Stocking Ingredients

I've only been brewing for a short time now and I've been using kits for the most part. I've recently begun developing my own recipes and using recipes that I find. One thing I've been wondering about has been stocking ingredients. I'm brewing about twice a month and plan on keeping that pretty steady. What should I keep around? And about how much? Also what varieties of hops are good just to have on hand and in what quantities? I know that this is dependent on the styles of beer your brewing but I was just curious about some good stuff to keep around for flexibility and for saving some cash by buying in bulk (might not be the case for the hops).

I think most of the guys that keep big amounts of supplies on hand are brewing the same 3 or 4 beers over and over, so they have a pretty concise list of what to keep. I DON'T do that, I'm always onto something different.
Having said that, I do try and keep enough "Odds and Ends" around to be self sufficient if an opportunity arrives. For Example, I got an extra 3 gallons of good wort from my Christmas Stout...I had some extra hops, and Honey...I made Braggot...Just on the spur of the moment like that.

OH...Ya...
If you do AG, Keep a bag of 2 row. It's the cheapest way to buy it.

Thanks Big K. I was doing some looking at hops too and that just seems daunting, more for the fact that I just don't know what I want to keep around. I'm definatly going to keep a bag of 2 row around though. Thanks

After you've been brewing awhile you kind of know which hops and yeast you use most often. Nottingham yeast is my go to yeast so I always have a few packets of that as well as a couple others. There are a couple hops I use a lot so I always have a supply of my favorites.

A couple other things I always have a big bag of dextrose for bottling mishaps or a spur of the moment cider. I've had occasion when tasting a brew at bottling that it would benefit from lactose so I keep a bag of that too.

A pound or so of crystal is always good. I tend to use a lot of 40 and or 60 so I keep both in my stash.

Jimbob said:

One thing I've been wondering about has been stocking ingredients. I'm brewing about twice a month and plan on keeping that pretty steady. What should I keep around? And about how much?

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I tend to round out my mailorder sessions with any specialty grains and adjuncts I am short of. So I have a pound or two of many common spectialty grains and a pound of some stuff I want to experiment with in plastic conainters on my bookshelf. The wife works at a pharmacy and so can bring interesting empty storage containers home. I keep a 50# bag of two-row on hand in a rubbermaid trashcan.

Keeping whole grains around in bulk and milling them before you brew is pretty cost-effective if you can keep and use them.

I do keep some hops around, but a little goes a long way with me. I may have a half pound.

I also have some yeast cultures, some liquid yeast to be cultured/pitched, and dry yeast for backup/emergencies/apfelwein.

I have had a coupla flutes of apfelwein at this point so I hope my Engrish is readable.

I've been playing with BeerSmith and pretty much have my next 5 - 7 batches already planned, so when I order I stock up and now I'm sitting on a nice inventory.

Hops in vacuum packed baggies in the freezer, grain in air tight containers on the shelf and yeast in the fridge. No fuss, no muss, and no waiting for UPS or driving to the LHBS to find them closed for the day.