Recommended home-brew stores - Online and local

[Multigrain]

Hi fellow brewers!

I am about to move to England (Birmingham) from Norway and are looking for recommended retailers for home brew ingredients and equipment. I have not been completely satisfied with what I have found so far googling and maybe some of you can give me some advice!?

I have been spoiled having a local(big) brew store where I just fill in an online form of how many grams of each grain I would like to buy, choosing from a big selection of grains and tell if I want them crushed and then simply pick it up on my way home mixed in one bag.

Do you have online stores like that in England? I don't want to buy 1 kg of blackmalt if I just use 30 gram occasionally, it will get old before I use it up. Being able to pick and blend as I wish creating recipes with specialty malts is so much easier, I don't have storage room for several bags of specialty malt sitting around.

Never the less what online store can you recommend? If you know any brew stores in Birmingham or pubs etc that can sell grain please let me know =)

Cheers

 

[DoctorMick]

Geterbrewed does allow you to buy just what you need for a single brew although I've never done it, plenty on here have tho.

 

[jceg316]

Malt Miller is a well respected shop, and I've not had any real issues with them before (although they aren't great at getting back to pre-purchase emails). They also do a service where you can put in your exact recipe http://themaltmiller.co.uk/

I live in Ireland right now and most my orders are through Geterbrewed, who so far have been quite a decent shop. http://www.geterbrewed.com/

 

[MickDundee]

Another vote for Geterbrewed here. Well priced compared to some and, although I've never used their "create your own" service it does seem quite good (I priced up my Brewdog Santa Paws clone - because it uses 8 different types of grain the create your own service is appealing - about £10 for the whole brew).

With online shops, you have to remember that most have a £6 or £7 postage charge for orders under £70 and anything above 30kg or so generally incurs additional postage charges.

 

[Bigjas]

+1 for The Malt Miller here. I've ordered twice with them now and great service so far.

Jas

 

[BeerCat]

I mainly use thehomebrewsompany as its free delivery over £70. BrewUK are good as well, they stock Wyeast.

 

[DoctorMick]

I use brew uk pretty much exclusively, they have a good range of stock and their prices always seem good. Their reward scheme is decent too. They've annoyed me with my latest order but seem to have sorted it out now so all good.

 

[brumbrew]

There are a few homebrew stores dotted around Birmingham. May I ask what area your moving to?

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Where in B`ham are you moving to?
I normally keep a good stock of most things and if you only need 30g of XXXX etc, your more than welcome to some.
Same goes to anyone else in the area, if you only need a small ammount, just let me know

 

[The Idiot]

Another vote for the Malt Miller (http://themaltmiller.co.uk/). I do regularly forget to add things and whenever I get back to them prior to shipping they always arrange to add the items for me. A good selection of grains and yeasts.

I occasionally use the Home Brew Shop (http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/) and have had consistent service off them too.

 

[YeastFace]

I pretty much exclusively use The Malt Miller these days. Have used Get Er Brewed, Brew UK (for Vichy bottles which no one else sold) and Homebrew Company. No issues with any of them, but I usually get what I need from Malt Miller, know the delivery will be there the next day and they do cheaper postage for lighter items.

 

[jceg316]

I would like to add that service at most home brew shops is kind of ****. Nearly all places don't respond first time to an issue, and if they sell faulty products then getting a replacement is sometimes like drawing water from a rock.

The exception to this is the home brew shop (.co.uk). Their service is very good and what you'd expect from an online business in the 21st century.

 

[MyQul]

I would like to add that service at most home brew shops is kind of ****. Nearly all places don't respond first time to an issue, and if they sell faulty products then getting a replacement is sometimes like drawing water from a rock.

The exception to this is the home brew shop (.co.uk). Their service is very good and what you'd expect from an online business in the 21st century.

I've found Geterbrewed not like this at all. They are quick to respond to any issues (if you use facebook messenger) and send out replacements quickly.

@ the OP GEB also do a custom kit service where you can order exactly the amounts you need. I've just used it for the first time today. The ordering was pretty straight forward. Will see what the final result is like in a couple of days time is like.

 

[chub1]

Another for Geterbrewed :thumb:

 

[brumbrew]

I would like to add that service at most home brew shops is kind of ****. Nearly all places don't respond first time to an issue, and if they sell faulty products then getting a replacement is sometimes like drawing water from a rock.

The exception to this is the home brew shop (.co.uk). Their service is very good and what you'd expect from an online business in the 21st century.

I'm sorry but I have to object.

Whilst I will buy specialist items online. If I want a bag of MO and a few packs of wine yeast, oh and gimme another air lock, and two bungs, some yeast nutrients, oh and are these kits reduced?

My local home brew shop, which for me is 20 mins cycle away wins hands down. All that, keep it in the local business/markets stuff.

I just prefer to wing them the money for small stuff I can pick up,and buy the weird and wonderful from tinternet.

 

[Covrich]

Whilst I have had the odd order issue with GEB, they are very good to resolve any issue and normally go out of their way in doing so.

 

[terrym]

My local home brew shop, which for me is 20 mins cycle away wins hands down. All that, keep it in the local business/markets stuff.

Sadly some of us don't have the luxury of a 'local' home brew shop (my nearest is now over 25 miles away) so if you want to buy stuff it's off tinterweb.
I buy small amounts from Baliihoo because their prices are reasonable, service is good and they only charge £2.50 for packages less than 2kg, and also the-home-brew-shop because they have a good range and again prices are reasonable although like most online suppliers free postage only kicks in at a £65 spend, but goods are well packed and delivered signed for.

 

[jceg316]

GEB haven't been bad, I wasn't necessarily referring to them. I don't want to name and shame here but with one company they sold me a faulty product, which the owner personally recommended, and when I asked for a refund flat out refused, it was my fault it wasn't working apparently. It took them a week to reply to my original message, and only replied when I sent another email. That's shockingly bad service.

Other shops just never get back to me when I email about pre-purchase questions, simple stuff like "when is this product which I really want to buy back in stock?" Sometimes I wonder if they want money... And others give really bad answers which are not helpful at all, if they do reply.

Before you ask, I'm hard of hearing so picking up the phone isn't necessarily the best option for me get in contact.

Anyway, I don't want to sound all doom and gloom, on the whole I have positive experiences with most shops I do transactions with!

 

[terrym]

I don't want to name and shame here but with one company they sold me a faulty product, which the owner personally recommended, and when I asked for a refund flat out refused, it was my fault it wasn't working apparently.

Why not? It's useful to hear about bad companies just as it is to hear about good ones, assuming the criticisms are fair and accurate. Forum members can then decide who to do business with. And the companies might improve their service if they know that they are being avoided.
I bought some hops from an ebay supplier who operates from Tonbridge and only supplies hops. On two occasions they were late being delivered. I had what I thought was a friendly exchange with the supplier on both occasions about this. The second time it happened I made a comment in 'Feedback' that the goods were late but otherwise service was OK and left positive feedback. When I tried to buy some more hops later on I found I had been blocked by the supplier who told me this was because I had given him negative feedback (which I hadn't). Make your own mind up about whether I would recommend this supplier.

 

[MyQul]

@jceg316 Like terry says, people want to know who are the bad suppliers and who are the good. Then if the bad suppliers want any more business they'll have to pull their socks up or possibly go to the wall