Does anyone recomend an online supply shop with a good shipping deals? I know about more beer and monster brew. But wondering if there is anyone else? My cousin got me started brewing and I bought a couple of kits from his local shop but I dont have home brew shops close by at all.. Thanks ahead of time for your help!
Thank you! I found these guys right after I posted http://www.valuebrew.com/ too, I never heard of love2brew thanks for the help guys!
$5 flat shipping on hops at www.nikobrew.com I honestly don't know what their shipping looks like, but here's a shameless plug for my LHBS: http://www.keystonehomebrew.com/ edit: full disclosure, I've never personally used Niko Brew; nor have I had anything shipped to me by Keystone Homebrew, I've only gone there in person.
Alright, I did some research myself on the subject today. I chose one extract kit (Irish Red Ale) and priced it out with all the companies that have some sort of shipping deal either flat rate or free. I started with Love2Brew since they offer free shipping. I needed to order 3 of their Red Ales to reach the minimum $75 for free shipping requirements. So in my test I chose to buy 3 Red Ales from every company and here is what I found: Love2Brew = $104.25 Northern Brewer = $98.58 More Beer = $95.97 ValueBrew = $81.77 I thought that was interesting. Now granted the starting prices of the kits are all different obviously, and for all I know Love2Brew's Red Ale tastes way better then the others. Another factor is that I chose caps and yeast for all of them if they were options. Well anyways just wanted to share this with you guys incase you were interested.
If you're in CA, morebeer is tough to beat. Free shipping for orders over $59, you get your order delivered in 1 day, and their ingredients are fresh.
I would suggest comparing the contents of the kits if you are going to do this. Some kits include yeast some don't, some include caps, some don't, some include priming sugar, some don't etc. Also some might include 2.5 lbs of specialty grain and another might only contain a few ounces or a significantly more extract. Every time I have done this comparison I have ended up buying from more beer. You only need two kits to hit their price for free shipping, and there kits seem to include more, and I tend to think there recipes will taste better. That is a hunch as I am relatively new to this whole brewing thing. I don't know that I have ever looked at valuebrew though. By the way, the last beer I made was morebeer's irish red with sa-05, I had some today, I like it quite a bit. The only other person who has had it gave me a one word review "de-lish"
Takes two days to San Diego, but it's still far and away easier than any of the other big online retailers for CA residents. I can place an order anytime between Saturday and Tuesday and know that it will be here by Friday so I don't have to worry about yeast sitting in a hot shipping warehouse through a weekend. I'll still occasionally order from Northern Brew or Austin Homebrew Supplies if they're having a really good special like BOGO on plastic carboys, but all my normal ordering is MoreBeer.
MoreBeer is the best bet for orders involving high poundage. You can order unlimited quantity of bulk grains in 10 lb. bags and get free shipping. I don't think there are any others that can beat that price. There selection is pretty extensive although there are a few items they don't offer that others do. Basic needs, though, are well covered.
Just punch your order into a bunch of sites and see if the "cheap" shipping is actually cheap. Often it isn't.
I recently ordered from ritebrew.com for the first time and was really pleased with the prices after adding shipping. Will be ordering again.
www.thebeveragepeople.com in Santa Rosa or www.williamsbrewing.com in San Leandro have great 1 day flat rate shipping if you are fairly close by
I made my purchase with http://www.valuebrew.com/ they consistently beat everyone else when I did a comparison similar to the one above and all the reviews said the quality and customer service was excellent. But thanks for your suggestions I will check them all out!
