mt_rob
Member
I love home brewing, because it intersects two of my deepest needs...drinking great beer and being 'thrifty'. I'd like some advice from some of this board's more efficient brewers. Keep in mind, I like to squeeze the nickle until the buffalo craps, so here is a description of my current process:
1. All grain, to avoid high DME / LME costs
2. Corona mill, to avoid the $1 extra for crushing from HBS
3. 5 gal round cooler (home depot) MLT and batch sparging
4. Boil on electric kitchen stove in 3 gal batches to avoid propane costs
5. Bottle culturing and rewashing yeasts frequently
6. Buying the most common hop varieties in 1 lb bags ($12 - $15)
7. Homemade insulation board fermentation chamber with hacked home thermostat
8. Fermenting in Homer buckets ($2.47 each)
9. Combined buys with brewing friends to reduce that awful $8 shipping
So basically, I like 3 gal batches because I can brew more often, and going bigger would require a bigger kettle and more powerful burner.
I don't want to compromise the final taste, but otherwise I'm game for anything that can save a little $$$. My time is cheap, since this is my hobby and I enjoy it.
Please give me some of you most innovative cost saving ideas!
1. All grain, to avoid high DME / LME costs
2. Corona mill, to avoid the $1 extra for crushing from HBS
3. 5 gal round cooler (home depot) MLT and batch sparging
4. Boil on electric kitchen stove in 3 gal batches to avoid propane costs
5. Bottle culturing and rewashing yeasts frequently
6. Buying the most common hop varieties in 1 lb bags ($12 - $15)
7. Homemade insulation board fermentation chamber with hacked home thermostat
8. Fermenting in Homer buckets ($2.47 each)
9. Combined buys with brewing friends to reduce that awful $8 shipping
So basically, I like 3 gal batches because I can brew more often, and going bigger would require a bigger kettle and more powerful burner.
I don't want to compromise the final taste, but otherwise I'm game for anything that can save a little $$$. My time is cheap, since this is my hobby and I enjoy it.
Please give me some of you most innovative cost saving ideas!