Where to get ingredients for AG Brewing?

[StarCityBrewMaster]

I was looking at different AG recipes I'd be interested in brewing for my first batch last night and came across a few things.

From what I can tell Austin and Northern have the best shipping rates but aren't the most stocked with grains (not a bad stock by any means just found ingredients needed in several recipes that they didn't have). Midwest has the largest stock of the three but will get you in shipping. Is there stores that specialize more on the "grains" side of brewing that I'm missing?


Also where to buy bulk? What are the top 3 must have bulk grains?

from what I can tell 2-row is a must buy bulk grain

 

[nealf]

Also check out brewmasterswarehouse.com for buying stuff.

As to what to buy in bulk it really depends on what you brew. So, what do you brew often?

 

[StarCityBrewMaster]

That's a great question and one I don't know the answer to because I'm just getting started. I like Newcastle, Bass, Magic Hat 9, SN Pale Ale, Dundee's Honey Brown, Blue Moon to name a few...........

 

[Yooper]

You can bulk grains from any homebrew store. Keep in mind that they must be milled, though, so if you don't have a mil you won't want to buy them in bulk.

You can order grains for a couple of batches at a time, since milled grains will keep a couple of weeks, but not more than that.

 

[StarCityBrewMaster]

Good to know thanks Yooper

 

[bendavanza]

What grains does Austin Home Brew not have? Sometimes there are many names for essentially the same thing, like crystal 20 is also called caramel 20 or caramalt 20, depends on who the maltster is.

 

[StarCityBrewMaster]

That's probably very true and I'm jumping the gun and throwing folks under the bus. They say you learn something new everyday but in brewing I'm learning 20-50 things a day I feel like!

 

[TheMan]

I use brewmasterswarehouse.com ...fantastic site. However, I've also used AHS. Customer service at both is outstanding, which heavily influences my buying decisions. My brother and a friend order exclusively from Northern Brewer. They like it because they usually get the order very quickly. You are in VA so I assume ordering from Bremasterswarehouse you would get it quickly since they are in Georgia. I usually price out what I'm buying at each site and NB tends to be the more expensive.

 

[HiGravShawn]

RebelBrewer.com is my preferred vendor. Service has been as good as AHB, but a little cheaper.

 

[Yooper]

RebelBrewer.com is my preferred vendor. Service has been as good as AHB, but a little cheaper.

Oh, I almost forgot about them! They're in Tennessee, I believe, and come well-recommended as well.

 

[samc]

What about your LHBS?

Not sure why people don't make a greater effort to support the local community. I buy as much as possible locally. Lucky that Portland is one of the areas to find lots of suppliers.

If your LHBS can't offer reasonable prices on bulk supplies, ask them to try and compete somewhat. I enjoy being able to talk with suppliers face to face.

Some of the online places above do provide good service as well. I've used NB, Morebeer, Williams, AHS with good results.