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Author Topic: Looking for feedback: A site where you can buy and sell your own beer kits  (Read 1597 times)

Offline betterbeerkits

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Hi folks! I'm slowly getting ready to give this idea a try and I was hoping to get some feedback from you good people. I'd like to start a marketplace where home brewers can list their recipes for sale as complete, made to order beer ingredient kits. I'm fleshing the idea out at www.kitlab.co - again, just wondering if you guys have any opinions on the idea? Seem interesting? Not so much?

Thanks for any thoughts you might have on the topic!
Ryan

Offline cassa

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One of the reasons why people buy kits is to get a recipe they can trust. We assume that Northern Brewer, Brewer's Best, or our LHBS don't put out kits that they haven't tested and refined.  With a crowd-sourced kit service like you propose, how will people know they are getting something good?  What's to stop someone who isn't good at recipe design from posting a kit?

Maybe you could put in place some sort of reviewing/testing/refining process?  All recipes should have at least a sanity check that the ingredients should produce something similar to the provided description.  But even better would be if you could have a team of trusted brewers so that the kits could be test-brewed and evaluated, perhaps refined, before they are posted for purchase.


Offline dzlater

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Brewmasters Warehouse sort of let's you do that. Although the person who posts the recipe doesn't get a cut of the sales.
I bought a couple things from them years ago. I am in no way recommending them and have no affiliation, or interest in the company.
http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/recipes
« Last Edit: March 02, 2015, 05:58:33 am by dzlater »
Dan S. from NJ

Offline denny

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I'm having a hard time imagining why someone would want this service.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline reverseapachemaster

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Personally I don't have any interest in buying kits so I wouldn't be much of a customer but I would have concerns about recommending people shop at a site where the kits are crowdsourced for the reasons people have expressed above.

One can expect that as soon as the site opens to brewers submitting recipes there will be a race to submit the BCS recipes, CYBI recipes and any clone recipes (regardless of accuracy) because those are most likely to sell. There will probably be 100 variants of Janet's Brown, BVIP, Pliny, etc.
Heck yeah I blog about homebrewing: Brain Sparging on Brewing

Offline Phil_M

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I'm confused...

Why not just buy the ingredients for a recipe you trust? A kit is basically just a prepackaged recipe.

Also, kits aren't as flexible when it comes to adjusting for system efficiency, working from a recipe makes that a little simpler. Of course if you want kit-style simplicity, you can still just follow the recipe exactly.
Corn is a fine adjunct in beer.

And don't buy stale beer.

Offline klickitat jim

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Its an interesting idea I suppose. We are clearly not your market base though. Your success would be dependent on how well you could reach that sliver of the homebrew community that brews nothing but kits. You would basically be an internet supply store specializing in ingredients. You'd need a flashy easy to use website, and a huge inventory with every ingredient imaginable. Maybe charge $ X for people to post their recipes, with a tiny store credit royalty for each sale. The website should show how many kits have sold for each, and have a feedback section. If you could get it to reach critical mass it might be fun and take off. Or you might just lose your butt.

Offline TMX

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I guess I don't see it they way some of you do.

I think there is a market for kits, if not, then every home-brew store would not be selling them.
The fact that this service has the potential to give back to the brewing community, is a win in my book.

I do understand the concerns posted, but as a whole the home brewing movement is based on innovation, risk, and thinking out of the normal box, and I think this is just an extension of that.

Disclaimer: I have signed to be part of this idea:
1. If helping this succeed is as simple as copying a few of my fav brews, then why not?
2. if selling a kit, helps me buy the grains for my next brew, then why not?
3. it gives new AG brewers another option besides supporting the big box brew stores, and there is nothing wrong with options.

This is just my take of course, and everyone has a valid opinion.

T
"The ART of brewing Beer, is the ACT of brewing Beer"
https://txbrewing.wordpress.com

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Offline erockrph

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I guess my concern is that no one is vetting these recipes. There are a lot of recipes out on the net that are mediocre at best. The whole point of buying a kit is to get a recipe that you can be assured will make good beer. A site like this is rolling the dice unless there is a solid recipe-vetting process.
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline TMX

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I guess my concern is that no one is vetting these recipes. There are a lot of recipes out on the net that are mediocre at best. The whole point of buying a kit is to get a recipe that you can be assured will make good beer. A site like this is rolling the dice unless there is a solid recipe-vetting process.

Very valid observation!

T
"The ART of brewing Beer, is the ACT of brewing Beer"
https://txbrewing.wordpress.com

Ferm 1: Irish Red Ale
Ferm 2:

On Deck: American Wheat

Keg 1: Un-Common
Keg 2: Switchback Stout

Total Gallons brewed (2015) - 10

Offline HobsonDrake

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I think I see what you are getting at. Not that you would have all these kits ready to ship but you would build the kit as the request was submitted. Correct?
To me this is just what you would do at LHBS if you had one near you.
I would guess that anyone could email a recipe to any LHBS and get a kit made to order. How much the cost of that opposed to what you are wanting to do is the question.
To some beginners it is all about the cost. Others it is about ease of use.
Plant your flag and good luck.
Check out my brew history and recipes at http://www.hobsondrake.com/BrewList.html

John D.

Offline JT

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The other issue is it sounds like the home brewer is selling the actual ingredients.  Aside from good recipes, freshness concerns would immediately come to mind, as dedicated homebrew suppliers do more volume and should be able to sell through their stock faster than Joe Schmoe.  I suppose a consumer rating system similar to ebay could come into play, but it's certainly a gamble.  For me, I wouldn't be interested in gathering and selling ingredients.  Posting recipes, sure.
Edit: why did this post font turn italic?