Buying ingredients online.

[eon]

Does anyone know the best place to buy ingredients and equipment online? I live in Chicago Heights, IL. There are NO HomeBrew stores close to my area. Well, there is one, but they are VERY small and do not have a lot of stuff.

So far I have been using Midwest Brewing. I only use them because I bought my first brewing kit from them.

All opinions welcome!

 

[Hammy71]

Brewmasters Warehouse and Austin Homebrew have both done me good. No complaints for either from me.

 

[stevo155]

Brewmasters Warehouse, Northern Brewer, Morebeer, and Midwest Supplies have been my go to's.

Northern Brewer has a new shop in Milwaukee. While it is a 2 hour drive, it could make for a fun day. Stock up on supplies, attend an event at the shop,pick up some New Glarus, etc.

 

[CrookedTail]

I've been using Northern Brewer for a while now with no problems. I almost never go to my LHBS anymore.

 

[Teacher]

I've used Morebeer several times because their prices are good, they ship free for most things if you order more than $59, and they've always been fast and reliable. The cost of this level of price and service is that they don't seem to have as large a selection as some others, but everything's been very high quality.

 

[AmandaK]

Northern Brewer will without a doubt be the fastest shipping to your door. I live near Springfield, IL and I can order on Tuesday night and have it at my doorstep on Friday by noon. Now that's fast shipping!

 

[Yooper]

I've used all of the major online stores already mentioned. I try to "spread it around" among the vendors here. I just did a rather big order last night from Brewmaster's warehouse- partly because I'm a fan of how well they treat us here at HBT (as the other Vendors do as well) but he was the very first one I tried that had EVERYTHING I wanted in one shot. I got all kinds of stuff- "weird" grains like pale chocolate malt, golden promise malt, black roasted barley, summit hops, and then stuff like a hop stopper and beer line cleaner, and all the other miscellaneous stuff. They FedEx the stuff quickly, so I'll get it on Thursday!

I really like northernbrewer.com and austinhomebrew.com, too. I especially love AHS' kits- they have a bazillon "clone" kits and they have the greatest instructions. All the recipes I've tried have been awesome. Northern Brewer is sometimes missing some of the items I need but I've been very pleased with their service as well. I've ordered "big" stuff like a fully converted MLT from morebeer.com, with free shipping over $59!

I'd suggest looking at the sites mentioned and seeing what appeals to you most. When I first started, I bought mostly extract and partial mash kits and found that AHS was best for me for that purpose. As I brought more equipment, I bought from other online vendors. When I buy yeast, I try to order it at this time of year and usually from the closest vendor.

 

[HickoryMike]

Brewmaster's Warehouse is my goto vendor. They take really good care of the Homebrewtalk faithful and their shipping is stupid fast.

 

[TheBroonery]

Don't forget Alternative Beverage! ebrew.com

 

[Malticulous]

I like to order from the closest shop. But then no one shop has everything I want, so I have to order from at least three places. For raw selection of grain Rebel Brewer is number one.

 

[Yooper]

I just saw that northernbrewer.com was having a sale on kits- that might be worth checking out!

 

[hal2814]

My rule of thumb is closest competent shop for online orders. That's Brewmaster's Warehouse for me. Before they could sell in Georgia, I bought from Rebel. The closest online shop to you that I've actually used is Listermann. He's out in Cinci. I used to buy from Listermann all the time but that was back when it only took $35 to get free shipping east of the Mississippi.

 

[shoebag22]

I've used austin, northern and brewmaster's. Had one grain order from brewmaster's that I wasn't totally happy with as the bag of grain ruptured inside the box and the box tore a bit. I don't think I lost any grain and I never contacted the company to let them know, so I can't complain. I am about to order another grain shipment from them, so it certainly has not deterred me.

 

[permo]

hopsdirect
brewmasterswarehouse
northernbrew
midwestsupplies
kegconnection