Can you just locally get the ingredients from a NB kit to make your own

[Wolfairious]

Was wondering if you can just copy the instructions from a NB kit and buy all the stuff from your local brew supply store. I figure it was as simple as that but wanted to make sure. Saves on shipping costs as long as my local has all the stuff required.

 

[bruteforce]

As long as it has all the ingredients, then sure. No reason it wouldn't work.

 

[singybrue]

Yes , especially if it is all grain.
The thing that would vary the most is the A.A. of the hops, but NB will ship whatever they have on hand at the time. They generally never specify an IBU value in their recipes.
They also don't specify a specific batch size or efficiency(5g into the fermenter and 65-70% per a NB CSR.)

 

[solbes]

Actually NB employs enforcers that come out and steal your beer if you're caught plagiarizing their recipes.

J/K, I'm sure they know people do this, but are still confident in their store to put the recipes out there for anyone. Its also one of the best ways to start tweaking reacipes as you learn about the various malts/hops. Take one of their recipes and make a couple of minor changes. One of the steps along the way to designing your own recipes from scratch.

One small caution I would have is that if you are using liquid extract, make sure your local brew shop has sufficient turnover to assure you don't get old/stale extract. NB, Midwest, Austin, etc all have huge turnover so its almost always really fresh. DME would be a safer option if you are unsure.

 

[Wolfairious]

This is what I figured was the case. Thanks for confirming!
My local sometimes has (close enough or a good substitute) ingredients. So I know they won't be exactly what NB kit would taste like. But as long as I continue to use the same ingredients I can tweak the recipe to taste and get consistent results I figure.
I also understand about the LME. I am ok with the Light Amber as that is turned over a lot more than the others it seems.

 

[RM-MN]

If it will make you feel better about using someone else' recipe, instead of using Northern Brewers' you could choose from one of the recipes here on HomeBrewTalk. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f82/

These recipes are given freely and usually have comments on how they turned out and sometimes suggestion on how to tweak them. Thet are also labled as extract, partial mash, or all grain so you can choose your method. A few even have an extract recipe and all grain listed.

 

[MB331]

NB's prices are pretty competitive so I wonder how much you will save, if any, by going local. My local brew shop has a $1-2 markup on LME alone.

 

[Wolfairious]

I brewed the Dead Ringer kit using the local stuff. Will see how it turns out in a few weeks.

 

[Calder]

If it helps, I think NB Millard Malts extract is just repackaged Briess extract.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

I use Home Brewery out of Ozark Mo. Cheaper than any I have seen elsewhere.