Are Group Buys DEAD

[giraffeman]

What happened to the Group buys? I haven't seen any in the past few year.
Did the pandemic put a end to them? or has the cost no longer made it worth it.
I know a while back the malt distributers only wanted to sell to Brewery's or homebrew shops. Any insight from people that ran them in the past?

 

[matt_m]

The group I used to do them with hasn't done one in a long time but the last few were so light on participation I'm not sure it was worth the organizer's effort. It was a bit of a haul for me and I'm really not sure it was worth participating vs stocking up at Great Fermentations when going through Indy--savings was about $10 a bag so I'd save maybe $30 per buy, but have to drive 45 minutes each way to pick it up vs stopping 5 minutes out of the way on a trip I'd be taking anyway.

That group did them through a local brewery who tacked the bags on to their order as a gesture of good will to the brewing community.

 

[giraffeman]

Matt m I suspect you are correct just not worth the effort.
It does look like the Hobby in general has decreased in the past few years, and like you said the travel cost to pick up a few sacks, (with Gas prices so high), eat away at the savings.

So A question to others that did participate in Group Buys, where do you now get your bulk grain ?
or are you just ordering what you need for each batch .

 

[suprchunk]

I am with you! I too love to buy my grains in bulk. It has also been several years since I was able to do so. Buying for each batch takes too much effort, for me, so I've kind of slowed down.

I used to get mine locally, but they had since stopped, and I moved so wouldn't be able to participate anyway.

It seems breweries don't like doing this as much as they used to. Maybe the longer they brew the more they forget where they came from? Not that I enjoyed bothering them anyway.

I'm close-ish to you @giraffeman so if you happen upon anything let me know, and I'll do the same.

 

[TheMadKing]

I stopped participating in them because I realized that buying a 50lb sack of grain to save $10 over the course of a year+ just isn't worth the hassle of storing it, plus I prefer to use more fresh ingredients.

I just used my last bit of maris otter purchased at the end of 2020

I just don't brew enough to make it worth it really

 

[suprchunk]

I'm ramping back up, so I need more. I also buy about 20 sacks at a time, otherwise it's not worth it, as you say. Those sacks will be gone in a year.

As a test, because people seem to say it a lot, I tried some years old next to some "fresh" and they were no different. Of course I haven't been a judge for 30+ years, just a brewer, and a judge later in life, but this was after brewing for a while.

I don't think the malt you are getting "fresh" is as fresh as you think it is. Unless you have lot numbers you are looking at to verify.

I could see the argument if I was watching the guy scoop up my grains and then watch him malt it and bag it, but this stuff is sitting on docks, warehouse floors, truck floors, shipped through wet/dry, cold/hot, etc.

In other words, you rarely know the provenance of what you get. And that goes for anything you don't grow at home.

 

[garvinator70]

Matt m I suspect you are correct just not worth the effort.
It does look like the Hobby in general has decreased in the past few years, and like you said the travel cost to pick up a few sacks, (with Gas prices so high), eat away at the savings.

So A question to others that did participate in Group Buys, where do you now get your bulk grain ?
or are you just ordering what you need for each batch .

i order mine from Northern Brewer

 

[giraffeman]

I don't know what Northern brewer is up to but I can't order from them .
Some how they are blacklisting users that use a VPN . their Page loads the changes to " Restricted Access Sorry, you can't visit our page when using a VPN connection
In my option that's not a great way to do business

 

[MajorJC]

where do you now get your bulk grain ?

Delta Brewing Systems | Quality, Stainless Brewing Equipment

Free shipping for orders over $65.00. I've ordered several 50# bags of malt from them and have been happy.

Read through this thread.

 

[Airborneguy]

I used to participate in group buys arranged here in the Northeast forum. I doubt it was worthwhile as we picked up pretty far from home in South Jersey, but I met some cool people at the time.

Now keep around a sack or two of base malt (usually Maris Otter) from Brewhardware but only purchase specialty grains in groups of 3-4 batches. As I get to the last bunch, I make a new order for pickup.

Bobby convinced me in a post here: “let me store the grains for you.” The savings would be minimal anyway. I’m lucky to have his place as my LHBS.

 

[pvtpublic]

I'm lucky enough to have a maltster 20 minutes down the road. Great quality, super fresh, and excellent pricing.

 

[eliastheodosis]

In my option that's not a great way to do business

In my experience Northern Brewer seems to really excel in not doing great business these days. I wasn't ordering much from them anyway and after my last two orders didn't ship for weeks with BS excuses from them I turned elsewhere. Seems like they're going through some internal changes over the last year and I am just not attached enough to bother. Better places to buy anyway in my opinion. Dellta and Brewhardware mentioned above. Great Fermentations, Hobby Homebrew, Williams, even YVH can fill in some of the gaps when I'm placing orders. I'd rather spread the love to these guys.

 

[BAF]

Delta Brewing Systems | Quality, Stainless Brewing Equipment

Free shipping for orders over $65.00. I've ordered several 50# bags of malt from them and have been happy.

Read through this thread.

I've ordered a few sacks from them. Also yeast. I don't understand how they can sell me a sack of grain shipped for so cheap and not lose money.

The last post on the linked thread expresses concern about taking advantage of the free shipping and maybe it being a mistake on their part -- but in the email for the 15% off coupon when I signed up, they specifically called out sacks of grain (it said something like "free shipping over $65, including grain sacks!"). So just in case someone else hesitates based on that.

 

[giraffeman]

Looks like a lot of people stocked up on grain with the "Free Shipping" from Delta Brewing Systems

Delta Brewing Systems | Quality, Stainless Brewing Equipment

Free shipping for orders over $65.00. I've ordered several 50# bags of malt from them and have been happy.

Read through this thread.

I just checked and the free shipping on full sacks is still valid. That's a big + as most places that offer Free shipping don't include full sacks!