Price of GRAIN

I live in GTA, and the price of grain makes me not even want to start PM or AG. I get coopers cans for 15$ each, and at 3-4$ per pound of grain an avg recipe calls for 10lbs each 5 gals, were talkin a price increase of 2x!

I really wanto make beer the proper way, and get off malt extracts, but I do need to invest in equipment, and im not even sure if its possible to boil a pot that big in an apartment safely.

Let me know what you guys think about it. Its not the price in the end, its the quality of the beer, and to be honest coopers kits has me soo satisfied that I really doubt I could make something better by mashing myself.

Why not try a counter top partial mash and see what you get from that.
There are a few really good tutorials on this site.

I think you'll me inspired.

You may find that you are happy with the quality of beer you get from that and not feel the need to go All grain.

The level of commitment on space, time and money may not be for all brewers.

That being said an AG set up can easily be done for <$150 if you make some bits your self and scrounge around.
An AG brew can be done <4hrs (A new brewer should allow the full day with no distractions)

As for the price of the grain:
1kg of malt extract (1.5kg can) £5.30
1kg of grain (bulk 25kg) will cost me £1.40
1kg of grain (3kg bag) costs £1.70

Given I like making the beer as much as drinking it (almost) and that I like making the gear then it's a no brainer for me.

If you are the type of person that likes to cook and create your own food then I'd say go for it.

Hi Sum. Here, I buy organic grain in bulk for 90 - 95 cents per pound. One of the big advantages of going to all grain is that is significantly cheaper than extract brewing.

As for boiling, that's a real issue. If you can't boil 6-7 gallons, it's difficult to do all grain. One possible work around is to split your batch between two smaller pots.

As for what you like - I always think that I brew for myself, so if you like the Coopers kits, go for it.

Yeah, it's not about the money. I can make a really good extract beer for about the same as my simplest AG brew, but I would far rather spend the time/money/effort -there's much more zen involved in an AG brewday.

Years back, I did AG brewing in a small apartment on a stovetop. Nothing to it, just try to get good conversion and don't worry about perfection, just do it.

You are getting ripped off on grain, buy online.

there seems to be a couple malting companies based in Toronto, so if you pay $3-4 a lb of grain then yes someone is stealing from you.

Are you sure its not $3-4 a Kg? That would be 2.2lbs for $3, so $1.36 a pound.

Yeah....in Montreal we pay much less than that. $1/pound for Canada 2-row. Maybe 1.50-2.00 for a British Pale type malt.

I just bought Candian 2-Row for under $.50/pound and Pilsner, Munich, Vienna, Wheat, Maris Otter for under $.70 per pound.

WHO THE HECK is selling grain for 3-4 bucks a pound?! That is CRIMINAL!

+1 on double-checking the price, those prices are unreasonable.

More importantly, "quality" isn't a valid reason to switch to AG. For most styles of beer, it's almost impossible to tell if a beer was made with extract or grain. As far as I can tell, there are three reasons to go all grain:

(1) There are some beer styles that just can't be done extract,
(2) It's cheaper,
(3) Converting grain to beer is magical.

Also, just because it is "grain" doesnt mean it is a high quality grain. Is it Briess? Or is it Best Malz? Weyerman?

The Pol said:

I just bought Candian 2-Row for under $.50/pound and Pilsner, Munich, Vienna, Wheat, Maris Otter for under $.70 per pound.

WHO THE HECK is selling grain for 3-4 bucks a pound?! That is CRIMINAL!

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Yeah, I have heard a lot of Canadians that pay more for grain than Americans do for Canadian grain. Crazy.

I get a 55LB sack of 2 row for $25 bucks, just cuz I live near a malting company. You may want to check out mashingheads.com, they are in London I beleive.

The Pol said:

Also, just because it is "grain" doesnt mean it is a high quality grain. Is it Briess? Or is it Best Malz? Weyerman?

Click to expand...

What are the higher vs lower quality brands?

Hmm perhaps it was per kg, not sure will have to inquire on that. Ive looked through some guides, and found them very helpful. I have a great wine/beer store, in terms of ordering "specialty yeasts", I just hope he will be able to locate beer a wide variety of beer yeasts.

Amazing to hear how some of you actually are paying less than 15$ per 5-5.5gal of beer with non extract.

Right now im really intrested on making wine, and mead with apples, also am doing extract brews to keep the good stuff coming I love how you can drink beer within a month, with no major taste flaws!!

Yeah, I was definitly wrong on this one its per kg not pound!!

I really need to find a place that sells a variety of yeasts. Any suggestions besides ordering online, do not have credit cards.