After a five year hiatus, I'm firing up the burners. What the hell happened to bulk grain prices??? Where's the cheapest place to buy bulk grain?
Dusting off the brewery... again. Where do you get your grain?
- Thread starter Seabee John
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If you have a local homebrew store, buy your grain from them. Sure, it might be a few pennies cheaper online, but help keep the local guys open so that they're available when you need something last minute.
Ordering full sacks of grain online tends to kill you on shipping. However, some places will let you buy an equivalent amount of by-the-pound grain and get free shipping. Last time I did this, they just shipped me an unopened bag of grain. Go figure.
Ordering full sacks of grain online tends to kill you on shipping. However, some places will let you buy an equivalent amount of by-the-pound grain and get free shipping. Last time I did this, they just shipped me an unopened bag of grain. Go figure.
Label Peelers has great prices on 50/55 lb sacks of grain. They have amazingly low prices on everything, so I'll usually get a bunch of other random stuff when ordering a sack of grain.
Their price of grain + shipping is the same as just grain from my nearby LHBS. And I like the shipping option in these virus-y times.
Their price of grain + shipping is the same as just grain from my nearby LHBS. And I like the shipping option in these virus-y times.
brewdude88
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I used to buy 50lb sacks online, but have lately started buying from my LHBS.
I just take my 5-gallon grain buckets in and fill up with what I want. This has given me the flexibility to have 3-4 base grains on hand at any time. I also take smaller containers to fill with specialty malts.
If you really must have full sacks, reach out to your local distributors before going online (mine has a generous discount for full bag purchases that they honor for me if I buy 50lbs worth of assorted grains)
I just take my 5-gallon grain buckets in and fill up with what I want. This has given me the flexibility to have 3-4 base grains on hand at any time. I also take smaller containers to fill with specialty malts.
If you really must have full sacks, reach out to your local distributors before going online (mine has a generous discount for full bag purchases that they honor for me if I buy 50lbs worth of assorted grains)
+1 on label peelers.
I get most of my stuff from them. Shipping is not too bad, and given the hours of my LHBS, it is much easier to to get what I need. One day the boys will demand less time, and it won't be a big deal to sneak out to get supplies, but until then delivery is worth the $$$.
I get most of my stuff from them. Shipping is not too bad, and given the hours of my LHBS, it is much easier to to get what I need. One day the boys will demand less time, and it won't be a big deal to sneak out to get supplies, but until then delivery is worth the $$$.
I only buy bulk from my LHBS.
jrgtr42
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My LHBS closed down last march (not covid related, but I wonder if they had stuck it out another or two if things would have been different)
|I still have a couple batcheworth of grain - I got bulk as they were closing, but I'm going to have to reload soon. There's a couple other shops in the state, so I may have to see what they have for pricing, but I'm not looking forward to driving 45 - 60 minutes each way.
|I've been pricing it out online, and there's a couple plaves that seem not too bad, especially if you qualify for free shipping. |Depending on where you are located it might be Atlantic brew supply, Austin Homebrew, |Northern / Midwest Brew supply, Morebeer, etc.
|I still have a couple batcheworth of grain - I got bulk as they were closing, but I'm going to have to reload soon. There's a couple other shops in the state, so I may have to see what they have for pricing, but I'm not looking forward to driving 45 - 60 minutes each way.
|I've been pricing it out online, and there's a couple plaves that seem not too bad, especially if you qualify for free shipping. |Depending on where you are located it might be Atlantic brew supply, Austin Homebrew, |Northern / Midwest Brew supply, Morebeer, etc.
Brewsit
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I’ve found a few bulk sacks on Amazon that you can get closer to the $1/lb range. Always good to use camelcamelcamel to track pricing.
OP
OP
So my LHBS happens to be Northern Brewer/Midwest Supplies. Drove down to Midwest and dropped 4 bills on grain and a few things to get me back up and running. two 55lb sacks of Rhar 2row, 13 - five pound bags of adjunct grain of various flavor/color, 7 eight ounce pouches of hop pellets, 5 white labs yeast packs, 2 wyeast (1 lacto, 1 bret)... plus a new 10lb co2 tank (and filled). oh and the wife threw in an extract kit for herself.... should be good for a week or two no?
crazyjake19
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I buy all my grain from MoreBeer in bags of 10lb or less. "Local" homebrew shop is over an hour drive for me so I don't go there very often.
mashpaddled
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About five years ago the wholesalers stopped selling directly to retail customers. That killed a lot of group buys and allowed shops to raise prices. You might be able to buy from a local brewery.
I use them as my bulk grain store as well. Although I've only ordered online, haven't made it up to the cities to check out the brick and mortar stores. Even online, I have yet to find a cheaper alternative for 55lb bags of 2-row ( I like rahr, as well. Might as well keep it in Minnesota, right?). Plus I'm about two hours from them, so I tend to get free 2 days shipping.
Otherwise I second (or third, fourth etc etc) the suggestions for 10lb bags from morebeer. I've done that a few times for malts that I don't use as often. Adventures in Home-brewing does similar on bags under 20lbs I believe. Free shipping tends to have higher prices on their items, but for me it has always worked out in the end.
I use my LHBS for specialty grains, but as all their grains(even 55lbs) go for $2-$4/lb, I buy the 55lb bags from a local brewery. Every so often they add a few sacks to their order for me, I pick them up from them for about cost, chat with the brewers, share some beer, and often buy a few of their "to-go" options. Great guys, good beer, good company.
I support my LHBS as much as I can. They are great people, providing a great service. I just can't brew 10-20G/mo and pay that much for grains.
I also wish they stocked 1lb bags of hops. I understand why they don't, but there is a certain sting to $3-4/oz for hops.
I also wish for cheaper yeast which I suppose is why I do the bottle culture thing.. Maybe I should stop being so cheap.
I also wish for a pony.. Not really, that's a lot of feeding and cleaning. Maybe instead I wish for a beer fountain as those promised by his noodly appendage.
tldr;(am I using that right?) Strike up a conversation with the brewer at a local brewery, it's often no skin off their teeth to increase their monthly order by a few bags to make a few bucks and you may get some knowledge out of it(I did, and now I keep a ginger beer as one of my 5 taps until my adult children move out, and maybe beyond).
I support my LHBS as much as I can. They are great people, providing a great service. I just can't brew 10-20G/mo and pay that much for grains.
I also wish they stocked 1lb bags of hops. I understand why they don't, but there is a certain sting to $3-4/oz for hops.
I also wish for cheaper yeast which I suppose is why I do the bottle culture thing.. Maybe I should stop being so cheap.
I also wish for a pony.. Not really, that's a lot of feeding and cleaning. Maybe instead I wish for a beer fountain as those promised by his noodly appendage.
tldr;(am I using that right?) Strike up a conversation with the brewer at a local brewery, it's often no skin off their teeth to increase their monthly order by a few bags to make a few bucks and you may get some knowledge out of it(I did, and now I keep a ginger beer as one of my 5 taps until my adult children move out, and maybe beyond).
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Another vote for the group buys. I buy 3-4 bags at a time from through a localish group which works with a small brewery. 2-row was $34 and MO was $46 last round. They do a limited selection of other malts and split bags so caramel malts for example are $0.88/lb for as little as 12.5lbs.
AIH and Great Fermentations are good options too with relatively low free shipping thresholds. And both will do grain orders to 0.1lb for custom recipe kits. With the quarantine homebrewing craze it can take a few days, maybe up to a week for your order to ship so plan ahead. AIH is semi-local but pre-Covid a trip there cost me shopping at the mall and dinner out. Luckily for me, my daughter chose to go to a college in Indy and GF is a half block out of the way in or out of town.
AIH and Great Fermentations are good options too with relatively low free shipping thresholds. And both will do grain orders to 0.1lb for custom recipe kits. With the quarantine homebrewing craze it can take a few days, maybe up to a week for your order to ship so plan ahead. AIH is semi-local but pre-Covid a trip there cost me shopping at the mall and dinner out. Luckily for me, my daughter chose to go to a college in Indy and GF is a half block out of the way in or out of town.
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Double Post
catdaddy66
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Gotta second Morebeer (for the free shipping) and Amazon (great prices!).
I got 50# of two row and a half dozen bags of 5-10# adjuncts. Delivery was fast from both
I got 50# of two row and a half dozen bags of 5-10# adjuncts. Delivery was fast from both
@Seabee John I don't know if the prices would be better than Midwest gave you on the 55# bags, but you might also be able to get into a group buy via a local club - maybe connecting and inquiring would be worth it. For reference, through my club's group buy I ended up paying $33 for a bag of Breiss Pale and $39 for a bag of Bestmaltz Pilsner.
A lot of times your LHBS will beat any online price. On line you are getting a better "price" but paying for single unit shipping cost $$$. Your LHBS is often buying multiple sacks at wholesale and paying truck freight by the pallet which equates to a very low per sack shipping cost $ that they can pass on to you.
