What are you fellas paying for grains?

[babalu87]

How much for a 25KG sack of Maris Otter?

Can you get in on any group buys from distributors?

We recently did a group buy to defray shipping costs and with 26 sacks on the pallet the shipping costs were just $100.00 USD

The MO was $41USD/sack
Halcyon Pale Ale Malt $38.68 USD/sack
Munich and Pils were $36 USD/sack

Just trying to gauge how are costs are running in comparison to yours.

Of course with the prices of propane I may consider trying to boil some wort on the wood stove this Winter
Luckily our cook stove and clothes dryer are run on propane so we have a really big tank that only needs filling a few times a year........... and I never run out during boiling

[steve_flack]

If you change the $ to a £ sign then you're pretty close to the LHBS price for malt over here

[babalu87]

$41 USD = $22 British Pounds correct?

Is that cheap over there or am I missing something?

LHBS are charging from $65-$80 USD/sack for base grains

[mattmacleod]

I think Steve just meant change the sign, not convert the currency.

I just bought a sack of lager malt (25kg) for £34 plus £5 shipping which is roughly $70.

[babalu87]

I think Steve just meant change the sign, not convert the currency.

I just bought a sack of lager malt (25kg) for £34 plus £5 shipping which is roughly $70.

Ah, silly me

So your grain costs are comparable (when its not a group/bulk buy) anyway.

[steve_flack]

I think Steve just meant change the sign, not convert the currency.

Exactly....no conversion required...just change the symbol.

Having said that you can get it for less either from maltsters (Tuckers and Warminster sell a sack of MO for £26 but Warminster want silly money for postage) or from a friendly local micro. I've been paying around £20 for Crisps MO.

[Aleman]

Local Homebrew shops are charging anything from £30 (Last January) up to £45-£50 for a sack of Warminster Floor malted Maris Otter.

We are not supposed to say this on here as it upsets wholesalers to the LHBS but, A not at all local brewery to me buys 40 sacks at a time from Muntons and pays £12.50 a sack, from Warminster (Via Farams) he pays £16-£20 a sack delivered.

Of course that doesn't include VAT (For the brewery) which accounts completely for the difference between the cost from the maltster and the cost from the LHBS (Well it does according to one well known Wholesaler, as the profit on a sack of malt is tiny )

[steve_flack]

We are not supposed to say this on here as it upsets wholesalers to the LHBS...

Some people don't like inconvenient truths I guess. It's not exactly a state secret that breweries pay a fraction what we do from a LHBS. I think it's less defensible that certain maltsters charge homebrewers a lot more than they do breweries when the additional overheads involved are relatively small. Maltsters don't have a shop to run.

[maxashton]

It's robbery, really. I know there is some tax on homebrewing products, but it can't be over 100%.

[baldyjason]

It's robbery, really. I know there is some tax on homebrewing products, but it can't be over 100%.

its not really that bad when you work it out
for me to buy a sack of mo first you have the maltster cost per sack then you have the delivery charge to get it to the wholesalers (fuel and drivers wages) then you have there storage fees i.e. there warehouse and all bills that come with it and there mark up on the sack then the wholesalers delivery fee (fuel and drivers wages) to get it to the HBS then they have to pay rates rent electric bill and so on for there shop and maybe a quid on top so there is at least some profit margin so if you add all that up its not to bad

remember you get nothing for free even when it says free delivery

[Andy]

We are not supposed to say this on here as it upsets wholesalers to the LHBS...

Some people don't like inconvenient truths I guess. It's not exactly a state secret that breweries pay a fraction what we do from a LHBS. I think it's less defensible that certain maltsters charge homebrewers a lot more than they do breweries when the additional overheads involved are relatively small. Maltsters don't have a shop to run.

Can't say too much but I've been less than impressed with tales of (successful) attempts to prevent homebrewers sourcing grain/hops direct by people with vested interests.

[maxashton]

I know what you mean, Andy. Disgusting, really.

[adm]

Well....

Paul at BarleyBottom sells it for £29.50 a 25Kg sack (plus postage of £7.95, but you can also get 3kg of other stuff included in the same postage price)

My nearest LHBS charges £5.29 for 3 kilos, which works out at £44 a sack! I also wonder about their throughput and how long the stuff has been sitting there.

My nearest brewery (Hog's Back) charges £2.95 for 3 kilos - or £24.60 a sack, but you need to go to the brewery and pick it up.

So to conclude, - the best bet is to find a friendly local brewery and buy from them if you can pick it up. If not, order it from Barley Bottom. You knw that with either of those options it will be fresh malt due to their throughput.

I refuse to pay over the odds from the LHBS though!

[babalu87]

There is a small brewery scheduled to open up near my place of employment and....... lucky me one of the owners favorite beers is Porter and I just happen to have some Baltic Porter bottled for his enjoyment.
Hopefully we can have a nice acquaintance and I'll get a call when he is about to put his order in, if not the group buy works just fine.
Just need to find the time to stop by when he is there fiddling with wrenches and saws

Some guys in our brewclub get grains from a local brewery but they keep it hush hush as I doubt the brewer wants the whole lot of us backing up to his docks every month looking for a sack of malt.

Maybe I'll luck out this Friday and Jim Koch will tell me to pull up to the dock at Sam Adams and grab what I want
He is a guest speaker Friday at the Night Of The Funk:
http://beeradvocate.com/fests/bbf?info=fri

Lucky me, my Aunt has a condo (flat for you guys) 1/2 a miles walk from the place, thats where we're staying

[adm]

That sounds like a great night!