With a growing family, taking advantage of bulk savings is important. We have a couple trips to Costco each month to load up on the things that we use most. The result is saving a lot of money each year. The same concept can be applied to homebrewing. This year I started buying malt and hops in bulk with the hopes that I can save money by buying the things I use most.

The first step doing a bulk buy is figuring out what you need. There are no savings in things that go bad before you use them. To figure out what I would need I looked through my recipes of what I brew most often and thought about what new things I wanted to try this year. Being realistic about what you need and will use is probably the hardest part. You don’t want to leave money on the table, but at the same time you don’t want to buy so much that it spoils before you can use it.

Once you have the hops and malt in hand you need to store and manage your new ingredients. Bulk hops at the homebrew level are sold in one pound packages. Hops should be kept in the freezer and sealed from air. I use a simple vacuum sealer to vacuum pack the hops and break them down into more manageable four ounce packages. Hops that are properly cared for can be kept for a year or more.

Malt is generally sold in fifty pound sacks. Malt should be stored in a low humidity environment around room temperature, preferably in an air-tight container. Currently I just seal a bag of malt, but if I have success with buying in bulk I will be looking for a better solution. Malt does not last as long as hops and should be used within six months. Because the malt does not last as long, buying anything other than base malt is unrealistic unless you brew A LOT. Most people won’t be able to go through fifty pounds of crystal 20 in 6 months. One option would be to buy bags of specialty malts with a group of other brewers. Then you can split the sack and everyone can save.

So is all this work worth the savings? Absolutely. My savings are upwards of 50% depending on the variety. This year I bought 15 pounds of hops and averaged $1 per ounce including shipping. Buying by the ounce I generally pay at least $2 per ounce. For my malt I am currently looking at prices of $0.70-$1 per pound for base malt. I generally pay about $1.50 per pound. With savings ranging from 30-50%, that is time well spent.

Buying in bulk won’t be for everyone. Especially for the malt you need to be brewing with relative consistency and at a certain volume. However, if you do brew at a higher rate, buying in bulk can be a big savings for this fun hobby.