What were you looking to group buy? Grain, hops, etc? Eventually I'm hoping to make a trip to Oregon to get some Mecca Grade Estate malts. Most grains I get through from the LHBS Brewmiester. You could probably save a few bucks if you were in Concord and got them from Morebeer, but gas for a special trip from sac would eat that up pretty quick. You could ask around some of the local breweries, but unless you're pretty good friends with the owner, I doubt they will be interested in selling grain to homebrewers. On hops, you might be able to save a little money buying 11 lb bags and dividing it between a group, but i'm not sure how much. All that said, depending on the buy, I'm always interested in saving a little money
Great points.
I was looking at mostly grain.
Honestly hops are not that bad a deal cause shipping them is pretty cheap relatively.
Yes i do hit up more beer- got some family in the East Bay. But sometimes i worry about the age of the sacks in the showroom.
Brewmeister is cool- i've been to the Roseville and West Sac locations. Prefer west sac. I can sometimes get liquid yeast under two weeks old! Havent hit them up for grain bulk yet but cannot imagine it will be much cheaper than on-line.
Looking through the other threads here i see a significant savings on sacks- like $20-$40 cheaper than i can find anywhere else (and i am cheap and love to bargain hunt!!).
Add to that it is more likely fresher and it's a bonus! Not that it is a given, or makes that much difference. I would imagine more beet, northerb brewer, etc. buy by the rail-car load (or more) so their stock probably turns 1 or 2x a year.
If you went to Mecca Grade i would be in! Also i would like to try the Admiral Malt out of Alamdea. They may notwholesale to homebrewers but at least it would be fresher.
Thanks!
