Where do you guys get your ingredients ? Ive been using Northern brewer but want to check out some other places. I hear Austin home brew is good along with more beer.
Your local home brew store is the best place to get fresh ingredients! Online you pay for shipping. I'd rather not have my ingredients subject to random and wild temperature fluctuations. Think how hot it gets inside a semi trailer in the summer.
Or you could try us! Shameless Plug! Brian Our e-commerce site will be live within 2 weeks. Call us if you want to put together an order! TBM
+1 on the LHBS. I buy equipment online, but for ingredients I prefer fresh. My local store, The Brew Hut in Aurora, has a lot of patrons, and the stock turns over constantly. They also know how to store the things properly, so they stay fresher longer. If your LHBS has old, improperly handled stock, and no other option is available, perhaps Northern Brewer, More Beer, or Austin. Although even if I had to drive a hundred miles to find a good supply store I think I would just plan ahead and buy bulk, and then I would be responsible for the storage. Bulk also saves money.
I've been buying my hops from Hops Direct. They seem to be an actual farm and have an extremely good variety at cheap prices. The only catch is that you have to buy in 1lb quantities. ..... Therefore, I've notices that my freezer tends to accumulate some of the lesser used varieties.
The nearest homebrew stores are inconveniently located for me, so I usually order online from UK retailers. The best I've come across is The Malt Miller, but I have used others for equipment etc...
I would by from your LHBS if hey have FRESH ingredients. I have made two beers side by side - one from a ore-packaged kit, the other from fresh ingredients. Exact same recipe. There was a night and day difference. When you by fresh, make sure your grains are crushed after he order. If you use LME, it should be fresh also. Hops should be packaged in metal bags, vac sealed and kept in the fridge. Now time for the shameless plug. We do things the way we would do if for ourselves. Mail/web orders are pulled and processed quickly to insure freshness. Kits are not on the shelves. You tell us what you want, and we will make HHS kit for you on the spot. Be careful with done of the other web stores as many times there ingredients are not fresh. We will even be including all of our recipes on Brewersfriend.com soon so you can play and tweak them if you want!
FYI: midwestsupplies . com has a $7.95 shipping deal going on right now. .. have ordered twice from them now and the service / selection is excellent. The closest "local" home brew store for me is an hour away.....
Besides my LHBS I have ordered from morebeer which I like (there's also one near to where I live too). They seem to have quality stuff and shipping is free if the order is over about 50 or 60 bucks I believe...
I just go with the best deal I can find. I like 55# sack for grain because the prices are decent and shipping is included - you don't have to put the order in to see what your total will be. I'm half a state away from a decent homebrew shop, so that isn't usually an option.
