mandobud16

Recipes 

Ey guys I've been in a financial bind lately that has prevented me from brewing as much as I want. Haven't brewed In a month! I was wondering what beers you guys thought were best for brewing in a financial bind. Thanks!

DUNDASJ

Recipes 

I have a friend that washes and reuses yeast which saves a considerable amount of money. I'm eventually going to try to get into doing it as well. For a cheap all grain a simple German Hefeweizen is fairly cheap 8 pds of grain and 1 oz halletauer hops.

brockettbrews

Recipes 

I would go with a pilsner or a lager.

Yooper

Recipes 

Ha! My "poor man's beer" is a cream ale.

4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 6 38.6 %
4 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 7 38.6 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 8 14.5 %
14.0 oz Rice, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 9 8.4 %

1.00 oz Williamette [4.80 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 10 14.7 IBUs

The thing about this recipe is I've used whatever malt I've had around, and then used Minute Rice for the flaked rice. I've used cornmeal or flaked corn. And I use whatever hops I have. A year ago, willamette was $8/pound, so I used that. But I've used homegrown hallertauer, leftover saaz, etc, all with good results. I've used saved yeast (nottingham, S04, S05, WLP001, Wyeast 1056, even lager yeast!) and got the cost to about $12 for 5 gallons!

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brockettbrews

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what i did is started doing 2 gallon batches.

Zamial

Recipes 

Any low hop (hops are pricey) and low ABV should be easy on the wallet. So: Kolsh, Blonde, Cream, Saison, and Wheats to name a few...

The other thing is, I try to reuse as much of my "spent ingredients" as possible. After I gather my wort I will do a 2nd "Ice mash" to rapidly cool the grains. The Ice Wort I reuse for Starters and I then spread out the spent grains on cookie sheets covered w/ aluminum foil. Toss the grains in my oven at the lowest setting (Mine is 170F) and let them sit usually overnight. Fluffing them every few hours to help them dry. I then re-use the spent grains as a flour substitute to make breads and crackers mostly.

Speaking of Bread, You can mash day old sub buns there is a recipe floating around here for that. Most places may just give you the bread if you ask nice at the end of the day.

I also just made a "popcorn ale" using 1 pound of popped pop corn in the mash. It was based on the Hamm's beer recipe.

Wash and reusing the yeast will also save some cash...

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mandobud16

Recipes 

Thanks guys! Yooper- I've got a few oz of cascade hops that I got from deschutes when they were in town. Think those along with some some washed 1084 would suffice?

Yooper

Recipes 

Oh, yes! And like Zamial said, if you don't use flaked corn or have polenta on hand, use popcorn.

The Wyeast 1084 might give you some fruitiness, especially if it gets above 65 degrees, so if you're using that yeast make sure you keep it at 62-64!

I just looked at a cheaper version of the same recipe:

7 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 75.0 %
1 lbs Corn, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 5 10.0 %
8.0 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 6 5.0 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 7 5.0 %
8.0 oz Wheat Malt, Pale (2.0 SRM) Grain 8 5.0 %

0.75 oz Cluster [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 9 19.5 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 10 -
0.50 oz Saaz [3.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 11 2.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Saaz [3.50 %] - Aroma Steep 5.0 min Hop 12 0.0 IBUs

1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [25.00 ml] Yeast

But that was when Nottingham was like $1.29 pack. I have a ton of cluster hops (can't remember where they came from) so I will use them for bittering in some American beers when the bittering is not a huge part of the flavor.

I'd definitely recommend saving/rinsing yeast. Even with dry yeast, using the $3.25 package for 10 batches by rinsing/splitting it means huge savings. It's even a bigger savings with liquid yeast. I always have Denny's Favorite 50, S05, and Wyeast 1335 in my fridge that I've saved.

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Jayhem

Recipes 

I agree. I don't buy my grain in bulk but I got the cost of my cream ale recipe down to $15 for 5.5 gallons and that includes a $3 packet of US-05 dry ale yeast.

Just by going All Grain you save $5-15 off the extra cost of extracts, especially if you have a high efficiency mash.

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TravisT

Recipes 

I'm just now getting where I feel like i'm able to brew the most cost effective beer i can. I bought about 6 different hops in bulk, buying grains in bulk/bag and washing yeast. I brewed a amber and for 5gl it was less that $15-$16 for a 5gl batch of beer. How long will it take me to make up the $1500 dollars of equipment I have tied up in this hobby.

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