MaryB
Well-Known Member
YIKES that has gone up since I last ordered it 4 months ago! $10 higher from NB who is my cheapest source when you add in shipping...
I just bought some at my LHBS and it was $2.79/lb which floored me. I had ideas of making a 100% Golden Promise beer but ended up buying only 10 lbs of it. I know that it is imported which drives the price but to make a 5 gallon batch using only GP would cost well over $40.00 in grain alone.
Many LHBS will sell whole sacks at a much better price than they sell per pound. Not rock bottom, but more appetizing. Some breweries will sell grain.
Chicago area has a large group buy...
Have you checked RiteBrew.com? I get some malts from them I can't get anywhere else, like Oat Malt. I get 20# or so. Their pricing and shipping is quite OK, much better than NB <ugh>.
Morebeer will ship grain for free if you order them in 10# increments and you exceed their minimum of $59. See if that's a better deal.
I got sack of GP from Ritebrew and wasn't happy, stuff was filthy, dusty, full of stems and trash, different brand than (ugh) NB sells
I got sack of GP from Ritebrew and wasn't happy, stuff was filthy, dusty, full of stems and trash, different brand than (ugh) NB sells
I looked at Northern Brewer's per pound listing for Golden Promise and compared it to Rite Brew and found there to be a difference of (shock) $1.34 per pound. That could pay for a lot of shipping and I've found Rite Brew to be pretty cheap on shipping.
It will depend on where you are, but for me it's almost $29 for shipping a $60, 55# sack from RiteBrew. The price for the sack is very reasonable, but to obtain it runs $89. For 2 sacks it doubles.
Otherwise, yeah, RiteBrew has very decent shipping on most items, it's my go to place.
So glad we have this group buy here. And my #1 LHBS isn't really gouging on sacks of grain either, they just have a different choice of maltsters.
I should check with them what a sack of that oat malt is gonna run me, it's just a lot of oat malt to have on hand. I use up that GP much quicker.
Morebeer is cheaper and if you spend $59, shipping is free. 10 lb sack is $16.69.
I will try Ritebrew one more time... if the GP is full of trash I will go back to NB Simpsons GP which is usually very clean.That last bag was dirty enough it affected the flavor of the beer... I could screen it but then I am paying for dust and dirt and labor to clean it...
Morebeer is cheaper and if you spend $59, shipping is free. 10 lb sack is $16.69.
Group buys are definitely the cheapest way to go if you can use 55 # of grain. I prefer buying in 10# bags. Morebeers price is still over a dollar cheaper per pound than NB and shipping is free if you order $59. By the time I drive to my LHBS I spent $4-5 in gas plus an hour of my time.
Price it by the bulk bag, it is far more expensive 10 pounds at a time. Since a bulk bag is 3 batches of my house ale plus 7 pounds it only lasts 6 weeks at best... And two 5 gallon kegs of my house ale MIGHT last 2 weeks...
Sounds like you need a 55# sack. It would last me over 2 years
Just throwing in my 2¢.
My LHBS sells TF Golden Promise at 3.95 CAD/kg (1.80CDN/lb) or $69CDN/sack.
How I buy it, 55 pounds every 6 weeks or so LOL and a 50 pound sack of Victory once a year, 50 pounds of 2-row for IPA's, 55 pounds of Belgian Pilsner for Belgian ales... I have 12 5 gallon buckets of various malts, 2 of them hold 10 pounds of specialty malts like UK Extra Dark Crystal(160l)
Just throwing in my 2¢.
My LHBS sells TF Golden Promise at 3.95 CAD/kg (1.80CDN/lb) or $69CDN/sack.
YIKES that has gone up since I last ordered it 4 months ago! $10 higher from NB who is my cheapest source when you add in shipping...
Prices on things go up over time. Thats life. Gas isnt $1.12 a gallon anymore. Im lucky that I live a couple miles from a NB so no shipping. But heres a NB tip. Buy the gift cards when they do the get $20 when you buy a $100 card. Then buy sacks when they do a 20% off your order or one item sale. Ive only paid w gift cards at NB for a good year and a half. It came up when there and the local guys didnt care at all. They said - thats smart.
That sack price is more like it!
This thread reminds me of why we no longer grow malting barley on our farm. Cash prices in this region are currently around $7.00/cwt ($.07/lb). A 55 lb bag of malt would contain $3.85 worth of barley. The rest is processing, packaging, transportation, and markup.
Seven cents a pound, with average yields, is almost a break even proposition. Planting a crop which has almost no chance of showing a profit is known as "recreational agriculture". Good for an investor looking for a tax shelter, not so good for a full time, for profit farm.
Mark
I need to make the 250 mile round rip into the Twin Cities and do a bulk buy... maybe in Dec when I have some money coming in...grab 6 sacks of GP, 2 victory, 2 2 row... Simpsons GP blows away the others I have tried. Ordered 10 pounds from Ritebrew to see if quality was any better... still looked like bottom of the grain silo sweepings... dusty, dirty and full of debris. Pass! I cleaned it best I could and lost 1/2 pound to trash.
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