What is the best deal on malt in 2022?

[Yeast Farmer]

It's been almost a year since I bought malt. Lucky for me, I stocked up before the situation in Europe made the price go up, but I've finally run myself out of base malt. Back then, the best deal I could find was buying by the pound from MoreBeer in 10 pound increments. I was getting Viking pale and pilsner for $1.19 a pound.

Currently, Northern Brewer is about $1.55 per pound for a 50-pound bag of their cheapest base malt. As far as I know, they are the only ones that have free shipping for full sacks of grain. For a while that seemed like the best bet, but MoreBeer is still a hair cheaper at $15.39 per 10 pounds. (Who buys the full sacks of grain, anyway? It's the only thing I've ever seen where buying in bulk is more expensive, when you figure in the shipping.)

Fellow penny pinchers, where are you scoring your grain?

 

[wsmith1625]

It's been almost a year since I bought malt. Lucky for me, I stocked up before the situation in Europe made the price go up, but I've finally run myself out of base malt. Back then, the best deal I could find was buying by the pound from MoreBeer in 10 pound increments. I was getting Viking pale and pilsner for $1.19 a pound.

Currently, Northern Brewer is about $1.55 per pound for a 50-pound bag of their cheapest base malt. As far as I know, they are the only ones that have free shipping for full sacks of grain. For a while that seemed like the best bet, but MoreBeer is still a hair cheaper at $15.39 per 10 pounds. (Who buys the full sacks of grain, anyway? It's the only thing I've ever seen where buying in bulk is more expensive, when you figure in the shipping.)

Fellow penny pinchers, where are you scoring your grain?

I recently joined my local homebrew club which meets monthly at different breweries in my county. Each brewery has offered to sell 50# bags at their cost. One brewery got a pallet of malt that didn't match the flavor profile for their recipes so they were offering it at $35 a 50# bag. They have also offered yeast slurry for free. I've yet to take them up on these offers because I don't brew enough for 50# bags, but what a perk. Some day I'll get there. Maybe not a short term solution for you, but if you have any clubs in your vicinity you should check them out.

 

[Upstate12866]

Outside of special sales, I don't think you can get anything delivered at a price that beats Morebeer right now. Big bag delivery is uneconomical as you mentioned.

This summer I did a number of lagers with rice or corn grits/starch, which was fun and economical for me.

 

[lumbergh]

I have a local shop so I don't have to worry about shipping. Around $55 for a bag of 2 row

 

[Yeast Farmer]

I have a local shop so I don't have to worry about shipping. Around $55 for a bag of 2 row

Man, I wish I had a place like that near me. There was only ever one brew store within a reasonable distance, and it didn't survive the lockdowns, so I'm stuck with just internet orders.

 

[aceluby]

Just got a big bag of Munich and Pilsner for $110 locally after tax. About $1 a pound

 

[madscientist451]

Fellow penny pinchers, where are you scoring your grain?

Where are you located?

 

[Malticulous]

Morebeer sells six 5lb bags of base malt at a discount. They have it pre-packaged in boxes ready to ship. It's cheaper than three 10 lb bags.

 

[Carolina_Matt]

Delta Brewing offered free shipping on sacks when I purchased a few weeks ago. And a 15% coupon if you sign up for their emails. It was the best deal I've seen in a while.

 

[Yeast Farmer]

Where are you located?

eastern Connecticut.

 

[madscientist451]

Amazon has sacks of grain for $83 delivered.
As mentioned above, Delta brewing has sacks of base malt for $65, I didn't see anything about free shipping, maybe I missed it.

 

[Steveruch]

Amazon has sacks of grain for $83 delivered.
As mentioned above, Delta brewing has sacks of base malt for $65, I didn't see anything about free shipping, maybe I missed it.

I think their free shipping threshold is $69.

 

[Ayzala]

eastern Connecticut.

How far east? There are two LHBS just outside of Hartford. One in East Hartford the other in South Hartford. I haven't been to them in a while so I don't know prices.

Edit,
The first two are the ones I'm talking about.
Anyone know the 3rd? I'm in Willy quite often and might check them out.

 

[madscientist451]

So it looks like unless you have access to a direct source of full sacks of malt, the lowest current price is about $1.55?
This got me thinking about ways to bring the cost of a batch of beer down, sorry in advance for going....

Cheapskates' options:
Use malt to make up 50% of gravity points in a beer and then add some of the following ingredients:
10 lb bag of sugar at Walmart: $0.61/pound
20 lb bag of rice at Walmart $0.58/pound
Check my local bulk foods/farm store for un-malted wheat/barley?
Grow my own corn in the garden.
Make "second run" cider from my apples after first pressing, boil it down to increase gravity and use about 25% in
a batch of beer, cost= free, but takes time and energy costs for boiling, or just add second run juice to the kettle.

 

[TimLa]

I think their free shipping threshold is $69.

Just placed an order - the threshold for free shipping is $65. Sign up for their email newsletter, take 15% off your first (next) order. 50# Breiss 2-row, plus two dry yeast packets I don't yet have banked: $68.83. Less than the price at my 'local' HBS, which is 4 hours round trip.

 

[Jack Arandir]

+1 on bulk grains with your local homebrew club. It's a win-win - build that relationship with local breweries.
BrewHardware in NJ has sacks of grain in the $50 range. They're my preferred local supplier. Great service too.
I got a sack of Sekkado Czech pilsner from Delta Brewing for a surprisingly low price. It's worth checking out.
Good luck!

 

[Geezer-Glide]

My second closest LHBS is about a 30 min drive. they have fairly frequent grain sales for less than <$1.00 per pound. I’m retired and the drive is not troublesome. As I recall their shipping is not inexpensive. So for me the drive is worth it. I generally stock-up when it is on sale. Just got a Montana Pilsner 55# bag yesterday for $48.18. Anybody else using Montana malts. I‘ve had some very drinkable beers from their product.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Northern Brewer in St Paul, Minnesota just raised their price on 50 lb sacks of Briess 2-row to $64 (in-store, pickup price)