How is all grain cheaper when...

It's going to cost me about $25 for grain (12.5 pounds at $2.00/lb) and I can get 7 lbs of Muntons bulk LME for $24? Am I missing something here? Is $2.00/lb a bad price? I'm sorry to ask all these questions lately, but I REALLY want to go all-grain soon, as it's hard to call opening a can of LME and saying that's my beer. It's like opening a can of Campbells soup, making it, and calling it my soup because I made it...

$2 a pound is a bad price. I buy 50 pounds at a time, and I think it's about $40 or so.

I buy 55 lbs of Maris Otter for $40. That enough base grain for at least 5 average brews. Comes out to about 72 cents a lb. I can get American 2- row even cheaper. For specialty grains I keep 5-10 lbs of various ones on hand and pay average of $1.50/lb .... averages out to be much cheaper in the long run.

This has been discussed in depth very recently...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/i-thought-all-grain-cheaper-159679/

SOB said:

This has been discussed in depth very recently...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/i-thought-all-grain-cheaper-159679/

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I just found that. Thanks for pointing this out. I did two simple searches and this wasn't one of the threads that was returned to me. But at the bottom, the site shows similar threads. I found that to answer some of my questions. I can't believe that my LHBS charges $2.00 a pound. Free milling though. I'll have to check into bigger size packages, such as 10 lb bags or something similar...

My LHBS sells base grains and some other grains for 1.09/lb. in any increment you want.

... yeah, it seems the normal search button has been out of commission since the software upgrade or whatever a couple weeks ago. I hope that gets fixed in the future - hard for me to search old posts as well, now it seems to use google?

snevey said:

I just found that. Thanks for pointing this out. I did two simple searches and this wasn't one of the threads that was returned to me. But at the bottom, the site shows similar threads. I found that to answer some of my questions. I can't believe that my LHBS charges $2.00 a pound. Free milling though. I'll have to check into bigger size packages, such as 10 lb bags or something similar...

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Damn dude you are getting robbed.... my LHBS charges 1.35/lb for MO and I get a 10% discount on top of that for a brew club membership. Free milling included. Would be much cheaper if I bought in 50lb bags.

Also 12.5 lbs of grain will make more beer than 7 lbs LME.

I pay $1.25 a Lb at my LHBS.... Free milling and since I pretty much serve myself I get 10% off as well.

When I buy my 50 Lb bags of base malt I get help, but I get a bag for about $40. I mill it all up at once while I'm there. I brew pretty much every Saturday so I'm never real concerned about it going bad.

Grain prices have been dropping. Marris Otter for about $50 for a bag. Great Western Pale Ale, which I use as a base grain has dropped to $30+ for 50lbs. Or you can buy by the pound for $.82/lb.

snevey said:

It's going to cost me about $25 for grain (12.5 pounds at $2.00/lb) and I can get 7 lbs of Muntons bulk LME for $24? Am I missing something here? Is $2.00/lb a bad price? I'm sorry to ask all these questions lately, but I REALLY want to go all-grain soon, as it's hard to call opening a can of LME and saying that's my beer. It's like opening a can of Campbells soup, making it, and calling it my soup because I made it...

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That is a terrible price.....check this out



All grain is much cheaper. You shoudl be able to get 10 pounds of base grains that will give you a 1.050 OG 5 gallon batch for about $12. That is about half the price of an extract brew.

Here is what you do:

Hops = www.hopsdirect.com
grains = www.brewmasterswarehouse.com Ed even gives us a discount...his grind is dead on and they do a great job.

yeast = who cares? Culture it from rogue, chimay..etc..etc...notty is $1.40.
water = mighty affordable


following my own advice I can brew 5 gallons of 1.050 30 IBU cascade pale ale for less than $15. Not to shabby.

my LHBS charges 4/lbs. i dont even step in the place. $5 for a ounce of hops. who seriously buys from there. order all my stuff online

snevey said:

It's going to cost me about $25 for grain (12.5 pounds at $2.00/lb) and I can get 7 lbs of Muntons bulk LME for $24? Am I missing something here? Is $2.00/lb a bad price? I'm sorry to ask all these questions lately, but I REALLY want to go all-grain soon, as it's hard to call opening a can of LME and saying that's my beer. It's like opening a can of Campbells soup, making it, and calling it my soup because I made it...

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It looks like you have some really bad grain prices. In any case, if you want to go all grain for a cost savings, I recommend sticking with extract brewing. I love the mad scientist part of AG brewing but I have not saved a $1 over good craft brewed beer. I've got over $1000 in equipment, I'm making a RIMS tube with plans for a single tier stand that will cost over $2000.

In short, I recommend you go to AG because your want to take over all of your brewing, not just to save money.

snevey said:

It's going to cost me about $25 for grain (12.5 pounds at $2.00/lb) and I can get 7 lbs of Muntons bulk LME for $24? Am I missing something here? Is $2.00/lb a bad price? I'm sorry to ask all these questions lately, but I REALLY want to go all-grain soon, as it's hard to call opening a can of LME and saying that's my beer. It's like opening a can of Campbells soup, making it, and calling it my soup because I made it...

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You're getting ripped off plain and simple.




Get an account with http://www.countrymaltgroup.com/ and http://www.hopsdirect.com/

Although my LHBS sells grain from $1.33 per pound, I'd still like to start buying bulk. I looked into it and it's the shipping prices that are making it cost prohibitive. Northern Brewer sells a 50 lb bag of 2 row for $35, but shipping is also $35. Are there any of you in the Dallas area buying bulk grain and getting it shipped for a decent price? If so I'd love to know where you're buying it from so I can get in on it.

lyacovett said:

I buy 55 lbs of Maris Otter for $40. That enough base grain for at least 5 average brews. Comes out to about 72 cents a lb. I can get American 2- row even cheaper. For specialty grains I keep 5-10 lbs of various ones on hand and pay average of $1.50/lb .... averages out to be much cheaper in the long run.

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Who is your source for the Maris Otter? The cheapest I have found is my LHBS and they charge more than that for American 2 row. I am looking to make a bulk purchase and any help pointing me in a better direction would be appreciated.

lyacovett said:

I buy 55 lbs of Maris Otter for $40. That enough base grain for at least 5 average brews. Comes out to about 72 cents a lb. I can get American 2- row even cheaper. For specialty grains I keep 5-10 lbs of various ones on hand and pay average of $1.50/lb .... averages out to be much cheaper in the long run.

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where? any place online to get grain cheap. My one and only LHBS costs $70 for 50lb minimum...

I'm continually amazed at the argument that bulk hops make all-grain brewing cheaper. Last time I made an extract beer, I put some hops in it. Maybe I was doing it wrong.

You gotta either buy from a distributor that will sell retail (like Country Malt Group) or get in on a group buy to get below $1 per lb for grain. Then you need a mill so there is some overhead required to start buying in bulk.

For group buys, look for a home brew club that is not sponsored by a homebrew shop, they will probably do them. If not you can try organizing one yourself. Generally need to be able to order a pallet at a time and then have someone who can receive the shipment (ie someone who can accept it at work and has a dock at work preferably).

ETA: If you don't have a dock you can just have like 2-3 buddies show up when the truck arrives and unload it all by hand and get a nice workout, basically to keep it cheap you need to avoid needing a truck with a lift gate.

I pay 1.09 a lb for MO which isn't too bad I suppose. There isnt any competition around to drive prices down but Im not getting ripped either. Bulk grain + bulk hops keep prices low.

I brew my house pale for $43.85. But that is 21 gallons worth

remilard said:

I'm continually amazed at the argument that bulk hops make all-grain brewing cheaper. Last time I made an extract beer, I put some hops in it. Maybe I was doing it wrong.

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Maybe it's the same people who think you can't make good beer with extract. If so, I think I know how they got that opinion...