Author: Marshall Schott
Depending on style, the ingredients for a typical 5 gallon batch of beer costs between $25 to $35, a bit more for those who use malt extract. Broken down, that’s roughly $0.50 to $0.75 per bottle. Now, as my accountant wife is wont to remind me, this obviously doesn’t include equipment and energy costs. All in all, that’s not too bad, but wouldn’t it be nice to get that number even lower without impacting the quality of the beer?
Of course it would!
For whatever reason, when I first considered purchasing ingredients in bulk, I felt a little anxious. I’m not sure if it was the commitment to using certain types of hops and grains, the fact I’d have to figure out a place to store my extra wares, or the fear that I’d be stuck to brewing only a few certain styles using what I had on hand. But after crunching the numbers, I was certain bulk was the way to go, as it would allow to me brew more beer more often for less money. There are absolutely some necessary equipment purchases when transitioning from pre-milled homebrew shop kits to buying in bulk, but in my experience, the costs are recovered within just a few months of brewing. While the price of bulk ingredients is hugely dependent on your source, nearly every homebrew shop I know of offers discounts on bulk grains. If yours doesn’t, look elsewhere, you’ll find something. To illustrate this difference, here’s what Tiny Bottom Pale Ale purchased separately from my local shop would cost versus the bulk price:
TBPA from LHBS
Grain: $18
Hops: $4
Yeast: $8
Total: $30 + tax
TBPA from Ingredients Purchased in Bulk
Grains: $10
Hops: $2.25
Yeast: $0.00 (previously harvested from starter)
Total: $12.25
I left off the price of DME for making starters, as I don’t use enough to justify purchasing entire sacks worth, but it’s possible some places will offer a discount if this is something you’re interested in. All in all, by purchasing in bulk and reusing yeast, I’ve essentially cut the price of brewing a batch of beer in half. Not too shabby. As I mentioned before, there are a few things to consider before jumping into bulk purchasing ingredients.
STORAGE
If you brew large batches often, you might be able to get away with storing your bulk grains in the sack they come in, but for most of us, a 50-55 lb sack lasts quite awhile, meaning we need a hospitable place to store them. I like to keep 4 base grains on hand at all times, which I purchase by the sack, as this gives me more stylistic options. My preferred storage option for entire sacks of grain is the 60 lbs Vittles Vault, which can be stacked to save room. These containers can easily store an entire 55 lbs of grain. I tend to fill and store them in the upright position, though this doesn’t allow for stacking.
If you prefer them to be in their proper position, I’d suggest filling when upright then repositioning them once the bag is empty.
For grains I may not use as often, stuff like Wheat and Victory malts, I’ll either split a sack with a friend or pick them up in increments of 20-25 lbs. I store these mid-sized amounts of grain in 5 gallon buckets with Gamma Lids attached to the top for an airtight seal.
You could definitely get away with using standard bucket lids, but I’ve found the Gamma lids to be far more durable and super convenient. As for the buckets, you can’t really beat the price at your local big box home improvement store.
I also like to keep a bunch of specialty grains on hand in amounts of 10 lbs or less, for these I use 2 gallon paint pails with their respective lids, which seal tighter than is probably necessary. I also use one of these buckets for measuring out grain on my scale.
I always try to load up on these grains during sales or when I’m placing orders for other stuff, usually to help push me into the free shipping zone. A sack of something like C60 would last me over a year, so even at full price, these grains don’t impact my bottom line much. For those grains I use in tiny amounts and only want 2 lbs max on hand at any given time, I repurpose Costco nut containers with screw on lids, they’ve worked just fine.
To keep stuff organized on the grain side of things, I use a sturdy 4-tier shelving unit for all the buckets and pails. In the past, I’ve stacked the Vittles Vaults next to the shelving unit, which worked great, but since I added another fermentation freezer, I now store them under my workbench in the upright position.
Obviously, the amount of grain one decides to keep stocked is subjective, I like the freedom to brew any number of styles whenever I want without having to take a trip to the homebrew shop. However, even for the small-batch apartment brewer, a single sack of 2-row on hand can do wonders for your pocketbook over time.
Bulk hops tend to cost significantly less than those purchased from a shop, even after the costs of shipping. I use a relatively inexpensive vacuum sealer and store them in a small freezer to keep them fresh for 2+ years, if they last that long. I like to use vacuum sealer bags that come in a roll because they’re cheaper and allow me to cut them to whatever size I need, a single purchase lasts me well over a year.
Yeast… that’s an easy one. I buy a vial then harvest multiple pitches from starters, I’ve gone as far as 17 generations without issue at this point. Lately, I’ve been pulling off 1 quart of starter into 32 oz Ball Jars and throwing them right into my little yeast fridge, the yeast remaining under the starter beer until next use. This has been working great.
That’s about it as far as storage goes. There are a few extra pieces of equipment you’ll need in order to get the full benefit of buying ingredients in bulk.
REQUIRED GEAR
All grain purchased in bulk, at least as far as I’m aware, is uncrushed, meaning you’ll probably want to invest in a solid mill. This will be the biggest investment most people make when transitioning to buying in bulk, but it definitely comes with some other benefits, namely determining your own mill gap in order to get more consistent efficiency. I use a Monster Mill MM3 attached to a low speed/high torque drill, it’s amazing, blasting through 10 lbs of grain in less than a minute.
To measure out grains, I use a battery powered baker’s scale with one of the 2 gallon pails I previously mentioned. In over 2 years of use, I’ve yet to have to replace the batteries.
I measure out my hop and mineral amounts using a small blade scale, this is also battery powered.
Besides that, you’ve likely already got anything else you might need– an old measuring cup to scoop your grains, some plastic cups to hold hops and minerals, etc.
BENEFITS OF BUYING IN BULK
Hands down, what I enjoy most about keeping bulk ingredients on hand is the fact I can brew whenever I want— no waiting for the shop to open then showing up and realizing they’re all out of Victory malt or Centennial hops, I can honestly design a recipe right now then go outside and brew it. Saving some coin is nice, as well, and really starts to add up over time. There’s no way I’d be able to brew as often as I do if I didn’t stock bulk ingredients.
WHERE TO SHOP
You might be wondering how to go about getting good deals on bulk ingredients, here’s where I share my sources. First off, if you’re not already harvesting yeast from starters, that should be your first step. Next, you may want to ease into bulk purchasing by starting with hops. I probably purchase 80% of my hops from Hops Direct in 1 lb increments, the smallest amount they sell. If you know other homebrewers, consider purchasing as a group and splitting the hops, it makes shipping less expensive and you get a wider variety. Farmhouse Brewing Supply and Yakima Valley Hops are other vendors I like to buy hops from, particularly because they sell hops in smaller amounts and have a pretty robust selection. For grain, MoreBeer is my go-to source, but only when I’m near an acutal store– 2-row goes for about $38 while continental base malts (like German Pils) run closer to $55 per sack, which is still only about $1 per pound. While I usually wait for sales to pick up speciality malts, I’ll occasionally just add 5-10 lbs to a MoreBeer order or stop by the HBS on my way home from work, it doesn’t amount to much since I use a lot in my brewing.
Ultimately, purchasing ingredients in bulk has saved me more money than any other upgrade since I started homebrewing, allowing me to brew more beer more often. If you have any questions this post failed to answer, please don’t hesitate to ask. Cheers!
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47 thoughts on “The Beauty of Bulk | How I Brew More Beer More Often”
OK, dumb question time. I use a vacuum sealer for keeping hops, as well. I will keep them in the original 1lbs bag until I need to use them. Then I’ll open the bag, grab what I’m using, and put the rest in a vacuum seal bag. Then, the next time I need to use them, I’ll take the whole bag out, open it, get what I need, and re-seal it. I’ve seen some people who will bag it up in 1-2ozs increments. Is there any advantage to doing it that way? Will my hops spoil faster if they are in and out of the freezer, and opened and re-sealed?
I do it exactly like you and have never had an issue.
Curious, how do you re-seal it. Do you cut it when you open it? Or will it just pull apart?
The vacuum bags? Yeah, I cut just beneath the heat sealed portion then reseal it once I’ve collected my hops.
Doesn’t that waste a lot of bag since at least with my foodsaver that seal and vaccum leaves about an inch of wasted bag.
The advantage is the smaller quantities only get exposed when you open that specific bag. I would think over the life of the hops, it’s worth pre-measuring in usable quantities. However, it takes time and effort, and a lot of bags to do so. I personally do 50g bags, at the time I use the first amount. Usually that results in less than 10 bags. I do reuse my hop bags, so, I don’t have to make new bags each time. YMMV.
I personally feel 02 exposure to hops is something that can negatively impact the final beer, and I want to limit it as much as possible.
AO
Sheesh, $38 sounds awesome. My LHBS’ 2-row is $59.99 for a sack. I just this past weekend ordered by first batch of grain in bulk (50lbs of 2 row) after picking up a 50lb Vittles Vault/grain mill for a really good price of CL. After lots of comparing it actually works out cheaper for me to purchase (5) 10lb uncrushed increments from MoreBeer due to the free shipping, which is way cheaper than the LHBS per pound price of $1.89. Guess that’s what happens when you’re the only game in town. Keep up the great content, this post could not have been timed better with my move to bulk purchasing.
A tip to saving even more coin is to make your starters from wort ca-ching!
I need a good method for doing this…
Since you often pitch the next day anyway, from what I’ve read, keep enough (non-truby) wort to dilute to 2L of 1.035, add your saved yeast, pitch 1.5L 18 hours later, saving .5L for another day.
Im guessing you brew a whole lot more then me so maybe my method isnt the best suited for your needs. I just take some time to mash and boil wort, cool it and pour to 2 litres cola bottles and then stick into the freezer for future use.
I make up about 3 or 4 gallons of 1.038 wort and pour it into quart mason jars. I pressure can them at 15 PSI for 15 minutes. When I need starter wort, I just open a jar or 2 and am ready to go.
This really is a great way to go, I did it for a couple months and stopped because I brew lagers and I brew often.
After you’ve sparged and are waiting for the beer to come to a boil, run a couple quarts of cold water through the grains again. Depending on the strength of the beer, this will probably be around 1.030-1.035. You can always add a small amount of DME if you need to increase the strength of the starter, but I’ve had good success plugging the measured gravity into a yeast starter calculator and figuring out what volume of starter I’d need. After I’m done with the brew day craziness, I bring the collected wort to the kitchen, boil it, and proceed with my starter procedure as usual. I usually end up pitching 24 hours after brewing, which is fine with me.
The cost of doing it this way is almost nothing.
Any concerns about food grade for buckets?
Also — how exactly are you connecting that drill? Is do you just tighten the clamp on the attachment input, or do you have a specific bit on there? I have that crusher with a smaller hopper, however I hooked a drill up a lont time ago and it started cutting into the metal of the bar that sticks out.
This is a great post, thanks!
I’m not at all concerned about the Orange buckets, but I also eat Taco Bell. I connect the drill the using no special equipment, the same way you might connect a drill bit, it’s worked great for years.
Great post, as always.
It’s the mold release agent that’s used in the production of non-food-grade buckets that is carcinogenic. The non-carcinogenic release agent is more expensive, and that leads to higher cost of the food-grade buckets. You probably don’t get much exposure to the carcinogens as long as you’re not boiling in them.
You usually can get two, four, and five gallon food grade buckets with sealing lids free for the asking from grocery stores with a bakery. Mine will wash them thoroughly, save the requested, amount, and give me a call in a few days. I really need to drop off some bottles when this year’s cider pressing is ready.
A $3 lid lifter tool makes regular bucket lids worth using.
I’ve just been tossing my hops into my freezer in a ziplock bag. They seem to still be making good beer after about a year with no problems. Anything I should be concerned about?
I keep wanting to bulk up on grains, especially since my lhbs sells 50lb sacks of 2-row for $35. I just need to save up for a mill. Re-using yeast is definitely one of the easiest money saving tricks I’ve learned so far. The best thing about it is that it requires zero financial investment up front!
If it’s working, no need to change anything!
My LHBS charges $1 a pound for base grain, and $1.50 for specialty – it’s not a big enough savings for me, especially since I’d need a mill. Also, I think including the cost of yeast in your first TBPA estimate isn’t really fair, because harvesting is easy enough with or without purchasing in bulk 🙂
Anyway, nice write up!
Another way to save even more on bulk is to do a buy within the context of a brewing club. If you have 20-30 people buying a few hundred bags of grain, the price can go down more. Our price on a bag of 2-row was around $26-27 per bag. Our club usually buys from a local grain supply wholesaler who in turn usually supplies breweries and LHBS. This is generally best with base malt, but we also have a system where 4-5 people can split a specialty bag. We also do similar with hops.
I usually use only food safe plastic for grain storage. Home depot does carry a food safe bucket usually, and its only marginally more than the generic ones. Additionally, a quick way to build up smaller containers is to go to your local supermarket and ask their bakery department if they have any empty icing buckets. They come in 2.5 and 1 gallon sizes. They are bit of a pain to clean, but the have fully sealed lids as well.
You discovered the major issue with buying in bulk – storing everything properly. If the stuff goes bad, it becomes a waste of money. Once you master storage, it adds up to serious savings.
Where did you get those small buckets that you keep the specialty grains in? Are they 2 gallon?
Hey Derek,
I bought mine at Home Depot. The buckets run $3.58 and the lids go for $1.48 each.
Hmm… any idea if they’re food safe? I know you’re a fan of using the orange buckets to store your grains, but part of me is hesitant to store anything long-term in non-food safe containers.
I’ve not a clue.
Fair enough!
Quick tip on 2-2.5 gallon buckets: Go to a local grocery with a baking department. They often have frosting buckets which are food grade and have really good lids with seals. Just ask and they will give them to you for free in most cases. It can take a bit of work to clean them, but I’ve fermented small batches in them with no problem.
In general what is that gap setting that you personally use on your barley crusher?
The thickness of my Target card, which is a precise .030″, and I check to make sure it hasn’t moved every 6-10 brews (it rarely needs readjusting).
Can you give me your inventory? I have a bulk bag of 2 row, and bulk hops. What else should I buy by the sack? What specialty malts should I keep? I brew mostly ipas, pale ales, porters.
I buy 4 base malts buy the sack– 2-row and Pils always then rotating Munich Light, Vienna, and Maris Otter. I usually buy 25 lbs worth of wheat malt, Victory, and other grains I’m sort of hooked on at the moment. Finally, I buy 10 lbs of any crystal, roasted, and other malts I rarely use.
Currently trying to justify the purchase of a MM3, and just saw this comment. I’ve seen .038-.040″ as the standard gap setting, are you still using .030″? What’s the downside to using too fine of a crush, or the upside if you’re still using it.
Thanks, loving the content!
No downsides that I can think of; upside is better mash efficiency.
Is there a difference between German and Belgian Pilsner Malts?
Technically, of course; perceptibly, used to think so… xBmt planned 🙂
What hops do you normally buy in bulk?
All the hops I buy are in bulk. Recently: Fuggles, Tettnanger, Citra, CTZ, Chinook, Galaxy, and Cascade.
It maybe apparent but how did you determine what malts and hops you were going to buy bulk? I would love to go bulk as well but at the same time I have some of those fears aforementioned in your article. Mainly being stuck brewing only certain recipes. Another factor which may be hard for you to expand on is the longevity of these products. You did mention something about hops lasting 2+ years but it sounds like you brew way to much to even experience that. I just discovered your blog and I’m also local, I have spent a lot of time on your website reading these great articles please continue the great work.
Hey Danny,
It’s pretty easy for me since I brew so often. For base malts, I always have Pale 2-row, Pilsner, Vienna, and either Munich or MO around; for other malts, I try keep what I tend to use most often in stock, so stuff like Victory, a few Crystals, Pale Chocolate, and some Roasted Barley.
For hops, Magnum is my bittering hop of choice, so I always have then, then I’ll buy what I know I’ll use based on my brewing schedule, which I try to plan out 4-5 batches ahead.
Cheers!
just wanted to mention that yakimavalleyhops sells in 8 oz amounts for those who don’t necessarily want an entire pound. They also sell variety packs; I just put in an order for their 4 ‘C’ package (8 oz each of Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, and Columbus). Price was $25.99.
Also just an FYI to everyone, hopsdirect is having a crazy sale right now for the next couple of days.
What are the specs of that fridge? Did you remove the freezer compartment, or did the one you use come without?
I’m looking for a fridge so I can start my own yeast bank. I don’t know why I haven’t saved yest in the past, but I just got inspired after I kegged the beer I got from the free wort giveaway @ Heretic Brewing Company a couple of weeks ago. What was left in the bottom was pure yeast (WLP090) without any hot break or hop residue, and I just could not bear to throw that away. In hindsight, I probably should have split it into two mason jars as I filled it with 95% with just yeast and very little liquid. So on top of the free vial I was gifted, I now have easily 3 more. Again, I’m inspired to start saving with the starter method.
Nice! I didn’t know Heretic was using WLP090, I’ll have to taste whatever beer it was they pitched it in.
It’s a small fridge with a small freezer. I use the fridge portion to store liquid yeast and the freezer to store hops and dry yeast.
I don’t think they use this strain (though obviously they could). I think it’s more like White Labs donated 200 vials of WLP090 which Heretic in turn handed out to the recipients of their wort. Also, the wort they made that morning is probably not a beer they have in their line up. 2-row with carmel 45, alongside Columbus and Cascade. It was similar last year, but that time you had 4 different strains to choose from (WLP090 being one).
One thing is for sure, the Heretic AHA Rally alone pays for the AHA membership multiple times over. Free beer while you’re attending, free wort and free yeast, large raffle with badass prices. On top of that, they send you off with either a sixpack of cans, or as the rally a few weeks ago, two bombers of Evil Twin. Jamil Zainasheff is certainly one of the raddest commercial brewers I know of and I have a huge respect for his continued support for the homebrew community. Making this rally happen each year earns huge kudos. There is a reason (besides the great taste) I almost always pick up a bottle or two of their beers while I’m browsing the beer aisle.
Now off to Craigslist to score a small fridge for a few bucks.
I couldn’t find in the conversation thread. What is the optimal temperature to store hops at?
I’m not sure what the optimal temp is, but I’ve heard “colder is better.” I keep mine in the freezer, which I keep around 26°F.