Shipping cost - 50lb sacks - Best place to buy?

[Panderson1]

Anyone know a place that does free shipping? Delta brewing used to... but finally stopped. I thought ity was crazy they would ship 200lbs of grain for free.

Now it's a 2.5 hour drive to buy "local"

 

[MaxStout]

I don't know who ships 50lb sacks free, if anyone. But if someone does they'll make up for it with a higher list price. You'll pay shipping one way or another.

Open a bunch of browser tabs and go to several vendors. Put your grain in the shopping cart for each and check price with shipping. Go with the lowest overall price.

 

[huckdavidson]

Anyone know a place that does free shipping? Delta brewing used to... but finally stopped. I thought ity was crazy they would ship 200lbs of grain for free.

Now it's a 2.5 hour drive to buy "local"

It's not crazy, there are business reasons this is done (and not done).

There are wide variances in product and shipping costs from different online providers. You'll have to make a decision on the best value for you. Of course only you know if the cost of driving to an LHBS, buying a sack and driving back can compete with the costs and "convenience" of online shops.

e.g. A 50lb sack of Briess 2 row Brewers Malt

	Briess 2 Row - Sack	Shipping	Total	Provider
RiteBrew	46​	43.42​	89.42​	UPS Ground
NB	64.99​	42.82​	107.81​	UPS Ground
MB	48.99​	29.88​	78.87​	FedEx Ground
BrewHardware	52​	89.17​	141.17​	UPS Ground
Delta	56.99​	49.09​	106.08​	UPS Ground
Great Fermentations	63.99​	78.5​	142.49​	FedEx Ground

 

[IslandLizard]

Now it's a 2.5 hour drive to buy "local"

Is the nearest, a 5 hours RT? Indeed, not for one sack, marginally worth it for 4 sacks.
Now if you can combine the trip with another purpose, or perhaps picking up (grain) orders for other homebrewers in a club or a larger, organized grain buy, it may be worth it.

We used to have a decent size grain buy, ordering 42+ sacks at a time, going for years. It was about an hour drive each way for me, and definitely worth it. I would pick up for a couple other homebrew friends too.

When that buy totally fizzled out, I have been getting my grain from one of my 2 local LHBS', 30-40' away.
She stocks a wide variety of common base malts as well as many specialty malts. I can put in an order in advance for sacks of specific malts I want, such as Weyermann's Barke malt, or Simpson's Golden Promise, etc.
[Added] My specific order will be delivered to her store with her other orders, and ready for me to pick up any time the store is open. Her per sack pricing is only a little higher than our last group buy pricing used to be 4 years ago, and I don't have to wait 6-12 months for a group buy to materialize, and feel the need to stockpile extra sacks of malt for the next 2 years, just in case.

 

[IslandLizard]

e.g. A 50lb sack of Briess 2 row Brewers Malt [...]

Pricewise, there are 2 clear winners to ship to your location!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Let's toss some yeast in the cart to get the $5 off @ $50.

Shipping cost will also vary based on location, so let's "cherry pick" a Twin Cities zip code.

$75 - 7 = $68.

Yes, London is back in stock. I ordered 5 Monday morning & received them Tuesday around noon.

 

[IslandLizard]

Let's toss some yeast in the card to get the $5 off @ $50.

Shipping cost will also vary based on location, so let's "cherry pick" a Twin Cities zip code.

Now you're close by, you could even pick up a few sacks while you're in that part of town.

 

[alestateyall]

It's not crazy, there are business reasons this is done (and not done).

There are wide variances in product and shipping costs from different online providers. You'll have to make a decision on the best value for you. Of course only you know if the cost of driving to an LHBS, buying a sack and driving back can compete with the costs and "convenience" of online shops.

e.g. A 50lb sack of Briess 2 row Brewers Malt

	Briess 2 Row - Sack	Shipping	Total	Provider
RiteBrew	46​	43.42​	89.42​	UPS Ground
NB	64.99​	42.82​	107.81​	UPS Ground
MB	48.99​	29.88​	78.87​	FedEx Ground
BrewHardware	52​	89.17​	141.17​	UPS Ground
Delta	56.99​	49.09​	106.08​	UPS Ground
Great Fermentations	63.99​	78.5​	142.49​	FedEx Ground

Ten 5 lb. bags of Briess 2-row are $72 with free shipping at Morebeer.

 

[huckdavidson]

Pricewise, there's are 2 clear winners to ship to your location!

True, but there's more in the implication of those shipping costs (vendor discounts, etc...) than what meets the eye.

Ten 5 lb. bags of Briess 2-row are $72 with free shipping at Morebeer.

Exactly, though that would most likely be FedEx Economy vs Ground.

 

[IslandLizard]

True, but there's more in the implication of those shipping costs (vendor discounts, etc...) than what meets the eye.

There are vendor discounts on sacks of malt/grain?
Sacks of grain are generally exempt from vendor discounts, like "free shipping on orders above $nn."

 

[huckdavidson]

There are vendor discounts on sacks of malt/grain?
Sacks of grain are generally exempt from vendor discounts, like "free shipping on orders above $nn."

What I'm saying is that MoreBeer, in the example above receives a large (volume) discount from FedEx for shipping with FedEx and it's reflected in the shipping costs they pass on to you.

UPS does the same.

How much of those discount savings is passed on to the consumer is a business matter.

The 10 bags vs. 1 sack example, while it has different shipping service, Economy vs. Ground, most likely has different box sizes and therefore different "dimensional weights" affecting the final shipping charge.

 

[MaxStout]

Pricewise, there are 2 clear winners to ship to your location!

Especially considering his location is "at sea."

 

[Yesfan]

Ten 5 lb. bags of Briess 2-row are $72 with free shipping at Morebeer.

This is what I've been doing. Instead of getting a full sack, I'll get 20-30 lbs and some other odd ball items to nail the free shipping.

My nearest LHBS is about 1.5hrs away. I may check their prices and see if picking up extra sacks is worth the drive vs having it delivered from an online retailer like More Beer. The cheapest option has always been group buys within my brew club.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Anyone know a place that does free shipping? Delta brewing used to... but finally stopped. I thought ity was crazy they would ship 200lbs of grain for free.

Now it's a 2.5 hour drive to buy "local"

Local breweries are usually a pretty safe bet.

 

[Steveruch]

This is what I've been doing. Instead of getting a full sack, I'll get 20-30 lbs and some other odd ball items to nail the free shipping.

My nearest LHBS is about 1.5hrs away. I may check their prices and see if picking up extra sacks is worth the drive vs having it delivered from an online retailer like More Beer. The cheapest option has always been group buys within my brew club.

Last year I got a 55 lb bag of Crisp #19 floor malted maris otter for $66 in a brew club group buy.

 

[MaxStout]

Local breweries are usually a pretty safe bet.

Make friends with the head brewer at your nearby brewery. Ask if you can piggyback a few sacks of malt on their next order.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Make friends with the head brewer at your nearby brewery. Ask if you can piggyback a few sacks of malt on their next order.

I asked one of my local brewery owners and he wasn't too keen on the idea. He told me something along the lines of breweries are (or can be) audited by the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control on what they purchase wholesale. I think(?) it had something to do with them checking the stated abv vs. actual abv. Never really made sense to me, though I may not have all the facts. Or maybe it's just a California thing?

 

[MaxStout]

I asked one of my local brewery owners and he wasn't too keen on the idea. He told me something along the lines of breweries are (or can be) audited by the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control on what they purchase wholesale. I think(?) it had something to do with them checking the stated abv vs. actual abv. Never really made sense to me, though I may not have all the facts. Or maybe it's just a California thing?

That's interesting and I have heard about the malt purchase audit thing before. I thought that was urban legend, but it could vary state by state.

I do know it's not an issue in MN, as a brewer gave me several sacks of grain he wasn't going to use, and ended up giving about a half pallet to a hog farmer for feed. IIRC, the brewer needed some sacks of wheat malt but was required to purchase a minimum amount of grain from his supplier (BSG), so he had to order more Pilsner and 2-row than he needed. Even if there was a state audit of purchases, a brewer could probably write off a certain amount due to excess inventory, spoilage, etc.

But being California, I wouldn't be surprised if they did check receipts. In which case, your brewer may have a valid point. Or he didn't want to bother and fed you a fish story.

Does the brewery package for retail distribution? The scrutiny goes up in that case. Breweries here that only sell in taprooms can get by just with ABV calcs based on OG/FG, much like we do.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Does the brewery package for retail distribution? The scrutiny goes up in that case. Breweries here that only sell in taprooms can get by just with ABV calcs based on OG/FG, much like we do.

Yes, they do. They can their beer for sale at the brewery, and also for sale in a couple local shops.

Since the time he told me that he also bought, and is now running, our LHBS. But the retail shop was actually secondary, as it also has a 10 barrel system on-site, (original owner did contract brewing there), and he purchased it to expand brewing capacity since his small-ish brewery has more demand than capacity allowed for.

 

[Bobby_M]

Anyone know a place that does free shipping? Delta brewing used to... but finally stopped. I thought ity was crazy they would ship 200lbs of grain for free.

Now it's a 2.5 hour drive to buy "local"

What is your location?

 

[beersk]

I asked one of my local brewery owners and he wasn't too keen on the idea. He told me something along the lines of breweries are (or can be) audited by the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control on what they purchase wholesale. I think(?) it had something to do with them checking the stated abv vs. actual abv. Never really made sense to me, though I may not have all the facts. Or maybe it's just a California thing?

I've gotten this line of BS too. I don't know how they can prove anything damaging, but I guess they are just making sure they don't get into hot water. My homebrew club gets a group buy through a local brewery, so I don't know why some breweries are so anxious about it.

 

[Bobby_M]

I've gotten this line of BS too. I don't know how they can prove anything damaging, but I guess they are just making sure they don't get into hot water. My homebrew club gets a group buy through a local brewery, so I don't know why some breweries are so anxious about it.

Whether that particular line is BS or not, you can't just whatever away the accounting hassle. If you're buying an extra $1000 worth of grain on your order (which goes down on your books as COGs) and reduces your profit "on the books" and then you take cash payment from someone on the loading dock (unreported income), you can see how they might not see the value in that from an IRS audit perspective. Of course, they could take that payment and report it as income, but then is it legal for them to act as a retailer for anything other than beer and merch? Word gets out, they lose their license for being nice guys.

 

[govner1]

Delta Brewing has a sale with free shipping on all malts-
Flash Sale: Free Shipping on All Malt at Delta Brewing!

 

[Yesfan]

Delta Brewing has a sale with free shipping on all malts-
Flash Sale: Free Shipping on All Malt at Delta Brewing!

Not a lot of full sacks to choose from (if any). I was only able to walk away with 20lbs of Pilsen and 4 oz of Hallertaur Mittlefruh hops. Good news is you don't have to spend $65+ to get the free shipping. Saved $26 shipping.

Thanks for the link!

 

[IslandLizard]

Not a lot of full sacks to choose from (if any). I was only able to walk away with 20lbs of Pilsen and 4 oz of Hallertaur Mittlefruh hops. Good news is you don't have to spend $65+ to get the free shipping. Saved $26 shipping.

With some (most?) of the smaller plastic bags shown, you can select 50# or 55# in the dropdown.
Chances are those will be sent as whole brewer sacks, but you can ask.
Some are indeed out of stock, though.

Just make sure you don't end up with 55# of a single crystal malt...

 

[Carolina_Matt]

When I got the email, I click on the link and saw some nice deals on base malts. An hour or two later they were all out of stock for the full sacks. Hopefully some of you were able to get some!

I still have about 90 lbs of Briess base malt from when they originally had free shipping over a year ago, so I'm set for a while longer.

 

[Yesfan]

With some (most?) of the smaller plastic bags shown, you can select 50# or 55# in the dropdown.
Chances are those will be sent as whole brewer sacks, but you can ask.
Some are indeed out of stock, though.

Just make sure you don't end up with 55# of a single crystal malt...

I was hoping to get 4-5 ten pound bags of Briess pilsen since I couldn't get the 50lb sack. 2 bags was all I could order.

Eh, maybe next time.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

Late to the party but Label Peelers has always treated me well. They went so far as to give me a courtesy call when I ordered some small tapered corks that we use for bottling our Limoncello along with some standard 750 ml wine bottles.

Shipping is cheap for me and typically next day due to proximity.

 

[beren]

Local breweries are usually a pretty safe bet.

If they want to cooperate.