Keeping Stock

Hi everyone.

With the cost of brewing ever increasing I'm thinking of stocking up on Malts, adjunctions and hops to take advantage of bulk buying and reduced delivery cost.

I have a HBS 1/2 a mile away but its all kits and a small stock of malts. I'm not confident his storage method or turnover volme is large enough to ensure quality so I buy over the tinternet, however buying just enought for a brew can cost £7.50 delivery which adds up to alot of the cost.

What do you guys have in the stock cupboard? Does it reflect your prefered style or do you buy to order? Some of you will be lucky enough to have a HBS on your doorstep who has a good stock but there is probably a whole lot more who have to have things delivered.

Cheers

Y

• • SVA Brewer With Over 50 Brews From Great Britain
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Hi yeasty,
I'm in the same boat as you, the nearest descent HBS to me is over an hour drive. ATM I just order for each brew, but hopefully this year, (once I finish PistolPatch's autosyphon ) I can make my grain mill so then I can by grain by the sackfull, I also have 4 hop bines growing so hopefully in the next month or so I'll have a good stock of hops to use. At some stage I might get into yeast farming, so I can have a good stock of that too.
After all that, the only thing I'll need is space

Cheers wiz

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Yeasty wrote:...a brew can cost £7.50 delivery which adds up to alot of the cost.

That sucks Yeasty! Delivery prices in Australia are about half that .

I'm not sure how successful bulk buying is unless you have a mill and setting a mill up can be quite a job. Mind you, a lot of shops here will crush your recipe and then vacuum seal it. As long as the seal doesn't puncture (which sometimes happens) the brew should stay fresh for a long time.

When first starting out bulk buying, there are some base malts that can work well for both lagers and pale ales (Galaxy malt in Australia is one) which saves you having to buy two bags. As time goes on, you'll find your collection of specialty malts increases. Like hashie, I keep mine in air-tight containers but my base malts don't get this luxury. Grain lasts very well in a dry climate though.

Hops seem to build up over time as well. These I keep in zip-lock bags and put all the zip-lock bags inside air tight containers in my freezer. These seem to last very well.

I think you really have to do some planning ahead when starting out on bulk buying. In other words, plan your next four or five brews and order everything for them and add a bit so as you slowly build up a bit of a store which will later let you brew more ad hoc. I never did this and so was always having to drop into the shop for a bit of this and a bit of that. This was no problem for me as the shop was close by or, if getting stuff mailed, I'd "conveniently," think of something else to buy to make the postage worthwhile .

When you do plan your first five brews, don't be scared to change some of the grains or hops to substitutes that will work over a higher number of recipes. I remember making sure I always had exactly the same hop as in a recipe. Once I accidentally used Saaz instead of Hallertau in a Schwartzbier. It ended up that I couldn't tell the difference . Now I am a bit more flexible.

While I have a handy store now of grains and hops, I still have no auto-syphon in stock .


PP

• • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From Australia
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While I have a handy store now of grains and hops, I still have no auto-syphon in stock

Meow!!!

Got to plan ahead me thinks, its a double edge sword at the moment as to buy in bulk storage issues have to be dealt with, Bolton uk is not a dry climate ! so it will mean buying some plastic drums. But I suppose if you take the cost savings in 5 deliveries there's enought for the containers.

if getting stuff mailed, I'd "conveniently," think of something else to buy to make the postage worthwhile .

This may be the way to go for now,order enough for the current brew plus some extra's to take advantage of the postage. I might just slip in an order for a big shiny potatoe masher

Cheers

Yeasty

• • SVA Brewer With Over 50 Brews From Great Britain
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Would appreciate that, I need to figure out how to store this grain fast

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