Bulk Grains Online

Just curious where you all buy them from and whether it is worth it after the shipping? I think I'm going to wind up with a Barley Crusher for Christmas.. The homebrew shop that I currently buy my grains from here in Columbus Ohio charges $2 per pound for all grains including base malts. Trying to figure out where I'm going to get my sacks from after I get a mill though. Local HBS won't sell by the sack. If anyone knows one close to Columbus Ohio that would be most useful info too...
Cheers!

LHBS I use here in Georgia just went up to $1.70 @ pound. Still not too bad, but how much are you guys paying for bulk?
( i know i didn't add anything here. i posted so i could follow the thread )

Use Austin Homebrew for up to about 150 lbs. They'll give you $6.99 shipping on a single order, regardless of weight. If you want more than that, check into a pallet from North Country Malt.

My LHBS charged me $46 for a 55 lbs sack of Weyrman Pilsner. Nice drop down comare to $1.50 usual per lbs price.

ohiodad said:

Just curious where you all buy them from and whether it is worth it after the shipping? I think I'm going to wind up with a Barley Crusher for Christmas.. The homebrew shop that I currently buy my grains from here in Columbus Ohio charges $2 per pound for all grains including base malts. Trying to figure out where I'm going to get my sacks from after I get a mill though. Local HBS won't sell by the sack. If anyone knows one close to Columbus Ohio that would be most useful info too...
Cheers!

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Define close.

Listermann's in Cincinnati sells grain by the bag. They also have free shipping on orders over $35 east of the Mississippi although pricing is nothing special.

LHBS was $33ish for 50lbs or 2-row. Can't beat that.

Yuri_Rage said:

Use Austin Homebrew for up to about 150 lbs. They'll give you $6.99 shipping on a single order, regardless of weight. If you want more than that, check into a pallet from North Country Malt.

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I thought that 6.99 didn't count towards bulk grain.

Nevermind, just checked and I think that does include bulk grain. But man, 40lb bags for 55 - 60 bucks? That's a pretty bad deal.

Ó Flannagáin said:

Nevermind, just checked and I think that does include bulk grain. But man, 40lb bags for 55 - 60 bucks? That's a pretty bad deal.

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Price the online competition. You really can't beat it once you add the shipping costs. If I had a local supplier, I could probably cut that by about 1/3, but I don't.

Yuri_Rage said:

Price the online competition. You really can't beat it once you add the shipping costs. If I had a local supplier, I could probably cut that by about 1/3, but I don't.

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I have been ordering from B3. You cannot use the free shipping for bulk orders, but they have varieties I cannot get locally, so I order by the pound up to around 40-50 pounds. Since this is not technically a bulk order it seems to qualify for free shipping. For example, there is nowhere within 75 miles of me that seems to carry Golden Promise. I just got 30 pounds plus a bunch of other crap cheaper than I would locally shipped for free. I did a side by side compare, and they are the cheapest.

Also, you should note, I think AHS sells bulk in 40 lb incraments.

I've ordered from B3 that way as well. They are the cheapest at times, but I don't really like their service, so I avoid them. I forgot about that "trick," though, to take advantage of their shipping offer.

Never had to use the customer service. I will keep that in mind.

Anyone use North Country Malt? Do you have to have some kind of big minimum order with them? It looks like I could get grain cheaper from them than I can from AHB or Morebeer.com

I've been trying to find a good deal for a while, and from what I have found, shipping is too intrusive to allow it.

Midwest Supplies has Rahr 2-row 55# $29.95, but the shipping is 19.68 for my zip code, leaving me at $49.63
Austin HB is 46.99 for 40# + 6.99 = 53.98, and i'm still missing 15 pounds, and worse, Forrest is eating about 13.00 on shipping, the standard UPS Ground quote was 21.00-ish
Northern Brewer is Rahr 2row 55# for 32.99 + 20.62 ups = 53.61
MoreBeer is 29.95 for 50# with 30.41 UPS ground = $60.36
North Country has Canada Malting 2-row for $35.89 plus 28.19 by fedex = 64.08
(side note on North Country, their website sucks, and does not have 55# prices anywhere that you can "Add to Cart", but you can see all the prices at http://www.northcountrymalt.com/files/PDF/2007Catalog.pdf and they tell you to calculate your own shipping cost from FedEx.)

I'm probably going to get it at my LHBS, his site says #47.00 for 50lb of briess 2-row -- although those prices tend to be out of date, so i'll STILL pay more.

Anyone have anything cheaper with shipping? Or do I just suck for not living in a major city with a major brew supplier?

OhioDad,
I'm in CMH and had thought about bulk purchases also. Without getting a pallet order together though, it doesnt save a whole lot of money. Have you checked out the local HomeBrewers group? SODZ is the name and we meet once a month. This month its on Monday the 26th at Gordon Bierch at 7pm. You should join.... There might be interest there in getting a bulk purchase.


I have just been buying my grains on a as needed basis from The Wine Makers shop. She has everything and has good customer service. Gentiles in Grandview also has grains and I think its a bit cheaper, but their service sucks. Mostly a wine shop.

Ender

-I'm smelling a lot of IF commin' offa this plan-

Yuri_Rage said:

Use Austin Homebrew for up to about 150 lbs. They'll give you $6.99 shipping on a single order, regardless of weight. If you want more than that, check into a pallet from North Country Malt.

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I priced out the shipped cost of a sack of Maris Otter from AHS (plus $7 shipping) versus NB (plus $25 shipping). NB won, hands-down. Did the same with Vienna malt, price per pound was essentially identical. Now, it may matter how much it costs to ship the grain to you, but really, it's a little disengenous, I think, to talk about AHS's uber-cheap shipping without talking at the same time about their grain sacks being 25% smaller.

ohiodad said:

Just curious where you all buy them from and whether it is worth it after the shipping? I think I'm going to wind up with a Barley Crusher for Christmas.. The homebrew shop that I currently buy my grains from here in Columbus Ohio charges $2 per pound for all grains including base malts. Trying to figure out where I'm going to get my sacks from after I get a mill though. Local HBS won't sell by the sack. If anyone knows one close to Columbus Ohio that would be most useful info too...
Cheers!

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Where are you going locally? If you haven't already, check out The Winemaker's Shop on High st. in Clintonville. She can order bags of grain for you. Although I've never had her do it she told me that she could.

Ender said:

OhioDad,
I'm in CMH and had thought about bulk purchases also. Without getting a pallet order together though, it doesnt save a whole lot of money. Have you checked out the local HomeBrewers group? SODZ is the name and we meet once a month. This month its on Monday the 26th at Gordon Bierch at 7pm. You should join.... There might be interest there in getting a bulk purchase.


I have just been buying my grains on a as needed basis from The Wine Makers shop. She has everything and has good customer service. Gentiles in Grandview also has grains and I think its a bit cheaper, but their service sucks. Mostly a wine shop.

Ender

-I'm smelling a lot of IF commin' offa this plan-

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Hey Ender..
Good to see another CMH brewer here on the site.. No I haven't checked out SODZ. I will take a look though for some info. I shop mostly at the winemaker's shop as well but I think $2 a pound for base malt is a bit steep. You are right though it is tough to beat her shop for selection so I do appreciate that. I never thought about checking to see if Gentiles sells base malts by the sack... Kind of forgot them..

We'll have to get together sometime and swap a couple of brews!

the_bird said:

I priced out the shipped cost of a sack of Maris Otter from AHS (plus $7 shipping) versus NB (plus $25 shipping). NB won, hands-down. Did the same with Vienna malt, price per pound was essentially identical. Now, it may matter how much it costs to ship the grain to you, but really, it's a little disengenous, I think, to talk about AHS's uber-cheap shipping without talking at the same time about their grain sacks being 25% smaller.

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I am working on new grain prices. To be honest, you can compare prices right now on hops or grain. The hop prices have quadrupled and the grain prices have gone up 25-50% and many stores have not raised prices yet but others have. So if you find some cheap grain buy it now because it won't be cheap much longer.

Austinhomebrew said:

I am working on new grain prices. To be honest, you can compare prices right now on hops or grain.

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This is merely out of curiousity, but what led you to choose 40# bulk instead of 55# bulk?

chriso said:

This is merely out of curiousity, but what led you to choose 40# bulk instead of 55# bulk?

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We tried selling 50 and 55# bags and no one bought them. We have a heavy duty box that we ship wine kits in. It holds 40lbs. of grain. I tried 40lbs. at the same per pound rate as the 50lbs I tried before and they sell like crazy. It seems that that is a size people want. I can't argue with the customers buying habits.

I live within an hour of Mid country malt. They are in the near suburbs of the south side of Chicago. They are a division/affiliate/same company as north country malt which is in like New York or Jersey or somewhere like that.

Base grains are one thing I don't buy online. Shipping just kills the deal there. I think I pay like 65 cents a pound for pils. Something like that anyway.

If interested, I have pics of mid country that I took inside their facility when I picked up my sack of pils. I could post pics. They're really nice guys over there.

chriso said:

...Anyone have anything cheaper with shipping? Or do I just suck for not living in a major city with a major brew supplier?

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Chriso...Midwest was the cheapest that I found and the 50+ pound sack makes sense for me.

If you have a local club, you ought to look into ordering in bulk from distributors.

We can get a pallet filled in about 5-6 days here and a 55# sack of Briess 2-row runs about $27-$30 delivered to St. Louis. I'm picking up two sacks next Monday night.

One of the guys who's running the new homebrew club has a small quasi-store (online only, plus calling him up directly) that I'm planning to keep using for bulk purchases. I just bought a sack (55#) of MO for $53, no shipping; pick it up at the club, or he promises to deliver anywhere in county, free. I'd love for him to get established so that he can stay in business - he says he's not really trying to make a profit, he just doesn't want to lose money. I may get a sack of Pils, too, have to think through what brews I have coming up in the next six months.

How long do people tend to keep uncrushed, bulk grain for? I'm storing it in the basement, I've got a good-sized dehumidifier down there to keep the moisture level down (it's pretty dry down there nowadays, anyway).

Check these guys: https://www.ashevillebrewers.com
Shipping is not flat, but cheap. I think it is the cheapest shipped for me, comes out to about $1.10/lb.

BierMuncher said:

If you have a local club, you ought to look into ordering in bulk from distributors. We can get a pallet filled in about 5-6 days here and a 55# sack of Briess 2-row runs about $27-$30 delivered to St. Louis. I'm picking up two sacks next Monday night.

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I tried to ask our local club, and got two types of response - either "I already have everything I need, you should know that" ...or... "Support your LHBS, no matter the cost"... I wish we had as much demand as y'all... I should try the local brewpub and see if they'll sell me a sack.

Beerrific said:

Check these guys: https://www.ashevillebrewers.com
Shipping is not flat, but cheap. I think it is the cheapest shipped for me, comes out to about $1.10/lb.

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They have a VERY interesting shipping model! It all depends on the first digit of yr zip code, no matter the weight? Odd. Cool, but very odd. Either way, the cost per bag is a little steep, but it's still very reasonable, especially for 2 bags of 2-row to my door, $104.00 - that's almost exactly buck-a-pound. So far, I think that's my best rate. Time to call the LHBS and Brewpub both, and see what their real price is.

Someone else mentioned Marris Otter - Asheville's price (for my zip) is 64.00 shipped. Not so bad.
"
Another nice incentive to Asheville:
" * Orders over $90 (exclusive of shipping charges and sales tax) may deduct 5% from order total.
* Orders over $200 (exclusive of shipping charges and sales tax) may deduct 10% from order total."

the_bird said:

I priced out the shipped cost of a sack of Maris Otter from AHS (plus $7 shipping) versus NB (plus $25 shipping). NB won, hands-down. Did the same with Vienna malt, price per pound was essentially identical. Now, it may matter how much it costs to ship the grain to you, but really, it's a little disengenous, I think, to talk about AHS's uber-cheap shipping without talking at the same time about their grain sacks being 25% smaller.

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I wasn't trying to be "disingenuous," I just hadn't priced grain lately. A few months ago when I compared all the sites, AHS won (price per pound, including shipping). Apparently the prices and offers have changed a bit since then. So, it pays to shop around rather than taking someone's word. I stand corrected that AHS's prices are no longer the cheapest around.

I've been thinking about the "Brewpub Sale of Grain Gambit" and I have concluded that I would be surprised if that turned out to be a successful strategy.

1) It would seem to mess with the cost of goods accounting.
2) Knowing that the price of grains will go up, why would they sell at today's price and face the inevitability that they will have to replace it with a more expensive bag?

Just asking because I don't know.

Because it creates good will and helps out a fellow brewer. What's more, even if they sell you the sack of grain for the lowest cheapest price you can find online without shipping, they're still coming out money ahead. And finally, it's not hard to "lose" a sack of grain somewhere in the process...

olllllo said:

I've been thinking about the "Brewpub Sale of Grain Gambit" and I have concluded that I would be surprised if that turned out to be a successful strategy.

1) It would seem to mess with the cost of goods accounting.
2) Knowing that the price of grains will go up, why would they sell at today's price and face the inevitability that they will have to replace it with a more expensive bag?

Just asking because I don't know.

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I suspect the answer is that virtually all brewpub owners (or at least a very high percentage) started out by homebrewing, and for whatever reason this is a hobby that is very condusive to "giving back."

Plus, we're a bunch of drunks who spend a lot of money in their establishments...

Forget LHBS' for grain if you have any breweries in your area...and you do!

http://www.beer-lover.com/database/ohio.htm


Most small breweries don't mind selling malt to homebrewers; especially if you bring some brew in with you. You won't be able to beat their price, which should be pretty close to cost.

Check out a few and let us know!

ohiodad said:

Anyone use North Country Malt? Do you have to have some kind of big minimum order with them? It looks like I could get grain cheaper from them than I can from AHB or Morebeer.com

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Their minimum order is $15.00 before shipping. I've ordered single sacks from them before and recieved them in less than a week.

*Edit*

I just did some quick pricing and found some interesting numbers I thought I might share. I looked at "Belgian Pilsener Malt" from both Austin Homebrewing Supply and Northern Brewer. From AHBS, 55# of Belgian Pilsener comes to $85.23 after shipping for 40# in bulk and 15# added on to make up the difference. At Northern Brewer, it'll cost $88.13 after shipping for a 55# sack of Belgian Pilsener. Neither source specified the Brand. North Country Malt Supply doesn't sell Belgian malts but they do carry French malts that are very close. From NCMS, I can get a 55# sack for $51.37 after shipping. Clearly, NCMS is the very best deal available when ordering malts online.

eddie said:

Their minimum order is $15.00 before shipping. I've ordered single sacks from them before and recieved them in less than a week.

*Edit*

I just did some quick pricing and found some interesting numbers I thought I might share. I looked at "Belgian Pilsener Malt" from both Austin Homebrewing Supply and Northern Brewer. From AHBS, 55# of Belgian Pilsener comes to $85.23 after shipping for 40# in bulk and 15# added on to make up the difference. At Northern Brewer, it'll cost $88.13 after shipping for a 55# sack of Belgian Pilsener. Neither source specified the Brand. North Country Malt Supply doesn't sell Belgian malts but they do carry French malts that are very close. From NCMS, I can get a 55# sack for $51.37 after shipping. Clearly, NCMS is the very best deal available when ordering malts online.

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Let me say something so that all of this is cleared up: Homebrew stores will never ever be able to beat North Country for grain prices because they sell grain to homebrewers cheaper than the distributor where every homebrew store buys their grain. Many stores are now ordering from North Country, adding in the shipping charges to their store and then marking up the grain so they can make some money.

Stores will never be able to beat the price of their own distributor. Don't expect homebrew stores to match or beat North Country.

Buy grain at the place where you can get the best price. Let homebrew stores charge what they need to pay for expenses.

When Walmart sells CDs they sell them for $2.00 below cost. That is $2.00 per CD less than what the independant CD store can buy them for. Then the customer wants the CD store to match Walmarts price. The CD cost the store $11.99 before shippinmg charges to them. You can't blame a store in an expensive mall to sell things at cost. Even if they did the CD would be a little more than $11.99, still more than Walmart.

There will be many small homebrew stores that go out of business this year because of the hop shortages and price increases on grain and hops. The prices they will have to charge to pay for expenses will be sticker shock to homebrewers and they will look for the best deal and the homebrew store will always lose to places that sell grain to the end user for the same price as the stores are able to buy for.

Most stores have not even begun to raise prices yet. Some that have, will raise them again shortly. And there are stores that don't have a clue or the ability to raise prices and they will be out of business soon.

I don't mean to be harsh but you need to know this because your LHBS won't tell you. Give them a break. Buy elsewhere if you want to but don't expect them to charge less than what they need to charge to get by. Assume the price they had the product priced for is what they need to pay expenses.

I hope this clears up the price issues.

Forrest

Forrest,
Any idea when you will be raising your grain prices? I'm just getting into all grain and would like to get some to stock up, but with Christmas coming, there are other things I need to put my money into.

Thanks

JnJ said:

Forrest,
Any idea when you will be raising your grain prices? I'm just getting into all grain and would like to get some to stock up, but with Christmas coming, there are other things I need to put my money into.

Thanks

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Before Monday.

Please don't think I was coming down Austin Homebrew Supply as that was not my intent. My point was that if a person is looking to order bulk grain in sacks then there are (as you have selflessly pointed out) less expensive alternatives to be considered.

I still shop Austin Homebrew Supply when looking at equipment and yeasts and whatnot and if I am in need of five or ten pounds or so of this or that grain, I'm not opposed to adding that to the order as well.

eddie said:

Please don't think I was coming down Austin Homebrew Supply as that was not my intent. My point was that if a person is looking to order bulk grain in sacks then there are (as you have selflessly pointed out) less expensive alternatives to be considered.

I still shop Austin Homebrew Supply when looking at equipment and yeasts and whatnot and if I am in need of five or ten pounds or so of this or that grain, I'm not opposed to adding that to the order as well.

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No offense taken. I just felt the need to point out that homebrew stores can't sell grain cheaper than the price they bought it for. I am sure some people think that comparing North Country prices to homebrew store prices is a fair comparison and that homebrew store are charging too much. One is a wholesaler and one is a retailer and to compare the prices is not a fair comparison. I am sure that most people didn't realize this and would understand the difference.

Find your best deal wherever that may be. Thanks for your support.

Forrest

Spyk'd said:

Forget LHBS' for grain if you have any breweries in your area...and you do!

http://www.beer-lover.com/database/ohio.htm


Most small breweries don't mind selling malt to homebrewers; especially if you bring some brew in with you. You won't be able to beat their price, which should be pretty close to cost.

Check out a few and let us know!

Click to expand...

my lhbs is the store front for bell's brewing 50-55#for$38 otd