Looking for really cheap recipe ideas

I saw this and it got me thinking:
http://www.tastybrew.com/newrcp/detail/581

Has anyone tried anything like this? For when my bank account is near Zero and I still want to brew it would be awesome to whip up a super cheap batch of brew, except I would prefer that it actually taste somewhat good. Any suggestions on something like this?

Do you have any ingredients (yeast, hops, grain/malt) at home?
then maybe we can formulate a better recipe for you.

that one is a joke, as others have said.

Ouch! 5lbs of Corn Sugar to 1b malt extract! Sounds like a recipe for a headache to me, and probably doesn't taste very good either (cidery?).

Extract Cream Ale (this will actually taste like beer)
4lbs Light Dry Malt extract $16
1lb Brewers Corn Sugar-$2
1 oz cascade Pellets(1/2 oz added 60min & 2 min)-$2.50
1 pack nottingham yeast $1.50
(specs 1.045 OG 1.011 FG 16 IBU 2 SRM & 4.4% ABV)
No shipping if purchased at LHBS, but you will have tax

=$22 for 54 bottles. (40 cents a bottle - $2.40 a six.) Still way cheaper than any commercial brew.

Might consider going partial or all grain. my ingredient bills have gone way down since I started mashing. Even Partials have saved on extract costs.

agreed... that's a REALLY nasty recipe.

It's "$7 alcohol" but I wouldn't be so bold as to call it "beer".

If you buy dry extract and hops in bulk you can make beer for a pretty damn low cost.

ROFLMAO....

the recipe does have this at the top, though:

Awards Too numerous to mention.

Click to expand...

I find this extremely difficult to believe. That recipe HAS to be a joke, right?

LOL I saw that too! maybe in prison... brewed in toilet tank. "Best on the Block"

I've been trying to find Happoshu recipes, they are typically less than 50% barley in the grist and it really doesn't taste terrible. (Kirin Sparkling Hop doesn't anyway. I have a Kirin Tanrei in the fridge to try as well.)

50% is one thing... but this recipe is 1 part malt extract to 5 parts corn sugar. That's a totally different beast.

"Borrow the sugar from a neighbor." That would be corn sugar that any good neighbor keeps in his pantry.

McGarnigle said:

"Borrow the sugar from a neighbor." That would be corn sugar that any good neighbor keeps in his pantry.

Click to expand...

well..... I'VE got a bunch in MY pantry, so.....

Edwort's Apfelwine is fairly cheap to make. I beleive he posted it costing under $20 for 5 gallons. The biggest expense is the 5 gallons of apple juice.

Most are actually 25% or less, the less malt they use the lower the taxes. That is the idea behind Happoshu. Use highly fermentable adjuncts and less barley to make a moderate alcohol "beer" (~5%) for cheap.

The products produced in foreign markets don't have to do these things which makes it near impossible to Happoshu in the US.

I pretty much love the idea behind this thread.

I guess the major question is, what do you consider cheap? I'm going to go with around $25 for that answer. I think with anything less than $20 you might be better off just going out and buying a 6-er or two to tide you over until payday. With that being said I present my:

Poor Man's Pale Ale:

6 lbs - Amber LME - $16.00
1 lb - Crystal 60 L - $2.00
8 oz - Cara-pils - $1.00
1 oz - Columbus Pellet hops (.75 oz 60 minutes, dry hop with the remaining) - $2.00
1 oz - Athanum Pellet hops (.75 oz 15 minutes, dry hop with the remaining) - $2.00
1 package - Nottingham Ale Yeast - $2.00
(Specs are 1.052 OG 1.012 FG 38.1 IBU 8 SRM and 5.3% ABV)

$25 for 54 bottles (.46 cents a bottle, or $2.75 a 6 pack)

If you had a Whirlfloc tablet sitting around I'd throw that in too.

I wish I could actually play this game with my friends by going to the LHBS but they have a huge markup over the online stores, AND you still have to pay tax. They charge$7.50 per oz for their cheapest hops and $8.00 per lb of DME!

PeerGynt said:

I wish I could actually play this game with my friends by going to the LHBS but they have a huge markup over the online stores, AND you still have to pay tax. They charge$7.50 per oz for their cheapest hops and $8.00 per lb of DME!

Click to expand...

Wow, that's intense. And I thought We'd be paying more up here in ontario, since we generally have more taxes on everything. I'd have to double check but I think a 1kg container of LME was less then 5 bucks.

We all have basically the same recipes for it, but my pale ale I'm working on locking down right now will be

6.6lbs of LME - $10
1lb of Crystal 20 - $3??
1oz cascade - @2.49
Random dry yeast, havn't decided on yet - $3
possibly half to 1 lb of honey - 5$??

so like 23 plus tax (which goes up to 13% on all goods in the summer!!!)

Check the grocery stores in your area for Premier Malt Extract-usually found near syrups. It's already hopped and comes with a pack of dry yeast. This and a bag of regular sugar and your good to go. I haven't had any in a long time but I bet I've made over 500 gallons worth in the past. I always thought it tasted just like Molsons.

We all have basically the same recipes for it, but my pale ale I'm working on locking down right now will be

6.6lbs of LME - $10
1lb of Crystal 20 - $3??
1oz cascade - @2.49
Random dry yeast, havn't decided on yet - $3
possibly half to 1 lb of honey - 5$??

so like 23 plus tax (which goes up to 13% on all goods in the summer!!!)

Click to expand...

Have you thought about using 6-8oz of Honey Malt instead of the actual honey? That would cut your cost by a few bucks while still getting a nice, but not overpowering honey flavor. It'd also allow you to spend that savings on a nice finishing hop (citra, centennial or even pumping up the cascade by an oz)

I know everyone has the same sort of recipe for APA, but those little additions can make huge difference in the end. The difference between a bland but drinkable cheap APA and an amazing but cheap APA could be $2 worth of a nice finishing hops and 10 IBUs, it's all about honing it in.

Wow, that's intense. And I thought We'd be paying more up here in ontario, since we generally have more taxes on everything. I'd have to double check but I think a 1kg container of LME was less then 5 bucks.

Click to expand...

Their prices are not based in reality. I'm willing to pay a couple of extra $$ to a LHBS for the time and service, but paying the idea of paying twice as much is laughable. If anyone ever wanted to make a lot of money with a homebrew supply store I'd recommend opening in San Diego.

Check out: http://northernbrewer.com/
They seem to have a good list of beers in all price ranges.

NRS

Planned: Dunkelweizen, Bavarian Hefeweizen
Brewing: Belgian Triple
Bottled: Brown Ale, Holiday Ale, Raspberry Wheat, Espresso Porter

Berliner Weisse.

Cool thread- I’m always looking for a way to get more beer for the buck. If you brew more than once a month, I would suggest two things- buy hops in bulk online and reuse your yeast. I was getting burned at my local homebrew store on hop prices, and was able to order in bulk from hopsdirect.com for under a dollar an oz. Reusing yeast was easier than I thought and I haven’t had to buy yeast for the last two batches.

McGarnigle said:

"Borrow the sugar from a neighbor." That would be corn sugar that any good neighbor keeps in his pantry.

Click to expand...

I doubt my neighbors have 5 lbs of table sugar between them let alone corn sugar.

(Voiced with a Monty Python accent "No, sorry. I'm out of corn sugar at the moment. Fancy some maple syrup? There's a 55 gallon drum of it out back. You're welcome to some of that if you'd like". :rockin:

shelly_belly said:

Check the grocery stores in your area for Premier Malt Extract-usually found near syrups. It's already hopped and comes with a pack of dry yeast.

Click to expand...

wish i could buy extract kits at my local grocery store.

KFBass said:

6.6lbs of LME - $10
1lb of Crystal 20 - $3??
1oz cascade - @2.49
Random dry yeast, havn't decided on yet - $3
possibly half to 1 lb of honey - 5$??

so like 23 plus tax (which goes up to 13% on all goods in the summer!!!)

Click to expand...

wow wow wow! If I could get extract that cheap I'd prolly never do grain.

eelpout said:

wow wow wow! If I could get extract that cheap I'd prolly never do grain.

Click to expand...

Yeah... that's crazy cheap for extract!

Walker said:

Yeah... that's crazy cheap for extract!

Click to expand...

Cheapest extract I've seen is Munton's liquid, ~$11/3.3lb.

Grains are cheaper -- but you need more -- but-but still cheaper.

yeah, grain is cheaper on the ingredients.

6.6lbs of Munton's LME would make 5 gallons of 1049 beer, costing $22 for the extract at the price you listed.

To make that wort with grain, I would need about 9 lbs of 2-row, which would cost about around $10 even if you didn't get a good deal. (Grain can be bought in bulk for less than $1 per pound).

But, if KFBass getting 6.6 lbs of extract for $10... he's at AG prices for his batches.

KFBass... do your fellow extract brewers a favor and tell them where they can get those prices! That's awesome.

Walker said:

To make that wort with grain, I would need about 9 lbs of 2-row, which would cost about around $10 even if you didn't get a good deal. (Grain can be bought in bulk for less than $1 per pound).

Click to expand...

At a good deal, you're talking $4.50 for the grain. ($26/55lb)

wow.. where do you get that?

The Shop I use in NC for American 2row is $50/50lbs buck a pound, But $26/55lb... That's crazy low... Farm Feed Ale?:cross:

Well... I've seen malt for about price, shipped, but we had to order a ton of it to get it for that rate.

that's not a figure of speech.... we ordered over 2000lbs of the shlt.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/raleigh-grain-buy-phase-ii-172066/

Literally a TON! Great price though... sound like from the thread you could order different types of malt (i'm assuming each in 55lb sacks). How do you bulk store it? I haven't purchased in bulk yet, but most batches are Marris Otter for me.

starrfish said:

Literally a TON! Great price though... sound like from the thread you could order different types of malt (i'm assuming each in 55lb sacks). How do you bulk store it? I haven't purchased in bulk yet, but most batches are Marris Otter for me.

Click to expand...

Most stuff was 55lb sacks. Some stuff was 50lb sacks, though.

There were a total of 17 of us that went in, and yes, you could order whatever the distributer had.

There was an earlier thread that had a link to the catalog... ironically, it started as a charlotte area effort, but ended up in Raleigh and the OP was not able to get involved for his own reasons (distance was not the reason):
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/country-malt-group-order-charlotte-greensboro-n-c-areas-161784/

Canadian Malting company's stuff was the cheapest at under $24 for 55lbs. I bought a sack of Gambrinus for $35. Those are prices without shipping, which ended up being about $4.25 per sack since we got a full 42-bag pallet.

edit: regarding storing it...

I only bought 55lbs, and I'll go through that in 3 months or so... not a big deal to just stick that sack in the hallway closet where we keep the dogfood. Cool, dry, and pest-free should do the trick.

One of my buddies bought close to 300lbs, though. I have no idea what he's going to do with all of that, but he seems to be brewing beer every other day.