Suggestions Please (bulk purchases)

[MississippiSlim]

I live a couple hours from a LHBS and find mail order a PITA. I want to basically buy in bulk so that I will at all times have ingredients for a spur of the moment brew day. Wanting some ideas of the basics that would be the most bang for the buck/ storage area. What grains/hops/ yeasts could I keep on hand that would cover the most recipes. I know some two row but really thinking what specialty grains I need in semi bulk. Suggestions???

 

[Bensiff]

Complete depends on what you like to brew. I buy Weyerman pilsen and Gambrinus 2-row by the sack and then supplement the rest as needed. If you do a lot of German beers keeping Munich in bulk would be good or wheat if you like wheat beers. Then multiple pounds of your favorite crystal malts, Vienna, etc may be a good idea as well. Of course, this is all assuming you can mill your own. If you can't then I would recommend not buying more than you will use in a month or two.

Yeast, find a "house" yeast that you will use for the bulk of your brews and get good at handling it and you will be able to use it for multiple generations. Or use dry yeast.

Hops, again, whatever you brew buy in bulk. There are a few good online retailers that specialize in hops and it is a huge cost savings compared to LHBS per oz prices. I personally keep CTZ, Simcoe, Cascade, Amarillo, Hallertau, Saaz, and some random other stuff on hand in bulk so I can cover most of what I regularly brew easily.

 

[MrTheKing]

It depends, what do you typically like to brew?

For me, I load up on 2-row, Centennial and Cascade I tend to tear through so I buy those in bulk, and have just been washing 1056 for most all my beers. Everything else changes frequently enough, I may end up buying some Crystal down the line - but it's easier for me to just hit the LHBS right next to work and pickup whatever specialty grains I need for that day.

 

[MississippiSlim]

Yeh, I guess I have been all over the place as far as what I brew but typically brew alot of ambers, some IPA's, lawnmower ales, the occasional Enlish Brown. Maybe a porter or stout a couple times a year. I guess I am trying to get a bill of materials together to make a purcchase that would last me for say ten or so brews.

 

[a6ladd]

I keep 50# sacks of pale, pilsner, munich, wheat and maris on hand. I need to start keeping a bag of caramel 60 or 40 around too For the hops I like have a few pounds of Saaz, Centennial, Fuggle, and a few other mismatched 1oz-2oz bags around. I usually keep a few pints of washed yeast around too (American Ale, British Ale, Irish Ale). I find that with a little bit of additional crystal malt from the LHBS I can make almost any kind of beer I want

 

[MississippiSlim]

So looking at some past recipes that I plan on repeating, this is what I have used:

2 row, Maris Otter, Wheat, Biscuit,Honey, Cara pils, Cara 20, Caramalt, Cara 80, Special B, Chocolate, Cara 10, Special roast, Golden promise, Munich, Black malt, Peated malt, Medium crystal, flaked Barley, roasted barley

Hops:
Cluster, Fuggles, EKG, Cascade, Citra, Tettnang, Hersbrucker, saaz, Brewers Gold, Simcoe, Amarillo

Yeast:
S-04, S-05, Notty, Munich, Windsor, S-33, Wyeast 1762

So I guess I am asking what of these can I not get but have something in my stock to substitute ok....

 

[Nightshade]

Pale, Wheat, 40L, 60L, 80L, caramalt 45L (if I can find it) Dextrin, Black Barley, Chocolate, Rice Hulls and a variety of hops is what we keep on hand here.

Not a complete list but a fair idea, we brew Amber, Porter, Hefe and IPA regularly and use 1007 and 1968 yeast strains.

 

[MississippiSlim]

I am thinking for my first bulk purchase:
50# 2 row or Pale
50# Wheat
50# Maris Otter

A couple few pounds each of: 60L, 80L, Chocolate, special B, Biscuit, some rice hulls, some flaked and roasted barley

Hops: Citra, Cascade, EKG, Tettnang, Simcoe, Amarillo

Yeast: Notty, S-33, Munich, W-1762

Comments, suggestions??

 

[a6ladd]

+1 on the bulk bags, those are very useful and extremely versatile. If you can afford to spend a few extra bucks I'd recommend throwing in some pilsner for those lighter beers (if you're into that kind of thing), or maybe two bags of pale/2 row. The Maris Otter is a great sub for Golden Promise, IMHO. Great choice on smaller amounts of the crystal malts.

Those hops sound tasty to me

If you are thinking about have yeast on hand I would recommend sticking mainly to dry yeast, unless you are going to wash/slant your yeast, mainly because of shelf life. Fermentis' yeast covers a great spectrum of yeast strains but I enjoy a lot of Wyeast/White Labs products so I try to go the extra mile and wash my yeasts when I am done so I can use a little more complex strain regularly.

 

[MississippiSlim]

Probably keep some notty on hand and when I really have the need for a special yeast I will either drive and get it or mail order then definitely wash and re use on upcoming beer. I have been repitching over yeast cakes lately also. I see I can get Willamette and Cascade by the pound for cheap right now at nikobrew! Looks like thats my hops choice! Probably get some Citra at my LHBS. I will be getting my bulk grain from him since he is as cheap as mail order on bulk. Plus he is a great guy just too far from me.

 

[a6ladd]

I know exactly how you feel. The closest home brewing store to me is about 3 hours away. Im forced to do most of my ordering online

 

[TopherM]

I keep two-row, wheat, and pilsner on hand, along with plenty of hallertau, 3068 yeast, and S-05 packets. If I take the time to plan a brew, I swing by the LHBS for speacialty grains, yeast, and hops. If I brew impulsively, I typically make a basic 50/50 Hefewiezen and grab some flavoring agents from the organic food market two blocks from my place. That way, I can have a beer grain to glass in about 2-3 weeks on a whim if I want, but also save $$$ on most of my recipes with the bulk two-row.

 

[Ramitt]

I see I can get Willamette and Cascade by the pound for cheap right now at nikobrew! Looks like thats my hops choice! .

That is not a bad combo.

 

[MississippiSlim]

Just ordered a pound of each!

 

[mikescooling]

I keep 50# sacks of pale, pilsner, munich, wheat and maris on hand. I need to start keeping a bag of caramel 60 or 40 around too For the hops I like have a few pounds of Saaz, Centennial, Fuggle, and a few other mismatched 1oz-2oz bags around. I usually keep a few pints of washed yeast around too (American Ale, British Ale, Irish Ale). I find that with a little bit of additional crystal malt from the LHBS I can make almost any kind of beer I want

That is one heck of a good list. I 2nd all that stuff. Don't forget a grain mill and the stuff to keep using the yeast, stir plate ect...

 

[a6ladd]

I love my grain mill and stir plate, very useful

 

[JJL]

Bensiff really has it correct. You can't buy a lot of stuff in bulk until you narrow what it is you like to brew. If you just want to have all your bases covered, you aren't really going to be able to buy much more than a sack of 2-row, pilsner, and/or maris otter. You might be able to buy a bunch of packs of US-05 and maybe S-23 dry yeast, and possibly a clean bittering hop like Magnum. You could wash yeast, but then you really have to plan your brewing so you can wash yeast and make starters.

Personally, I've recently gotten to the point where I've been brewing long enough to know that I have a preference for German and English style beers. I do brew other things from time to time, but these are the core styles that I like. So, I've started buying sacks of MO and Pilsner malts. I have a bunch of Hallertau and EKG hops. I'm thinking about buying some bulk Munich. Everything else, I just pick up as I need it. If I really want to brew something completely different, I'll go to someplace like Brewmasters Warehouse and just build the recipe I want.

 

[MississippiSlim]

Yep, as I was saying in the earlier posts though I go from one brew to the next, I do alot of ambers, Pales, IPAs, and have been doing wheat alot. Maybe a porter and a stout per year. My wife likes ambers and browns, a Porter in winter. I mainly drink IPA, Blondes, and PAles. We both drink Wheat beers. I figure around 300$ worth of brewing supplies. 150# (130$) of base malt and spend the rest on Specialty grain, yeast and hops. Should be able to brew awhile and several brews with that. I figured 300$ would only be about 10-15 kits.

 

[dougdecinces]

I'm doing my first bulk buy soon. I'm getting 55 lb of Pilsner and Munich and a lb of Hallertau and maybe Fuggles or Styrians. I will be making a lot of lagers in the next few months. I'm lucky because my LHBS says they will crush my grains for free whenever I need them as long as I buy bulk from them.