Looking for a Good Online Supply Store

[theDarkSide]

My list is:

  Brewmasters Warehouse
  Northern Brewer
  Austin Homebrew
  Farmhouse Brewing Supply
  Midwest Supply

For hops, I buy bulk at:
  Nikobrew
  Hops Direct
  Yakima Valley (haven't bought there yet but they look promising)

I like Brewmasters Warehouse when I'm buying specifically for a recipe and can buy down to the ounce. 

Also, I don't know anything about them, but Homebrew Mart is in San Diego, isn't it?  I think this was started by the people at Ballast Point.  Again, I've never used them but they could be worth a look. 

[bboy9000]

I recently started shopping at Apex Brew Wares at the recommendation from a friend:
http://www.apexbrewwares.com/cart.php?m=

Great customer service and $7.99 flat rate shipping. Purchaces available for pickup in if you are in the KC metro area.  I used Northern Brewer until they got rid of the flat rate shipping.  They did always ship quickly though.

[denny]

I live in southern california about an hour or so away from San Diego. I hadn't even thought about yeast in the summer with the shipping! Good thought! Thank you to all for the suggestions I just got back home and will be looking at them in a few minutes!

Beer, Beer and More Beer is close to you....morebeer.com

[BrewArk]

For ingredients I'd try to get something close to home to minimize shipping time to keep freshness.  Here in the SF Bay Area I like: http://www.breworganic.com/.  For equipment I'd say shop around.  I bought a Blichmann floor burner at: http://www.kettletokeg.com/ and the total came to over $20 less than if I bought it from Williams or even more than "More" - mostly just the CA state tax (NH doesn't have any).

[anje]

For what it's worth, if/when you get to the point where you want to purchase grains or even malt extract in bulk, it's often worth making side trips to any homebrew store that you happen to be driving near to pick up your more massive items.

My "local" homebrew store is maybe an hour's drive away, but in a city where the hubby is regularly. 50lbs of 2-row malt cost $47 there, which hurts a little when I compare to websites like NorthernBrewer offering it for $35. However, I come out better than I would with shipping costs, buying from the local guys. (I still  may make a detour to NB's store next time I'm going through Milwaukee, though.)

[Slowbrew]

For what it's worth, if/when you get to the point where you want to purchase grains or even malt extract in bulk, it's often worth making side trips to any homebrew store that you happen to be driving near to pick up your more massive items.

My "local" homebrew store is maybe an hour's drive away, but in a city where the hubby is regularly. 50lbs of 2-row malt cost $47 there, which hurts a little when I compare to websites like NorthernBrewer offering it for $35. However, I come out better than I would with shipping costs, buying from the local guys. (I still  may make a detour to NB's store next time I'm going through Milwaukee, though.)

I do this for bulk grains my LHBS doesn't carry in bulk.  My kids compete in a marching band competition in Apple Valley (suburb of Minneapolis) every fall.  I call Northern Brewer ahead of time and pick up a couple hundred pounds of MO as long as I'm in town.  The money I save on shipping alone pays for the trip (at least I've convinced my wife of that).

Paul

[davidgzach]

Good points above.  I sit smack in between 2 stores, each about 40 minutes away.  One ships, one does not.  The one that does not ship has unbelievable whole sack grain prices.  The other is typically $10-$15/sack more.  However, the one that is higher on bulk grain has a much larger inventory and a much better variety and freshness of yeast.  SO:

I go to the one that doesn't ship and pick up 3-4 sacks of grain every couple of months and save myself $50-$60 (when there is not a group buy going on).  When I'm there I also stock up on 2-3# of all the color malts and adjuncts I like to use.  They like it a lot when I show up....

I call and place orders from the store that ships for color malt, yeast, specialty hops (I always have 8-10# of hops in my freezer from Hops Direct), muslin bags, whirfloc, as things are needed-etc.  Saves me a ton of time and the shipping is basically the same as gas and tolls if I drive.

Bottom line is there is a lot of good advice here.  I would start taking trips, seeing what is important to me and lining up where I want to buy what items.  When I read Zymurgy or Brew magazine, I also like to have my laptop around so I can check out websites.  For bulk stuff, as above, I like to shop around.

Hope all this helps and happy shopping!

Dave

[Joe Sr.]

I have to say I haven't had a bad experience with any of the on-line shops I've used.

These include:
William's Brewing
Northern Brewer
More Beer
Midwest Supplies

I try to do local as much as possible, but it's not always possible.

Maybe I'm lucky, but I've also found the customer service to be outstanding at William's and NB.  I haven't ordered from the other two as much.  Customer service at my locals has been great, too.

I will second (or third) the advice to comparison shop on-line.  I typically have at least two sites up with the same order to see which is cheapest.  Depending on what I'm getting, it varies.  Bulk DME always comes from NB as they're closer and the shipping is cheapest.

[Podo]

Normally I prefer to use Austin Homebrew or Northern Brewer.  I recently moved to Korea, and have used Midwest and MoreBeer.  MoreBeer's shipping rates to APO addresses are far, far cheaper than Midwest, so that's who I'll be using for the next 18 months.

[hopfenundmalz]

Online I use No. Brewer, Midwest and Morebeer, in that order.

Some like Adventures in Homebrewing for online orders, only used them online for cyber sales, as they are my LHBS.

[morticaixavier]

If yo have interest in organic ingredients,
 7 bridges out of santa cruz is great, really the only place on line with a large selection of organic ingredients, although I think rebel brewer has some and maybe even morebeer and northern brewer at this point.

[greyghost]

No one has said any thing about Brew Brothers .Biz  I have used most all of the major suppliers and BrewBrothers beats them all hands down in price and especially in service. 2nd day Fedex shipping is quite reasonable for yeast or if you are in a hurry   

[morticaixavier]

No one has said any thing about Brew Brothers .Biz  I have used most all of the major suppliers and BrewBrothers beats them all hands down in price and especially in service. 2nd day Fedex shipping is quite reasonable for yeast or if you are in a hurry   

checked it out, they also offer organic ingredients it looks like. I will check them out for my next order. at least price it out.

Thanks for the hint!

[tschmidlin]

No one has said any thing about Brew Brothers .Biz  I have used most all of the major suppliers and BrewBrothers beats them all hands down in price and especially in service. 2nd day Fedex shipping is quite reasonable for yeast or if you are in a hurry   

I don't consider them an online supplier since my inlaws live 15 minutes away

[mtnrockhopper]

I mostly use Northern Brewer for online ordering, though I shop around for equipment. My wife was in Minneapolis last year for a work meeting and walked to NB from her hotel just to say she'd been there.