Recipes vs Kits

[danculwell]

I have noticed that you can get extract kits from Midwest Supplies for much cheaper than the same ingredients bought individually (either from Midwest or anywhere else I've looked). I'm going to try out Midwest but I would really like to make my own recipes and use recipes from books and the internet. Is there anywhere I can get the ingredients I want cheaper? I really like Brewmasters Warehouse and their Brewbuilder but they still come out as much more expensive than these kits.

One thing I'm defiantly going to do after I have more experience is buy a few varieties of hops in bulk. I'm also already reusing yeast. Any other suggestions. The biggest cost I need to get down is extract.

 

[motobrewer]

the issue with kits is, they price them proportionately.

buying individual ingredients, you usually have to round up to the nearest 1lb / ounce.

so, if a kit includes:

0.5 oz fuggles
0.75 oz williamette
1.5oz east kent goldings

it will be much cheaper than buying those items seperately, because you'll have to buy 1oz fuggles, 1oz williamette, and 2oz goldings

same with grain / malt extract. this is especially true with extracts, since they are relatively expensive.

an option is to buy bulk. go to www.hopsdirect.com and place an order, then buy the rest of your recipe from brewmasters warehouse or midwest.

 

[mikeysab]

You have to make up a list, and put it into 3 or 4 different sites and see who is the cheapest. that's what I do. It depends on what you're buying. NB sells packets of 05 for 3.50 but midwest has them for 2.75. You can freeze hops, so when midwest sells half pounds for 8 dollars, snatch up a couple of variety's. Moto is right on about the pricing of kits versus formulating your own batch. It's up to you how you want to work out ordering. I usually pick 3 or 4 recipes and order everything for them in one shot. Then the next time I order, I'll only order base malts and find recipes that use the specialties and crystal malts that I have leftover from the last 4 recipes. The freezer is loaded up with hops, so I don't even order them anymore, unless it's a clone recipe that calls for a specific type of hop. Then again, I don't follow recipes to the letter, and styles don't interest me. If something sounds good, and calls for cascades, but all I have is EKG's, I'll use the EKG's.

 

[BigB]

I must be really lucky. I've checked the prices online vs my LHBS. And granted, my LHBS might be a bit high for yeast and maybe a few other ingredients, but by far they are much cheaper than ordering online and paying some absurd amount of money for shipping.
EDIT: OK, to be fair, they cannot come close to buying in bulk from hopsdirect or a bulk grain buy- this is for all of you waiting to pounce on this thread.

 

[mikeysab]

You're lucky you have a LHBS. I don't have one, so I have to buy online. I have shops that are over an hour drive, but I'd rather pay a place like northern brewer a flat rate of 8 bucks and not have to sit in traffic, pay tolls, and waste gas. If I had a place 10 minutes, that's a different story. On the topic of kits vs recipes, they both have advantages. I still buy kits when I find one I like. midwest makes great kits and so does NB. I also like trying new things, and different combinations of ingredients, so I buy grain and make my own recipes. It's a matter of preference more than anything, IMHO.

 

[BierMuncher]

Keep brewing and eventually you'll formulate your own recipes, make them from scratch and buy in bulk. Heck, I don't even know what I'm going to brew this weekend but Friday night I'm sure I'll be downstairs rummaging through my stock to come up with a recipe.

 

[mikeysab]

I spent the last three days trying to figure out what to make with what I had on hand. I wound up ordering even more ingredients. And I only had 25 pounds of grain on hand. But I found a recipe that I liked, and tweaked it to what I had around. Now I'm not saying that a Chocolate Wheat Pale Ale sounds like such a good idea, but I like wheat beer, I like chocolate malt and I like pale ale, so it's a go.

 

[Reddheadedstepchild]

Dont forget that deppending on how much you are buying, flat rate shipping may be cheaper then sales tax.