www.fiftypoundsack.com - cheap bulk grain

I agree and I guess my point was that I will not drive to Austin to go to a much bigger, badder, "better" store because of it. If there is a different walk in price, there is no way to know it. I check the prices on the site and they are considerably higher than my local guys. I don't have much of a problem with defraying shipping w/ markups, but a place like Austin Homebrew has the buying capacity to offer bulk grain at such a great price that I could justify the drive to Austin. I actually live between Austin and SA, and if there was a $30 walk in price I would go for it. There is no reason that my LHBS with significantly less purchasing power can beat a mega store's price by that much.

My LHBS is Northern Brewer. They are a little pricier than Midwest in MPLS, who I would order from before NB opened their second store in Milwaukee, but their 7.99 flat rate does not apply to bulk grain, so it's more reasonable. U.S. 2-row is about $36 (less my 10% discount), imported 25kg bags are pricier, in the $60 range.

Randar said:

That's how companies subsidize the "free shipping" offers. Roll the cost into heavier/bulk items to deflect the cost. His actual shipping cost isn't "free", mind you.

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Compare delivered price to your door when comparing prices. The bags of grain on my website are a loss leader. I suppose I should charge shipping for the bags of grain and lower the price of the grain itself but it will be the same price.

Forrest

TANSTAAFB said:

I agree and I guess my point was that I will not drive to Austin to go to a much bigger, badder, "better" store because of it. If there is a different walk in price, there is no way to know it. I check the prices on the site and they are considerably higher than my local guys. I don't have much of a problem with defraying shipping w/ markups, but a place like Austin Homebrew has the buying capacity to offer bulk grain at such a great price that I could justify the drive to Austin. I actually live between Austin and SA, and if there was a $30 walk in price I would go for it. There is no reason that my LHBS with significantly less purchasing power can beat a mega store's price by that much.

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We have a great deal on a 55 pound bag of 2-row in-store only. Walk in price on bags of grain is lower than delivered price for every homebrew store.

Shipping a 50 pound bag across the street from me cost $23.67 in shipping charges. More if it is further away. So I can charge $54 for a bag of 2-row ($54 - $23.67shipping equals $30.33). Or I can charge $35.99 for a bag like Northern Brewer and add $23.67 in shipping charges = $59.66

So it is a good deal if you have the grain shipped to you.

Forrest

UPS Ground 8:15 P.M.
Wednesday
January 12, 2011
By End of Day,
Thursday
January 13, 2011 23.67 USD *


Days In Transit: 1 Schedule by
7:15 P.M.
Wednesday
January 12, 2011 Billable Weight:
52.0 lbs.

But not so good a deal for your local customers.

<<<I suppose I should charge shipping for the bags of grain and lower the price of the grain itself but it will be the same price.>>>

To some, but not to others. It will work out better. Do you have evidence the loss leader concept is making you money in the long run? If not, let them buy grain locally and focus on service and selection.

I apologize for sounding like I'm telling you how to run your business. I work at a hedge fund, what the hell do I know about running a home brew store. It just sounds like you are trying to be all things to all people.

On behalf of all of us who do NOT have a LHBS, let alone one with great rates on bulk grain, could you please take your gloating elsewhere?

Conroe said:

It's a 50 lb sack of Great Western 2-row. Morebeer sells Great Western Pale ale for about the same price in five pound bags.
https://morebeer.com/view_product/8505/beerwinecoffee/Malt_-_American__Pale_-_5_lb

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Holy moly! You beat my price by 2 bucks a sack! Thanks!

joety said:

But not so good a deal for your local customers.

<<<I suppose I should charge shipping for the bags of grain and lower the price of the grain itself but it will be the same price.>>>

To some, but not to others. It will work out better. Do you have evidence the loss leader concept is making you money in the long run? If not, let them buy grain locally and focus on service and selection.

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The in store price is lower. Loss leader is simply a loss of money.

I want to thank Forrest for taking the time to respond to me personally and for jumping into the mix on this thread.

And I want to thank my LHBS for being awesome!!!!

I went in to Home Brew Party in San Antonio today to buy ingredients and John (the manager) asked if I wanted my grain milled. I told him no, I was going to try out the Corona mill my in-laws had bought me (from him) for Christmas. I started to tell him how I had followed the "My Ugly Junk" school of thought and mounted it in a bucket and adapted it for a drill and put a big hopper on it...and he tells me they just replaced their mill so are selling the 2 Barley Crusher mills they used to use...for $70 each!!!! AND they replaced the rollers!!!! I look at the Victoria/ Corona that they bought and see that its over $50. I ask John if he will trade my ready to go Corona conversion for one of the roller mills and he said "You got a deal, I can sell yours for the same price as the roller and show people how to make the Corona work for a good price."

I just got a Barley Crusher for a Christmas present, 2 free buckets, a free plastic carboy hopper, about $5 in stainless hardware, and around 2 hours worth of work :rockin:

THAT is why you support your LHBS

TANSTAAFB said:

THAT is why you support your LHBS

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It's great that you have a LHBS. Not everyone does.

Randar said:

I prefer Rahr anyway and I can get 50# sacks at $39-42 on-site at my LHBS. The guys that run mine are great and give me a sack of anything they have as long as they aren't going to run out by the next monthly shipment. They can also get me anything I want from Gambrinus, Rahr, Briess, Castle, Crisp, Simpsons, and Weyermann as long as I give them a month heads-up to ensure they get it on their next order.

Typical imported malts are around $65 per 55# bag.

Pretty tough to beat that and they are just 20 min away. If that wasn't an option, I think this online deal is pretty good. Much better pricing than AHBS or NB for example.

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For the rest of us in the Chicagoland area, what LHBS are you talking about?

bja said:

It's great that you have a LHBS. Not everyone does.

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It's a 2 hour round trip from the sticks, so not THAT local

Just sayin' if you have a little shop anywhere near you its good to try and establish a relationship with them, support them, and try to keep their doors open...they are connected to all the local brewers and make our hobby possible.

HumanGarbage said:

I totally agree. If you don't support your LHBS, you may find yourself without one...

I'm lucky with my LHBS. 25kg (55lb) of Gambrius 2-row (malted here in BC) is ~$38 Canuckistani Pesos ($37 USD). Hard to beat that. No need to buy bulk for me to save it seems.

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Wish i had one to support! i started brewing in Seattle and had like 7 to choose from, now back in small town ohio, there isnt a good one anywhere near me.

Vance71975 said:

Wish i had one to support! i started brewing in Seattle and had like 7 to choose from, now back in small town ohio, there isnt a good one anywhere near me.

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How close are you to Akron?

TANSTAAFB said:

Just sayin' if you have a little shop anywhere near you its good to try and establish a relationship with them, support them, and try to keep their doors open...they are connected to all the local brewers and make our hobby possible.

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There are all kinds of "Support your LHBS" threads floating around here, so I'm not sure why you want to turn this one into another one of those.

Like most people here I do support my LHBS. The owner is a real nice guy. His wife is in the military and last year was deployed to Iraq. He had to give up his store front in order to care for his 2 small children. He now runs his business out of his home. I travel further than I need to to buy supplies from him.

This place is open today. I would have orderd a sack but I just ordered one from AHS. I wanted some 6-row anyway. This place needs a better selection. Some Munich would be nice.

bja said:

There are all kinds of "Support your LHBS" threads floating around here, so I'm not sure why you want to turn this one into another one of those.

Like most people here I do support my LHBS. The owner is a real nice guy. His wife is in the military and last year was deployed to Iraq. He had to give up his store front in order to care for his 2 small children. He now runs his business out of his home. I travel further than I need to to buy supplies from him.

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Wasn't trying to thread jack, I was just really shocked that the best price on grain I could get after reading this entire thread and doing hours of searching myself was the little local guy with no buying power. And I was a little amped at my score and wanted to share

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Oh hey it works now - too bad I copied/pasted the coupon code into an unsaved document and a power out shut down my comp last night. Anyone have it?

F8smy91ns7jcc

Ace_Club said:

For the rest of us in the Chicagoland area, what LHBS are you talking about?

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Perfect Brewing Supply in Libertyville. I just checked their prices (last time I was in were were talking about the upcoming grain price increase) and their prices are now 42-45 for a sack of Rahr base malts. Despite what the website inventory lists as a somewhat limited selection "by the sack", you can call ahead and get just about anything they carry in bulk as long as they have enough on hand to make it to their next delivery schedule.

Indy - $43 for a 50lb sack of Rahr 2-row

bja said:

How close are you to Akron?

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Akron and the Grape and Granary there are about 4 hours from me. Where i am in Ohio, i am literally 10 mins from the Indiana border and about 18 mins from the Michigan Border. I'm way up in the NW Corner. We do have a Convenience store that carries some BASIC stuff like if i need a sanitizer,dry yeast, one step cleaner,etc in a pinch and they have a few extract kits, that have prolly been setting there for 2 years. But that does me no good since i brew all grain lol.

FiftyPoundSack.com is now open. PayPal only for the first few days. There's also added incentives: $10 off $100 or more and $25 off $200 or more.

BrewChron said:

I'm so lucky being in my area (near Portland)! 50# sacks of great western 2-row and pale are only $30, sometimes a couple dollars less! And no sales tax! I don't know what shipping is but you could try my LHBS, mainbrew.com.

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Yeah, I go here too. They just opened a new warehouse and it's pretty sweet. Great prices and service.

Damn, just went to order a 55lb sack of Maris Otter to find the coupon code expired! I totally forgot it expired at the end of January.

jbrookeiv said:

Damn, just went to order a 55lb sack of Maris Otter to find the coupon code expired! I totally forgot it expired at the end of January.

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double whammy on you, actually.

Not only did the coupon expire, but the price of the grain also went up (Crisp MO was originally listed at $72, and now it's $79).

That's a little disappointing.

They had stated that the delay in opening was so that they could work out some new suppliers and offer a bigger selection and lower prices.

It's open. Selection unchanged. Prices increased.

Walker said:

double whammy on you, actually.

Not only did the coupon expire, but the price of the grain also went up (Crisp MO was originally listed at $72, and now it's $79).

That's a little disappointing.

They had stated that the delay in opening was so that they could work out some new suppliers and offer a bigger selection and lower prices.

It's open. Selection unchanged. Prices increased.

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Indeed. Getting a quote from my LHBS instead. Should have struck while the iron was hot.

i love the guys at Rebel. Those guys are my LHBS, so there isn't shipping on anything I buy, so that makes things cheaper already. Tyler up there sent me an email the other day when i asked about bulk grain buying, he gave me the fiftypoundsack website. He said that a little has to be added to it to cover shipping, but if i was picking it up it would be even cheaper. If you live in the middle tennessee area, you really cant go wrong there.

KCBrewer said:

Some grains come in 50lb and some in 55lb.

I just started to buy in bulk, and the best I could find locally was $53.50/50lb of 2 row and no bulk option on much else, so $2-3/lb on the rest.

I decided to order from Missouri Malt Supply and buy enough that it was worth making the drive from KC to St. Louis. All together I ordered 525lbs, and at their price vs the LHBS, I will still save several hundred dollars even after the cost of gas.

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Yeah, I wish I could justify the drive down to STL to get malt from them.....but not 500 lbs! Where on earth do you store that much malt?

The selection sure got better today.

Conroe said:

The selection sure got better today.

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Yeah, but they raised the prices to the point that I can buy it from my LHBS cheaper.

As a local I get a good deal, but have to pay 9.25% in taxes. It is still a really good deal for us local.

1234 said:

As a local I get a good deal, but have to pay 9.25% in taxes.

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That sucks! In Pennsylvania grain is considered to be food and there is no tax on it.

Tennessee has a sales tax on all goods sold in the state in a brick and mortar store, or even online if the company has a brick and mortar store within state boundaries. The one good thing that comes from that is we have no state income tax.

Countryham said:

Tennessee has a sales tax on all goods sold in the state in a brick and mortar store, or even online if the company has a brick and mortar store within state boundaries. The one good thing that comes from that is we have no state income tax.

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In walks the guy from Illinois...I can't think of a tax we DON'T have...we pay all three you mentioned. Even got a 2% increase on income tax...

sorry, back to the conversation...

I get my stuff from brewbrothers.biz, its only an hour drive for me but is incredibley cheaper than the guy 15 min from my house. 50lbs of PNW pale ale malt was only $29 and and wyeast smack packs are $6

Without searching this entire thread, are the fifty pound sack people in TN?

I just paid $58 plus the ridiculous 10% sales tax from the LHBS for Briess 2 row which I thought was very high. Commodity prices are going up though so it would stand to reason that barley prices will go up steeply.

GIusedtoBe said:

Without searching this entire thread, are the fifty pound sack people in TN?

I just paid $58 plus the ridiculous 10% sales tax from the LHBS for Briess 2 row which I thought was very high. Commodity prices are going up though so it would stand to reason that barley prices will go up steeply.

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Yes they are in TN. They are in Goodlettsville.