Has anyone recently ordered from Midwest?

[BPenny]

I placed an order last Tuesday and still do not have a projected ship / arrival date. I sent a message to customer service and waiting to hear back, but wanted to know how the company seems to be doing these days? I have ordered from them before but it's been several years. Thanks guys!

I placed an order with Midwest on 9/4/22. On 9/9/22 they sent me an apology and a coupon, then my order arrived on 9/16/22. By current standards that is extremely slow, but when they have their $49 free shipping sales, I can get Dingemans pilsner malt for substantially cheaper than anywhere else. I would prefer to work with a LHBS, but in Central Iowa, we are kind of in a LHBS desert. More Beer used to be my go to and I still slightly prefer doing business with them, but their malt prices have gone way up. Rite Brew has been my recent favorite for bulk malt purchases, but that can change depending on shipping rates. Midwest and NB aren’t my favorite, but at the end of the day, unless I notice a discrepancy in the quality of ingredients, I’m going to go wherever I can get the best deal on malt, even if their customer service isn’t great.

 

[geezerpk]

You must be in a favored shipping area. I checked the price on Rite Deer for 20lbs of 2-row and shipping alone would be about $21 , kinda doubling the price of the grain which was favorable. Recalculating to 50lbs. also doubled the grain price. Am I missing something?

Rite Brew (2019 - current) is almost always 1 to 2 day delivery (if I order before the cut-off time). Given 2020 & 2021, that's a pretty good record for a delivery service. But, as always, YMMV.

 

[kartracer2]

i find it a bit odd that MoreBeer gets so little ink here.

I think it's a "no news is good news" sort of deal. People in general will blast a bad experience in a heart beat. Some ppl have a bone to pick for a place and will walk all over them because,,, well because. Seldom do you see praise for average and sometimes you see reports of excellent.
I have used More Beer but I have an issue with FedEx shipping to my address. I had 1 order "out for delivery" for 3 days, another, 2 days above the 3 to 4 days to get to my "last mile".
I hope NB/MW get their in a row soon, they have become my "go to". "Normally" it's 1 to 2 days for an order to show up, I liked that.
I guess I would rather have my stuff "unfulfilled" than bouncing around in a truck if I have a choice.
If not, some place else will get my $$$, it's pretty simple. I have yet to try Rite Brew, I need to give them a shot I guess. I like to keep a stock pile so I can make at least a basic beer when the mood strikes. As an extract brewer that uses dry yeast that mood doesn't require a lot of planing, just an empty fermonster. (LOL)
Sorry for being so windy, as always YMMV
Cheers,
Joel B.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

@geezerpk : Rite Brew uses a regional shipper (that is available to me) in addition to national shipper(s). Last time I ordered (a month ago?) shipping costs were lower than that.

 

[Aleforge]

@geezerpk : Rite Brew uses a regional shipper (that is available to me) in addition to national shipper(s). Last time I ordered (a month ago?) shipping costs were lower than that.

So that's what the odd option is? I hadn't heard of it but it was fairly cheap and served my area.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

So that's what the odd option is? I hadn't heard of it but it was fairly cheap and served my area.

Could be - there's a "shipping information" page that may be helpful - click on the shipping information message on the top center of the home page (today the message is "Same Day Shipping" but it can change).

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Parking in St Paul, especially on Grand Ave, is always "tight" and always changing.

When I'm shopping in that area, almost always on weekends when my travels get me into St Paul, I expect that I will need to drive around the block or park a block or two away from where I want to shop (the Northern Brewer store is in a slightly less busy portion.

In the past, I've had good results parking in the green areas:

I was there this past spring, so things may have changed since then.

Check with the store employees on current conditions - they should have current and good local knowledge on parking.

 

[tracer bullet]

Yep parking in the neighborhood nearby is easy. Their phone # exists but is super hard to come by, it's not listed anywhere. I suppose for obvious reasons. The place feels like a local shop with nothing to do with the bigger company.

 

[Iowayankees]

I placed an order last Tuesday and still do not have a projected ship / arrival date. I sent a message to customer service and waiting to hear back, but wanted to know how the company seems to be doing these days? I have ordered from them before but it's been several years. Thanks guys!

They shared staffing issues with me…..

 

[D.B.Moody]

They shared staffing issues with me…..

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Parking in St Paul, especially on Grand Ave, is always "tight" and always changing.

You aren't wrong about that!

 

[Martys1]

I ordered 9/7 and received it yesterday, no problem, good prices, quality grains. Maybe slow but I had 4 5gal batches fermenting, so I didn’t need to brew till now.I like them.

 

[Craiginthecorn]

@geezerpk : Rite Brew uses a regional shipper (that is available to me) in addition to national shipper(s). Last time I ordered (a month ago?) shipping costs were lower than that.

Speedee shipping. Overnight delivery to the Chicago area!

 

[Craiginthecorn]

On top of their already low prices, Ritebrew gives volume discounts on certain products, like 10+ pounds of a malt or 10+ packets of a dry yeast. No free shipping, but it's fairly priced and there are discounts after you spend enough.

I also love their yeast pre-order where you order a specific stain from Omega or Wyeast and they order a fresh packet that following Sunday, which they generally receive that same week. They will then ship it immediately or they give the option to wait until the following Monday to ensure it doesn't sit in a shipper's warehouse over a weekend. So, given a week or two of pre-planning, you can have the absolute freshest yeast.

 

[tracer bullet]

Speedee shipping. Overnight delivery to the Chicago area!

MN as well. On a related note it's one of the reasons why I love McMaster-Carr so much (same delivery).

Well, almost always. Speedee did mess it up once, but only once, and it took a week. Of course I had liquid yeast in the order because I'd gotten cocky about how fast things went. But with so many good dry yeasts, and Ritebrew's like half-price pricing on those dry yeasts, if you choose a dry yeast then even if it doesn't arrive overnight it's still just fine. And of course none of that delay was at all Ritebrew's fault. They also have an option to delay shipping until Monday to help ensure it doesn't sit anywhere.

 

[bionicbelly]

I placed an order with Midwest on 9/4/22. On 9/9/22 they sent me an apology and a coupon, then my order arrived on 9/16/22. By current standards that is extremely slow, but when they have their $49 free shipping sales, I can get Dingemans pilsner malt for substantially cheaper than anywhere else. I would prefer to work with a LHBS, but in Central Iowa, we are kind of in a LHBS desert. More Beer used to be my go to and I still slightly prefer doing business with them, but their malt prices have gone way up. Rite Brew has been my recent favorite for bulk malt purchases, but that can change depending on shipping rates. Midwest and NB aren’t my favorite, but at the end of the day, unless I notice a discrepancy in the quality of ingredients, I’m going to go wherever I can get the best deal on malt, even if their customer service isn’t great.

Do you belong to the IBU? If so, check out/ask around about Fermenter Fillers. We don't have an LHBS, but Jeff gets GREAT prices on ingredients.