I have made 25 batches so far and I think I have it down to 3 that I really like.
Kolsch
Innkeeper
Highrise IPA
The grains are Pilsner, Maris Otter, Malteurop Pale Malt and Golden Promise
Should I just start buying bulk grains? If I keep them in a dry cool place, what is the life span? If I am buying 50 lb bags then I’m hoping they could last a year. Any experienced thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Brent
My 50 lb bags of 2 row last a year, easy. I buy them whole, crush them on brew day, and store them in food safe buckets with the screw on sealing lids in my garage.
I bought 2 kits(AG)in the beginning, I buy everything in bulk now. I buy hops by the pound now to.
If you like beer and plan to continue brewing its worth it.
I have also been thinking of starting to buy in bulk, but the S&H is a killer. Plus, you have to justify the cost of a malt mill. NB tacks on almost $30.00 S&H to the 50lb bags leading to a savings of only about $10.00 a bag. It would take a lot of 50lb bags to even break even on a mill. My LHBS sells 2 row for $64.00 a bag which is very close to what NB’s cost is adding in the S&H. Buying 2 row by the pound crushed would be $74.00 for the 50lb not including their $7.99 S&H. Since I’m always getting other supplies and specialty malts along with the crush 2 row, I can’t really add the S&H to the cost of the crushed malt. Where are you all getting your malts at the best price? Thank you.
I’m local to NB, so I just pop over to the store and pick up a sack. Shipping would make the math problematic…
Usually a 50lb sack lasts me one day 
Last fall I bought enough malt to add to what I had left over to do one last batch before we go south for the winter. Ended up with some Pilsner, two row and what I added on from my LHBS. I never got the time to use it so I put it all in a large plastic storage container and stored in a (very) cool place. Use it up this spring and it was fine. It was not crushed during storage though.
Even though mills are expensive I like being able to crush the grain the same day or at the most the day before. If you are buying in bulk, a mill is a must have. It’s kind of a cool part of the process too. Wouldn’t be brew day without getting covered with grain dust.
I buy full sacks from my LHBS unless I see it on sale somewhere online with free or fixed rate shipping. Mostly in the $50-60 range. I keep 2 row, munich, vienna and pilsner on hand along with a few lbs of C malts. I store mine in the big vittle vaults.
@brewdvm look around online as well and see if there are any HomeBrew suppliers close to where you live. I found one that only charges me $12 to ship 50lb bag of grains, and their prices are competitive!
I would see ifn there is a local small brewery close that will sell you a sack. I have a couple just about 45 minutes north of me where its $40.00 a bag! There is also a local HB up there that has the specialty malts. Sneezles61
The jump in efficiency makes up for it. Store-crushed had me maxing out at about 72% provided it wasn’t too high on the ABV. With my own mill I can hit the high 80s on a good day. I highly recommend a mill.
After a little digging I finally found a site that suits my needs. I am going to start ordering bulk from them as well as all of my other supplies.
Brent
