I'm going to attempt to start buying some of my grains and whatnot online, to save myself the trip to the LHBS, which is whats pretty much holding me back from brewing as much these days. Here's what I'm curious about: If I order from MoreBeer, I'm pretty much ordering 1-3-5-10 pounds of grain, and getting it milled by them. The grain comes packaged separate for each increment, yes? So if I need 20 pounds of Pilsner malt, they will ship me two bags of 10# and I will have to weight it all out myself? Are there any online places where I order based on a recipe, and have them mill it all and put it all in ONE bag? I guess my worry, is them maybe not getting it all correct, or adding/missing something along the lines and I don't know whats going in my mash tun. That sad- any other places that you'd suggest getting grain from online? I need it milled for the time being, so who has a pretty good crush? Eventually I think I'll end up getting a mill and doing it myself and buying bulk 55# bags of stuff anyways. Fast shipping is a plus as well. I don't want to order on Mon/Tues and not have my stuff by Saturday.
Correct, they ship in whatever increment you order so you could order 20lbs by getting 2x10, 4x5, etc. I think Austin Homebrew does this, or at least they used to - I haven't ordered from them in quite a while but when I did, they had an option to "Add this to a grain bill" where they'd package the grain for each recipe you were ordering into one bag. Personally I didn't use it since 1) I frequently will buy a pound of a given specialty malt and then use it for multiple recipes and 2) like you, I didn't want to risk a mistake that I would never know about. MoreBeer's crush isn't great, I frequently find a few uncrushed spots in any given bag and I'm pretty convinced that I could improve my efficiency by buying a mill. Northern Brewer's crush was a bit better when I used them, but I don't think any of the major online retailers have a very aggressive setting on their mills. I'm in the same state as MoreBeer's main facility, so my experience is great - I can order on Monday and I'll have my package on Thursday or Friday. Not sure how fast it would be from their Pennsylvania facility, but they estimate delivery during the checkout process before you actually submit the order.
I don't order grain online, but I can tell you that NorthernBrewer has their mills locked at .040...at least the one in Minneapolis. Their description on the grain page leads me to believe they bag individually. Midwest mills are all over the place, as they are user adjustable.
I stopped ordering grains online once I realized how much I could save by buying 55# sacks from my LHBS (shipping is a killer on 55# sacks - 'free' and flat rate shipping generally don't apply). I usually pay somewhere between 75 cents and $1 per lb for my base grains. Even the specialty grains that I buy in 5 or 10 lb increments are usually cheaper, or at least not more expensive than online prices with shipping. And they'll mill them for free while I wait (though I have a mill, so I don't bother). I have a half dozen LHBS to choose from, so it's really not a convenience issue for me. Obviously, YMMV.
I generally use midwest and I always just order the total qty for say three brew days and put the recipe together myself at home. This is one aspect of living in San Diego I really miss. I also used to buy whole sacks of grain, or large quantities anyway. Shipping kills, I started using Midwest because they have free shipping on orders over $50, but that is gone now, I may look around to find a better deal. There is one liquor store that has some half-assed attempt to sell home brewing stuff, high prices and little selection and an hour away. Gees I miss going to a home brew shop.
Brewmasters Warehouse (Marietta) does exactly this. They ship within 24 hours for 7 bucks flat. I normally inspect/weigh/sniff their grain bags . . . have been pleased.
I shop at Barely and Vine in Stockbridge and they just started 6.99 flat rate shipping, here's a link to there page http://www.barleynvine.com/shipping1.html I don't order from them online but shop there, they have a Monster mill but I don't remember what the gap is set too. Talk to Michael and he can give the particulars and is super helpful.
