Local homebrew shop closing it's doors. What now?

[Skyphoxx]

My local HBS is closing in two weeks... PERMANENTLY

I know of Northern Brewer, and I like that they have low cost shipping and can order many grain bills that they'll even mill for you, but there's a problem.

I'm a 1Gal brewer. I have plenty of all grain equipment for full and half batches, but I've turned to 1 gallon brewing by choice.

Northern Brewer allows me to order grains in either full pounds or ounces, but I can't use that. My next batch uses 1lb 10.5oz of Wheat malt. If they mill 2 pounds, it's not like I can siphon off 3.5oz accurately and a grain mill is expensive. I also need 0.12lb of rice hulls, again not an option with Northern Brewer.

Are there ANY other online retailers that allow for other than round amounts of grain? I've been brewing almost a decade. 1 gallon every 2/3 weeks. This puts a serious dent in my hobby/religion.

 

[atom]

buy a scale?

a grain mill may seem expensive, but being able to buy bulk and mill what you need is great. you'll probably get better efficiency as a bonus. now that you'll have to pay shipping costs...buying bulk and milling your own should be even more attractive.

you could always buy a corona style mill...they run like $20-$30 i think.

 

[Skyphoxx]

Thanks atom. I have a digital kitchen scale, but with mills STARTING at $100, this isn't an answer for me.

 

[atom]

Thanks atom. I have a digital kitchen scale, but with mills STARTING at $100, this isn't an answer for me.

corona mill.

 

[lump42]

You might want to check out the sponsor's section. There are several ingredient suppliers that support this forum.

 

[troglodytes]

I have switched all of my purchasing, save last minute necessities, to Farmhouse Brewing Supply. I purchase enough grain/hops for my next three batches at a time. With their reasonable shipping and their very well packed hops (@ 4 oz or 1 lb increments) I average about $22 per batch for < 1.060 batches.

 

[Aristotelian]

I also started with 1 gallon batches (now I am up to 2 gallons), but I still do most of my ordering online. Even though I have a local shop, I just don't have time to get in the car and spend an afternoon getting supplies. (I am basically the reason your shop is closing down).

Because of shipping costs, you just aren't going to be able to get supplies down to the ounce for each recipe. You are going to have to stock up and get used to brewing based on what you have in your closet. I usually get about 20 lb of base malt - two row in the fall when I am doing APA's and IPA's, pilsner when I am Belgians, etc, and one or two adjuncts that I can use in different recipes. Also order versatile hops in bulk. Harvest your yeast strains and keep them in your fridge. Keep an inventory as well as a shopping list at all times so you know what you have and don't forget items when it is time to place your next order.

Once you start approaching your recipes and supplies this way, you are inevitably going to need a grain mill, but I am getting by just fine with a $30 Corona knockoff.

My favorite vendor currently is homebrewsupply.com. $6.99 flat rate shipping, and they have regular sitewide 15% discounts.

 

[mucci2k]

If you have certain brews that you duplicate a lot you can get a 5 gallon grain bill and split and freeze the grains into 5 batches.

-or-

buy and freeze individual milled grains by the pound.

 

[Solidsnake]

You could try emailing Northern brewer and see if they will fulfill your orders. Homebrewsupply.com has a recipe creator that will let you input grain in Lb's or Oz's. it will also send your created recipe to the shopping cart with the converted grain amounts to LB's for example 1Lb 10.5 oz of wheat malt is 1.6562 Lb's. They also offer the same flat rate shipping as Northern brewer does. I hope that helps.

 

[Skyphoxx]

So did some muddling around and found that Homebrewsupply.com DOES allow you to order even 0.12oz or rice hulls for a penny!

The only issue being their site doesn't allow you to attribute items to a specific grain bill. So if I wanted to get 5 grain bills of all different recipes, I'm not sure how they'd handle it. I tried calling but no answer, so I'll email. Either way, I may have my answer. Sure, I'll be ordering a few batches worth at a time to save on shipping, but at least I'll be able to order only what I need PER batch.

 

[Jaybird]

My local HBS is closing in two weeks... PERMANENTLY

I know of Northern Brewer, and I like that they have low cost shipping and can order many grain bills that they'll even mill for you, but there's a problem.

I'm a 1Gal brewer. I have plenty of all grain equipment for full and half batches, but I've turned to 1 gallon brewing by choice.

Northern Brewer allows me to order grains in either full pounds or ounces, but I can't use that. My next batch uses 1lb 10.5oz of Wheat malt. If they mill 2 pounds, it's not like I can siphon off 3.5oz accurately and a grain mill is expensive. I also need 0.12lb of rice hulls, again not an option with Northern Brewer.

Are there ANY other online retailers that allow for other than round amounts of grain? I've been brewing almost a decade. 1 gallon every 2/3 weeks. This puts a serious dent in my hobby/religion.

We sell all our grain by the OZ if it helps at all. You can always add to the next OZ and just leave us comments that you would like 10.5 oz not the entire 11 oz we are happy to do that for you..

Cheers
Jay

 

[bbriscoe]

What now???

You fill the hole in the market by opening your own LHBS and start making $$$

 

[Bobby_M]

They probably went out of business because after labor costs your recipe actually made them - 5% profit. I'm kind of kidding but get yourself a small scale and portion off of whatever smallest increment the vendor offers. I sell specialty grains in 4oz and base malt at 1lb. Btw, rice hulls don't need precision. Measure in handfuls.

 

[Homercidal]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0038NPJVG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Surely you can afford to invest in this mill and make buying grains a bit easier.

 

[SGTSparty]

My LHBS (Adventures in Homebrewing) does online ordering and shipping (though I can't speak to rates) and they offer fractional pounds of grains.

Additionally they have a oz to pounds in decimal form on their ordering page. When you place orders your can specify if you want all your grains milled vs. whole and if you'd like them all bagged together or separate. I've done online ordering and then picked up from the store and they've been awesome. Also IMHO they have great customer service so if you called them prior to ordering they'd probably help w/ any issues.

I started as a 1 gallon AG brewer and while you initially get some quizzical looks they were really good about helping me out. That was in person but I'd imagine they'd be just as accommodating to you online/by phone.

 

[brew703]

So did some muddling around and found that Homebrewsupply.com DOES allow you to order even 0.12oz or rice hulls for a penny!

The only issue being their site doesn't allow you to attribute items to a specific grain bill. So if I wanted to get 5 grain bills of all different recipes, I'm not sure how they'd handle it. I tried calling but no answer, so I'll email. Either way, I may have my answer. Sure, I'll be ordering a few batches worth at a time to save on shipping, but at least I'll be able to order only what I need PER batch.

You can email Homebrewsupply and they are pretty quick about responding. I have ordered from them several times but I don't think they package by the ounce. If you use the recipe builder they will round up, at least that's how it works for my orders. I do have a mill and scale so it's not an issue.

I'm sure you can email them and specify you only need x amt of x grain and they will fill that for you.

Also, they normally package each grain separately so all you need to do is weigh out the amount you need.
Also, their grain crush is great.

 

[PGEduardo]

If they mill 2 pounds, it's not like I can siphon off 3.5oz accurately and a grain mill is expensive. I also need 0.12lb of rice hulls, again not an option with Northern Brewer.

Get a cheap small kitchen scale with an appropriate dynamic range and you can measure out these amount all day long. The only issue would be if they mixed the grains together, but as long as they don't do that you're golden. Totally a non-issue IMO. How do you handle hop addition measurements now?

The thing I would worry about is getting yeast in the summer!

 

[ThufirHawat]

My LHBS is an hour and a half away (how local is that?) so I often need to order my grains on line. I've had no difficulty with measuring using an old kitchen scale I got at the thrift store. Honestly, I enjoy the prep work on brew day so I woudn't have it any other way.

 

[jimboj79]

Keystone Homebrew allows very small
Fractions to be added to your cart and you can assign them different batch numbers.... Not sure what shipping looks like as they are local to me always pick up...

 

[brewbama]

Give Rebel Brewer a call. I'll bet they'll work with you....and they ship fast!