Ways to make my homebrew better for less

By suggestions on making my beer better for less. I know it's pretty broad, but maybe the little things. Like making it very clear

Kmcogar said:

By suggestions on making my beer better for less. I know it's pretty broad, but maybe the little things. Like making it very clear

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Are you using all-grain, partial mash, or extract methods?

Partial mash. I am trying to get into all grain soon though. I have a keg I just need to get all the add ons. I'm a cheap bastard though so its hard for me to spend $70 on a mash tun kit for a keggle and then another $30 on a thermometer and sight glass

You could look into BIAB, assuming you already have a good size boil kettle. If you do this you can go AG, buy yourself a mill and then start buying your grain in bulk. Over time the savings of buying bulk will cover the cost of your mill and start saving you some cash.

Kmcogar said:

Partial mash. I am trying to get into all grain soon though. I have a keg I just need to get all the add ons. I'm a cheap bastard though so its hard for me to spend $70 on a mash tun kit for a keggle and then another $30 on a thermometer and sight glass

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You don't need a keggle, or a sight glass to brew all grain.
I have a turkey fryer, and a cooler mash tun.
I don't think I have more then $50 invested in my all grain "system"
take a look at this
Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Techniques - Cheap and Easy Batch Sparging

Kmcogar said:

Partial mash. I am trying to get into all grain soon though. I have a keg I just need to get all the add ons. I'm a cheap bastard though so its hard for me to spend $70 on a mash tun kit for a keggle and then another $30 on a thermometer and sight glass

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Partial mash makes a great beer! Try to mash as much grain as you can in your system, and that will both save money and make great beer.

Washing and reusing yeast can save a ton of money. Controlling fermentation temperatures can be cheap and easy, by using a cooler with a water bath and a frozen water bottle or two to cool it, or an aquarium heater to warm it. Taking care of your yeast by using quality yeast in the correct quantity and at the correct temperature will improve the beer greatly and cost nothing.

do a search for swamp cooler. You use it to maintain a good fermentation temperature. You should also check out the diy section as there are a lot of cheap gadgets in there.

holy post flurry batman....

BryceL said:

You could look into BIAB, assuming you already have a good size boil kettle. If you do this you can go AG, buy yourself a mill and then start buying your grain in bulk. Over time the savings of buying bulk will cover the cost of your mill and start saving you some cash.

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I do biab and get by with my smaller pot by splitting the boil and doing the hops all in one of them. It makes great beer, I will never get a mash tun.

2 five gallin paint straining bags are only a few dollars @ hardware stores. I've used mine probably a dozen times.

Look up "yeast washing". If you reuse yeast you'll save $3-8 per batch depending on what your brewing. Even if you use yeast only twice, you cut the cost in half.

+1 on the DIY section and reusing yeast.

If you want to cheat on the keggle you can always use brass fittings and copper tubing for the pick up. If you buy the whole 50' box of copper you can also build your own immersion coil chiller.

Grow your own hops if possible or buy them in bulk.

buy in bulk - grains or extract
wash yeast
grow your own hops
become more efficient with your brewing process

That's all for now

Best way is to practice...a lot

Hugh_Jass said:

buy in bulk - grains or extract
wash yeast
grow your own hops
become more efficient with your brewing process

That's all for now

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That pretty much covers it

BBL_Brewer said:

That pretty much covers it

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To make it better, though, attention to ferment temps., pitch rates, water mods., yeast health, and sanitation should be mentioned.

I looked at washing the yeast. It looks like a huge money saver! Thanks for the tip guys

Also, I bought some pH strips to test my sanatizer. I can reuse it a few times by storing it in a 5 gal bucket with lid. Do some searches for Starsan viability. Not blowing threw 5 gals of sanatizer every brew can save a good chunk of change.

I'll add to plan ahead.

You can use your yeast slurry from each fermentation for the next without washing your yeast.

Pick a yeast that you like and that is versitile. WLP051 is a good example.

Plan to brew every 2 weeks or so and start with a simple beer like a Blond.

Then in 2 weeks brew a Cream Ale

Then an American wheat

Then an American Amber

Then an Pale ale

Then An IPA

You'll have just brewed 6 times in 12 weeks and filled your pipeline using 1 yeast and 1 base malt.

Bull

bullinachinashop said:

I'll add to plan ahead.

You can use your yeast slurry from each fermentation for the next without washing your yeast.

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I'll second that. I buy one big bag of a base malt I want to try, and one vial of yeast. I start with a smaller beer then use the slurry to "step up" to a bigger beer. Rinse & repeat (keeping some of the small-beer slurry). Only "marginal" purchases are hops & specialty grains - feels great getting 5 gallons for a few bucks.

Kmcogar said:

Partial mash. I am trying to get into all grain soon though. I have a keg I just need to get all the add ons. I'm a cheap bastard though so its hard for me to spend $70 on a mash tun kit for a keggle and then another $30 on a thermometer and sight glass

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Like its been said, all grain, wash yeast, and get a mill so you can buy and store bulk grain. I too am cheap; my sight glass is my "marked" stir stick and my keggle is in the process of going electric BIAB to cut out the price of propane. So until spring I'm back to using the turkey fryer, but the savings in time and cost will come. I do love (KISS) when a plan comes together. Cheers

bullinachinashop said:

I'll add to plan ahead.

You can use your yeast slurry from each fermentation for the next without washing your yeast.

Pick a yeast that you like and that is versitile. WLP051 is a good example.

Plan to brew every 2 weeks or so and start with a simple beer like a Blond.

Then in 2 weeks brew a Cream Ale

Then an American wheat

Then an American Amber

Then an Pale ale

Then An IPA

You'll have just brewed 6 times in 12 weeks and filled your pipeline using 1 yeast and 1 base malt.

Bull

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Can you elaborate on that? Do you just rack your wort right on top of the old yeast slurry? Do you transfer the slurry to a sanitized bowl, wash the carboy, rack your wort and pitch the used yeast slurry? How does that work?

Depending on the gravity of the wort your making, you'll scoop out some of the yeast cake and pitch it directly into the new batch.
When you transfer into a bottling bucket or a keg, leave about an 1/2 inch of beer on
top of the yeast cake. When your ready to pitch, swirl up the beer and cake well and then let it settle for about 5 minutes. Then pour off the liquid into a measuring cup and pitch the required amount.
I use Mrmalty.com to figure out the amount and slide the bar to the thinnest slurry to determine the amount.
Hope this helps.

Bull

By the way, if you want to wash and save your yeast, there are some good threads on here on that as well. I rarely go through that though, as it is pretty time consuming and you'll need to store them and also make a starter.

I washed yeast for the first time a couple months ago.... not as hard as you would think. Pick up some canning jars from the walmartz for $6 (you won't need all 12, but I couldn't find individual). I now have a full jar of yeast that I frequently use that is saving me $8 a batch. I followed the yeast washing thread except using a big jar for the initial wash (didn't have one). I decanted 4 jars of yeast into 1 as well (saves fridge space).

Interesting, Bullinachinashop, much easier than washing yeast, will try that out.

I second bulk buying I just got 5 lbs of hops for >$60 shipped (1ea, Columbus, Cascade, Super Galena, Willamette and Bravo) .74/ oz is a big savings.

bullinachinashop said:

Depending on the gravity of the wort your making, you'll scoop out some of the yeast cake and pitch it directly into the new batch.
When you transfer into a bottling bucket or a keg, leave about an 1/2 inch of beer on
top of the yeast cake. When your ready to pitch, swirl up the beer and cake well and then let it settle for about 5 minutes. Then pour off the liquid into a measuring cup and pitch the required amount.
I use Mrmalty.com to figure out the amount and slide the bar to the thinnest slurry to determine the amount.
Hope this helps.

Bull

By the way, if you want to wash and save your yeast, there are some good threads on here on that as well. I rarely go through that though, as it is pretty time consuming and you'll need to store them and also make a starter.

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Very interesting. Thank you for the response!

So you're saying I take the carboy, transfer the beer to the bottling bucket, swirl up the yeast cake and pour the liquid into a measuring cup. Do I then clean out the carboy to make room for the next batch and pitch the liquid that I set aside? Or am I pouring off the liquid and putting the new batch right on top of the sediment in the carboy?

Sorry for the stupid questions. I'm still pretty new at this.

FantasticBastard said:

Very interesting. Thank you for the response!

So you're saying I take the carboy, transfer the beer to the bottling bucket, swirl up the yeast cake and pour the liquid into a measuring cup. Do I then clean out the carboy to make room for the next batch and pitch the liquid that I set aside? Or am I pouring off the liquid and putting the new batch right on top of the sediment in the carboy?

Sorry for the stupid questions. I'm still pretty new at this.

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I use plastic buckets for my primary, but the method should be the same:
1) If you are immediately going to re-use the yeast cake:
a) Rack your beer off of it
b) Using a SANITIZED utensil, remove 1/2 of the yeast cake
c) Pitch your new batch onto the yeast cake, making sure you get it mixed up. You want the yeast to not just be caked at the bottom but rather suspended in the new wort.

2) If you aren't going to immediately re-use the yeast cake:
a) Buy some mason jars
b) STERILIZE a few mason jars by boiling the jar and the portion of the flat portion of the lid in for 15 minutes.
c) Let the jars cool somewhat with the lid loosely attached
d) Using a SANITIZED utensil (or even better one that has been STERILIZED, scoop out the yeast cake into the mason jars, filling each one about 1/3 to 1/2 way.)
e) Put them in the refrigerator with the lid loosely attached...enough to keep oxygen out but loose enough to let the co2 escape. Label with the type of yeast and date - use within a week or two. (When you use them, take one out before you do your boil to let the yeast come up to room temperature, i.e. close to your pitching temperature).

On my to-do list is to actually start washing yeast and eventually make slants.

FantasticBastard said:

Very interesting. Thank you for the response!

So you're saying I take the carboy, transfer the beer to the bottling bucket, swirl up the yeast cake and pour the liquid into a measuring cup. Do I then clean out the carboy to make room for the next batch and pitch the liquid that I set aside? Or am I pouring off the liquid and putting the new batch right on top of the sediment in the carboy?

Sorry for the stupid questions. I'm still pretty new at this.

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Clean the carboy and pitch the liquid you set aside. The trub/hop materials are heavier than yeast so that is what you want to let settle out and ultimate dump down the drain (or into your compost pile).

thread full o' cheapos:rockin:

My ag brews are half the price of extract. After my initial investment I equipment it paid for itself within about 2 batches. Obviously harvesting and saving your yeast is huge.

The method that copyright1997 suggested above will work, but in most cases, you'll be overpitching.

Not only that, you'll be pitching onto alot of trub and into a dirty fermentor.

Now before people jump in and say that it was an beer sanitary enviroment, I will always wash out my fermentor and re-sanitize, knowing that I'm starting fresh and not imparting flavors from a prior batch.

It is very important to pitch the correct amount of yeast and with the method I suggested, at least you can estimate your cell count.

I've had success with this method and actually find that I have better fermentations after 3-4 batches.

Kmcogar said:

I'm a cheap bastard though so its hard...

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Step 1: don't be a cheap bastard.

Thanks

I've heard this from numerous seasoned brewers lately...

#1 thing you can do to make better beer... is take care of your yeast, use quality yeast, and pitch the right amount.

#2 fermentation temperature control- as listed by other people can be done in-expensively, and see the DIY forum for ideas.

Fermentation is everything!

1. Drink a couple Keystone Lights --> Super Cheap

2. Drink one of your home brews --> The malt flavor and hop aroma will instantly be magnified to levels of greatness

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ??????????????
Please read the thread before adding nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Buy a good, accurate digital thermometer. In AG brewing, temperature is everything.

If you're not using any clarifying agents like whirlfloc or irish moss, I find that it made a tremendous difference for a pretty small per-batch cost. I've been using 1/2 tab of whirlfloc in 5gal batches.

I use to wash my yeast from a previous batch, but recently I started taking off some of the yeast before hand. It less "dirty". I make a starter on my DIY Stirplate about 2 weeks before brewing I step it up a 2-3 times during that time. By time brew day comes around I have a load off yeast, I pour some off into a sterilyzed jar and use it next time.