What alternatives to Northern Brewer and Midwest Supply are out there?

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MrSnacks

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Who do you guys rely on?

This whole saga is seriously making me rethink my patronage of these stores. I rely on reviews but now I'm seeing how much of a mistake it is. It's incredibly disheartening to me that they're censoring their reviews because then, well, by definition they're not reviews.

There are a lot of other places out there and I think from now on they'll be getting my money instead of Northern Brewer and its subsidiaries.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/2c53y4/i_emailed_midwest_about_issues_with_their_glass/
 
Lots of places are out there. MoreBeer tends to have everything, but I don't like their customer service (personally had a few issues). I have yet to have an issue with Northern Brewer, but I don't buy much equipment from them. Ritebrew has always treated me well.

For hops I like to go through Yakima Valley/Hops Direct/etc

Overall though, I prefer my semi-local (about 45 minutes away) shop for my general needs compared to anywhere else. Always have what I need and the people are always very helpful.
 
www.homebrewstuff.com

I purchase all of my grains from these guys thier store is very well run atleast to the walk in customer I havn't purchased any thing online from the them sinse they are a few miles down the road.
 
I've had good luck with rebelbrewer.com. Fast shipping and competitive prices.

Adventures in Homebrewing seems to have really good deals on a lot of stuff too.
 
Cheesy_Goodness said:
I've had good luck with rebelbrewer.com. Fast shipping and competitive prices.

Adventures in Homebrewing seems to have really good deals on a lot of stuff too.
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i second rebel brewer. i am local so i go to the store, but they have great prices. website is a little dated, but totally functional. i order online and go pick up the same day. nice guys there too.
 
Love2Brew in central NJ.

Great prices and selection, $7.95 shipping on most stuff, and the only (as far as I know) location that ships East Coast Yeast (although it sells out fast).

They've become my go to supplier for almost everything, and I can drive there from work during lunch if I need something same day.
 
Cheesy_Goodness said:
I've had good luck with rebelbrewer.com. Fast shipping and competitive prices.

Adventures in Homebrewing seems to have really good deals on a lot of stuff too.
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Love both of these places!!

Rebel is always super fast and great prices. I like their shirts too. :0

AHB have good deals on kegs. I bought a few with loose hadles from them for like $30. Aside for being dirty (most used kegs are) and one have a loose base, these were as good as any other kegs I have.
 
Never had any issues with Northern Brewers but I have also used Austin Homebrew Supply & Midwest Supply with success.
 
duckdogs said:
www.homebrewstuff.com

I purchase all of my grains from these guys thier store is very well run atleast to the walk in customer I havn't purchased any thing online from the them sinse they are a few miles down the road.
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I purchased a 15 gallon kettle from them via an on-line purchase transaction. No problems. However, getting pictures of their products on-line is difficult since most items (equipment) are simply listed without actual photos of the items.
 
I've found Austin to be a great retailer to work with.

I also have to highly recommend Farmhouse Brewing Supply. I usually only buy bulk hops from them since my LHBS has most of what I need, but I believe their grain prices are also fantastic.

I wrote off Midwest and Northern after the credit card fiasco where they failed to notify their customers of a security breach for months while telling people who had been the victims of fraud that it had nothing to do with their site.
 
Checkout Labelpeelers, in NE(?) Ohio. Good prices and an occasional BOGO. Shipping, tho, too high. The stuff I need can be shipped by turtle, so I can't abide the shipping costs.
 
I can't say enough good stuff about Rebel Brewer in Nashville. But a few things are low prices, high quality malt and hops, and fast delivery, especially here in the Midwest.
 
I do all of my shopping at homebrewohio.com (My LHBS but they have an online shop on their site and amazon as well). A few times I get extract kits from midwest.
 
Grannyknot said:
I purchase locally, but when making online purchases, its almost exclusively through Farmhouse.

http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/
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++++1 on shopping at your LHBS. I'm lucky to have a very good place six miles from my house & several others within 45 min.
I support them because they have 99% if what I need & don't mind getting the other 1%.
Also, one day you'll need them but you'll have to put up w/ the vagaries of dealing w/ someone online who, for the most part , couldn't care less about you or your order!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I mostly dealt with NB & Midwest. Then tried Morebeer! Got my order from one afternoon to early the next morning. I mean i got up between 7:30 & 8 AM & there it was on the porch waiting for me! Their ESB E/SG kit is very well balanced. Gonna brew that one again. Morebeer has a warehouse in Western PA that's not too far from NE OH. So shipping is PDQ. But Midwest does have a nice selection of grains & assorted bric-a-brac I normally use. But shipping from midwest after the credit card bit got really slow. Especially when NB teamed up with them to share the warehousing.
 
MrSnacks said:
Who do you guys rely on?

This whole saga is seriously making me rethink my patronage of these stores. I rely on reviews but now I'm seeing how much of a mistake it is. It's incredibly disheartening to me that they're censoring their reviews because then, well, by definition they're not reviews.

There are a lot of other places out there and I think from now on they'll be getting my money instead of Northern Brewer and its subsidiaries.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/2c53y4/i_emailed_midwest_about_issues_with_their_glass/
Click to expand...

I find it interesting that anyone would put weight behind reviews about a product on any vendor's website. That's what unaffiliated sites and forums are for.

Full disclosure, the plastic 6.5G BMB is currently my favorite fermentor.
 
When I'm in So Cal. (Nov-Apr) MoreBeer is my LHBS, the people are great, and helpful. Sadly their inventory is limited by outages. They hint that the warehouse worries more about the online business more than the retail outlets. Thats for parts, they always have ingredients. Online it depends on what I need, I tend to spread my money around:p
 
When I am doing a major purchase online I go to all the major players and fill the carts. Plug in shipping and check the prices. If the difference is only a couple of dollars I go with a known one or the closest, for shipping times.

For hops I compare hopsshack.com and farmhousebrewingsupply.com.
For grains I have not found better than Farmhouse Brewing Supply. I buy full bags of grain at the LHBS. I can't find anywhere online that does not get too expensive with shipping.
 
Home brewing.org. Based in Michigan and great prices. Love them great deals on kegs.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I'll put in another thumbs up for http://www.homebrewing.org/. I just placed an order with them. Good prices, especially on equipment (I'd be hard pressed to build a wort chiller for cheaper) and really nice customer service which is what sold me on them.
 
The two I've used with zero complaints are Adventures in Homebrewing and Williams Homebrew. Living in Alaska, I look for the best shipping rates. NB and Midwest both charge way too much for me to do business with them. I'd love to have a plastic Big Mouth Bubbler, but $32 to ship a $30 item is just unjustifiable for me. Luckily, a new local store opened a month ago. I'm trying to support them as much as possible.
 
I use my LHBS, I have used adventures in homebrewing & Midwest, Midwest seems to have the best prices but I'm gonna check out the other sites listed here maybe I'll change.
 
Does Northern Brewer follow the same policies as Midwest? I know there is some business arrangement between the two but the correspondence listed on reddit is from Midwest. It would probably be best to contact NB directly if you want their say in the matter.

In any event, to answer your original question, MoreBeer encourages truthful reviews. Here is an example of what I mean. Here is their review policy:
We invite truthful, honest reviews and will do our best to publish them within 48 hours as long as they adhere to the review policy. If your issue requires our customer service agents to help you, please call 800-600-0033 or email [email protected].

Reviews must pertain to the product you are reviewing.
No profanity or abusive language.
No use of websites or other business names in reviews.

You must be logged in to post a product review.
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They also have two shipping locations, one in CA and one in PA so they can accommodate orders from the East and West Coast quickly.
 
Made the same point myself. Their PA location must not be too far from NE OH, since I ordered in the afternoon before 5PM & it was on my porch EARLY the next morning! Fresh, undamaged etc. I've also been saving the gel ice packs they all use for shipping liquid yeasts. I'm going to find some sort of elastic belt to use 3 or 4 of them frozen, strapped to my FV to keep temps down covered with a tee shirt. I'll see how that works out. Just gotta collect up 6-8 of them so they can be rotated.
 
I was just about to place an order with Austin and then changed my mind. I wanted to try some different brews and the reviews, good or bad, are all listed as four stars. They deleted my order history and all the reviews are from the same date 2-11-14 (the same date they changed their website). I can't recommend them anymore. I like Brewmaster's warehouse, but would like a suggested hop schedule. Time to look around.
 
I ordered a hefe kit from Morebeer Friday afternoon & it was on my porch by 11:10 Saturday morning! Another less-than-a-day delivery! :mug:
 
I have used Morebeer and I was always treated very well and they answered my beginner questions as well. But I would bye things local.
 
I do get some things locally, but they have an odd grain brand. But everything else is the same, comparably priced to internet price + shipping.
 

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