DFW Grain Buy #5

[hubbs]

The time has come for another DFW grain group buy, I will be organizing and a friend of Brad's (Sewaneemall) will be receiving (my gameroom is still recovering from the last buy).

If you are interested, please send me a PM with your real name, email address and phone number, and the total number of whole sacks. If you like you can include the variety if you wish, though for now I am just looking for an idea of how many pallets we are anticipating. I will share the spreadsheet and price list with you.

Due to the time consuming nature of breaking down the splits, we have decided not to organize splits this time around. I would suggest splitting half or quarter sacks among other members - however, we will need one person to request and pay for the sack. Personally, I would be interested in half a sack of MOPA and half of Flaked Wheat, and maybe a quarter each of Rice Hulls and Flaked Oats if anyone else wants some of that action.

It looks like our actual freight costs have gone up, again, to $3.72 per sack, and there is no benefit to ordering 1 pallet or 2 - when looking at the price sheet, we are in the 2000#-8000# column. In the last buy we charged $5 per sack, and split the excess between the organizer (me) and the freight recipient. If everyone is cool with this, we will do so again - it makes the billing easier (as it is known before we place the order) and it makes up for the time and miles involved. I will use my share towards my newly purchased HBT lifetime membership. The rest will go to Brad's buddy who is generously allowing use of his freight dock.

I took a look at the new price list, it doesn't seem that there have been any changes to the grain prices.

Thanks

Chris

 

[jww9618]

PM sent. Where is the pickup location?

 

[chays99]

PM sent. Thanks!

 

[jww9618]

Are we shooting for 1 pallet or 2?

 

[Sewaneemall]

Pick up will be at a warehouse near 635 and Northwest highway. For those who can't get there on the day of delivery, we will take the grain back to our house and arrange for pickup individually. This is how we did it a couple of buys ago and it went pretty smoothly.

 

[freelunch]

Is there a target date to have orders in by, or are we still drumming up interest?

 

[chays99]

I would go in a on a 1/4 of the rice hulls in addition to the sack of 2 row.

 

[hubbs]

1 more sack to go to complete a pallet. We will probably let it run a little longer just to see if there is the interest to fill a second.

 

[hockypunk]

Ill take the last sack Plus a couple more if we do a second pallet.

 

[hubbs]

Someone dropped out, leaving 4 available sacks.

Not been that much interest, thinking we will cap it at the 1 pallet.

 

[chays99]

I will add a second sack if needed to fill the pallet.

 

[hubbs]

Sorry for the radio silence in the last week or so, I have been busy with work etc.

There has been an interesting turn of events from CMG. Due to pressure from Home Brew stores they have decided to discontinue sales to the general public. You may have seen the thread on HBT in the group buy section about their decision. We had originally thought we were going to be grandfathered in, based on our existing account with them.

As it turns out, they have taken the decision to work with existing brew clubs and the LHBS to allow us to still be able to buy at our wholesale prices, but also allow the LHBS to be involved in the process, take a small cut, and hopefully make some extra sales on the side. The nuts and bolts are that the LHBS of our choice will be placing the order on our behalf, rather than going directly to CMG. The logistics have yet to be ironed out, for example it is undecided whether or not we will be receiving at our own locations, or whether we can pick up from the LHBS.

As this is in its infancy, the sales rep from CMG told me that if we can be ready to go in the next week or so, we maybe able to continue as originally planned, otherwise we will need to work with one of the local stores. We shall see what happens.

This particular order has been capped at 1 pallet, I just sent an email to those people involved. If you missed the boat this time, worry not - there will be another shortly.

This new development will hopefully make future buys easier to manage, particularly if we can pick up from Hombrew HQ, Winemakers, Stubby's etc etc.

 

[djii]

Hey, I need 3 bags, is 5 still open or do we need to start #6?

 

[SlapYoMomaBrew]

I need one bag, post an update when details get figured out and if there is a slot or if a slot is even needed.

 

[hubbs]

Right now the pallet is full and the order will hopefully be placed shortly. If anyone drops out I will try to find an equitable way to dole out the extra sacks.

I'll keep y'all updated.

Thanks

Chris

 

[gaboon]

I am also interested in whatever if anyone drops.

 

[chays99]

Are we still on?

 

[Lotterywinner73]

Got a mill so I am in if interest for another perks up or people fall out.

 

[djii]

Anyone know where we are at with this?

 

[djii]

So is anyone still interested in a group buy?

 

[gaboon]

What kind of prices are we talking here? I recently got a 50.5# bag of 2-row from Stubby's LHBS in Fort Worth for $55. They do 25% off regular price on whole bags. Is this group buy considerably cheaper than $55 a bag?

 

[djii]

Yea,
http://www.countrymaltgroup.com/download.asp?f=f6
The password is "CMGCHAMP"

There is shipping, but no tax.

 

[Zymologist]

Foreman's in colleyville has better prices on sacks of grain than stubbys. The bulk buys are even lower.

 

[Zymologist]

So is anyone still interested in a group buy?

Just got a mill so I'm down for a group buy. I have a friend that may not be on the forums that is interested as well.

 

[djii]

Well I think the minimum is 40 bags per pallet, I need 4.
Since I can't find anyone who will tell me if the Group Buy #5 actually happened, I'll start a #6 thread on Monday.

 

[hubbs]

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I had attempted to contact the representative from CMG an number of different times. I was finally able to speak to him the day before yesterday. He said something about no checking his work voicemail.

The way we left things was that someone from Brewcraft, which is now a subsidiary of CMG would be contacting me, with the store that they wanted to use. That hasn't happened yet.

During my first conversation with him (a month ago) he suggested that CMG was getting away from stores and homebrewers, and they wanted to concentrate on craft breweries. They bought Brewcraft to cover the LHBS, and that they don't plan on working with homebrewers at all, though they hope to grandfather us in as previously indicated.

If this does not work out favorably or in a timely fashion, I think we will need to pursue other options. I was speaking with Brad earlier, he has his brewery registered as a LLC and they may be able to create an account with CMG and we can piggy back on their orders.

I am getting the run around from Brewcraft. They are supposed to be advising which shop they want us to use.

 

[chays99]

Any update?

 

[djii]

I'm not sure how reliable this forum is, I posted but it's disappeared

I spoke to Stubby, he is very opposed to supporting the grain buys. Thinks he's loosing money.
I've not spoken to Kelley or any other LHBS owners, so if anyone knows them, beg and grovel, and remind them what a loss-leader is. If nobody (LHBS) signs up, then they will have to sell to us directly. Distributors have to abide by fairly rigid laws regarding free trade, refusal to sell is a not an option.

 

[n0nsequit0rish]

Has there been any news on the Brewcraft front? Has that become a definite "no"?

 

[djii]

I've not heard anything Hubbs you still on the thread?

 

[Zymologist]

djii, so you're saying that if we ask all the LHBS's in the area if they'll help us and they all say no, the distributor has to do it? How does that work exactly? I've never heard of this. It seems to me that the distributor can just say, "We distribute to retailers in your area. Case closed."

How is it that other regions aren't having this problem? Chicago and New England, for example.

 

[djii]

It's a bit complicated, but basically it's anti-trust.
http://www.kkrlaw.com/articles/antitrust.htm
as for our area, what I've heard is that one or more of the LBHS's have complained to the distributor and asked them to stop selling to groups/co-ops.

 

[Zymologist]

So what is our next step? Texas Brewing explicitly said they won't help? Has anyone contacted Foreman's, Brewhaus, and Homebrew Headquarters? I'm happy to pick up the phone if no one has already.

 

[hubbs]

I had a voicemail a week or so ago from someone from Brewcraft. They said they would be calling me once things were more finalized.

 

[djii]

Anything happening yet?

 

[Torg]

Any updates?

 

[Zymologist]

For those subscribed to this thread, the thread below has info on the last couple pages about the next group buy which is being set up right now.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f174/dallas-fort-worth-grain-buy-4-a-385593/