Do most LHBS......

[Happydad1689]

I am in Canada, Southern Ontario and we have one store in the area. It sells grains in 5lb and 1lb bags.

Over Christmas I visited my inlaws in York, PA and visited a HBS and was amazed to see grain etc sold by the lb and oz. Like a bulk food store.....

Do most HBS do this? I ask because some recipes call for 2oz of this and 8 oz of something else.....In the end I would have a lot of grains sitting around going stale. I would love to have a store that would sell by weight.

How do you purchase your supplies?

 

[LLBeanJ]

My experience is only with the few that I've used in my local area, but yeah, they are all weigh-it-and-bag-it-and-crush-it-yourself type operations. The scales read out in 0.00 lbs, so I buy exactly what I need for each recipe.

 

[user 30639]

My experience is only with the few that I've used in my local area, but yeah, they are all weigh-it-and-bag-it-and-crush-it-yourself type operations. The scales read out in 0.00 lbs, so I buy exactly what I need for each recipe.

That's how mine are. If I need a pound of one grain, 8 oz of another and 4 oz of a third grain, they'll weight it it all out and crush it for me.

 

[Jaybird]

We have a fairly good size grain room in my store and we let anyone who wants to go in and measure themselves and crush themselves. Yes everything can be had by the ounce the # or the bag..

Cheers
Jay

 

[Teromous]

My LHBS does it by the pound but if you're having your recipe crushed at the store they will measure it out and re-seal your bag. (at least that's the way they used to do it...it's been a while since I've had them crush my recipe)

 

[fivepointslow]

I walk in my stores grain room and gather what I need and put it in the grinder. When I check out I tell them what I got and pay basically by the oz. works out good.

 

[feinbera]

Bulk bins (barrels for base malts), a big scoop, and one of those old hanging produce scales at my LHBS.

Pre-bagging sounds like a lot of work for the store owner/employees to give the customers a worse experience...

 

[mkyl428]

I go to the LHBS & hand them my exact grain bill for whatever I'm brewing they weigh it out & mill it for me at no cost & I only pay for what I need, they even double mill it for my BIAB.

 

[ruger988]

My local one sells by the pound or oz, but weigh it out and crush for you, there are a lot of dumb people in my area, I totally understand why they do it this way.

Next closest one (hour away) lets you weigh everything out (lb or oz again) but they still mill for you, something about being afraid of people breaking their mill.... again with the dumb people I suppose.

 

[Happydad1689]

Man. I'm jealous.

 

[MaxStout]

All 3 LHBS near me have DIY grain rooms. Grain in bins with scoops, digital scales, mill, and lots of different sized plastic bags. You write down what you have on a slip of paper and bring it all up front to pay. They don't have the time or resources to fill everyone's grain orders. But I've never seen any customers leave a mess.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

in most cases the LHB shop will pull the recipe and mill it for you and give it to you all in one bag for your brew, that might be your best bet

 

[BeefsBeer]

My stores will sell granis in ounces and hops in fractions of ounces. Whatever my recipe states

 

[MaddBaggins]

My LHBS sells what ever you need. They let you get your own, crush it yourself or they'll do it for you. 17yrs of brewing an I've bought all of my ingredients from them.

leaf hops are sold by the ounce but pellets can be purchased in fractions.

 

[broncosmoker]

All around have it DIY or call it in and they will do it. Everything is bulk and you can buy by the pound or ounces. They all have a virtual bag as well, where you pay x amount of money for 50#'s up front and they just keep subtracting it out of you "bag".

Like Jaybird (I see you and your stogie toys) more have gone to actual grain rooms for containment. With a nice turnover of grains in our area, grains are fresh.

If you have to buy larger ones for just a little grain, I would buy little vaults or 2-7 gallon buckets with gamma lids for sealing.

I couldn't imagine buying 1 or 5# bags as I would go through it quickly and lots of them. I am at the point now I will be buying 50# bags of my bases and crushing them myself as soon as my mill gets here. For some brands that the LHBS doesn't carry, and some of the breweries use, I can buy full bags from them. It pays off to make relationships with contacts.

 

[RM-MN]

The local place where I can walk it to purchase brewing supplies has no mill and a paltry few grains to choose from, all uncrushed in one pound bags. They might have a couple liquid yeasts on hand but no real selection. I sort of envy those of you with real LHBS's.

 

[vincentAlpha]

My new local does weigh it all out, my old one used to use pre-bagged only but often if the items were not going to see heavy use in a single recipe you could get it in pretty small amounts, eg. roast barley used to come in 100g bags which lasted me only 1 or two batches depending.

 

[catdaddy66]

That's how mine are. If I need a pound of one grain, 8 oz of another and 4 oz of a third grain, they'll weight it it all out and crush it for me.

Mine does this.

To the OP, I think if yours isn't then ask the manager/owner if they would be willing to provide the service.

 

[clone63]

I am in Canada, Southern Ontario and we have one store in the area. It sells grains in 5lb and 1lb bags.

Over Christmas I visited my inlaws in York, PA and visited a HBS and was amazed to see grain etc sold by the lb and oz. Like a bulk food store.....

Do most HBS do this? I ask because some recipes call for 2oz of this and 8 oz of something else.....In the end I would have a lot of grains sitting around going stale. I would love to have a store that would sell by weight.

How do you purchase your supplies?

You can buy grains??? OOoo Jealous.

I can buy my wort pre-made in a box.

 

[user 30639]

Both the ones in my area will either let you weigh it out yourself, or they'll scoop, weigh and mill for you.

 

[VT-NAV]

I am in Canada, Southern Ontario and we have one store in the area. It sells grains in 5lb and 1lb bags.

Over Christmas I visited my inlaws in York, PA and visited a HBS and was amazed to see grain etc sold by the lb and oz. Like a bulk food store.....

Do most HBS do this? I ask because some recipes call for 2oz of this and 8 oz of something else.....In the end I would have a lot of grains sitting around going stale. I would love to have a store that would sell by weight.

How do you purchase your supplies?

I'm lucky enough to have 2 LHBS nearby in Norfolk, Virginia.

One is a dedicated homebrew shop, and with the exception of rare specialty grains like Blackprinz, they measure out your grain bill from the bins exactly to your specifications. They'll also crush it for you in the back of the store. This shop seems to sell a ton of grain and fewer extract kits (custom kits / recipes).

The other store is a rather large specialty hobby shop catering to a wine, cider, brewing, cake decoration, baking supplies, and party supplies. Much like you describe, they only sell grains in 1, 5, and 10 pound bags. If you need a fractional amount, you just have to buy an extra pound. After buying the grain, you can measure it out and crush it yourself. This shop seems to move a huge amount of brewer's best extract kits and less grain.

Ironically, the price per pound of grain at the general hobby shop is significantly lower than at the shop dedicated mainly to brewing. Despite having to buy extra specialty grains, I actually pay less overall than if I buy at the other store that measures in exact amounts. Plus, I get to crush it myself. Some might see that as a chore, but I like having the freedom to crush it to my exact specifications rather than rely on someone else to do it for me. One big plus for the the brewing shop is that it has a better and fresher selection of liquid yeasts.

Anyway, my usual routine is to buy grains at the hobby shop, and then swing by the brewing shop on my way home to get the yeast.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Ironically, the price per pound of grain at the general hobby shop is significantly lower than at the shop dedicated mainly to brewing. Despite having to buy extra specialty grains, I actually pay less overall than if I buy at the other store that measures in exact amounts.

Not really surprising. The dedicated brew shop needs to get a survivable margin from everything they sell which is limited with malt/grains/yeast/hops/carboys, a few books and maybe kegs and CO2.

The hobby shop can get their nut on $60 cake decorating kits- having grains on hand means brewers will come in and maybe buy more expensive things while they're there.