21 replies to this topic

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

At what point is buying grain in bulk worth it? So no one gets in trouble, how many hypothetical gallons of beer do you make in a year so this is worth it? I assume you guys pretty much only buy base grains in bulk (2-row, maris otter, munich, pilsner, etc.) and then buy smaller amounts of specialty grains. How much cash do you bulk grain buyers estimate you save per 5 gallon batch?

[Kansan]

The Lawrence Brewers Guild does quite a few grain buys a year. See Blktre's thread to get an idea https://www.brews-br...?showtopic=1071. The savings on the grain is over 1/2 off retail when buying in bulk (usually a pallet or more at a time). If you brew at a rate of two ten gallon batches a month then buying bulk base malt most definitely makes sense. The advantage of group bulk-buying in the specialty grains is the numbers. Who needs 50 pounds of black patent, or special B? But when you split that bag 4 or 5 ways it becomes much more manageable, and cost effective. So for cost-- a little over 1/2 is saved by buying bulk. Hops is another story. By the ounce expensive. By the pound much cheaper. By the 5 pounds-- much, much cheaper. Just getting together with a half dozen brewers and going in on hops will save even more on a batch of beer.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

The Lawrence Brewers Guild does quite a few grain buys a year. See Blktre's thread to get an idea https://www.brews-br...?showtopic=1071. The savings on the grain is over 1/2 off retail when buying in bulk (usually a pallet or more at a time). If you brew at a rate of two ten gallon batches a month then buying bulk base malt most definitely makes sense. The advantage of group bulk-buying in the specialty grains is the numbers. Who needs 50 pounds of black patent, or special B? But when you split that bag 4 or 5 ways it becomes much more manageable, and cost effective. So for cost-- a little over 1/2 is saved by buying bulk. Hops is another story. By the ounce expensive. By the pound much cheaper. By the 5 pounds-- much, much cheaper. Just getting together with a half dozen brewers and going in on hops will save even more on a batch of beer.

So far this year I've made 5 5 gallon batches and #6 is coming up soon. This will slow down a lot though once it gets warmer and won't pick back up again until fall.

[MoreAmmoPlz]

If we could get the Michigan group buy (hint, hint) together I'd be able to save $7-12 a batch. With an average of two batches a month I'd be able to knock a couple hundred dollars off my brewing costs over the course of a year.

Edited by OprFilth, 11 April 2009 - 05:16 AM.

[Sidney Porter]

I buy grain by the sack from a brewpub, I only buy base grain from them. I normally only have 1 sack MO and Pils on hand, I think they are right around $35-$40 a sack the pils is cheaper than the MO. The price has gone up it use to be in the $25-30 range. I have also purchased Munich and Wheat from them but I need to have a plan in mind to use them in a reasonable amount of time. The only problem is this limits me to the brands they buy, best pils, and TF MO but to me that isn'rt a big deal.There is another brewery that uses briess american 2row as a base malt if I wanted to buy aa sack he would sell it to me.I don't really have the storage space for buying a pallet at the time, nor do I go thru it fast enough. But I think you should be buying it by the sack rather than the lb.I buy my specialty grains from the LHBS, I normally go in 1x or 2x a year and buy 3-5lbs of a variety of grains. Crystal 10, 30, 60, 90, 120, roasted barley, special b, chocolate, black patent, biscuit, aromatic, carafa, caramunich etc. I don't do a good job having a plan knowing what I will end up brewing. I think they run about 1.50 per lb. I was once given a sack of crystal 30 it took forever to go thru it and i eneded up modify a bunch of recipes to use crystal 30.

[Cliff Claven]

You sound like a good candidate for buying a sack or 2 of base malts. The problem is the shipping. If you only buy one bag, the shipping cost will eat up most of the savings. The real saving is the group buys on a pallet. Then you are able to spit bags of other items like Kansan said.

[Cliff Claven]

https://www.countrymaltgroup.com/I'm to lazy right now to see how close to Champlain NY you are. If you are in the area you can pick the items up at the warehouse.

[dagomike]

Like Sidney, I buy sacks of base grain but from the LHBS. Usually I just do Pale and Pils malt, but I bought wheat and Munich a while back. Never really got around to doing all the German wheat and bocks I had planned. I then buy specialty grain usually 1-5 lbs at a time, depending. What's nice about having some inventory is you can basically brew whatever you want without running to the store or ordering. Or even worse, have to change the brew day because the store doesn't have something in stock.

[pods8]

I'm in the buy a sack of base malt when you need it camp. It saves me some money because they charge me less per pound and I'll eventually use it all up. Currently I have on hand a 2row (probably only 10lb left, I'll get another since this is my main grain), a fresh bag of marris otter, pilsner (purchased for some specific beers but a good basemalt available whenever I want it), vienna (needed a lot for a vienna lager, now I just have the extra on hand whenever a recipe calls for it). Then I usually buy my specialty grains as needed so when I hit the store for supplies on a recipe coming up it usually end up only spending $10 or such.If there was a big group buy around me I'd likely throw down for ~4sacks of basemalt grain but still buy my specialty stuff as needed. I've done the buy 5 lb of various specialty malt thing and use as needed but it doesn't save me money, I have to inventory it, etc. I find it just easier to hit the LHBS shops in the area. If I didn't have 3 close by then I'd perhaps think differently.

[MtnBrewer]

I think it's always worth it unless you're only going to make a few batches a year. If nothing else, if you also keep a stock of specialty malts and hops around, it means that you can brew without a lot of planning. Example, I woke up this morning and decided to make an impy stout tomorrow. I have a yeast cake of 1098 (probably not the ideal candidate for a big beer but oh well), a freezer full of hops and a tub of Weyermann pale malt so I'm good to go.

[zymot]

No doubt, you can save money. Along with buying sacks of grain you need to buy a grain mill. The savings on first couple/few/several bags of grain go towards paying for the mill to break even. I will let you do the math.With a mill you get more control over the entire brewing process. So that is a plus.For me, saving a few bucks per batch is not worth getting into logistics of grain storage. Ordering, receiving, space, freshness, mills, bugs, etc, I let my LHBS be in the grain storage and grain milling business. If I brewed more, I would reconsider my opinion, but brewing 1-2 per month, I do not mind paying as I go.Just my take on it.zymot

[BrewerGeorge]

Just buying bags from the LHBS locally saves me at least $3 or $4 per batch. It also let's me brew on whim to some extent, although I'm pretty limited on what these whim brews could be because I don't keep many specialties around.

[boo boo]

Malt supply is sporatic here so I tend to accumulate grain as I can get it.Right now I have 6 sacks of base grain and about 20 Lbs of various specialtymalts and adjunts.

[Gumbo Leviathan]

How do you guys store the malt? I would be afraid of bugs and such getting in...

[CoastieSteve]

I found that a bag of 2 row usually lasts me about 7or so 5 gal batches, or about 2 to 3 months and saves me at least $5/batch due to the lack of a LHBS that has a decent supply of grains. After NB sent me 3 kits of barely crushed malts, I bought my own mill and have had a blast with creating my own recipes and crushing the grain to my liking. The convenience as Mtn said above is absolutely true. I store mine in a plastic tub in my garage that has these handles that snap the lid down tight. It holds more than a 50 lb grain bag. It was sold as a bulk dog food storage bin.

[Mashman]

How do you guys store the malt? I would be afraid of bugs and such getting in...

I mostly store mine in the bag in a closet at room temperature. Most of the bags I get have an additional plastic liner inside. I find that this keeps the malt fresh throughout my brew season. I have never had a problem with weavils or any other pests.Mashman

[Yeasty Boy]

I can move a sack of MO and a sack of Pilsner in way less than a year. I could probably move two MO's, a pils and a sack of Munich a year with no problems.When you get into buying large amounts of specialty malts, it's too easy to start designing beers around your stock, which is NOT what homebrewing is about!(For the record, I only do about 90g a year - way under the limit.)

[BrewerGeorge]

I store my grains in 30 gallon rubbermaid trash cans. No problem so far.

[chuck_d]

I store mine in these: https://www.usplasti.....duct_id=17425