I do buy some equipment from Northern Brewer and Midwest. As far as buying ingredients I always use BMW. Their prices are cheap and when you use their brew builder you get 10% off the recipe. Also it's nice if your an extract brewer because the sell by the pound. So if you only need 4lbs of DME that's what you pay for. You don't have to buy a 5lb bag and weigh it out yourself.

 

AHS - free shipping for orders over $49 tomorrow. Always free shipping for orders over $100

NB - $7.99 flat rate shipping

MW - You pay for exact shipping but prices seem to be slightly cheaper

My suggestion is to buy in bulk and save money on shipping & tax

 

+1 to Brewmasters Warehouse. I started out buying my stuff from Northern Brewer because of their flashy catelogs and website. Then I found BMW. They are probably cheaper by at least 15-20%, and with the amount I've been brewing lately I need to stretch my dollars.

 

I recently placed an order with Morebeer.com They had free shipping on orders over $59.

 

I am not too far from you (Norfolk Va) and we have a nice store here that is open six days week and always has fresh ingrediants. www.homebrewusa.com
They have a wide selection of discounted kits as well. Always friendly and helpful.

 

I like Farmhouse Brewing Supply. http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com

Like how the malts get packaged separately. even after milling.
also how the hops come in 4oz packs and are nicely priced.
my packages always arrive promptly to my door.

Only wish with them would be to carry Wyeasts and/or rauchmalt.
(they'll probably read this and start carrying them) /wink

but getting dry yeast takes the 'scary' out of delivery i guess.

 

+1

Farmhouse is amazing!! Best prices and reasonable shipping around. I'm not worried about liquid yeast because I buy that local.

 

This is very resourceful for me, I'm just starting out. I ended up buying a brew kit from NB, just to get me introduced to and really understand the process but my main goal is to get into all grain so seeing these other suppliers is quite an eye opener.

However it seems to me that they're prices aren't too far off from each other, it seems more their shipping rates are the determining factors here, but I do like the hop pricing from Farmhouse Brewing Supply, much better than NB.

 

I liked morebeer when doing extract but after switching to all grain their grain prices are insane. $19.00 for 10lbs of milled Maris Otter is a joke!

 

That was a special up till 11/1 as I recall..

BUT, they have a great looking recipe they published today on... Taa Daa

Bacon and Beer Chili.. I copied it.. Sounds very good.

EDIT.. OOOOOPS.. My BAD.. it was Makebeer.net.. Coopers products.

 

IMHO, Northern Brewer and AHS are great for getting started with kits. I used them for all my brews when I started. I will still buy from them when they offer creative stuff.
AHS has a HUGE selection of house and clone beers.

After I started making (mostly copying) recipes, I started going to my local homebrew shop. Brewmiester. No shipping cost, and your yeast doesnt have to ship (in my case in Ca.) across the country in summer heat.

 

I usually go with Midwest, but if I was starting out, I might opt for NB due to their huge set of kids. I find Midwest to be cheaper unless I make a big order with NB's flat shipping. I also like that I can buy 1/2 lb of grain more easily at Midwest. The selection of ingredients is comperable.

 

I'm a BMW guy because they email me if they don't have something I order and let me know when they will have it.

6.99 flat shipping also. I'm in CT now and it only takes a couple days. Even when I lived in AZ I would get my shipments within a week.

 

Midwest has done that kind of thing for me as well.

 

Psst...the yeast is shipped in the summer heat to you LHBS or their supplier.....

 

I naively assume that my LHBS gets a bunch of yeast at a time in a better environment (cooler with ice or dry ice) than the box with single ice pack that comes to my house.

I had 2 vials at different dates arrive blown up from AHS last summer. They promptly replaced the yeast, of course.

 

Got my equipment and first two kits from Midwest (groupon!). Farmhouse is hard to beat hop-wise for a beginner as the prices are good and you can buy 4oz instead of a pound.

 

I use Midwest and Northernbrewer a lot, but I use Rebelbrewer too - they have great selections on grains and hops as well as a quick turnaround. I have been on Farhouse but have yet to order.

 

Midwest predominantly and MoreBeer occasionally.

On one of my first batches, I priced equivalent orders on several sites; Midwest came up cheapest and had good reviews. MoreBeer's prices are decent over $59 at which point you get free shipping, but even then was no better than Midwest's prices. Northern Brewer was the most expensive of the ones I tested, IIRC. I didn't evaluate AHS.

 

I get my grains from fiftypoundsack.com. As for other items I either DIY or just search until I find the best deal, shipping and service.

 

Anyone else have better sources for bulk grains/Hops. $1+ per pound is a little much IMHO.

 

More Beer sells a 50lb bag of Domestic 2 row for under $36 (assuming it's not crushed) Prices go up from there and a fifty pound sack doesn't qualify for free shipping. But 5 ten pound bags do, of course they cost more per pound. If you're on the west coast check them out, not bad.