nalidixic

Recipes 

I'm starting a grain of the month club for home brewers. The basic idea is that members of the club will receive approximately 1lb of a surprise specialty grain each month in the mail. Along with the grain will be recipe suggestions and info. The hope is to help brewers expand their horizons when it comes to what possibilities are out there.

I've put up a site already to start seeing who might be interested in joining the club. Please feel free to hop over and leave me your email address if your interested. I promise not to spam you cause I hate spam too!

http://www.grainofthemonthclub.com

SavoryChef

Recipes 

I think you need work on your concept. Beginner's may like it but intermediate to advanced brewers will shun it especially at around $10 per pound. Just my opinion.

nalidixic

Recipes 

It's possible the concept isn't totally there and I'm open to suggestions.

I took a look at the cost of grain, packaging and shipping and it comes close to $10 alone. I guess if you had massive volume it could be cheaper though :P

amandabab

Recipes 

"Since we are still working on figuring out interest levels in the club we haven't set any hard pricing yet. The club will probably cost somewhere around 10 bucks a month though. "

Holy grain gouging Batman.

nalidixic

Recipes 

Not really when you take into account grain + packaging + shipping costs. It might be the downfall of the idea I do admit but it never hurts to float things out there to check interest :P

fnord

Recipes 

I'm about to rain my pessimism on you. Sorry.

I realize the limitation due to shipping costs, but I would never pay $10 a month. I'm already one to experiment a fair amount, and I like the idea of being encouraged to get out of my comfort zone with having the grains delivered to make me feel obligated to using them.

I'd be more likely to pay $20 a month for a full medium-low gravity grain bill, with 1 or multiple possible hop schedules and some yeast recommendations (though that is still getting a bit expensive and you'll need to rely on reputation for very good recipes).

Are there any Canadian flat rate shipping equivalents that would make that possible? From quick estimations I'd say that in the states if you could fit a 9-10 lb grain bill in a medium flat rate box (I think this is possible) you would basically break even after bulk grain, repackaging, processing, and shipping prices, though those are quick estimations which mean's you would probably be best charging $25/month, maybe discount it to $275 for a multi-year sub. This also means you are ignoring the possible market of extract/partial mash brewers. If my LHBS is any indication they are the majority of brewers.

Also consider longevity/cycles. Even if you were able to get the specialty grains down to a reasonable price per pound, I'd be pissed if one month I paid $5 for a pound of crystal or roasted barley with a recipe for a basic amber or stout. I just ran though the list of grains my LHBS carries and there are about 5 or 6 individual grains that I think could be interesting for your initial idea, meaning a customer that after 1 year would not be back.

billf2112

Recipes 

Really cool idea, the cost has to be within reason for a pound of grain (shipping and packing included) may be a great idea to get one of the big online retailers involved who can do this cheaper and get advertising out at the same time to off set the cost.

__________________
Bill from Pa

On Deck: Irish Stout,
Primary: Pumpkin Ale
Secondary: Empty
Completed: Red, Wit and Blue, Irish Stout, Red Ale, German Style Amber Lager, All Grain Brews: Irish Red Ale, American Stout, Honey Weizen

jwwbrennan

Recipes 

With Canadian rates shipping a pound of a low cost-by-weight item will leave much of the revenue with the shipper. People with easy access to an LHBS will have a hard time justifying the shipping expense. I don't have easy access so depend on Internet and mail order. Purchasing in my neck of the woods requires planning, otherwise the costs are just too high. I usually order large amounts occasionally so the shipping is included but that aside shipping small quantities of consumable products can be treacherous territory. Have you considered more complete packages such as ingredient kits or having a customer selected schedule?

I say this as a Canadian and potential customer who depends on the Internet for anything that isn't locally produced. Canada is a small country with big country transportation problems. I should also mention that my questioning pessimism is often overwhelmed by reality.

__________________
Mop and Pail In Vitro Homebrewing

bighorn_brew

Recipes 

On another note, perhaps a yeast of a month club might be in order....

nalidixic

Recipes 

Thanks for all the feed back! It NEVER hurts to float an idea out there before you spend too much time on it. So I guess the consensus is the cost is just way too high.

Would there be interest in a yeast club like bighorn_brew mentioned?