Just picked up a recipe kit recently and wow, the shipping is outrageous for UPS ground. Is this generally the way it is? I think this may be the last kit I buy, going to start using the LHBS and finding recipes online.
It helps to buy what you can in bulk. Unless you have a particularly good Local the prices aren’t hugely lower (they have to pay for shipping too).
So if you start buying DME by the sack (or partial sack) and hops in 5-10 ounce increments, other character grains in multiple pounds it gets a little better.
morebeer.com has free shipping over $59 on most orders. and it’s fedex(at least for me).
Austin Homebrew ships kits for free. Other stuff is $8 I think
+1 to MoreBeer and AHS. Northern Brewer is running 7.99 flate rate shipping right now as well.
Just keep in mind that the lower shipping prices may mean higher prices on their items. When I’m buying online I try to buy several brews worth of items. I then price everything out at Morebeer, Midwest NB, AHS and Rebel Brewer (including shipping) before I decide where to get my order from.
This recently changed and is now a flat $6.99. Still a great deal.
Thanks for the replies!
You didn’t say where in Florida, but Homebrew Den in Tallahassee was a great store when I lived there a few years back.
Now that I have 20+ recipes I like, I usually plan out 4 lagers & 4 ales and buy all my grains and yeast from whichever online store comes in lowest that day. I get 1# bags of hops from Hops Direct; if you can get 6+ pounds at a time the shipping works out quite reasonably.