Good sites for buying

littlejp

Can anyone recommend any good sites for buying Extract Kits, sugars, bottling equipment etc.?
I've bought a few times from some Irish sites but am wondering if there might be somewhere cheaper to shop if I am buying a few bits in one go.

Saruman

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/ has the biggest range and some of the best prices.


Here is a full list.

littlejp

Thanks. I've used thehomebrewcompany a few times and found them great. Just wanted to know how they compare with other suppliers.

Khannie

littlejp wrote: »

Thanks. I've used thehomebrewcompany a few times and found them great. Just wanted to know how they compare with other suppliers.

It's a very competitive market. I don't think there's a huge amount in it between the various Irish suppliers tbh.

littlejp

Khannie wrote: »

It's a very competitive market. I don't think there's a huge amount in it between the various Irish suppliers tbh.

Yeah. Seems to be only fractions of price differences between Irish sites.
Is there anywhere in the UK or on the continent that might work out cheaper?

madhatter76

I used now twice http://www.houseofhomebrew.co.uk in nothern Ireland.

Due to the conversion they are slightly higher in prices but have a different selection on stuff and kits compared to the 2 major Southern shops.

I primarily ordered there cause they have their stuff on stock while here I mostly find an "out of stock note" on what I'm looking for.

Saruman

littlejp wrote: »

Yeah. Seems to be only fractions of price differences between Irish sites.
Is there anywhere in the UK or on the continent that might work out cheaper?

For the UK, I recommend Hop & Grape. I have used them many times in the past. Not so much any more because the Irish prices are such that unless you are getting a really large order and including equipment in that, it does not make much financial sense.

They do have a larger range than the Irish sites though.

eurofoxy

if you are looking for different stuff try here, they are based in belgium so shipping can be expensive, but they have a good range of different things, and have some very professional gear too if that is what you are looking for..

joctcl

madhatter76 wrote: »

I used now twice http://www.houseofhomebrew.co.uk in nothern Ireland.

Due to the conversion they are slightly higher in prices but have a different selection on stuff and kits compared to the 2 major Southern shops.

I primarily ordered there cause they have their stuff on stock while here I mostly find an "out of stock note" on what I'm looking for.

They are being supplied by HBW;)

RATM

I know postage could be a killer from the US but does anyone know of some good sites over there that might have different brew kits to what we're used to here ?

Saruman

Not just postage, there's also customs to consider.
It's not worth it. If you want to be more fancy with your brewing, move off kits and do extract or all grain. Most brewers in the US are all grain brewers so their kits are actually not very good.
They do however have extract and all grain kits which have everything you need for a brew. You just need the equipment.

Newgrange Warrior

Good site for mini keg stuff.

http://www.fass-frisch.com/english/produkte/produkt.htm

SouthTippBass

I ordered equipment from homebrew.ie on Sunday night, and they had it delivered by Tuesday morning! :eek: Super fast delivery!

Anyone

Placed an order from homebrewwest on Tuesday, still nothing. I emailed them and they said they have a back log due to the Bank Holiday, which sounds like crap tbh. Anyway, they wont be getting any further orders from me.

Shiny

In fairness there are around 80 brews going into the barrel projects alone the last few weeks not including brews that people would have been doing anyway. I would say all home brew stores are fairly busy at the moment.

Devi

Tbh I wouldn’t take it to heart. I usually order from the other main irish site and I find it a bit slow with delivery lately, definitely not next day delivery like they advertise, mine usually comes 3-4 after ordering.

Khannie

Honestly - HBW need more staff. I had trouble before (a good while back) and got the same yarn. I'm delighted they're doing well, but their customer service is suffering as a result.

Anyone

Well, the fact the order is still displaying as "Pending" after 4 days suggests a stock issue to me, not a staff issue. So if they are displaying items in stock that they dont have it screws up orders.

Devi

Personally I think there are both doing very well, the prices are pretty good and are better than uk in most cases, not many things you can say that about in this country. That is why I would continue to support them despite the odd logistical problem here and there.

Anyone

So 7 days later, and still no deilvery. I received another email on friday explaing what happened. It was a stock take and they never took their system down, so items sold and werent updated, long story short, 1 item i ordered was out of stock.

So homebrewwest offered to send the bulk of my order, with the 1 item to follow, plus a 1.5kg bag of LME, or I could have a refund. I took their offer and still havent had the items delivered.

I didnt realise they were a wholesale distributor, and I can understand why they would fill those orders first. However, I am annoyed by the whole thing. I have a batch waiting to be bottled and I had another planned, thats been screwed up by this delay and I wont be ordering from them again.

lang

Just looked back on my order history and I had put an order in with HBW on 9/01/2013 and this was delivered by 11/01/2013. This time around I put in a order on Friday last. Just checked my account with them and it's 'Pending'. Luckily I'm not waiting on stuff and suits me that they don't deliver in the next two days as I will be in work.

littlejp

I've placed 3 orders in total with thehomebrewcompany.ie and they have all been delivered in 2 to 3 days.
I tried to order from houseofhomebrew.co.uk but neither of my Cards would be accepted. Still waiting to hear from them why this is.

howamidifferent

littlejp wrote: »

I've placed 3 orders in total with thehomebrewcompany.ie and they have all been delivered in 2 to 3 days.
I tried to order from houseofhomebrew.co.uk but neither of my Cards would be accepted. Still waiting to hear from them why this is.

Just tried to order from the uk site also but likewise it returned an error for my mastercard. Not too pushed. I was only testing the site really as an alternative.

diarmuid05

madhatter76 wrote: »

I used now twice http://www.houseofhomebrew.co.uk in nothern Ireland.

Due to the conversion they are slightly higher in prices but have a different selection on stuff and kits compared to the 2 major Southern shops.

I primarily ordered there cause they have their stuff on stock while here I mostly find an "out of stock note" on what I'm looking for.

Browsing this site, am i correct in saying they are not charging VAT and deliver for £5 when i estimate shipping to to Galway?

Haven't actually checked out, but that seems like good value... if i'm not missing something.....

hunglikeaflee

I have used the HBC a number of times now and find 1-2 days delivery times.
I used HBW twice and both times it was over a week delivery with one of them trying to deliver to the wrong address and I had to collect myself and the other time sending the wrong products, which I will say they sorted no problem.

If you are in a hurry both companies are good.

howamidifferent

diarmuid05 wrote: »

Browsing this site, am i correct in saying they are not charging VAT and deliver for £5 when i estimate shipping to to Galway?

Haven't actually checked out, but that seems like good value... if i'm not missing something.....

That's what it appeared to do to me yesterday. No vat charge and I went all the way to confirming payment until it rejected my mastercard. If it had gone through it would have been cheaper than the few southern sites.

lang

lang wrote: »

Just looked back on my order history and I had put an order in with HBW on 9/01/2013 and this was delivered by 11/01/2013. This time around I put in a order on Friday last. Just checked my account with them and it's 'Pending'. Luckily I'm not waiting on stuff and suits me that they don't deliver in the next two days as I will be in work.

Just to update:
Ordered stock on 10/05/2013. E-mailed them on 16/05/2013, repled on 17/05/2013 to say that some of the stuff was not in stock. I accepted the replacements suggested. Got an e-mail this evening (20/05/2013) to say order has been dispatched. They had tried to ring me on 16/05 but I missed their calls.

So, we'll see how long it takes to get down here to me. I'm not really needing anything from it straigth away (thank god). I'm going to really consider who I order from in the future as this is not the first time I've had issues with HBW. This time what annoys me is the fact that the stuff I had ordered was marked on the site as 'In Stock', but this was clearly out of stock because this is what has delayed the order.

I'm not one to give out about something without telling those who I'm giving out about and I will be sending HBW an e-mail in the coming days once my order has arrived and I've confirmed all is present and correct.

tteknulp

lang wrote: »

Just to update:
Ordered stock on 10/05/2013. E-mailed them on 16/05/2013, repled on 17/05/2013 to say that some of the stuff was not in stock. I accepted the replacements suggested. Got an e-mail this evening (20/05/2013) to say order has been dispatched. They had tried to ring me on 16/05 but I missed their calls.

So, we'll see how long it takes to get down here to me. I'm not really needing anything from it straigth away (thank god). I'm going to really consider who I order from in the future as this is not the first time I've had issues with HBW. This time what annoys me is the fact that the stuff I had ordered was marked on the site as 'In Stock', but this was clearly out of stock because this is what has delayed the order.

I'm not one to give out about something without telling those who I'm giving out about and I will be sending HBW an e-mail in the coming days once my order has arrived and I've confirmed all is present and correct.

I had a few issues with HBW , they sent stuff thst was past sell by date ,i have used H.B. Company ever since ,usually nxt day to Dublin

Sky King

Never had a problem with HBC - super fast deliveries and he was accommodating when I made a mess of an order and needed to make a change after i paid for everything

deadman1972

I have to say that out of the 3 i use HBC are the quickest to deliver. If you email Shane will usually answer within 24hrs and is very helpful to beginners like me.

HBW also supply HBC and homebrew.ie( or so i was told) so if HBW cant get it the other two will have a hard time as well. I have to say though that compared to our UK counterparts stock keeping and marking as sold is piss poor across the board here. Also would it be that hard to email and say sorry but that item you ordered is actually out of stock, and not leave a fella hanging a week waiting and wondering?

That said defo HBC for your orders guys.

tteknulp

madhatter76 wrote: »

I used now twice http://www.houseofhomebrew.co.uk in nothern Ireland.

I have used these also ,cheap for brewferm kits and yeasts ,i bought 9 kits and 20 yeasts saved €47 to hbw price : )

bigron2109

Hey folks, where is the best place to buy a starter beer kit from? Ive seen in Tesco they have a starter Kit for €100. Most sites ive been on are looking for between €90-€100. Is that the Going rate for a Cooper Kit or can it be got cheaper?

Also would the Cooper Kit include everything i need for a starter, as i have never done this before? Thanks for the help

tteknulp

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/30-l-budget-beer-starter-kit-with-32-pint-ingredient-kit-843-p.asp

All you need here ,includes beer kit too €30 bargain

bigron2109 wrote: »

Hey folks, where is the best place to buy a starter beer kit from? Ive seen in Tesco they have a starter Kit for €100. Most sites ive been on are looking for between €90-€100. Is that the Going rate for a Cooper Kit or can it be got cheaper?

Saruman

tteknulp wrote: »

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/30-l-budget-beer-starter-kit-with-32-pint-ingredient-kit-843-p.asp

All you need here ,includes beer kit too €30 bargain

Good value for that starter kit. One thing worth checking is that the pic shows a crown capper and caps but it's not listed in the kit contents. If it's not, and I doubt it is at that price, then a little more money will be needed.

Of course, get a supply of brown swingtop bottles and you won't need it. Check with pubs like Bull and Castle (Dublin) as it costs them money to get rid of bottles so they will be only too glad to hand them out. I know the Bull and Castle keep their swingtops for any homebrewers who come asking.
Otherwise, get drinking and keep them yourselves.

Tube

Shops in Ireland:
www.homebrewwest.ie
www.thehomebrewcompany.ie
www.geterbrewed.com (NI)

Worth noting that members of the National Homebrew Club get 5% discount on all purchases from the above.

hunglikeaflee

hunglikeaflee wrote: »

I have used the HBC a number of times now and find 1-2 days delivery times.
I used HBW twice and both times it was over a week delivery with one of them trying to deliver to the wrong address and I had to collect myself and the other time sending the wrong products, which I will say they sorted no problem.

If you are in a hurry both companies are good.

Sorry that should be "If you are not in a hurry both companies are good."

cbrlover

From my experience, my advice would be to stay away from Home Brew West if you want any sort of good service because I think they are incapable of it.

I have ordered from them twice and both times they messed it up. Both times took over ten days to get the products and on one of them they got the order wrong. When I emailed them about it, they didn’t answer my mail first try. I had to email them again once and phone them the other time.

One of the orders was sent to the wrong address and the tried to blame the delivery people, yet it was them that addressed the box. DPD would not have had my home address yet that is where they were sent and there was no one home to except it I wanted it delivered to work.

Today I wanted to order a wine kit and the HBC didn’t have the kit I wanted. I could have got it from outside Ireland (at a better price including delivery) but thought I would keep the business in the country. I say HBW said they had it in stock on their website but from experience thought I would phone to check. I phoned this morning and the lady asked me to call back as she didn’t know. I phoned back and this time I was asked to hold, after a couple of minutes they said they didn’t know and would call me back. As I was about to leave the office, I asked them to call me back on my mobile and they made a song and dance about it and then wanted me to call them back. Now I phoned twice today, I am not about to phone again.

If my staff worked like that or treated my customers like that, I would have sacked them long ago. The first lady should have called me back not having me call her back but after calling the second time to be asked to call again is a disgrace.

I have since ordered from Northern Ireland about €6.00 less.

Anyone

I'm still waiting for part of an order, its 6 weeks now since I ordered from them. I have emailed them asking for a refund, and they replied saying they would find out when they would have the original item.

I wont touch them again.

howamidifferent

I'm going to have to counter that and say that my experiences of HBW have all been great. I've placed 14 orders with them since December for over €1300 worth of equipment and supplies and had every delivery 2 days after ordering.
On just one of the deliveries I had to report a broken item that had obviously been mishandled during shipping and it was replaced without question on just my word along with a few small items thrown in as a goodwill gesture.

I cannot fault the service received from HBW.

I also placed 2 orders with HC and both were also delivered promptly.

wandatowell

Ordered gear from HomeBrewWest there last Friday. I wasn't expecting shipment until Tuesday due to the bank holiday. Which I thought was fair enough.

Order is still pending, That's a disgrace.

Not a hope I could wait 6 weeks like the poster above.

I'm impatient fair enough but they are meant to be running a business. If there is an issue then contact the customer and explain.

Super-Rush

I ordered one starter kit from THBC at the start of the month and it took 5 days to get here but that was because the guy was on holidays. He did give me a 10% discount code for the Book Shop which was nice. On the flipside he sent me all champagne yeast when i'd ordered normal cider yeast.

I received my order from HBW today and was happy with the delivery time(ordered last Friday night) However the glass trial jar was severely cracked at the base and was leaking and eventually shattered. I've emailed them to tell them so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Khannie

For what its worth I'm 90% sure that champagne yeast is the exact same as cider yeast. Someone will be along to confirm or deny....

pcomer

cbrlover wrote: »

I have since ordered from Northern Ireland about €6.00 less.

Hi - what site was this?

cbrlover

pcomer wrote: »

Hi - what site was this?

http://www.houseofhomebrew.co.uk/

Got the product next working day.

pcomer

cbrlover wrote: »

http://www.houseofhomebrew.co.uk/

Got the product next working day.

Thanks for hat - must have a look.

gazahayes

I saw an add on donedeal for another home brew shop. Seems small enough selection so far but a bit cheaper for some stuff.

gazahayes

I saw an add on donedeal for another home brew shop. Seems small enough selection so far but a bit cheaper for some stuff.
homebrewguru.ie

Anyone

Any idea where I can buy Starsan? Seems to be non-existent in any of the Irish retailers.

adamski8

Anyone wrote: »

Any idea where I can buy Starsan? Seems to be non-existent in any of the Irish retailers.

Use thin bleach and white vinegsr instead.

tteknulp

Anyone wrote: »

Any idea where I can buy Starsan? Seems to be non-existent in any of the Irish retailers.

Homebrew company have it ,2 sizes

Anyone

tteknulp wrote: »

Homebrew company have it ,2 sizes

Been out of stock for the last 6 weeks at least.