Good deal?

[head]

I came across someone selling 2 50# bags of Carafoam and 2 50# bags of caramel 120 L for $20. They come crushed. Is this as good a deal as it seems to me?

And what's the best use for these grains? I'm a newb with all-grain, I've only done one Imperial stout.

Thanks!

 

[cmybeer]

If it were a base grain I'd say go for it but seeing that it is pre-crushed caramel malt I'd stay away from it. I don't know your brewing schedule but that just seems like way to much of that malt for me. Let's say on average you use a pound of caramel malt per five gallons, that means it will take roughly 50 batches to go through that and I think the best way to store grain is uncrushed.

 

[StoneHands]

That's a lot of crushed specialty grains, you wouldn't use a whole lot of either one in your standard homebrew recipe. It would take me a LONG time to go through all of that. If it's crushed already, it may not be worth using after a while. If it was crushed bags of base malt, it would probably be worth it. Crushed bags of specialty malt, maybe not.

 

[mojo_wire]

The problem is that those are not base malts, so you are only going to use a couple pounds max for a 5 gallon batch.

As long as they are stored well (cool/dry) they will last a while, but it will take a really long time to go through 200 pounds of that stuff. Some people claim crush grains absolutely have to be used in a few days, other say it can store just fine for a year or more. But that's so much specialty malt to have on hand it's probably not worth the hassle at any price.

 

[cmybeer]

Both of those are specialty malts that add in both body and head retention. Depending on the style I usually toss in about 10% which even some people think is high.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/briess-caramel-120-l.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-ingredients/grain-malts/weyermann-carafoam.html

 

[kh54s10]

As already stated, those are not base malts. You would use at most a couple of pounds of each in a typical 5 gallon brew. It would take me many years to use all that grain.

Also, being already crushed seriously lessens the shelf life. You would want to use these grains within a couple of months at the longest.

So, that is not really a good deal.

On the other hand, if you had a couple of hundred friends who were willing to split the price???

 

[beergolf]

Another way to look at it is. If youare only paying $20 for all that grain, then if you use more than 20 - 25 lbs you are ahead, even if you toss a lot of it.

If there any other brewers near you and you can split it then you are even farther ahead.