How do you buy grain in bulk?

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GRHunter

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Just for grins and giggle I did a shopping cart in BeerSmith on my last 5 all grain batches. In those 5 batches was no less than 17 different types of grain. Now if you made the same beer every time I can see how buying in bulk would be a great idea. But there is no way that I could stock up on 17 different grains. Heck, I would need to build a silo to store it all in.
 
Most people just purchase bulk 50lb sacks of base grain only (uncrushed). If you get in on a group purchase (through a home brew club or other) it's pretty easy and you can possibly do a group specialty grain purchase that way. Usually makes it alot cheaper.
 
I participate in a bulk grain buy 2x a yr or so. I rarely buy specialty malts in bulk but did manage to partake in a Cl score when my friend and I split #200 of wheat and some specialty malts. I try to have at least #55 of Vienna, Pilsner, Maris Otter, and 2 row on hand. I also have #50 of Brown Malt...OOPS!!!. All my base malts are in homer buckets (stacks easily) all they rest are on the brew shelf.
 
It's base malts that most buy in bulk. When you use 10 - 15lbs or more per patch a 50# sack doesn't really last all that long. As the others mentioned, I too don't really stock up on specialty malts. I may round up and hold on to stuff for a little while. But that usually doesn't happen.
 
I burn through a ton of grains brewing 10 gallons a week. I always have 55lb sacks of American 2-row, Pilsner, and Pale Ale Malt (english base malt). Most people can burn through these in a few months, but if you store malt properly it'll last a year or more. I brew enough that I also have honey, vienna, munich on hand in 55lb bags.

I did buy a 55lb bag of chocolate and caramel 60. That was a mistake. I haven't used hardly any of those yet. I'm sure they'll go stale before I use them. I give that stuff to anyone that wants it.

In short buy the sacks of your base malts, maybe some higher volume specialty malts like munich, but never buy sacks of black patent or anything like that.

As for how to go about doing this, I live close to a malter so I just drive down there and he loads me up with whatever I want. Not many of these guys around anymore with the big malting companies buying everyone up. Your local brew pub might consider tossing a couple extra sacks on their pallet if you ask nicely. Otherwise you need to go through one of the big malting companies and you'll probably need to pay for a pallet and delivery. If you live close to a warehouse you may be able to avoid this. Homebrew shops also will sell you bags of malt sometimes.

Buy all your specialty malts at your homebrew shop though, and support those LHBS.
 
I burn through a ton of grains brewing 10 gallons a week. I always have 55lb sacks of American 2-row, Pilsner, and Pale Ale Malt (english base malt). Most people can burn through these in a few months, but if you store malt properly it'll last a year or more. I brew enough that I also have honey, vienna, munich on hand in 55lb bags.

I did buy a 55lb bag of chocolate and caramel 60. That was a mistake. I haven't used hardly any of those yet. I'm sure they'll go stale before I use them. I give that stuff to anyone that wants it.

In short buy the sacks of your base malts, maybe some higher volume specialty malts like munich, but never buy sacks of black patent or anything like that.

As for how to go about doing this, I live close to a malter so I just drive down there and he loads me up with whatever I want. Not many of these guys around anymore with the big malting companies buying everyone up. Your local brew pub might consider tossing a couple extra sacks on their pallet if you ask nicely. Otherwise you need to go through one of the big malting companies and you'll probably need to pay for a pallet and delivery. If you live close to a warehouse you may be able to avoid this. Homebrew shops also will sell you bags of malt sometimes.

Buy all your specialty malts at your homebrew shop though, and support those LHBS.

You can go through a sack of honey malt?

Damn.:mug:

Eric
 
I added up the grains I used in the last 5 batches:
Maris Otter - 37 lb
Pilsen - 8 lb 8 oz
Crystal 55 - 2 lb
Munich - 1 lb
Cara Pils - 8 oz
Crystal 150 - 6 oz
Roasted Barley - 1 oz

I buy the Maris Otter in bulk, and the Pilsen in 10 lb bags. The rest I buy by the lb.

-a.
 
I'm debating buying a bag of Crystal 60. It's the middle of the road as far as specialty malts go and I use a lot of it. It's probably the only speciality malt I'd ever buy.
 
In addition to buying base grains through a group bulk buy, sometimes I go to the LHBS and just buy 10 or 20 pound of different specialty malt uncrushed and store it in 2.5 or 5 gal buckets. No price break, but the convenience of having a variety of ingredients on hand so I can brew whenever I have the spare time is well worth it to me. This probably wouldn't work as well if I didn't have a little store of washed yeast in the fridge, but since I do I can usually get away with brewing interesting recipes without taking an extra trip to the LHBS.
 
I purchased 50lbs of 2 row and get specialty grains as I need them... I am lucky the homebrew store is 5 miles from me.
 
I usually throw in my specialty malts 2# at a time on an internet order. (To make the $60 mark on Morebeer and get free shipping usually) It's nice that 1# of grain seems to fit perfectly into a 1-qt mason jar. Then I seal that up with the jar attachment on the FoodSaver and toss it in the freezer. So far it's been working like a champ.
 
I usually throw in my specialty malts 2# at a time on an internet order. (To make the $60 mark on Morebeer and get free shipping usually) It's nice that 1# of grain seems to fit perfectly into a 1-qt mason jar. Then I seal that up with the jar attachment on the FoodSaver and toss it in the freezer. So far it's been working like a champ.

They have 1 gallon mason jars available too ya know! I have 6 of them and use them to store grain as you do, but on the heavier side. I use the 1qt jars for my specialty grain as you describe. 2 shelves in the upright freezer are reserved for grain storage only. SWMBO complains about space from time to time, but she likes home brew as much as I do and bites her lip (rare occurance it is).

Salute! :mug:
 
I use my credit card.

Wait, what? oh, Mid country malt...it's close and I only get base grains.
 
TheMan That is just mean I mean really not cool!!!!! Rubbing it in that you are close enough to drive. That is FREAKEN SWEET!!!!!!
 
I did buy a 55lb bag of chocolate and caramel 60. That was a mistake. I haven't used hardly any of those yet. I'm sure they'll go stale before I use them. I give that stuff to anyone that wants it.

I'm listening....

:D
 
This is pretty much what everyone else said ...........

Buy the base malt in bulk. 50# sounds like a lot but if you're brewing 4-5 batchs every couple months or even in a year you'll use it up.

Depending on where you are located and where you can get bulk grain it may or may not even make sense to buy it bulk. Where I am at we have mid-country malt about an hour away so a trip out there for a couple sacks makes sense.

It works out to about half the price of what you pay at the online places. If I had to pay shipping it probably wouldn't be worth it.

Do you have bulk hops? If not, thats where the real savings is at (especially if you like hoppy pale ales or IPA's). 12ish bucks a pound from hops direct compared to 3 bucks an ounce (or more depending on where you buy) = huge savings.

Bulk grain can save you a few bucks but if you add in the cost of a mill it might take you a little while to recoup that investment depending on how much you brew.
 
This is pretty much what everyone else said ...........

Buy the base malt in bulk. 50# sounds like a lot but if you're brewing 4-5 batchs every couple months or even in a year you'll use it up.

Depending on where you are located and where you can get bulk grain it may or may not even make sense to buy it bulk. Where I am at we have mid-country malt about an hour away so a trip out there for a couple sacks makes sense.

It works out to about half the price of what you pay at the online places. If I had to pay shipping it probably wouldn't be worth it.

Do you have bulk hops? If not, thats where the real savings is at (especially if you like hoppy pale ales or IPA's). 12ish bucks a pound from hops direct compared to 3 bucks an ounce (or more depending on where you buy) = huge savings.

Bulk grain can save you a few bucks but if you add in the cost of a mill it might take you a little while to recoup that investment depending on how much you brew.

Worth repeating. I live in the Chicagoland area also, and was part of a group buy from Mid Country Malt. Bought my hops from Hops Direct (worked out to 65 cents per ounce even with shipping). Specialty grains, sanitizer, bottle caps bought from Ed at Brewmaster's Warehouse - flat rate $6.99 shipping - still cheaper than LBHS.
 
I've only bought base malts in bulk through home brew club group buys, but every time I go to the LHBS I pick up 5lbs of some uncrushed specialty/base malt beyond the ones I have in stock. I hit up the local dollar store for 1 gallon airtight containers which I label.

If there is something I need to order from an online retailer, I'll buy up at least a couple of every variety of dry yeast that I have a use for. I don't have anything against liquid, of course, except that the viability isn't long enough for my liking.

My goal is to have enough variety of grains and yeast on hand to make whatever I feel like should the mood strike since the LHBS keeps daytime hours and is at least an hour out of my work day. Since I've done this I've lowed my average (5g) batch cost to about $10 compared to 20 - 30 when I was buying a batch at a time online or at the LHBS.
 
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