How do you afford?

bobbydigital · 06-12-2007, 06:29 PM

I just bought ingrediants for a magic hat clone. took me 7pds of dry extract and 3 different bags of hops, 1 yeast, and one irish moss..and a few tubes of apricot extract...came to over 65$. Do all you spend that much per batch?

(PURCHASED FROM NORTHERNBREW)

c.n.budz · 06-12-2007, 06:31 PM

Do you need all the hops for this batch or will you have some leftover for future batches? You can also buy extract in bulk and save some $ that way.

JimC · 06-12-2007, 06:34 PM

Grains are also cheaper than extract. Dirt cheap if you can buy in bulk via a group order. Add to that hops being a joke to grow your self and some yeast washing/culturing and your cost for a basic 5 gallon batch will be down in the $10-15 range.

**Brewer3401** · 06-12-2007, 06:39 PM

I used to spend around $ 7.00 on ice every brew. I purchased 30 ice cube trays for $ 10.00 at the dollar store.
I use my 5 cu ft freezer to freeze cubes (2 days), then pull them out and put in ice chest on brew day. (This probably costs $ 1.00 in electricity, if that.)
Wipe down inside of freezer with wet rags to remove ice, and set thermostat at 65 F, leaving top open to warm up.
(Wife wouldn't let me get a glycol chiller - don't know why.)

Barley-Davidson · 06-12-2007, 06:40 PM

That does seem high, bobby.
I usually come in under $30 a batch, and that's for extract.

Try subbing some LME for the DME, that should bring your cost down (even though you need a little more it's still usually cheaper).

Funkenjaeger · 06-12-2007, 06:48 PM

At my LHBS, it costs about the same to buy liquid or dry malt extract, so I used a lot of dry, because I could buy it in whatever amount I wanted rather than full cans. Online, at places like northern brewer or morebeer, liquid seems to be about half the price of dry. Even considering the lower yield (because LME is like 20% water), it still seems to work out a lot cheaper. I just paid $2.20 a pound for LME at morebeer which seemed like a great deal - I think your batch would be WAY less than $65 at that price. (not to mention free shipping if you bought some more stuff...)

**the_bird** · 06-12-2007, 06:55 PM

Buy an American Amber Ale kit for $27, plus a bottle of apricot extract for $7. $8 shipping, you're at $42. Not a perfect clone, but should be basically what you're looking for.

DrunkTrucker · 06-12-2007, 07:15 PM

Im glad I went all grain. My girlfriend asked me if it was cheaper and i showed her the bill for a 10 gallon batch. It was only about 30 dollars. I used to spend that easily on a five gallon extract batch. Now I can afford to buy or make other things for my arsenal of brewing equipment.

**Orfy** · 06-12-2007, 07:18 PM

Around $30 for 6 gallon here.

£15 for 5 gallon in English.

**EdWort** · 06-12-2007, 07:20 PM

I do All Grain and bought some bulk malt & hops & a gallon of StarSan. I propogate liquid yeast from those $7 smack packs so I can get at least 4 batches from one vial or smack pack. The end result is my beers cost anywhere from $7.85 to $6.02 for a 5 gallon batch for a Kolsch, Bavarian Hefeweizen or Pale Ale.