Price of Grain

[Hillbilly Rebel]

How much does it cost you? I realize that in different places and at different times the price will vary, but it may help to know who is getting the better deal.

I just bought my winter supply of food quality white whole corn from the Coop in Sevierville, Tn. I paid $12.40 for each 50 lb bag. They will knock off about .15 cents a bag for purchases in lots of 1000 lbs or more.

What are you buying and how much is it costing you?

[pumpman]

I can get 50 lb cracked feed corn for $8.95 a bag.

[Feckless]

I pay 0.68 Euro/Kg of malted barley, when I buy 100kg or over (I brew aswell)

[homebrewnorcal]

I do bulk orders with some guys up north of me...50lb sac of 2 row (malted barley) costs me about 34 bucks and wheat isn't a whole lot more...

[Hack]

I found a local farmer last year who'll sell me barley at $.16 a pound.

[goose eye]

last week ole boys sold some corn to the mill for 3.10 a bushel . 56lbs

so im tole

[ALRevenuer]

For US customers Tractor Supply has the cheapest corn around for $6.50 a 50# bag. Cracked corn is a tad more but not much.

[father william]

If there are grain farmers near you, try searching Craigslist in your area for corn/barley/rye etc. You might post in the wanted to buy area, but I'd phrase it pretty carefully

I can get 100 lbs of either dry kernel (corn stove) or hammer-milled yellow feed corn for $10, but have to bring my own containers.

It's a local feed supplier working from a farm that mixes various grains and feeds for animals but also sells the grains unmixed. Good deal for the farmer, they get more than the silo price, and the middleman is eliminated.

[Slow & Steady]

My local co-op sells such a poor quality cracked corn it is hard to find any corn in amongs the cob chunks and bug dust. I wouldn't feed it to my chickens so I'm sure as hell not going to cook it up for a mash. That being said, I pay way to much for my OIO Brewers Flaked Corn. The cost for 55lbs. is $31.85 plus 16.35 shipping = $48.20... However, it is as clean as a whisle, I don't have to boil it, and it tastes good in the whiskey.

S&S

[Nightforce]

$9.00 here for fairly decent cracked corn. Not much cob parts in it when put in a wash. I haven't cooked any yet for an all grain mash tho. Next on my list of washes to do.

[ChillinDistilln]

I found a local farmer last year who'll sell me barley at $.16 a pound.

Unless it's malted it's not much good for making fermentables.

[Dnderhead]

""Unless it's malted it's not much good for making fermentables""
why?

[still_in]

i am getting ripped off (aparently) by paying roughly $50 (CAD) per 50lb bag of flaked corn or malted barely or just about any grain. seeing what you guys pay makes me want to get in touch with some farmers. i live in the city now but back home (where i spend summers) i know i guy who runs an organic feed business I could probably get some from him.

[goinbroke2]

$50.00 for 50lb?? Where the heck in Canada are you?? Down east here it's $13.00 for a 40kg bag (88lb's) at the feed and seed.
The Co-op has 5kg bags for $5.00 and 40kg bags for $15.00.
Actually I almost picked up a 5kg bag of "Shubenacadie chicken scratch" (barley, cracked corn, wheat) for $5.00 but I already have a batch on the go.

If your in a city (toronto,montreal,vancouver) it may be well worth the trip to go for a drive to the countryside and find a feed store. Also, look on Kijiji for horse feed etc, you'll find lots of places to buy oats/corn/barley as well as weird stuff you can't use like nyger bird feed etc.

[father william]

Today was a good day. Visited a feed store that I found mention of in a local lawn care forum, of all places.

They didn't have every single grain I'd like to buy (no rye, for example) but they have 50 lb bags of malted barley for $9 USD, wheat, millet, some other interesting grains.

I asked them if they knew if the barley was 2 row or 6 row and they looked at me like I was speaking Klingon. Not labelled on the bag, so it's a mystery. They did say they had sold some to home brew people in the past, but not a lot.

Bought a bag and will start an all barley malt fermenation tonight.

[Fastill]

$9.50 for 100 lbs. of very clean whole corn.
Knock off .35 cents if I remember to bring back the feed bag from the last 100 lbs.
I am surrounded by corn fields

[The Baker]

Today was a good day. Visited a feed store that I found mention of in a local lawn care forum, of all places.

They didn't have every single grain I'd like to buy (no rye, for example) but they have 50 lb bags of malted barley for $9 USD, wheat, millet, some other interesting grains.

I asked them if they knew if the barley was 2 row or 6 row and they looked at me like I was speaking Klingon. Not labelled on the bag, so it's a mystery. They did say they had sold some to home brew people in the past, but not a lot.

Bought a bag and will start an all barley malt fermenation tonight.

MALTED or MALTING (probably) barley??

[father william]

MALTED or MALTING (probably) barley??

That occurred to me after posting, so I threw a handful of kernels in a jar and added water to see if they would sprout, and held off on my fermentation.

2 days later, no sprouts, so it's already malted, not malting. Game on.

Also did an images search at google for barley and malted barley and looked at a lot of pictures in comparison with the grain I bought.

Maybe someone with more experience can verify, but it appears that unmalted barley looks like a rugby ball or an American football. After it's been malted the end where the sprouts come out develops a concave shape, like a Hershey's Kiss or the top of the spade symbol on a deck of cards.

The latter being how my purchase looks, convex at one end of the kernel, concave at the other.

----------------

Update I cooked 10 lbs of barley in 5 gal of water this morning at 150F for half an hour, poured it into a 54 quart Coleman cooler and let it do its thing for a few hours. Didn't add any enzyme, other grain, sugar or anything else.

Drained the liquid out of the Coleman and got virtually all the wash grain-free, as the kernels seem to block each other. Hardly any make it through the drain plug and those that did were captured in a wire colander.

Pitched the yeast a couple of hours ago and put the carboy in my hot box. It's fermenting, the plastic hat in my lock is bobbing every second or so.

The bubbles in the wash are really tiny and there is no foam whatsoever on top of the wash. Maybe since it's not fermenting on the grain?

Anyway, the barley is definitely malted, not just 'malt barley', so I'm pleased to find a cheap source of raw material. Can't wait to see what comes out of my rig in a week or so.

[Whitedog]

Did you happen to do an Iodine test on little bit of it after the cook?

[father william]

Did you happen to do an Iodine test on little bit of it after the cook?

No, but only because I forgot to pick up a bottle when I bought the barley. Was aware of the test and why to do it but just spaced it out since this is my first all grain run. It's definitely on my shopping list.

Here's another update. I assumed the barley was malted because the barley I tried to sprout didn't sprout after soaking for nearly two days, so I went ahead with the crack/cook/fermentation yesterday.

Before I went to bed last night I dumped the water out of the sprouting jar. When I looked at it this morning, small sprouts are starting to form on nearly every kernel.

Then I looked at the carboy, expecting the worst, but it's still chugging right along. Some foam has accumulated on the surface and the fermentation lock is bobbing, although not quite as fast as a few hours after I pitched the yeast. So all I can figure is that grain can be sprouted, dried out, then sprouted again. Tough little SOB's.

Also, I sparged the spent barley that was still in my cooler with three gallons of clean water and got a lot of starch back out of it. That must mean that my cook wasn't long enough/high enough temperature. On my next run, after a successful iodine test, I'm going to sparge again and compare. If a good bit of sugar/starch is returned then that's going to function as starch 'backset' for the next batch, hopefully increasing the yield on successive batches.

[Whitedog]

That must mean that my cook wasn't long enough/high enough temperature.

Or no enzymes....

[father william]

father william wrote:
That must mean that my cook wasn't long enough/high enough temperature.

Or no enzymes....

Would it still be fermenting vigorously a day later? All I used was the barley, water, and yeast. After the wort sat in the cooler for a few hours it developed that clear yellow 'brain' layer look that people describe a corn wash has after the enzymes have done their work. But I also had a lot of gray starch below that layer as well, and more in the sparge.

Also, I asked the people at the feed store 3 times in slightly different ways if they were SURE it was malted barley and they swore up and down that they were sure it was. They didn't know the difference between 2 row and 6 row but they were adamant that it was malted. I asked them if they understood the germination aspect of it, which they claimed they did.

The second try will settle the matter. I'll cook it a little hotter for longer, and use the iodine test.

[Dnderhead]

yeast will "eat" starch just not it's first choice, and it takes a long time to do so.it has to convert starch to sugars then to digestible sugars, if it is malted you've done part of the work for them, if you cook it then you've done more.then it's sort of like going to a fast food joint, all they got to do is gobble it down.
some of the "old" recipes was that way , not efficient and slow, maybe what you have is not malted as long as they whould for brewing, if that's the case then it will take longer to convert, Iv read how their trying different things like cooking (flaked) maybe malting also (trying to eliminate cow "farts".)

[arkshine]

I just paid $6.50 for #50 of ADM brand cracked corn at my local feed/farm store near Fayetteville Ark. its nice and clean with lots of powder( flour ).it is the best looking/smelling cracked corn i have seen in a while. you might ask for it by name at your local supplier.

[plaztikjezuz]

I found a local farmer last year who'll sell me barley at $.16 a pound.

Unless it's malted it's not much good for making fermentables.

i beg to differ.

1. you could malt it, though that would so suck.

2. you could gelatinize it and then mash it with some malted barley or wheat

3. you can buy amylase enzymes

unmalted is more work, but at .16 cents a pound
i would be more concerned with the type of barley, most farmers grow feed barley, from what i have heard it is not as good as a brewing type barley taste wise. but that is for beer, i have no clue if its distilled.

[rtalbigr]

I just bought my winter supply of food quality white whole corn from the Coop in Sevierville, Tn. I paid $12.40 for each 50 lb bag. They will knock off about .15 cents a bag for purchases in lots of 1000 lbs or more.

Last weekend I bought some good clean cracked corn for $9.89/50# and recleaned oats for $12.95/50# and Agri Feed Pet Supply on Middlebrook Pike in Knoxville, Tn.

Big R