Bulk Malt suppliers??

I am running into a malt supply problem. I use between 35 and 60 pounds of malt for each brew. I could really use a supplier of bulk malt that won't charge me an arm and a leg, as well as a supplier who will sell to a homebrewer to the tune of 5-8 55# bags of malt at a time. Anyone have any leads??

Isn't there a brew your own beer place in Peoria? Perhaps they could help you out.

Which of the big guys have you tried? I know Gambrinus will sell to you. I think there are a few others in Canada that will. Shipping will be your biggest expense though.

Any local micros/brew pubs you can piggyback an order with?

There used to be a homebrew store here, but he shut his doors unfortunately. I used to get all my bulk malt from him. Since I bought a lot, he used to give me a discount. That ship has sailed though.

We have a local Brew-on-premise brewpub that buys bulk malt. Not sure if he'd be interested in letting me jump on board with an order. I will check out Gambrinus for sure. I was under the persuasion that most maltsters would not sell in bulk unless you had a production license.

Mid Country Malt is in South Holland. I pay $35 for a 55lb of 2 row.

cellardoor said:

Mid Country Malt is in South Holland. I pay $35 for a 55lb of 2 row.

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that's awesome... Do they have a website?

nevermind... found it

They don't seem to have a website, but their phone number is (518) 572-9962.

Man, don't you just love Google?

Edited: Seriously folks, it's 2009. If you have a business, you should have a freaking website.

The Country Malt Group

I think this is it...

I pay about $23 for 2 row. Prices range from $23 - $30 CAD depending on what the malt is. Up here in Canada, malt is considered a food product so they don't care in regards to a production licence. Some might care about the economics of the time it takes for a small order though.

I buy from Gambrinus all the time. But them they are under 90 min away from me.

cellardoor said:

Mid Country Malt is in South Holland. I pay $35 for a 55lb of 2 row.

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BTW, does Mid Country have a storefront you can buy in person from?? I am going to be in the area this weekend...

QUOTE=Biermann;1278229]BTW, does Mid Country have a storefront you can buy in person from?? I am going to be in the area this weekend...[/QUOTE]

Definitely worth a phone call to them. As for piggy backing on the brewpubs order that's definitely worth finding out about and could be good for all. One of the breweries around here offered that to our brewclub members and I'll probably be doing that when my 50lb of 2row runs out. If you can pick up though directly that'd be awesome to not pay pallette delivery charges

Mid-Country has a store front, kind of. It's just an office attached to a warehouse. If it's a big order call them a day or two ahead of time so they can get the order ready. You have to pay through the NY office by calling ahead of time or from the Chicago location when you pick up the grain. They don't charge sales tax by doing it that way.

Our club put together a 3000lb. order and just drove over and picked it up. We put together a small brewery tour for the same day to maximize our trip.

There was only one office guy the day we went, really easy to deal with. If I remember right, he was a member of the BOSS club out of the Chicago area.

I called these guys to ask about picking up malt in Vancouver, WA and they told me they wouldn't sell to a homebrewer. Period. Had to show my TTB brewer's notice (which I obviously don't have). Kinda BS imo.

When you guys are talking bulk, are you talking 50 lbs, 100 lbs, 500 lbs? What amount of bulk product would make it worth a maltster's time?

And one last question: What is the legality of buying bulk malt? Do I have to have a TTB license to purchase, or is that just corporate policy?

It's a new corporate policy. Mid Country doesn't sell to new homebrew accounts anymore. There was a thread here awhile ago.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/north-country-malt-group-stop-selling-homebrewers-191682/

Jawbox0 said:

It's a new corporate policy. Mid Country doesn't sell to new homebrew accounts anymore. There was a thread here awhile ago.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/north-country-malt-group-stop-selling-homebrewers-191682/

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correct. this started several months ago. if you already have an account with them, you can continue to use it, but they will not open new accounts for homebrewers.

a group of us down here in NC were fortunate enough to get an account last year when we all went in and did a buy of about 2,300 pounds or so. Had we not done that buy when we did it, we would be up a creek in the future.