If you could buy one grain in bulk?

So, as I'm sure everyone is aware, shipping in insanely expensive and often times places with lower shipping charge more for hops and yeast and such. So, I plan on buying one fat sack of base grain and just special ordering the smaller things as I need them. I haven't done an all-grain yet.(just ordered my first batch recipe which sparked all this) What is the single most useful grain? It seems to be a 2 row, but there is quite a variety of different grains and I'm a bit lost.
Will all base grains produce a pale beer without darker additions? And what are some recommended brands/growers/places to shop for said grain?

For base malt, I simply buy a generic (cheapest) 2-row. Briess, Canada Malting, what ever.

Depends on what style you brew. American style ales will work with almost any 2-row, but for good English and Belgian beers, you need the appropriate base malts.

A good "in-between" and versatile malt so to speak is Gambrinus Pale ESB.

I like Maris Otter and Golden Promise better as a base malt than standard two row. I also use a lot of Belgian Pilsner. You can't go wrong with a base malt. Just pick the one that you like best.

American 2-row. You can get some really good deals on new brands like MaltEurop

jfr1111 said:

Depends on what style you brew.

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Winner. +10000000000000000000

If you intend to brew multiple styles you want to go with basic 2 row as you can add specialty grains to bring it closer to target. If you go with something deeper in color and flavor you can't subtract to get a lighter beer.

My base is Great Western Pale Ale malt and when I've brewed something it did not work with I usually wind up regretting it as it goes out of style for me.

I've been using Maris Otter as the base malt for my AG batches (first two were mixed with Golden Promise)...

I plan to continue to use Maris Otter and UK 2 Row for my base malts. Especially since I've committed to getting 5 sacks worth in the group buy (2 MO, 2 UK 2 Row and 1 GP)... That should last me a year, or so... At least I hope it will. Or that I'll still have some left when the next group buy comes around.

samc said:

If you intend to brew multiple styles you want to go with basic 2 row as you can add specialty grains to bring it closer to target.

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What if he only drinks pilsners?


_

I vote Pilsner malt. Mainly because you can always add more ingredients to alter the color. Or better yet, toast some of it! It fulfills both German and Belgian beers pretty well and even a few English. I'm of the mind its easier to add then take away color. If you go with something like MO your color will be jacked on a ton of recipes. Unless you are a big English brewer, it just doesn't make sense. I'd buy something that works in several recipes if you can plan that far in advance.

Maris Otter - Works for everything unless you're brewing for competition. If you are looking at price, I agree with Hammy: "...buy a generic (cheapest) 2-row. Briess, Canada Malting..." Pale Malt.

I'd buy a 2-row malt for my main base malt. Pilsner for European lagers and such. I bought Golden Promise last time and was not impressed after reading so much about it.

If you want to buy bulk, check for nearby LHBS and see who carries it. Buying online will incur shipping. It's often cheaper to drive a little bit to pick it up. That way you can also shop in the store...

Or see if someone else near you wants to go in on a bulk buy and split the gas money.

wildwest450 said:

What if he only drinks pilsners?


_

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I'd say he was a dull boy!

Homercidal said:

I'd buy a 2-row malt for my main base malt. Pilsner for European lagers and such. I bought Golden Promise last time and was not impressed after reading so much about it.

If you want to buy bulk, check for nearby LHBS and see who carries it. Buying online will incur shipping. It's often cheaper to drive a little bit to pick it up. That way you can also shop in the store...

Or see if someone else near you wants to go in on a bulk buy and split the gas money.

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Or look for a group grain buy in your area, or with a delivery location close enough to where you are...

I did compare buying a full sack online, with the LHBS, post shipping it was pretty much the same cost. Going with the group buy, it's about half that.

Since I have a small truck (6' bed) I've offered 'pickup service' for others in my general area that wouldn't be able to get to the pickup location... Not sure if anyone will take me up on the offer, but it's out there.

If you're breathing, you should be brewing... :rockin:

Is one sack going to be enough for you? That's like less than 5 recipes for me when it comes to base malt. So then you have to do the thing where you decide "do I buy 5 sacks of two-row for 150 donuts or do i just keep buying from the LHBS?"

Oops, remembered that you buy online. In any case, buy in bulk!

A sack costs me like $40 for 2-row. Not much more for most grains, except like Marris Otter. It's a few batches, depending on the beer. That's like $.80 a pound IIRC.

Midwest states are so dang lucky to be near the source. About as good as I can do is $80 for anything besides 2-row. Well, unless I did a group buy, which I don't know that many brewers in the area. I need a decent local source over here.

Dunerunner said:

Maris Otter - Works for everything unless you're brewing for competition. If you are looking at price, I agree with Hammy: "...buy a generic (cheapest) 2-row. Briess, Canada Malting..." Pale Malt.

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I would have to agree with this. I always have a big sack of MO on hand. It works in so many ways.

Looking for an excuse to save $3 a batch, second guess yourself?

Dunerunner said:

Maris Otter - Works for everything unless you're brewing for competition

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electric_beer said:

If you go with something like MO your color will be jacked on a ton of recipes. Unless you are a big English brewer, it just doesn't make sense.

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Thank you!! I don't brew english but I heard the quality was better overall - seems like that depends on what you are brewin. 2row for me.

Via the group buy that's on the verge of happening (need 4 more sacks on the order to make it happen) one sack of Bairds MO is $36.85. A sack of Bairds UK 2 Row is $31.35... Thomas Faucett Golden Promise is $39.05 per sack...

I'm planning on making a SMaSH with each base malt, identical hops across all three, to see what the difference is. I'll be matching each brew as close as I can, so it will be a real gauge of the base malt...

I sell American 2 row in my store... 39.00 for 50 lbs

mixedbrewer said:

I sell American 2 row in my store... 39.00 for 50 lbs

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How much for delivery to say California?

We don't ship... that how I keep the price down. Since I work at a beer store who sells homebrew ingredients and equipment, I am all about the community coming to get it in store. Sorry.

Well seeing as how my 4th brew will be my first AG competitions aren't quite within my sights yet. So color isn't a HUGE issue(well I'd like my dark stuff to look dark, but beyond that I don't care)
Yea, the LHBS here is a corner in a wine shop, like 10sq ft. so I doubt they sell bulk(and I already called and they don't mill grain )
And yea, a sack is 4ish batches, but I do and plan on continuing doing a brew every 3 weeks, so that'll last me like 3 months.(but maybe I will order 2 or 3)
Marris Otter is sounding very tempting. I'm ok with still having to order pilsner grains and english/whatever grains when the time comes. But for the sake of basic utility I'd like to have a sack or two on hand.

Is there a good place to buy mass grain(4-5 sacks) crushed and shipped? Brewmasters warehouse is a few hours drive, but they have a flat rate that is much cheaper than the gas I'd burn getting there.

electric_beer said:

Midwest states are so dang lucky to be near the source. About as good as I can do is $80 for anything besides 2-row. Well, unless I did a group buy, which I don't know that many brewers in the area. I need a decent local source over here.

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I agree, I am in LA as well and sacks of 2-row are way too expensive. I'd be interested in a group buy in LA if one happened.