Buying yeast for one barrel batches, need help

I have a one barrel brewery (Squam Brewery). Right now I'm buying my yeast from the LHBS and its costing me quite a bit. Its close to $20 for the yeast and the rest of the ingredient total is under $80! That's too much. I like dry yeast for ease of use and repeatability, but when you have to open 6 packages per batch it adds up. I know the first suggestions I'm going to hear are "Why not make a starter?" or "You should be harvesting your own yeast!" Well, I may do these things at a later date, but right now making a consistent product is my top priority and fresh dry yeast is extremely reliable (a failed starter or a minor infection isn't a big deal with a 5 gallon batch, but on a 35 gallon batch it is expensive).

So, with that said, does anybody purchase dry yeast in bulk? Doing a google search hasn't turned up much that fits my scale of operation. I don't need a kilo of yeast, and the bricks of packets I've seen aren't much of a savings. Maybe I'm just looking at the wrong sites. Thanks.

Try GW Kent. I bought a 500 gram brick of Mauribrew yeast (high atten and floc) from them last year. I use 10 grams for a 5 gallon batch and it costs me $0.20 per batch. I don't have shipping included since I picked it up at their place just outside of Detroit, MI. last year. It's worked fine for me. I think it's been in at least 15 batches so far. It's $27 for 500g.

They also have killer prices on DME. I use about 50# a year for adds and starters and it's the cheapest I've found (agin, pick-up saves the $30+ freight).

http://breweryparts.com/index.php/catalogsearch/result/?q=mauribrew+yeast

Just did the math on the pricing. It must have gone up since last year. You're still looking at less than $4 a batch; assuming you would use 70g per 35 gallon batch.

Ohhhh tooooo nasty! Here's the advertisement that popped up based upon our yeast discussion:

The Candida Yeast Answer
The removal of yeast infections Free Counseling - Free Booklet
www.thecandidayeastanswer.com

On the DME front, North Country Malt sells Briess DME for $98/50#.

hahnderosa said:

Try GW Kent. I bought a 500 gram brick of Mauribrew yeast (high atten and floc) from them last year. I use 10 grams for a 5 gallon batch and it costs me $0.20 per batch. I don't have shipping included since I picked it up at their place just outside of Detroit, MI. last year. It's worked fine for me. I think it's been in at least 15 batches so far. It's $27 for 500g.

They also have killer prices on DME. I use about 50# a year for adds and starters and it's the cheapest I've found (agin, pick-up saves the $30+ freight).

http://breweryparts.com/index.php/catalogsearch/result/?q=mauribrew+yeast

Click to expand...

That looks perfect! I plugged it into Mr. Malty Pitching Rate Calculator and I should be able to get six 35 gal batches of 1.060 per brick. I'll have to do some research on the yeast strain, but as long as its fairly neutral I should be able to use it for a lot of varieties. I'm ordering a brick from them right now. Thanks!