Another LHBS casualty...Who is the best online?

[GParkins]

So it looks like Brock's Home Brew in Melbourne, FL has gone Tango Uniform. That leaves exactly one LHBS (that I know of) on the East coast of Florida from Key West to at least as far as Melbourne (Craft Beer Cartel in Fort Lauderdale), and the guy that I spoke to today said he's not sure if they are going to place another order with their supplier.

For those of you stuck without a useful LHBS, like I seem to now be, what seems to be the best internet option?

My concerns:
I don't want to pay freight from Seattle to South Florida every time I need a 25kg bag of Maris, so an Eastern seaboard location would be nice.
I don't want to get warm, old yeast when I order, so I want whoever I buy from to be willing to ship me their fresher stock in exchange for my loyalty. I'm also willing to pay a bit more if they pack it so it's still cold when it arrives.

I looked on Amazon tonight, and their prices were roughly 4x the price of Morebeer.com. No one is going to ship a 25kg bag of grain for free, so I wouldn't ***** about that, but Prime delivery doesn't come halfway to making Amazon a viable option. Furthermore, shopping for a Wyeast smack pack looked sketchy as hell.

My question for the group is obvious: Who do you feel provides the best balance of price, quality, and delivery?

 

[passedpawn]

Upvote for the mil spec lingo.

I'm lucky to have a couple near me (one is literally down the street). So, I don't order online.

 

[ba-brewer]

I see people ordering 5 10lbs bags of grain from morebeer to get the free shipping. Not as cheap as if you got a sack of grain from somewhere. Some did the break down and it was not too bad as I recall.

If you have any craft brewers close maybe they will help you out if they were once a homebrewer.

You can order yeast direct from whitelabs, they have a 2 day option. I do it some times because I know I will get a fresher pack of yeast. Many people got yeast from the vault last summer that took a week and were still good.

 

[CodeSection]

This thread may be of some help....https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/where-to-buy-50lbs-of-2-row.673360/#post-8748773

 

[GParkins]

This thread may be of some help...

Some good stuff there, but it looks like a constant battle. I'd rather find one guy who can get me what I want at a reasonable price. I don't have to have the best possible price, but I want good service and consistent product availability.

 

[sakeyfour]

In Maine my local Homebrew shops have closed. However I have a local small brewery that is more that willing to sell me base grains anytime and other items like yeast and specialty grains if I ask in advance.

 

[Coastalbrew]

I do my online shopping at Atlantic brew supply https://www.atlanticbrewsupply.com/ They are in Raleigh, nc so East coast based and sell grain by the ounce and by the sack. They have grains from a variety of big maltsters as well as epiphany, a local craft malt house. I've tried several of their base and specially malts and have really enjoyed the beers I've made with them. Great selection of yeast hops and everything else you may need for a brew. My yeast has always , happy arrived cold, happy and live a healthy. I live a few hours from the shop and when I go through town I'll try to stop and pick up a batch of ingredients. The staff is always very friendly and helpful. Can't say enough good things about them.

 

[BruceH]

Ritebrew has great prices on everything except shipping. The exception to this is they have decent prices on shipping yeast if I buy a quantity.

Morebeer! has the best grain option with shipping when I do 10 lb bags and order $59 or more. Bags are vacuum sealed. They have % off sales every so often.

Lablepeelers has pretty good dry yeast prices. I mostly use dry yeast and harvest slurry.


How does anyone know that the yeast from their LHBS was handled any better in shipment than when you order yours online? Just wondering.

 

[brew703]

When I ordered online I usually use Texas Brewing. They have flat rate shipping and their malt prices are good. They also vac seal your order. Not sure if they ship full sacks or not.
They occasionally have shipping specials like 2.95 if ordering over $20.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

I like Morebeer a lot for grain and random brewing supplies. I always make sure to hit the $59 free shipping threshold. Their customer service is really good. Sometimes I'll get hops from them but Yakima Valley Hops has become by go to for bulk hops purchases.

 

[kevin58]

If I didn't have an awesome LHBS I would look for one that is not operated by a corporation. Atlantic Brew Supply has been mentioned. @Bobby_M who frequents this forum runs brewhardware.com. A site with a similar name but also privately run is brewershardware.com. Adventures in Homebrewing at homebrewing.org is family owned and my LHBS, Hop Craft Supply, has an online store too hopcraftsupply.com.

 

[shetc]

I went to Craft Beer Cartel a couple of weeks ago. It's a goner. But all is not lost, there still is

http://www.urbanbrewers.com/

which is owned and run by members of our club, the Miami Area Society of Homebrewers (aka MASH). Join the club and get a 10% discount at Urban.

 

[GParkins]

I went to Craft Beer Cartel a couple of weeks ago. It's a goner.

I thought so too. However, I called this morning and spoke to the right guy. The guy I spoke to yesterday was definitely not the right guy. They are still chugging along, and he had everything on my list in stock except for yeast, and they are placing an order tonight, which means I'll have it in hand by Thursday or Friday afternoon. It's just a few blocks from my office, which is a huge plus. My weekend brew still looks like a "go."

Still, the risk of them closing up the supply sales is pretty high.

 

[shetc]

It looked very iffy. Make sure you check the dates on the yeast. Also, I pointed out to an employee that the door to hops fridge no longer closed properly. He said he knew the trick to close it. Iffy

 

[GParkins]

They used to have a massive bottle shop. Now it's a hipster 7-11, with convenience store items on distressed wood shelving. Gack.

 

[shetc]

The former owner, Adam, is now full time at his brewery, Tarpon River.

 

[Jsmith2154]

If you use wyeast or omega yeast labs I recommend ritebrew.com. They offer a yeast pre-order option at good pricing. I use them exclusively for my yeast now(I prefer wyeast) as for grain I do the 10# bags through morebeer and generally wait for a coupon code from homebrewfinds. Hops have been a challenge. I used to use yakimavalleyhops.com but had not been too happy with the recent bags I had gotten. I did one order from Yakima chief hops and it was pricey per ounce but shipping was free and you get them right from the grower/processor.
Hope this helps.

 

[Brettomomyces]

How does anyone know that the yeast from their LHBS was handled any better in shipment than when you order yours online? Just wondering.

It's only being shipped once to your LHBS and then you take it home. If you're buying it online from a distributor it's going through at least two shipments to get to you. Yeast packed together in a large box also tends to stay colder longer due to the thermal mass, better insulation shippers and multiple ice packs...as opposed to shoved in your box with other ingredients. This also gives you the benefit of physically checking the date when you purchase it.

 

[WiscoBrewerPat]

I've been using Northernbrewer.com for most things I order. I've found they have pretty much anything I need from Brew kits, to additives, to ingredients and equipment. Free shipping on orders over $40. They're based out of Minnesota, I usually get my stuff in a day or 2. They also offer some good deals and discounts if you join their mailing list.

 

[nyer]

I used to use Austin homebrew when I lived in ny. After moving to florida I started buying from brocks but it started to get obvious that they weren't going to survive. I wanted to pick up some stuff last week and they were out of everything. I placed an order with austin and they do free shipping on orders over $55 (I think) and I had my stuff in 2 days.