Reasons to go all grain vs extract??

[mona]

I brew 10 gallon sized batches, and a bag of grain (50#) is enough for two batches for me. I buy a sack of grain for $38. http://www.ritebrew.com/product-p/801109.htm

That's 76 cents/pound.

I also buy my hops by the pound, and that is WAY cheaper as well ($8-15 per pound).

If I was going to buy dry malt extract instead of the grain, I'd need 30 pounds of dry malt extract for the same recipe to replace the 50# of grain. At $9.79 for three pounds at the same store (a great price!), that's 97.79. That's 2.5 times as much, and that's a great price.

At Northern Brewer, dry malt extract is $5 per pound! That's $180 for the extract.

So, for larger volumes, all-grain brewing is significantly cheaper.

That said, if I was brewing one gallon or three gallons once a month, I wouldn't try to economize all that much. But with the bigger sized batches, the cost savings is significant.

Even doing extract though, you can save money. You can reuse yeast (I buy yeast twice per year), buy hops by the pound and freeze, and buy some grain to replace some of the extract in a batch.

My biggest cost, though, is the grain. Paying $38 for a sack is a great bargain compared to $100-180 for extract for the same amount of fermentables.

Hello Yooper. I have followed a few threads in which you have added some info. I am a Yooper fan. So question. How do you get away from paying for shipping or are you just close enough that it does not cost as much to ship? To ship to Oregon the shipping costs were almost as much as the grain itself.

 

[Yooper]

Hello Yooper. I have followed a few threads in which you have added some info. I am a Yooper fan. So question. How do you get away from paying for shipping or are you just close enough that it does not cost as much to ship? To ship to Oregon the shipping costs were almost as much as the grain itself.

That is an issue. For me, I buy sacks of grain when I travel since I live quite "in the middle of nowhere", otherwise I do have things shipped. Sometimes places like ritebrew have very reasonable shipping (they'll break a sack into two 25 pound packages, and with the other items I think it's like $20 shipping) or I order smaller amounts until I get back to a city. I tend to go somewhere several times a year. This week, I'm going to Chicago to visit a fellow HBT friend. I'm stopping at Ritebrew to pick up 3 sacks of grain, a wine kit, and some smaller items. The 2-row I like is $38/50 pounds, so I'm getting three sacks which will last about 8 or 9 batches.

 

[brewprint]

That is an issue. For me, I buy sacks of grain when I travel since I live quite "in the middle of nowhere", otherwise I do have things shipped. Sometimes places like ritebrew have very reasonable shipping (they'll break a sack into two 25 pound packages, and with the other items I think it's like $20 shipping) or I order smaller amounts until I get back to a city. I tend to go somewhere several times a year. This week, I'm going to Chicago to visit a fellow HBT friend. I'm stopping at Ritebrew to pick up 3 sacks of grain, a wine kit, and some smaller items. The 2-row I like is $38/50 pounds, so I'm getting three sacks which will last about 8 or 9 batches.

You may as well pick up another one!