What grains are in your pantry?

[pdbreen]

Made my first trip out to North Country Malt today - which is essentially a warehouse with a few loading docks and a small office with a couple people handling the order flow (which seemed to be steady - even heard the name of a VT brewery placing an order).

I learned that their prices are good to great for sacks of grain, but if you get less than a sack, prices are ~$1.50+/lb (for UK/German grains). But the grain comes in either 1/5/10lb sealed bags which is kind of nice. In the future, I think I'll stick with them for full sacks or grains I can't find anywhere else, but use the LHBS for the odd pounds here or there.

And, I did make a stop a Beverage Warehouse in Winooski which did indeed have the best selection I've seen in VT (possibly even better than Downtown Wine & Spirits in Somerville, MA where I used to live). They had many beers I've been wanting to try (Brooklyn Chocolate Stout, Flying Dog Imperial Porter, Sierra Nevada Celebration) and probably others (I couldn't really figure out how things were organized and they were short handed, so no staff to field questions).

All in all, a good day! Now, I just need to figure out what to do with 50lbs of rice hulls...

 

[The Pol]

Use them in 200 brews

 

[Hotspur]

Now, I just need to figure out what to do with 50lbs of rice hulls...

Haha, I'm not the only one who bought a full block of those!

Also, I think the shop in Winooski charges $1.89/lb for grain, so NCM is still a bit of a discount for 5 and 10 lb bags. I've been to NCM twice now, and they've been helpful and friendly both times, I just need to brew more so I have an excuse to go back! The drive there is very relaxing. Also, you can get specific malt analysis for the sacks if you ask, they have them for every batch. I got them the last time, but I don't do enough fiddling to need that information. I can see some of the really technical guys here doing SOMETHING with it.

The real question is - Did you spend more at NCM or the Beverage Warehouse?