All Grain Kit Sale

I'm on their mailing list and just saw this as well. Not a bad deal!

 

This is the sort of deal that got me to try kits last year. It s too bad I put an order in minutes before I noticed this

 

I think I saw in some old thread somewhere you tried the Kiwi Express. I bought that during that last kit sale but am just now getting to brewing it this weekend. What'd you think of it? FWIW, the other one I bought back then was the Ace of Spades black IPA and I thought it was really good, as did my homebrew club.

 

The math, she makes my head ache.

Can someone who's ordered one of these kits before explain the point to me? I understand why people buy extract-based kits. Extract brewing is largely fool-proof and - fermentation/sanitation variables aside - if brewer B dissolves 6 lb of extract, she's going to get the same wort that brewer A gets when he dissolves 6 lb of the same extract.

But all-grain? How do they sell a kit to two brewers who might have totally different setups and one gets 60% efficiency while the other gets 80%?

Then there's the issue of cost. These kits are for 5 gallon recipes? Reg. price with yeast is $48.50 for Dead Ringer, for 11 lbs of 2 row, 1 lb of C40, a wyeast pkg, and ~ 5 oz of hops.

55 lb of domestic 2 row = $55
a pound of centennial is ~ $20
wyeast = $7.
C40 = $2/lb (also cheaper if purchased in bulk)

$11 for base malt, $2 for crystal, $7 for yeast and $6 for hops - purchased locally with no shipping = $26 any day of the year and I help keep a really great local guy in business.

The "sale price" ends up being $30/kit with the cheapest shipping option. The regular price? $56.49!

So, yeah, while compared to the regular price, the sale seems like a great deal - it begs the question: If you can buy the exact same ingredients for 50% less than the reg. price and still $4 less than the big SALE price (and the recipes are published online)... why does anyone buy the kits?

 

I'm curious about this, too. Thinking about pulling the trigger on three of these. Anybody have any recommendations? Seems like a pretty decent deal.

I did the Dead Ringer on one of my fist attempts and thought it was pretty good (under attenuated due to my lack of knowledge). Interested in know if anyone has done any of the following and what they thought:

Bourbon Barrel Quad
Chocolate Milk Stout
Kiwi
Cream Ale

 

I see your point, but you're a bit off. The kits are $23 each after shipping (flat $7.99 for the shipping split three ways). That's a long way from $30. Also, your average homebrewer isn't buying and storing bulk grains or hops. So, that's not an option for most people. Another thing about your example is that I can't buy four oz of hops for $6 at my local store and 2 row is around $2/lb. These boxes would cost me on average over $30 each at my local store if I bought the ingredients separately there. Not everybody even has that option. And, there is the convenience factor of having it sent right to my doorstep. Just some quick points off the top of my head.

 

Let's not forget the instructions included in the kit are practically worth their weight in gold. Wait...

 

They aren't $23. Yeast is an additional $7 per kit. Now, you *could* just get one pack of yeast for the first batch and re-pitch some into the other two batches *if* you're buying 3 of the same (or similar, where one strain could work in all 3), but then - the average kit-buying homebrewer probably isn't doing that. So, you're back at $30/kit.

FWIW, a pound of hop pellets is not a space-hogging mass. If you have room in a refrigerator for a pound of grated cheese, there's room for hops. The bulk grain purchase? I'll concede it takes a bit more space - but it's 50% less expensive than buying by the pound and if you're going to make 5 batches this year? It's more than worth the trouble of finding a place to store it.

Convenience is understandable.

 

This assumes that the homebrewer owns a grain mill.

Cheers!

 

Simple. If all you want to do is brew with two-row and centennial, it might make sense to buy in bulk rather than buy three Dead Ringer kits. But if you don't have the facilities for milling your own grain and vacuum sealing your own hops, or if you want to brew something with Maris otter, something with German Pils, and something with Munich, but don't really want to invest in 150 lbs of grain (not to mention the freight cost if these items are excluded from flat rate pricing) or you want to try Motueka and Nelson Sauvin and Wakatu but are not really sure a pound of each would ever get used, well, then a sales price can be more cost effective than the ingredients at the retail single recipe price scale.

 

RE: KIWI -- I decided that I didn't like the hops all that much. Your mileage may vary. It was worth a try. I actually kept this beer around for 6 months, and can honestly say that the last sip, which I took a few weeks ago, made me wish there was more. Isn't that always the case? But initially, I found the hops to be sort of harsh and unpleasant. Some people probably like them though. YMMV

 

The only local place to me requires four hours of driving*. They sell extract cans, 1#lb bags of grain, and dry yeast. If you would like, I can make a special trip to get you a 13 1-lb bags of grain (it won't all be 2-row because that the inventory isn't that deep), a couple oz of centennial (if you're lucky) at $3/oz, and a $5 pack of S-33. They always seem to have that one on hand. If there were money in it NB would have expanded to the northern Wisconsin/UP border a few years back, and then I'd be able to get bulk grain with no shipping costs, but they decided to try Milwaukee. Go figure.

*To be fair, there is a place the same distance in another direction that probably has a better inventory. I just haven't visited there. I used to live a few minutes bike ride away from the place above, so I am familiar with their paltry inventory.

 

Fair enough. I have 2 very well-stocked homebrew stores within a 25 min drive and a third one (that I visit most often) is only ~ 10 minutes from where I work (so an easy lunchtime trip). I suppose I forget that not everyone is so fortunate.

On the larger issues of variety, the need for a grain mill if buying in bulk, etc?

I'll start with the easy one: the grain mill. Buying in bulk and crushing your own will pay for the mill by the end of the second sack (give or take, depending on how nice a mill one buys). It has the added benefits of greater control over the crush and added freshness (mill and brew on same day vs. using grain crushed who knows when?)

Variety? Nothing is lost by buying a few staples in bulk. I don't buy every new hop by the pound - only those that I know I like and use often. That said, it's not an all-or-nothing deal. Having a sack of domestic pale and belgian pils on hand doesn't preclude me from buying 20 lbs of Maris Otter for a one-off if I get bored. But then, why buy 20 lbs at $2.29/lb ($46) when I can buy the whole 55lb sack for $20 more?

If anything, buying in bulk saves money that can later be used for experimental batches w/ new ingredients, or it can be invested in new equipment (like a vacuum sealer! which are super-useful, btw).

I understand that not *everyone* who brews beer at home has an inclination to expand beyond knocking off an occasional batch in the kitchen - or they don't have the space to do so. But for those who have been bitten and are in it for the long haul? Bulk! If you're making anything bigger than a 5 gallon batch, it's the only way to go.

 

I'm sure the AHA has done surveys to get a sense for the average batch size, brewing frequency, etc. I brew 5-6 gallon batches, yes, mostly in my kitchen, 10-12x a year. I do not know if these stats are close to average or not, but I'm the sort of brewer that can find value in the NB deal. At least I did last year, when I took advantage of a similar deal to get the chocolate milk stout, the kiwi express, and the pils.

FWIW, the chocolate stout kit made a very good beer, and the specialty ingredients, lactose and cocoa nibs, helped made the price worthwhile -- but -- caveat emptor -- I haven't done a cost benefit analysis this time around. I deviated from the recipe with the Pils and used the kit to make a saison with WLP 585, which I love and mentioned in a different thread recently. And, as I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the kiwi express was not to my liking.

 

Yeah, I'm way too inconsistent in my brewing to buy a 55lb sack of grain. It would probably take me over a year to work through that, and for any grain other than 2-row it would take even longer. Now hops, those are worth buying in bulk, since a single recipe can use close to a pound and buying by the ounce costs almost twice as much.

 

Golden Promise malt is awesome in every style. Sometimes I think I should only buy sacks of GP and smaller amounts of specialty malts.

 

Agreed. I've been wearing them out over at Beerworks.