MD/DC grain

IslandLizard said:

FEDEX?

It wasn't clear we could still get the old shipping method per truck at $7 a sack or were forced to use Fedex instead.

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no change in shipping... still 295 per pallate.

aaronbritton said:

First off a big thanks to Stefin for organizing and providing this service to the homebrewing community. I appreciate everything you've done to make this happen for us!

Secondly, if CMG is willing to sell to us as a co-op, i'd be willing to donate money towards the legal fees of setting it up.

Stefin- what do you have as far as specialty grains go? Any star san?

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i have pbw, starsan, candi sugar, and carapils.

I'm interested in StarSan and carapils. I'll be down that way this weekend. What day is better for you? Sat or sun?

sunday AM would be ideal.

Noonish work?

If there is no change in shipping then this is still better then any LHBS (IN MD/DC) or online retailer I can find.

atjsparty said:

I reached out to Apex Brew Wares (a homebrew shop outside of Kansas City in Missouri). I bought a few things from them on-line and follow them on Facebook. Jeremy has posted many times about doing a group by for his local market, so I followed up with him to see what he does in terms of mark-up, etc.
He responded saying he essentially does a small mark-up to cover freight and his time, while keeping the prices lower than anyone else can provide. He sees it as a win, win. He offers his customers a great deal, so they shop more often at their store and his customers obviously get grain at a cheap price.
He also noted that most shops seem to want to suck every single cent possible out of their customers.

Man...I wish we had a brewshop in our area that provided such a customer friendly service. I'd actually shop at myLHBS if they provided that service (and were helpful...and nice).

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F' it, I'm moving to Kansas City. Now Apex Brew Wares is setting up a bulk White Labs yeast buy!!

another thing I notice on the price sheet is no star san? only grain now..

claphamsa said:

no change in shipping... still 295 per pallate.

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Thanks, that will put some minds at ease.

Would be nice if you could get that in writing somehow, but if that's what they said, the deal may still be lucrative.

What about Brewers Supply Group? Can we use them instead of CMG? Has anyone gone to the brewery in Rockville yet to see if they can help? If not, I can go see them this Sat in between the rugby matches and pitch the idea.

Stefin, let us know when you create a new thread

Just now seeing the latest developments with this thread......It's a shame.............
Earlier, someone was mentioning local homebrew stores and their bulk grain pricing. I have recently discovered the brew shop located in The Natural Path in Fredericksburg (http://www.thebrewshop.biz/), and these guys have really competitive prices on bulk grain. They are advertising 2 Row for $39.99 a 50#sack, and I was e-mailed what I consider to be some pretty good prices on other base malts:

Briess:

2-row-39.99
Pale Ale-41.99
White Wheat-43.99
Vienna-44.99

Also gave me a quote of $52.95 for Muntons MO.
The trip to F-burg may or may not make sense for some depending on where they are coming from, but its only a 30 minute or so drive for me.

I also know that Jeff Fitzpatrick(I think thats his last name) from Blue and Gray Brewery in Fredericksburg has sold grain in the past to home brewers. Both of these may be worth a try if you are willing to travel to Fredericksburg. I have found the owners of both establishments to be super friendly and helpful.

For those wondering here's the bulk pricing I got from MDHB in Columbia.



I'm still waiting to hear back from Flying Barrel. Apprently Bob Frank is selling it. I would assume the new owner is either an employee, or one of the folks from Monocacy Brewing or Brewers Alley.

Just got a reply back

Hello Doug,

Unfortunately we do not have a grain catalog yet. The maltsters we have access to are Briess, Muntons, Weyerman, Dingeman's, Rahr, Crisp, and Castle. As far as organic grains go, we can only get in Briess 2-Row (50lb bag for $80) and 50lb Briess light dry malt extract for $185.

Here are the rest of the prices you requested...

2 Row - 50lb Briess is $55, 50lb Rahr is $52
Maris Otter - 55lb Muntons is $69
Red Wheat - 50lb Briess is $60
Munich 10L - 50lb Briess is $65
Crystal 60L - 50lb Briess is $75

Hope that helps you make some decisions. Please let me know if you would like to place an order.

Cheers,
James McEver
The Flying Barrel
301-663-4491

mtbiker278 said:

Just got a reply back

Hello Doug,

Unfortunately we do not have a grain catalog yet. The maltsters we have access to are Briess, Muntons, Weyerman, Dingeman's, Rahr, Crisp, and Castle. As far as organic grains go, we can only get in Briess 2-Row (50lb bag for $80) and 50lb Briess light dry malt extract for $185.

Here are the rest of the prices you requested...

2 Row - 50lb Briess is $55, 50lb Rahr is $52
Maris Otter - 55lb Muntons is $69
Red Wheat - 50lb Briess is $60
Munich 10L - 50lb Briess is $65
Crystal 60L - 50lb Briess is $75

Hope that helps you make some decisions. Please let me know if you would like to place an order.

Cheers,
James McEver
The Flying Barrel
301-663-4491

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I paid 90 per bag of extract through NCM. 185 yikes

Insult got the reply from the barrel. I don't get it....

psbuckland said:

Insult got the reply from the barrel. I don't get it....

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Apparently they don't get it either. Their prices are not even competitive with other area LHBS's. It's nice have a shop close to home, but I cringe every time I go there because I know I'm way over paying. It's unfortunate, but they seem more interested in going after the new homebrewer who doesn't know any better than giving their consistent loyal customers a break.

an option that was pointed out in another thread: http://www.gwkent.com/brewery/ingredients.html?cat=166

not the biggest selection, but depending on shipping cost it should be cheaper than the new NMC prices.

thoughts?

Do all of the price lists you guys are posting include discounts for AHA, DC Homebrewers, BURP, etc or not? I think MDHB gives a small discount if you are part of a HB club. Not sure about the others. Also, I think MyLHBS has recently started a customer loyalty program, again not sure on the details. I don't think any of these is going to come close to the wholesale we were getting, but these might help someone save a little scratch until we find another way. Those Fredericksburg prices are pretty reasonable. I could see us making a group buy from him at some point, stacking it on my truck, and heading up here. All contigency plans until we can get this going again (if we can), naturally.

sweetcell said:

an option that was pointed out in another thread: http://www.gwkent.com/brewery/ingredients.html?cat=166

not the biggest selection, but depending on shipping cost it should be cheaper than the new NMC prices.

thoughts?

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Another option "might" be Cargill http://www.cargillfoods.com/na/en/products/malt/malt-specialty-products-group/index.jsp

I called them re: setting up a food coop to see if they would sell bulk grain and was referred to a regional sales rep. Haven't heard back from her yet...

stonebrewer said:

Also, I think MyLHBS has recently started a customer loyalty program, again not sure on the details. .

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Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe their new program is a 1% dividend

they (kent) will sell to homebrewers... but only in the pallate. shipping is essentially the same as NCM.

dcHokie said:

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe their new program is a 1% dividend

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this is correct. I was just there this weekend buying some last minute items. OVerpaid for malt of course.

claphamsa said:

they (kent) will sell to homebrewers... but only in the pallate. shipping is essentially the same as NCM.

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so that's a decent alternative, IMO. ordering by the palette is norm, anyways. furthermore, this allows us to spend our money elsewhere than NMC... AKA sticking it to them.

i'm a little worried that they'll soon be flooded with homebrewers buying palettes and will also want to cash in... let's order quickly!

Hey,

Do you guys dip into DC at all for pickup? I'd love to get in on a group buy, but the NoVA area seems a bit neglected, and I'd be hard pressed to get into MD during the week (I work south, but not south enough for the VA group buy). Anyway, I'm willing to give Kent a try.

Claphamsa - Did you talk to Kent? Will they mix and match the other malts, or are those only by the pallet? I'd like to try the Gambrinus ESB Pale Malt, and I'd probably pick up a sack of Briess Golden Light DME as well, if you guys are looking to run a trial through Kent.

claphamsa said:

they (kent) will sell to homebrewers... but only in the pallate. shipping is essentially the same as NCM.

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Stefin can you clarify: does that mean we would have to buy a pallet of each type item we want, or does it mean we buy a pallet of mixed goods as a minimum? Prices seems to be reasonable and like sweetcell said the other wholesaler can pound sand as far as I am concerned. Do you think this is a decent option?

Looks like their Durst Malz brand is even cheaper than my last order that we cancelled. Anyone have any experience with that brand of malt?

stonebrewer said:

Looks like their Durst Malz brand is even cheaper than my last order that we cancelled. Anyone have any experience with that brand of malt?

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no experience with Durst, but if we do order from them i'll be checking them out. their "Turbo" malts are extra-highly modified and the claim is that they convert very quickly, in case that's of interest to anyone.

some of the malt listed on gwkent are 50 lbs bags, while others are 55 lbs.

I am in if we can get the stuff from Kent, this sounds like a viable option to me, with very reasonable prices. For those who live up toward the MD/PA area there is a place in Chambersburg http://www.store.homebrew4less.com that has pretty good prices with a great selection of malts. He gives discounts of 15% on 10lbs or more and about 30% on full bags. I say "F" NCM and lets go with someone else to get our grains ... enough people pull out from doing business with them maybe they will take the hint that we as a group can't be **** on and gotten away with.

I'm in for ordering with GW Kent as long as we can order a mixed pallet.

stonebrewer said:

Looks like their Durst Malz brand is even cheaper than my last order that we cancelled. Anyone have any experience with that brand of malt?

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That sounds interesting. I'm tempted to try those out now too. I've been told the esb pale malt is comparable to MO, so I was anxious to try it. I'm kinda excited to try out this new distributer, kent seems good, and cargill has some malts I've never heard of.

Lets pioneer!

I'm in for GW Kent. I have no problem giving (Fred) Durst malt a try. The other 40lb sacks of crystal malts are decently priced as well. That is, assuming we can do a mixed pallet. Even if we can't, I'm sure we can get enough people on board for a pallet if 2-Row.

Also, my suggest for those NCM bastards from the other thread:
I say we challenge their new business model and everyone orders 1 lb of every grain. See if they calculated that into their operations.
Everyone order on the same day, then call everyday for a status.
I'd like to see how many 1lb bags of grain they're willing to fill to make a few extra dimes per lb.
(Someone also suggested to make sure to request it all be milled as well!)

I'd be in for ordering through gw kent. Just need a day to work out my order.

****. fell asleep on the couch! ill have a new thread up soon.

Does that mean we are going to give GW Kent a try? I am in for several sacks if so.

I'm willing to give it a shot, too.

i think so.... ill call them today, and start a thread.... but if someone else wanted to volunteer to distribute... i would be ok with that

claphamsa said:

i think so.... ill call them today, and start a thread.... but if someone else wanted to volunteer to distribute... i would be ok with that

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FYI, just something I have heard but Kent requires a loading dock for deliveries.

jeffb418 said:

FYI, just something I have heard but Kent requires a loading dock for deliveries.

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so did NCM, its all about the shipper

All, im gonna let this situation stabalize (there are alot of people looking for alternatives) and frankly im lazy. that being said, I only have 55lbs of pils and 55lbs of GP. so something will happen soon shortage and all.