Ordering Ingredients?

[surfbrewerguy]

Just started brewing and its been a blast! I'm tired of paying these high prices for ingredients at my local brew shop though.. I was wondering if anyone can recommend some websites to order ingredients cheaper? Considering growing my own hops too, so any insight on that would be helpful as well! Cheers mates

 

[atom]

depends on where you live and what you're ordering. i use morebeer because they have a warehouse in pa and offer free shipping over $59.

 

[surfbrewerguy]

Eastern NC, I'm looking to order enough hops and grains for several batches of 5 gals at a time. Also, how long will these ingredients last before expiring if stored properly?

 

[atom]

your best bet is to buy a sack or two of base grain and 5-10 lb bags of character/specialty grains. store your grain in a cool dry place and they will last a long time (uncrushed). i buy hops by the lb from a variety of place (most recently the hop shack) but yakima valley, hops direct, farmhouse, etc are all good places. store your hops vacuum sealed in the freezer.

 

[Calder]

Just started brewing and its been a blast! I'm tired of paying these high prices for ingredients at my local brew shop though.. I was wondering if anyone can recommend some websites to order ingredients cheaper? Considering growing my own hops too, so any insight on that would be helpful as well! Cheers mates

I find the best deals result in buying bulk grains, speciality grains, and bulk hops all from different places. Different places have different deals/pricing to get you into their store.

Also wait for deals. Northern Brewer have 20% off a single item occasionally that makes their sacks reasonably priced. Aug to nov is good for hops as they clear out old inventory. And everyone has sales on black friday.

Growing hops. If you have the space, NOW is the best time to get rhizomes. They are selling off the end of the stock. Ritebrew has rhizomes for $2.79 each right now. Plant now, and you will not get much this year, but the root system will be established ready for next year.

 

[IchLiebeBier]

I've used both Midwest and Northern Brewer, and find them both to be good companies. But I normally buy from NB, because they give a 10% military discount. Support to veterans goes a long way in my book.

EDIT: NB also has excellent customer service.

 

[brew703]

Homebrewsupply.com is another place to order. Flat rate shipping and ship out same day most times.

 

[brew703]

http://www.homebrewsupply.com/

 

[RM-MN]

Just started brewing and its been a blast! I'm tired of paying these high prices for ingredients at my local brew shop though.. I was wondering if anyone can recommend some websites to order ingredients cheaper? Considering growing my own hops too, so any insight on that would be helpful as well! Cheers mates

I have hops growing wild on my place, probably planted by someone who used to live there but moved away 80-90 years ago. Oh WOW! I can pick my own hops to use in my beer. By the time I had picked them, cleaned out the excess leaves and stems, dried, weighed, and packaged them I figure I paid myself about $.05/hour. Oh yeah, I now have bags of whole leaf hops in the freezer taking up space and I don't really like whole hops. Never again for this guy. Much easier to buy pelleted hops as I need them.

 

[mongoose33]

Like a lot of things, buy in bulk, save the most.

I use hop pellets, I store them in my freezer. Same with yeast in packets. My grain (I do all-grain) I store either in tupperware-type containers if I have a pound or two, ice-cream buckets for up to 5-pounds, and food-safe 5-gallon buckets for sacks of grain (you can get about 25 pounds of barley malt in a 5-gallon bucket). I crush them in my own mill.

I use Gamma Lids to seal the 5-gallon buckets. They're the spin-on lids w/ gaskets to make them airtight. (I lucked into a deal on them a few years back for $2.95 each--bought a dozen. Normally they're like $8).

As noted above, shipping costs matter. Morebeer has free shipping for $59 or more orders, exception sacks of grain. Sometimes places like Northern Brewer have percent-off sales; you may be able to offset the cost of shipping with that.

And depending on where you live and if a supplier does local pickup, you may be able to eliminate shipping entirely. I buy a lot from RiteBrew; they are maybe 3 hours from me, and when I'm going past them I can pick up an order.

 

[Murphys_Law]

We have a local that sells bulk grains and hops at or near the same price as I can get on-line so I like to buy from them and support the local, small business. Perhaps your local does something similar?

 

[fatherdan]

Ask about bulk prices at local brewshop. I bet they'll give you a deal.

 

[PADave]

depends on where you live and what you're ordering. i use morebeer because they have a warehouse in pa and offer free shipping over $59.

Same here. I usually have my order within 2 days. Use to order a lot from NB, but they take too long to ship, sometimes up to a week.

 

[luizffgarcia]

Any suggestions of cheap places to order online in Canada?

 

[jplowe]

Find a LHBS and buy 50 LB bags of base malt. It keeps well and will save you money. I can get a 50 LB bag of Briess 2row or Red Wheat for around $30 - $35 depending on fluctuating pricing. Briess is sort of close by and the LHBS is connected to a brewery so YMMV.