The GTA Brews Spring 2016 Grain Buy is now open!
Thanks again to Toronto Brewing for hosting, please make sure to give them your love and make some purchases on pick up day!
Key Dates
Sign Up Open: Wednesday, April 6th, 2016
Sign Up Close: Tuesday, May 3rd, 2016 (11:59 pm)
Payment Deadline: Tuesday, May 10th, 2016 (11:59 pm)
Split Date: Friday, May 20th, 2016
Main Pick Up Date: Saturday May 21st, 2016 (10:30 am – 1:30 pm)
Click here to go to the spreadsheet
Please read through the text below before adding your order to the sheet.
Changes from Fall 2015
In order to provide more value to our club’s Paid Members, and keeping in mind the amount of work involved in running this bulk buy, we have elected to make the bulk buy for Paid Members only. An option as been added to the spreadsheet to lump the $5 membership fee in with the grain purchase to make the joining process easy. For more details on GTA Brews Paid Membership please visit the membership page.
With the decline of our dollar it seems that grain suppliers have been forced to increase prices. When I was updating the price list it seemed that sack cost went up around $10+/bag for OiO, Briess, Simpsons, Crisp, Chateau, and Weyermann. OiO 2 row only went up $5/bag though. Some manufacturers didn’t go up as much or at all: Canada Malting, Best Malz, Great Western, Franco Belges, Bairds, Fawcett, and Gambrinus.
In addition to the grain cost increases, Toronto Brewing has asked us to increase the $/sack gift card amount from $5 to $10. This will allow them to maintain good relationships with the suppliers while still providing us the grain essentially at cost. Keep in mind that Toronto Brewing is doing us a huge favour by facilitating this buy and only show them support and gratitude. Also keep in mind that you get that $10/sack back in form of ZackBucks (Toronto Brewing gift card)!
How It Works
DO NOT contact Toronto Brewing with questions about the Grain Buy, all questions go to me. They are busy people and are doing us a favour here, no need to give them more work than necessary.
This buy will be for full bags only. If you want to organize splits, then please do so on the partial page. Do not put fractions of bags on the main page, whole numbers only. I have done my best to update to current prices, but as always things are subject to change as the
deadline approaches and Toronto Brewing lets me know of any last minute changes. Certain items may not be in stock, I will keep the sheet updated as I remove out of stock items closer to the deadline.
$10 is added to the cost of each grain bag, which will be returned in the form of a $10 gift card (ZackBucks) to Toronto Brewing for each sack of grain purchased. Similarly yeast packets have $1 added, yeast blocks have $10 added, and misc items have $10 added. Name 1 on the partials will be the person getting the gift card, since that person is the split captain for that bag. The gift cards will be emailed out after the bulk buy is complete, the codes are not able to be used on the pick up day. Please be patient when waiting for gift cards, and don’t start emailing me immediately after the buy closes asking for your gift card. They will be sent out as soon as possible, I promise.
All bags must be picked up by the end of the pick up window. No orders will be stored at Toronto Brewing if you can’t make it. Arrange to have someone pick up for you, or remove your order before the sign up closes. Make sure to inform me if someone is picking up for you.
Please do not message me on or after the day Sign Up closes asking to be added to the order, once the sheet is locked it is too late. Also be sure to double check your order to make sure you didn’t mistakenly order the wrong thing. If you accidentally order a wrong bag of something, you are responsible for paying for it. There is no buffer for mistakes in the budget of this bulk buy.
Payments
Once Sign Up is closed, and the sheet is locked, I will begin accepting payments. Please send payments in the form of EMT or Paypal to gtabrews@gmail.com. Any orders left unpaid after the payment deadline will be deleted, then the order submitted.
Pick Up Day
Pick up day is going to be slightly different than in the past. Instead of everyone grabbing their own bags, participants will form a line outside the loading dock and our volunteers will pick your bags for you. Things will probably move a bit slower than usual, but less chaos is the goal here. This will hopefully eliminate the “Pilsner Problem”, once and for all.
We need volunteers for pick up day, please let me know if you are available! I promise we will take turns with lifting, and I’ll keep you supplied with coffee.
Splits and Partials
Splits are to be done at Toronto Brewing on the Friday before the pick up date. If you are involved with the splits, please make an effort to come out and help. Do not start grabbing your bags during splitting. You will still be able to take your full order with you on split night, but only after everything is split and we are set up for pick ups the next day.
If you are in the Name 1 column on the split sheet, please make a special effort to come out. As the bag captain you are responsible for making sure your bag is split. You are also responsible for adding the bag to your order on the main page, and adding a corresponding note.
Malts
Over the last two grain buys we have introduced a lot of new malsters. All of the malsters represented by Country Malt Group were added in Spring 2015. Simpsons, Crisp, and Château were added in Fall 2015 after G&P was acquired by BSG. Muntons is no longer carried by BSG, however there have been some OiO branded english malts added, which are probably the same thing. All of the pure Maris Otter malts are within a few dollars of each other with Crisp Glen Eagles Maris Otter (the belle of the Fall 2015 Grain Buy) only $4 more expensive than the cheapest MO.
New this time, BSG has Weyermann Barke Vienna and Spelt Malt in stock! Barke barley is the Maris Otter of Germany, very old variety but kept alive due to flavour characteristics. Spelt Malt is becoming popular with sour beer, first time it is available!
**Note carried over from Fall 2015**
I have bolded a few items on the grain list that you should consider/check out. I have also updated the links the in the top part of the sheet with info about the new malts. Simpsons is world famous for their specialty malts. I’ve met pro-brewers that swear by their product for superior flavour, they have some interesting looking base malts too. Crisp is known for their flavourful base malts, especially for their floor-malted Maris Otter called Gleneagles Maris Otter. Castle Malting [Château] is the second Belgian malster to be added to the buy, and now we have two Belgian Pilsen malts available (including Franco-Belges). I’m still excited about Thomas Fawcett and Best Malz, two incredible maltsters. The Maris Otter from Fawcett, and the Pilsner from Best Malz were popular in the last Grain Buy. Best Malz Pilsner is regarded by many as the best tasting Pilsner malt. Plus Fawcett Pearl is the base malt for Heady Topper, might be worth a try!
I encourage you all to consider branching out and trying a new brand of 2 row/pale malt, Maris Otter, a new brand of pilsner, etc… Trying new ingredients and learning from them is part of the fun of our hobby.
Please send any questions to gtabrews@gmail.com.
Cheers!
Eric
P.S. The spreadsheet is always a work in progress, please let me know of any inconsistencies/errors you see.