+2
I buy base malts from a brewpub-I just paid $102 for 4 sacks. I buy bulk hops from HopUnion and Hops Direct. Pretty much everything else comes from morebeer.com since there’s a crappy LHBS 200 miles from here and a decent one 300 miles from here
+1
Also, you can play around with how many bags of specialty grains you can tack on to a sack a grain before the fedex rate jumps to the “heavy rate”.
where do you buy directly from hopunion?
+3 plus midwestsupplies.com
I was wrong about hopunion. I ordered hops from 3 different places last month and I thought one of them was hopunion. I looked at their website so the name stuck in my mind.
I am lucky to have Niagara Tradition Homebrew just up the street. (www.nthomebrew.com). They have a very strong internet and phone in shipping business. A very large selection of malts and hops. They also have a very knowledgeable staff.
Usually LHBS, but they are still charging $4.25 oz. for hops
Hops-Freshhops, Hopsdirect and my garden.
Sometimes N.B. for sanitizers, and usually throw in some yeast and misc. to make shipping worthwhile.
Last night, I put in an order to Brewmasters. I just didn’t feel like making the 2.5 hour round trip to LBHS.
I kinda feel bad about that, as I like to buy local as much as possible.
With Brewmasters flat rate shipping including full bags of base malt, it really turned out cheaper.
I shop around and sometimes get ingredients along with equipment items and so have bought from:
2 LHBS
Hops Direct
MoreBeer - gets a bulk of my money
Midwest
Northern Brewer
Grape and Granary
Austin Homebrew
Adventures in Homebrewing
EC Kraus
My biggest problem is having to pay LHBS malt sack prices, due to a lack of homebrew clubs or other resources for group grain buys.
I hit up a local Ace Hardware store in Yakima. Sells sacks of grain for low prices. Small bags(1-10lbs) aren’t too bad but there is a great selection of bulk(50-55lbs). 2 Row for only $38.
I am lucky to live in a town that has a malting company downtown. It used to be an old Olvoltine company. Just a quick phone call and I am good to go. Cash only. $47.50 Can for 55 lbs.
I too buy my sacks of grain from our local brewpub (Big Daddy Brewing). Usually pay around $27-$30 depending on variety and he never charges for shipping. Nice setup there! We do have a LHBS, but every time I leave there with just a few things, I feel as though I’ve been violated :-[. Very expensive ($9 for yeast, $3.99 for hops, expensive grain prices). As far as ordering online, which I do alot of, I’ve come to really like Rebelbrewer.com in Nashville, TN. Great prices, shipping and customer service.
I buy sacks of malt and odds and ends from my LHBS. I also order some items from northern brewer or more beer