bulk grain

Does anyone know the best place to urchase bulk grains on line? My local brew shop is very expensive and I do not have a second brew shop around so I have to find the cheapest online store to purchase bulk grains.

Have you asked what the bulk grain price would be at the lhbs? In small quantities my store is exorbitant but they would order bulk grain for much less than the online store when shipping was figured in.

RM-MN said:

Have you asked what the bulk grain price would be at the lhbs? In small quantities my store is exorbitant but they would order bulk grain for much less than the online store when shipping was figured in.

Click to expand...

This. Just found out recently (b/c I finally asked rather than continuing to ass-ume like I've done for 10 mo.s) that my LHBS--which is like 20-50% higher on almost everything else compared to online--is actually $20 cheaper than the best bulk deal I've found online! Who knew?!

That said, fiftypoundsack.com is the best I've seen online.

Any breweries in your area? I've heard (but to caveat, haven't tried it myself) that you can sometimes get the brewery to sell you some of what they have. Somebody please back me up or quash this rumor completely...

Can't tell you about prices online, with 0 experience there.

I live in Iowa, small town to boot, and my "LHBS" is still an online order but $30 for a 50 lb sack of pale two row, plus shipping.

$30 for a 50lb sack?? The best prices I had seen are about $1.00/LB. What is this "online LHBS"??

kh54s10 said:

$30 for a 50lb sack?? The best prices I had seen are about $1.00/LB. What is this "online LHBS"??

Click to expand...

midwest supplies is at the $35 range for 2-row

brewbrothers.biz has low bulk grain prices and might be less in shipping costs since they are closer to you than most online stores. 2-row is under $30 for GW.

SailorTodd said:

Any breweries in your area? I've heard (but to caveat, haven't tried it myself) that you can sometimes get the brewery to sell you some of what they have. Somebody please back me up or quash this rumor completely...

Can't tell you about prices online, with 0 experience there.

Click to expand...

My local organic brew pub is all set to start selling me bulk grain as soon as I buy a mill. Its a little more expensive than normal given that it all has to be certified organic, I think he said $50 for 2 row

+1 to both asking if your LHBS offers a bulk discount, and asking if local berweries will sell to you. Those would be my first two choices for sure. Beyond that, the shipping for bulk grain is such a huge part of the cost that which online store is cheapest for you will depend on where you live. For me the cheapest shipped price for most bulk grains is from Fifty Pound Sack All of their prices include shipping BTW. If I lived closer to a malster or malster distribution center I'm sure it would quite a bit cheaper elsewhere.

SailorTodd said:

Any breweries in your area? I've heard (but to caveat, haven't tried it myself) that you can sometimes get the brewery to sell you some of what they have. Somebody please back me up or quash this rumor completely...

Can't tell you about prices online, with 0 experience there.

Click to expand...

+1 to checking with a local brewery (especially newer ones); in my experience they are generally willing to sell you a sack or 2 at roughly their cost if you make it easy on them and aren't asking them to special order stuff or store your sacks for a week, etc.

...but IMO your best bet for bulk grain at the lowest prices is getting in on group buys with your local/regional homebrew club. In my area, we use Country Malt Group and usually purchase one or two pallets, at those quantities we generally pay about $25 for 2row/pils, $30ish for munich/vienna & about $35 for MO

Do you ever go to Vancouver WA? I bought some directly from Great west and it was dirt cheap.

warex said:

Do you ever go to Vancouver WA? I bought some directly from Great west and it was dirt cheap.

Click to expand...

I was under the impression Great Western was not selling to homebrewers. Who did you talk to?

+1 Talk to a local brewery, make friends with the head brewer. 1 they are a wealth of brewing information, and 2 they will most likely sell you grains. I get US 2row pale for $28/sack, I use that as base malt on most of my recipes, haven't checked with him lately about other base malts.

shivalotus said:

I was under the impression Great Western was not selling to homebrewers. Who did you talk to?

Click to expand...

My first bulk 2-row purchase said "Great Western" on the sack. That was a month ago.

Have you tried Jim's Homebrew in Spokane? I find it's a great place to go if you want to pay 150% above retail, and be treated like dirt, all in one stop.

I stocked up on grains while on a trip through Vancouver, MO was about $35. When I run out I plan to contact a couple of people selling bulk grain on Craigslist. Someone in Spokane is asking $40 for 55lb bags. I think Davenport is about an hour away, so that's something you could consider trying.

Phantastik said:

Have you tried Jim's Homebrew in Spokane? I find it's a great place to go if you want to pay 150% above retail, and be treated like dirt, all in one stop.

I stocked up on grains while on a trip through Vancouver, MO was about $35. When I run out I plan to contact a couple of people selling bulk grain on Craigslist. Someone in Spokane is asking $40 for 55lb bags. I think Davenport is about an hour away, so that's something you could consider trying.

Click to expand...

Has to look up his website... wow! $2.40 a lb for MO. He calls them "mashable grains- grains that brewers use to make their own extract". What a joke

SailorTodd said:

Any breweries in your area? I've heard (but to caveat, haven't tried it myself) that you can sometimes get the brewery to sell you some of what they have. Somebody please back me up or quash this rumor completely...

Click to expand...

It's how I buy my bulk grains. One place even gives me a 10% discount. (Home brew club member discount) I pay $27 for Breiss brewers malt. $31.50 for Breiss Pale Malt. If I buy from another brewery it cost $31 for Breiss brewers malt.

I just picked up a Rahr Pilsner 50 lb sack from Midwest for $36. Northern Brewer is about the same. I was semi-disappointed that it did not qualify for the 7.99 ship saver at Northern Brewer, but 50 lbs is a lot to ship.

Gave me an excuse to finally drive down to the physical store.

Piratwolf said:

My first bulk 2-row purchase said "Great Western" on the sack. That was a month ago.

Click to expand...

I should qualify that statement to "directly to homebrewers"

I bought 4 sacks of Weyermann malts last year from a brewpub in Texas for $102, then later I got a sack of Maris Otter from him for $30. I've been buying bulk malt from brewpubs since 1998 and it's the only way to go. Unfortunately the new brewer at the brew[pub 40 miles away never homebrewed and can't be bothered to sell malt so I rely on the homebrewing club in Midland to set up bulk purchases.

Phantastik said:

Have you tried Jim's Homebrew in Spokane? I find it's a great place to go if you want to pay 150% above retail, and be treated like dirt, all in one stop.

I stocked up on grains while on a trip through Vancouver, MO was about $35. When I run out I plan to contact a couple of people selling bulk grain on Craigslist. Someone in Spokane is asking $40 for 55lb bags. I think Davenport is about an hour away, so that's something you could consider trying.

Click to expand...

I will have to look on craigslist thanks for the info. I also found out that behind yokes grocery store in airway heights there is a new brewery back there, will have to locate it and see if he will sell to public.

Bookem15 said:

I will have to look on craigslist thanks for the info. I also found out that behind yokes grocery store in airway heights there is a new brewery back there, will have to locate it and see if he will sell to public.

Click to expand...

Good to know, I hadn't heard of the new brewery. If you are able to contact them, please report back with the (hopefully great) news.

Phantastik said:

Good to know, I hadn't heard of the new brewery. If you are able to contact them, please report back with the (hopefully great) news.

Click to expand...

Phan...if you want to deal grain with a new brewery go on in, meet the owner, enjoy some local brew, talk homebrewing. Support your local brewery.

iaefebs said:

Phan...if you want to deal grain with a new brewery go on in, meet the owner, enjoy some local brew, talk homebrewing. Support your local brewery.

Click to expand...

I don't think by saying "let me know what you find out" implies that I don't support local breweries. I look forward to trying their beer, and hope that they bring something superb to the area.

Phantastik said:

I don't think by saying "let me know what you find out" implies that I don't support local breweries. I look forward to trying their beer, and hope that they bring something superb to the area.

Click to expand...

I didn't mean to imply that you don't support your local breweries.I was talking about buying grain from your local brewery.

Perhaps a bit of a side trip, but how do you guys store all that grain?

I would love to buy in bulk as it looks to be about half the "per pound" price in area stores. I just don't know how to store it so it won't go bad (get stale?).

People store it in all sorts of containers, but the food grade 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot seem to be the most economical way.

Goblism said:

midwest supplies is at the $35 range for 2-row

Click to expand...

Yep, I love Midwest. It's only an hour away from me so I can drive up and pick up things in bulk. 35 bucks for a 50# sack of 2-row is a steal. Plus we don't have to pay sales tax in MN because most brewing ingredients are considered food staples (which we don't pay sales tax on here). :rockin:

-Steve

+1 for buying grain from your local brewery.

For those in the Chicago Burbs, Two Brothers has a small homebrew shop attached (Brewers Coop) that sells Rahr 2-row for $35 I think.

And I just store my grain in its original bag in a spare rectangle cooler.