Hi everyone, I'm getting ready to start ordering my hops and malts in bulk. My LHBC and I worked out the economics of it and it seems like it would both be way cheaper and less expensive to go this route. I have a few questions for those of you who have already made the switch: -How often do you brew? How often would you need to brew in order to make it worthwhile? (I'm currently brewing 1-2x/month but will likely step it up during the summer) -How do you pick which base malt(s) to keep around? -Do you typically keep staple ingredients or do you switch it up? -Do you organize your recipes based on what you keep in stock, or do you brew enough to just make whatever and know you'll probably have most/all of whatever you need? -Mill recommendations? Any and all help would be much appreciated. Cheers!
- I brew 2 or 3 times per month. To me, buying base malt in bulk is a no brainer. You'll be surprised how quickly you go through 50 lbs, and it's way cheaper to buy it this way. - I started out with just NA 2-Row but quickly supplemented with Maris Otter. We regularly brew a koelsch with German Pilsner malt, so we started buying that in bulk as well. Those are pretty much the only base malts we use (besides wheat), so those are the ones we buy in bulk. Buy the one(s) you favor most often. - Staples. Although, if I buy something like say Munich malt, and I only need a pound for a recipe, I typically buy about 5 lbs so I have it around for later batches. It gets used. - Typically, I only keep the base malts, so I have to go to the store to get hops, extra grains, yeast anyway. But there's a HBS right around the corner from me, so it's not a big deal. So, I can't really answer that one. - I have the Barley Crusher and finally got an electric drill (my cordless one doesn't cut it). For the past 2 years, we've been milling by hand. It doesn't seem that bad at first, but it gets to be a PITA. I haven't really had any issues with the Barley Crusher but I know there are lots of people who have. FYI, my stores sell NA 2-Row for $45 per 50 lb bag ($0.90/lb). But be careful. If you buy online, the shipping costs of a 50 lb bag can easily off-set your savings.
I'm about to take a break from brewing, but have brewed a few times per month over the last 4 years after 4 years of 6-8 times per year. I pick what to buy in bulk based on what I like. German Pils, Kolsch malt, lt munich, MO. don't have any plain US 2-row. Usually split a bag of Great Western NW Pale Ale with someone. I make recipes based on what I like, and make sure I've got needed ingredients on hand, not vice versa. To each their own though.
I think buying base malt in bulk is a no brainer, especially if you can avoid paying shipping. And I sometimes stock up on certain varieties of hops that tend to get scarce as the season goes on. But that's it for me. I buy the rest as I need it.
I would say before buying in bulk, you should have 4+ house recipes down and have them planned out to share similar malts. Specialty malts you can buy online 10-20 lbs at a time and base for 50 lbs at a time from LHBS. If you don't brew at least twice a month and have some house recipes down, I don't think it makes sense personally. Storage of bulk hops, grain, having to start crushing your own, etc.. IMO isn't worth it if your brewing less than twice a month and/or brewing different recipes every batch.
Malt doesn't spoil if it is kept dry (or it doesn't spoil within a year), so I keep mine in the white food safe buckets from Lowes with the lid that has a seal. One bucket will hold about 25# of grain. I usually have some Pils and MO around, sometimes mix in GP or 2-row. I buy specialty malts from the local store or online depending on what I am brewing. I recently bought some MO from ritebrew.com and the price with shipping wasn't much more than the local store (especially if you add in some smaller stuff like dry yeast or bulk hops. Definitely buy hops in bulk if you like APA/IPA. I just looked at my ritebrew order, a pound of Cascades was $12 and the shipping was basically free since they were already shipping a sack of grain. Get a cheap vacuum sealer and they last a while. If you don't have lots of freezer space then stick with pellets. You can probably pay for the costs of a grain mill without too much trouble but that would depend on what you are paying for your ingredients now. There is also a huge advantage to knowing you can brew without any planning. I haven't thought about a recipe, but I could leave work right now and go brew almost anything I wanted.
seems like a pretty unanimous response... it seems the next step is to look into mills! i have a "house" pale ale that i like to keep consistent, just changing hops out from time to time. i dont really have any other house recipes besides that one, but i can very easily plan recipes around which grains i'm ordering. thanks for the input!
I brew just over once a month. I'll buy a sack of 2-row which lasts me 3-6 months. I buy pounds of pellets that I use most frequently (usually US Fuggles/Styrian, Willamette plus an American hop (Amarillo this year).
