favorite online HBS

My apologies if this has been discussed before, but I am wandering what is every one's favorite online HBS. I have been using NB with no complaint but I recently had to use someone else because NB didn't have the yeast for the 777. I used Midwest and these guys didn't even send my stuff out until 2 days after I ordered it. I was hoping to do a starter today and brew tomorrow but now I'm not going to be able to brew until next week.
Who is your favorite online store and why?
By the way, I had them crush my grains and they should still be good next week if I store them in an air tight container, right?

Charlie

A few of the more popular threads you'll get if you search for "online" in the thread title:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=17499
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=31747
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32416

I've used Midwest, NB, HomeBrew Heaven, and AHS. I go with whoever has what I'm looking for. But I use MW as a last resort, because they are a little slow on the shipping.

EDIT: and your grains will be fine for a week. Good luck!

depends on where you live somewhat. here in houston, its hard to beat austin homebrew supply for online orders. ive ordered on a wednesday evening and received it on a friday. and all their shipping is $5.99.

austin homebrew is pretty reliable. just make sure you order on sunday night.

my ******* ordered sunday and it probably sat in a truck all day yesterday.....so much for the yeast

Another vote for Austin. Quick shipping, flat ship rate, good selection. At least, AHS works for minor orders---but in certain instances, where other places have better prices or items that AHS doesn't have, I've shopped around. When I bought my 55lb sack of Maris Otter, I priced it out on a bunch of sites, and Midwest ended up being the cheapest with shipping added on.

I don't know where you're located, but if you're east of the Mississippi, you should check out listermann.com. The catalog structure/interface is a but clunky and counterintuitive, but you can't argue with free shipping on all orders over $35 that are shipping east of the Mississippi. And they have a bulk LME for $2.15/lb, which I have used alot and am happy with. And their customer service is awesome. The first time I ordered the LME, it arrived with a good portion of it spilled out of the tubs and into the plastic bag they were in---and not only that, but they hadn't labeled the buckets very well, so I couldn't tell which was wheat and which was pale. So I e-mailed them and got a response from Dan Listermann himself---and by the end of the week, I had two replacement buckets, sealed better and labeled, and still got to use what hadn't spilled from the original order. So, yeah, I highly recommend them if you're east of the mississippi.

I tend to use Midwest and Northern most often. They've always been very fast getting orders to my door. I've also used Williams, AHS, More Beer and Adventures in Homebrewing. Never really had a problem with any of them.

Thanks for the quick replies...I live in Kentucky so I might try listermann and maybe Austin instead of Midwest. Unfortunately the only place locally to buy stuff is liquor barn and they have a very, very limited selection.

I use Austin Homebrew almost exclusively. The flat shipping rate is what got me to go there. Other places have better prices sometimes, but all in all, they come out cheaper because of the shipping. However, I did have it take almost two weeks once for my order to get here. Dont know what was with that, most of the time, they are pretty quick.

However, this may change sometime in the future. As of right now, I am ordering on a batch by batch basis. So, my shipments are 10-20lbs with grain, hops, yeast etc etc...but eventually I will probably limit this. I am already washing and re-using yeast strains, eventually am going to start buying base grains in bulk and probably buy some hops in bulk too. The point is, come batch time, my packages may only be a couple of pounds, and shipping from the other vendors may not hinder my purchase.

I've only made 2 online orders for homebrew-related supplies, both were from Austin Home Brew. The 1st order shipped out within an hour, the 2nd one shipped the next day. They've been good so far.

I'm still brewing extract, so I can't vouch for their grain prices, though.