Bulk Grain, best prices!

Where are they! Looks like my LHBS would be my best bet, shipping is as much as the grain itself. I am in the Indiana area!

The Pol said:

shipping is as much as the grain itself.

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Yeah, no kidding. Therefore it should come as no surprise that you should indicate where in the country you're located, so people can recommend closer places so shipping doesn't kill you.

I was very happy with my order from north country malt in New York, but I'm located just a few states from them so shipping was fair, and could be much worse if you're on the other end of the country.

My LHBS, which also happens to be a microbrewery, has the best prices of bulk grain I've seen. 50# for $32 is pretty darn good. They're prices are better than other LHBS's since they're also a brewery and order large pallets and only slightly markup the product.

You just gotta compare. After all was said and done and shipping was factored in, the cheapest place that had the grains I wanted was Midwest...so that's who I order from. AHS's flat shipping rate didn't apply to the big sacks of grain, so that screwed them out of my $$.

I got 55# of MO and Vienna at one local brewpub for $25 (total). That's highly unlikely but everyone should at least ask to piggyback their local brewpubs orders...

Support the local guy, unless of course he is a ******.

My LHBS is small and most people in my area are extract brewers. SO when he places big orders he lets me know. Shipping on a crate of grain is way cheaper than a single bag, so I get 50-55lbs for about $40 of pils, 2-row, marris otter or whatever.

srm775 said:

My LHBS, which also happens to be a microbrewery, has the best prices of bulk grain I've seen. 50# for $32 is pretty darn good. They're prices are better than other LHBS's since they're also a brewery and order large pallets and only slightly markup the product.

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hey srm775, which brewery is this? i just taught my dad how to brew and he lives in aurora. i'm not sure how happy he is with the LHBS in aurora, he's complained about the weird hours and inconsistent advice. PM me if you'd like.

I'm probably repeating here, but I asked the brewer at a local microbrew (Artic Craftbrew in Colorado Springs) and he had no problem ordering an extra 50# bag and sold it to me at cost. (you just have to make sure to buy a couple of pints for his efforts!)

I also bought a full bag from my LHBS. (Long story, but I ordered one, it came late, sop I bought from the other guy, but I felt obligated to buy the bag when it did come in...)

My advice is to stick to buying a big bag of base-malt, like American 2-row barely, English 2-row or pale malt. Buy any specialty grains from the LHBS when you brew.

My first all-grain was just very basic beer: 8.5lbs barely malt, water, hops and yeast. Nuthin' special and nothing I would get upset about if it went bad. Turned out pretty good, and I've brewed that several times. (Added 0.5 lbs of wheat malt for head retention, played around with hops and yeasts.)

BUT, be sure to store the grain in a cool, dry place. I wouldn't recommend keeping it in the grain bag once its opened. I put the grain in food grade plastic buckets with TIGHT FITTING lids. (Get them from the bakery; cake frosting comes in those. I used extra buckets to build my mash/lauter and sparge tun.)

Also (jeesh, will he shut-up already?!?!) resist the urge to mill all the grain at once. Its ends up drying out. I did that and it may have affected the efficiency of the mash. I now keep all my grain, unground, and take a bucket with me to the LHBS, buy my hops, yeast and any specialty grains, and have them weight out what I need and mill it.!!!

biggerk said:

...I also bought a full bag from my LHBS. (Long story, but I ordered one, it came late, sop I bought from the other guy, but I felt obligated to buy the bag when it did come in...)

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That was nice of you. I know my LHBS had to order the same grain 4 times before the wholesaler had it in stock and actually shipped a bag.

biggerk said:

BUT, be sure to store the grain in a cool, dry place. I wouldn't recommend keeping it in the grain bag once its opened. I put the grain in food grade plastic buckets with TIGHT FITTING lids. (Get them from the bakery; cake frosting comes in those. I used extra buckets to build my mash/lauter and sparge tun.)

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I bought these really cool big ass ziplock bags at wal-mart, like 4 bucks for a 4-pack, they hold about 30-35lbs of grain each no problem.

D*Bo said:

Support the local guy, unless of course he is a ******.

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Can I get that as a bumper sticker please? :cross:

Guys, I just called MidCountry Malt Supply in Chicago.

The very nice gal on the phone quoted me $35.89 for a 55 pound bag of Canada Malting Pale Ale Malt, their item number 2060.

Shipping to Michigan added another $12.41, so 55 pounds delivered was $48.30 or 87.8 cents per pound.

I think that's a pretty good deal, for just one bag!

There is another branch of the same company located in new york called North Country malt, and they do have a setup more homebrewer friendly. The quote i got was $50 for a 55# of MO including shipping to central OH.

I thought when I checked north country malt last week the price of the canadian 2 row pale malt was around $24 and yesterday when I looked it was $33 before shipping, it looks like it will be cheaper to pick it up at midwest or northern brewer.

Yeah, if pickup is an option, NB is cheaper. Shipping to me from NB was over 23 dollars. Mid Country is still a better deal for distant customers.

D*Bo said:

Support the local guy, unless of course he is a ******.

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Agreed, I'm always inclined to support local businesses anyway though for homebrewing I can think of a many selfish reasons to do so. Convenience factor is of course #1, but if everyone only buys last minute ingredients that they forgot to order the lhbs probably wouldn't be able to make it. On bulk grain though it is usually cheaper simply because of shipping.

LHBS had a sale on sacks of Schreier 2 row pale for $25. He was clearing out the stock in anticipation of a new shipment so I picked up two. 100 lbs of base malt for $50 was too good to pass up.