What would you like to see in a brew shop

[Judanero]

BJB- So you don't know or....

Seemed like a pretty straight forward question from SBOB.

 

[BJB]

BJB- So you don't know or....

Seemed like a pretty straight forward question from SBOB.

No I don't know, I must have had a dream. Sorry to confuse any of you buying grain.
Best buys are from your LHBS.

Cheers

 

[Kay]

I have seen a few people suggesting grain, can anyone tell me what the best sorts to have on hand would be as I wouldn't want to get the wrong ones in

 

[Yob]

There are a few places selling Australian grain for around this price, and imported grain way cheaper as well. Unfortunately not near me.
HB shops do need to make a profit of course and grain is a big seller now days, even bulk buys are a rip off if you knew what the cost of a bag of grain was wholesale..
My apologizes to the OP, going way off topic here.

I do know those prices and the margins aren't as big as you think.

 

[4KingAle]

Reasons why I avoid my lhbs.
No gas refills(swap only which I now use)
Only small bags of expensive hops unrefrigerated and not vacuum sealed
Grain only sold in small (1kg etc) bags already milled and not vacuum sealed
Staff have a bit of a cocky know everything attitude and feel inflexible

There are better qualified to answer this but I would suggest as far as grain goes.
Jw or bb ale
Weyermann pilsner
Simpson Maris otter
Wheat malt
And then be prepared to split and bag some common speciality malts
Munich,Vienna caramalts etc

 

[SBOB]

I do know those prices and the margins aren't as big as you think.

thats what I thought, but it seems querying BJB about these magical lower price suppliers was too much for him to comprehend.

Let me try making stuff up also
There are a few places around selling Wyeast for 50c a smack pack, unfortunately not near me
There are a few places around selling this season hops for $1/kg, unfortunately not near me

 

[SBOB]

No I don't know, I must have had a dream. Sorry to confuse any of you buying grain.
Best buys are from your LHBS.

Cheers

Thats what I like about internet forums.... everyone is so helpful
Thanks for contributing

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

You would only need 1 bag of each specialty grains like Xrtal, choc, RB, vienna malt etc. They will last a long time as they are not generally sold by the bag full at your LHBS

Buy a cheap vac sealer for doing up 1Kg packs of crushed grains or smaller bags of hops

You might need a mill, but you could get one reasonably cheap, under $200-300 easly

Gas refills would be handy for some

I guess the trick is to not carry to much stock that wont sell quickly.

 

[HBHB]

Geez, if someone's selling malted grain at $30 a bag, let me know. I want about 48 metric tonne a year, but I want a free mill monkey with mine.

 

[klangers]

:icon_offtopic:
The current spot price for malting grade barley is about $250/t, ex silo/farm. $30/25kg equates to $1,200 per tonne.



Somewhere in between that is transport, malting, packaging, transport and the maltser's margin.

Now, considering we can get about 1 tonne of bags per pallet (this is very optimistic), the most pallets we'll get on a standard semi is about 22. 22 tonnes of grain per truck = $26,400 worth of malt (@$30/bag)

Let's assume the truck is driving 500km from the farm to the malthouse, and another 500km to the retailer that magically sells this malt for $30/packaged bag. A semi on-highway consumes about 1 L of fuel per km. So we're talking at least $1,600 of fuel. This is 6% of the finished product price. This is fuel ALONE, before the transport companies other costs (drivers, maintenance, tyres, tolls) and margin. You could easily sink 15% of the finished malt price in transport alone. Then you have the packaging materials (the bag, pallets, pallet wrapping) and all the labour involved to package the malt.

Anyone who thinks there is fat margins and big profits to be made in selling a commodity is thoroughly deluded.

 

[HBHB]

To go with the goodies Stu suggested, a set of 1g incremental trade scales (certified)

Health Dep't Food License for packaging blends, malts, hops, etc. (plus sub sectioned for Grain storage)

Freezers for the hops.

Fridge for the Yeasts etc.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Unfortunately everyone in the chain wants to make 15% profit...the more in the chain the more it costs

 

[HBHB]

You could easily sink 15% of the finished malt price in transport alone.

It's actually more like 38%

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Health Dep't Food License for packaging blends, malts, hops, etc. (plus sub sectioned for Grain storage)

Not sure if you would need Health Dept licencing for the grains and hops, and if you dont, dont. It can cost a few $$$ to go down that route

 

[HBHB]

Not sure if you would need Health Dept licencing for the grains and hops, and if you dont, dont. It can cost a few $$$ to go down that route

Certainly do - in every state and territory in Australia. If it's consumed by a human, you need to have it.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

In NSW food premises comes under your local council.. Certain things you dont need any licences for, but things like meat, dairy, eggs you most certainly do.

At the very least you would need a safe food handling cert

 

[Batz]

Not sure if you would need Health Dept licencing for the grains and hops, and if you dont, dont. It can cost a few $$$ to go down that route

Supprizes me as well, that means health food shops, Asian shops, Indian shops, lolly shops
etc that all repackage spices, grains, beans and rice require Health Dept. licencing? I don't think too many I visit in the Valley would have this.

 

[antiphile]

:icon_offtopic:
A semi on-highway consumes about 1 L of fuel per km. So we're talking at least $1,600 of fuel.

Holy jeebers cripes.

My BIL used to drive long-haul semis (he was based in the NT at that stage) and he told me some of them carry enough fuel to do a trip from Brissie to Perth without having to refuel.Thank gosh I never have to pay the bill to fill 'er up!

 

[Matplat]

The digression in this thread is fantastic!

 

[antiphile]

Sorry Matplat. I meant to put in my post that those long-haul semis could be used to haul malted grain! :blush:

Edit added 6:15pm: Getting back on topic, what I would definately not want to see ever in a LHBS is a Ducati riding tattoed thug who would be subject to the VLAD laws if he crossed into Qld in any brew store. So please make sure you filter your customers well. Maybe it would be worthwhile employing a bouncer.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Supprizes me as well, that means health food shops, Asian shops, Indian shops, lolly shops
etc that all repackage spices, grains, beans and rice require Health Dept. licencing? I don't think too many I visit in the Valley would have this.

Exactly.

And grain and hops are not directly consumed

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Sorry Matplat. I meant to put in my post that those long-haul semis could be used to haul malted grain! :blush:

Edit added 6:15pm: Getting back on topic, what I would definately not want to see ever in a LHBS is a Ducati riding tattoed thug who would be subject to the VLAD laws if he crossed into Qld in any brew store. So please make sure you filter your customers well. Maybe it would be worthwhile employing a bouncer.

Lucky I dont have tattoo's

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Thats what I like about internet forums.... everyone is so helpful
Thanks for contributing

Good work Carl.

On topic, most times on-line is cheaper than store front but If the owner knows more about his stock than you do and doesn't feed you BS it can be worth the trip.
I bought my false bottom from my local as I could physically try it in my mash tun.
Well stored yeast and hops is also hard to find in the local brew shops as they tend to focus on kit brewers and spirits.

Long live LHB's

 

[Matplat]

If you can, go check out Toowoomba Homebrewers... then make your store exactly like that! One of the few negatives about my recent relocation is that I won't have access to that store anymore

They have 90% of the grains, hops and yeast you'll need reasonably priced, fresh wort kits brewed in house, all sorts of extracts (not just light, amber and dark), grain milling and vacuum packing free of charge, helpful staff and they host the local brew club meetings.

 

[Beamer]

i would like to see a smile and hear more than "I dont know", this is why i shop online, then again my lhbs is a tobacconists with a shelf of K&K

 

[MastersBrewery]

Exactly.

And grain and hops are not directly consumed

I believe you mean it's not intended for direct consumption. I'm always chewing on a bit of grain when I start weighing out recipes. Gives you an idea of flavour/ freshness.

 

[mudd]

Kay, there's some good ideas here. At the end of the day you need to provide what your customers want. I'm not sure where your located but you need to have the demand to turn over your stock regularly (whether that's kits or allgrain). there is a risk in going hell for leather on all grain and having a glut of stale ingredients in a few months time. Having said that I think the opportunity long term is in being able to make the freshest homemade beer possible which is all grain brewing.

 

[Feldon]

Hi, Kay.

You're shop is located in Sale in Vic., so you could find out from the local water authority what the mineral profile is of the town water supply (assuming the whole town is fed from the same source).

You could then work out what mineral additions are needed to optimise the water for brewing beer, and put together kits of all the necessary mineral additions needed to adjust the water. You could sell these kits with a 'how to' instruction sheet. If this seems a bit complex, just post here the town water profile data and I'm sure AHB members with the know-how would help you to calculate the water addition dosages.

Selling a water addition kit like this would signal to the brewing community in Sale that you are dead serious about helping them make the best beer possible from the ingredients you are selling.

Best of luck with the shop.

 

[nosco]

I have 2 hbs's near me. 1 about 15 min and the other about 30-40. I go to the further one because they have a good range of grain, yeast and hops, wine and cider gear and all the rest, plenty of choice to make any kind of beer i want, but also everyone there is an experienced brewer. From a business point of view this knowledge is great because they are always sellinge things i dont need but i make it very easy. Ive been to this shop many time in the last 2 years. If i were you Kay id be learning as much about brewing as i could.
Ive only been brewing for 2 years (pretty obsessively) but i think i know more about brewing and beer than the people at the shop closer to me. They sell extract brew kits a pretty good range of dried yeast and a limited range of hops. They do brew on premises which i think is their main business but i havnt been impressed with the beers i tasted at all. The last one i tasted was supposed to be a James Boags Premium tasting beer. To me it tasted more like a cream ale that i had brewed. Which leads me to think that their lagers (most of their beers) are actually made with ale yeast. Ive been to this shop 3 times in about 10 years.
My 2c educate yourself about brewing and look at what some of the bigger home brew shops are selling to give you a good idea. If you can educate your customers too then you'll have greater scope for your business.

 

[bradsbrew]

As stated above, staff that are offering advice that comes from experience not from the packet instructions. Knowing your product and getting to know your clients is critical. Take your clients details so you can add them to a data base. Use that data base to assist you next time they come in.

Cheers