Northern Brewer
Reddit take
AI summary of the Reddit excerpts below — not a quote
Northern Brewer is a prominent homebrewing retailer frequently recommended for its comprehensive starter kits and the freshness of its extract kits. While it remains a go-to for beginners due to clear instructions and high ingredient turnover, experienced users are increasingly critical of its pricing and the impact of corporate reshuffling. The name also refers to a versatile, neutral hop variety often used for bittering in styles like California Common and stouts.
Pros
- High ingredient freshness due to high volume and rapid turnover of extract kits.
- Comprehensive starter kits that include everything a beginner needs to get started.
- The Northern Brewer hop variety is highly versatile for bittering and blends well with other hops.
- Provides helpful online tools such as carbonation calculators for brewers.
Cons
- Perceived as one of the more expensive options with 'obscene markups' on certain items.
- Reported low efficiency (55-58%) when using their in-house grain milling service for BIAB.
- The Northern Brewer hop variety can be too neutral and may get lost in robust malt profiles.
- Some users find the hop variety lacks an authentic 'German' flavor profile.
Caveats
- The brand has undergone organizational changes and operates under several names (e.g., Austin Homebrew, Midwest Supplies), which some users link to a decline in value.
- The extensive list of add-on options for kits (like yeast strains) can be overwhelming for first-time brewers.
- Some long-time users have reported issues accessing old forum profiles following site changes.
Best for
- Beginners looking for a reliable, all-in-one entry point into the hobby.
- Extract brewers who prioritize ingredient freshness over the lowest price.
Avoid if
- You are shopping strictly on price and want to avoid premium markups.
- You require high-efficiency pre-milled grains for your setup.
This summary uses balanced time weighting with about a 18-month half-life. The evidence is based on 22 mentions from r/Homebrewing with a median source age of approximately 291 days.
Sentiment
13 positive (59%) · 5 mixed (23%) · 4 negative (18%)
Trust + time weighted score: +42% · raw score 41%
What redditors said (10 of 22)
Already placed the order from Northern Brewer for more equipment to get a new brew going with some better methods.
I love Northern Brewer, but can't seem to buy them anymore.
Northern brewer doesn’t have a bold character and I think the flavor may get lost in the robust malt flavors.
Northern brewer and uk first gold my two favorite bittering hops for lagers and stouts . Columbus for apa s and ipas
I've been using exclusively Northern Brewer hops in my vanilla porters for awhile now and they always come out fantastic.
Not very German tasting.
Northern Brewer is a very good all purpose hop. The fondly remembered Anchor Steam Beer was all Northern Brewer. It's neutral enough to blend well with many other flavor/aroma hops and enough AA to bitter modestly hopped beers.
So generally, I would look at a seller for extract+steeping grains kits that cares about ingredient freshness and has high volumes so their stock is very fresh. Ones that pack kits either just for you or daily. Northern Brewer is one such example.
Northern Brewer has some obscene markups on random items.
in the USA, Northern Brewer, Brooklyn Brew Shop, and Craft-a-Brew are good options for smaller batch sizes.
Compare
Northern Brewer vs Star SanNorthern Brewer vs 34/70 yeastNorthern Brewer vs Nottingham Yeast
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