Place for a good price on grain?

Hi folks.

I live in Bloomington, IN, and am a busted poor grad student. Some friends and I have been brewing and started doing all grain. While this is more economical than what we were doing with liquid malt extract, I'd like to further reduce costs by finding a good price on barley. The local brew shop charges over a buck and a quarter per pound for a 50 lb bag, yet I see norther brewer sells the same bag for $34, which is a bit south of a dollar per pound.

So, I'm wondering, where around Bloomington can a price similar to Northern's be found? I'd buy from northern, but the shipping cost makes it about the same as the local shop.

Northern Brewer moves a lot more grain than your LHBS, so they get a better price to start with. Add to it that they don't really have a store front/prime location (I may be wrong here), so they can sell at a bigger discount.

Your best bet would be to make friends with a local brewpub and see if you can "tag along" on their order(s).

MC

Actually, northern brewer has a couple of locations here in MN. Funny enough Midwest is not too far away from the Minneapolis location too. It had been nice having these two stores be my lhbs.