Greetings! I do 100% of my homebrew shopping online. I won’t name names as I don’t want to promote or call out anyone in a public forum. That said, there is one specific online retailer I like doing business with that promotes free shipping at a certain shopping cart amount. Recently a competitor offered free shipping at a lower amount. That intrigued me. So I bit and placed an order. Then realized I was most likely paying more for the same product making the lower free shipping amount null and void. So I did some research and found that while my preferred online store has a higher shopping cart amount - their pricing is DRASTICALLY lower than the competitor. I’m not talking 5%. I’m talking 10 - 50% more depending on what your are ordering. Wine kits alone are on average $20 more PER KIT! 2-Row can be as much as 50% more for the same brand! Hops too! Czech Saaz through my preferred = $3.49 for 2 oz. The competitor? $4.98! That’s huge! Anyway…I’m sure many of you already know this but just an FYI to those who don’t.
It’s okay to say names. Your not them. You are just reviewing and helping other homebrewers.
I think Morebeer is the cheapest when buying in bulk. It takes a lot of grain to spend $59 though. Since I buy hops from Hop Heaven that makes it a bit harder for me to get t9 the $59, but, I can buy buying my grain mostly in 10 pound increments.
Well in that case: Morebeer is my preferred and Northern Brewer was the more expensive (but cheaper shopping cart total). As you stated Morebeer is $59 free shipping and NB is $30. I guess NB can argue the whole “freshness” argument but good luck with that. I’ve never ever had a freshness issue with Morebeer. 5lbs of Briess 2 Row through NB is $7.90. Morebeer (same malt) is $5.59. Pretty significant and makes that free shipping not so free.
Anybody’s “flat rate” is usually a bad deal. But if you really need that one item, whatcha gonna do. You do have to watch out trying to get to the minimum $$ for free shipping at MoreBeer (and probably others.) Some big ticket items don’t qualify. But MB is my online go-to. Hops Direct, Hop Heaven, and YVH all offer better value for money (even when paying shipping, usually) on hops and are worth considering. Luckily, I have a top-notch LHBS too.
Another thing to consider when ordering from an online retailer is order to ship time.
I believe faster shipping is a feature of the shipping company, not the retailer who packs the merchandise in the box. Once the box has entered the shipping department’s loading dock is the point that a premium vs flat rate shipping method should be taken into consideration.
For example, after a inordinately long wait, I’ve had NB tell me another customer paid for faster shipping therefore their order was filled prior to mine. (Though I never did understand why one order delayed my order to ship time two weeks).
In my opinion, an order is an order, regardless of shipping preference, and should be filled first in first out. If merchandise was priced differently for ‘rush orders’ I would understand their actions.
I think MoreBeer is a very large retailer. They have west coast and Eastern warehouses. In my opinion, they are going to have the same freshness as Northern Brewer. I think (just my guess) the 3 biggest homebrew suppliers are:
- Northern Brewer/Midwest
- MoreBeer
- Adventures in Homebrewing/Austin Homebrew
There are several other large ones that I think are a tier below (size wise).
- Farmhouse
- Atlantic
- Williams
- Great Fermentations
I have no LHBS. Closest was 2 hours, but they closed, now closest is 4 hours, so… everything I need must come via delivery. I religiously use More Beer. Great pricing, great service. I will not, will not, will not EVER use Northern Brewer/Midwest again. First of all I try to avoid giving any $$$ to AB-Inbev, but Northern Brewer shipping was pathetic. Orders placed Sunday night would usually not get to me by Friday, occasionally they did but it was the exception. Way too slow and the Inbev thing just sealed the deal.
Yeah, I never even touched upon NBs slow shipping. I love placing an order with Morebeer on Monday knowing full well I’ll have it by Thursday at the latest.
I buy my base malt from Carson’s Brewery, a local craft microbrewery that is 20 miles away from where I live. I drop by their tap room, have a couple of pints and talk brewing, and they’ll take a 50-lb bag of pale ale malt out to my car for $43.83! They only sell malted grain by the full bag so I have to get smaller quantities on line or from LHS.
If you’re an all-grain brewer check around. Maybe you can find a brewery that will sell you grain at a lower price if you pick it up on-site and don’t have to pay shipping charges.
Even folks that live in the real boonies usually will make one or two trips a year to a larger city. Ask and plan ahead and maybe you can save. Good luck.
In you don’t mind buying from InBev…Midwest Supplies is advertising free shipping on bulk grains and their pricing seems reasonable…
I stopped buying from NB a long time ago because the flat rate, wasn’t that great. They are further away from me than MoreB and so why would I ship yeast cross country in the summer time? I also noticed they were more expensive but do have some “cool” things from time to time that more beer doesn’t.
Luckily my lhbs gets the same stuff as morebeer and will match morebeer if there are items I want. The key is to plan ahead so 5at the shop can bring in what I need on a pallet.