charging for spent grain

[Kevin Watson]

spent grain

I agree, you can't charge for spent grain pickup unless you are delivering it yourself. In many cases, you need the farmer more than the farmer needs you. I actually worked for a place that had to pay the farmer to come pick up spent grains.

[oppigards]

bio gas

We have 4 ss 7 bbl tuns which we transport to the farmer. I do not charge him but he has offered me pork for christmas. But I think that it can be a price on spent grain in the near future. There will be a market for bio gas and I think that in the end it will be a price for the spent grain.

Cheers
Bjorn

[bigdogbrewer]

I spoke with a Maryland farmer today who regularly purchases large quantities of spent grains who said that the current market/wholesale price for Brewers Spent Grains or Distillers spent grains is $150/ton dried and delivered by the container.

[mr.jay]

I too have wrestled with this question. I have a very unreliable farmer, which has led to a very stinky, fly infested compound, an angry boss, and a sore back from me having to hump it off to some distant location.
I put an ad in my local Pennysaver, and advertised:

ATTN: CATTLE FARMERS
SPENT GRAIN AVAILABLE
PRICE NEGOTIABLE
U-LOAD, U-HAUL

I expected no response. 2 farmers called me. I was in negotiations with one of them. I told the farmer I use (politely) that I was going to have to "fire" him, because he doesn't come when I call, and that my boss was making me charge for the grain (way to pass the buck, eh?). Wouldn't you know it, he winds up agreeing to pay 5 bucks a load, and hasn't missed a pick-up since! I almost feel bad asking for money, but I think asking somebody to pay for something attaches a sense of value to it. Besides, unless your farmer fell off the turnip truck, he knows what's up with the projected prices of grain.

[NYSBrewer]

Times are tough for farmers. The one I use works very hard for very little. I give THEM money to pick up our grain. 20$ per trip should at least cover their fuel, they are about 30 miles away. It also makes them very reliable. Its tough and dirty work to pick up grain, so its nice to give them a little something for their efforts.

[Straub]

There have been many threads on this subject but as with anything else in business its LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!

We have a rotation of about 15 farmers who get our grain. They pay about $0.40/bushel. We put out a little over 90 bushels for a brew and every day about 5 or 6 of the farmers will come and take an average of 15-20 bushels each. They shovel the grain themselves and they never complain.

They are actually lined up right on schedule each morning as the grain comes out of the brewhouse. They want to be the first to fill up their truck. We could charge much more and there is a waiting list to get in the rotation of farmers.

If you live in Portland or Seattle, you're probably going to have to pay to dispose of it. If you live in rural PA or similar areas, you might have a situation like we have.

You have to feel out the market. There is no one right answer.

[lhall]

This has turned into an interesting discussion. Our farmer is extremely reliable, he drops an empty trailer and hauls away a full one twice a week. The farmer pays a workhand to drive about 75 miles roundtrip to come and get it. BUT it is definitely worth his while. This season he was the only farmer around him that did not have to BUY hay for his cattle. In fact, he has begun marketing his calves as "brewery mash fed" and got a higher price for them when he sold them on an online auction. He does give us the occasional steak and hamburger, and we are very happy with his service.

However, I'm looking at malt prices increasing 30-70% this year depending on the maltster. I don't think we will be able to pass all of that cost increase on to the final customer, or if it even wise to do so. Is is fair to ask the final consumer to pay more, and for us to get an even smaller margin on the beer we sell, if there is another way to wring some value out of what we make?

[beauxman]

This could easily turn into a new thread, actually I think there is one on this subject of price increases. My thought is yes, you do pass this on to the consumer. It happens all the time in almost every other industry. It is also a good time to look at operations and find ways to be even more efficient without cutting quality or character of beer. With this in mind, finding new revenue streams is also a good way to offset this. I guess if you can get away with charging for your grain, go for it. Only you know if your local market of farmers will bear it.

-Beaux

[MikeJordan]

All of the mid-size to large breweries in Portand sell there grain to the same local farmer. The farmer has been in the "business" for awhile and sometimes turns around and sells grain to other farmers. It's a business for him and it's treated like one, including contracts. My understanding is there are other farmers scratching the surface willing to buy spent grains as well. The service isn't 100% reliable but reliable enough to rarely cause production delays. My suggestion...if you're brewing more than 10,000 bbls and have consistent production you should be selling your spent grain unless you like "leaving money in your spent grains".

[Michael Murphy]

Our farmer (the most dependable) quit on us this summer leaving us with a stinky fly shithole... in the end we have got him back by paying per "box" I use 2 per batch they hold around 600kg each... I use about 20 boxes per week....

unless you have a shit load of spent malt your bound for trouble trying to sell it. Industrial breweries which use 9000 kg per batch 8 times per day sell it and this usually works out to pay the brewers.