cheap ale

Hey, I have a goal of making a 5 gallon batch of ale for under 25 bucks. Any ideas? I have a bunch of dextrose and blond candi sugar already.

I might prime with peach schnapps too.

Do the peach schnapps count toward the $25?

Even with extract, a mild or brown of wheat beer can keep your costs down. Low hops, lighter, sessiony beers will keep costs in check. No idea how the schnapps will fit though.

I just sampled the first couple bottles of a pale ale I did 3 weeks ago (2 weeks primary, 1 week in bottles) and it's delicious already. The grain bill is simple so it doesn't need much aging. The two week primary makes it crystal clear. And if you bottle-condition with 5 oz of priming sugar at 75F, it should be well carbonated after 7-8 days. Here's the recipe:

8 lbs domestic 2-row pale malt
1 lb Vienna malt
.5 lb Crystal 40L
.5 lb CaraPils malt
Mashed together at 154F for 1 hour, sparged in 170F water.

1 oz Simcoe pellets @ 60 mins
.5 oz Centennial pellets @ 20 mins
.5 oz Cascade pellets @ 5 mins

White Labs WLP 008 East Coast Ale at 62F, although any clean ale yeast will work.

The grain bill and hops cost me $19 at my LHBS. I repitched onto an old yeast cake so I saved there, but you could use dry for the cheap factor. Since you're looking for extract, sub the 8 lbs domestic 2-row with a 3.3# can of light LME and a 3# bag of light DME, and just steep the other grains in 154F water for an hour before your boil. You should still be close to $25 and have a clean, smooth and delicious ale in about 21 days.

rexbanner said:

Hey, I have a goal of making a 5 gallon batch of ale for under 25 bucks. Any ideas? I have a bunch of dextrose and blond candi sugar already.

I might prime with peach schnapps too.

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To keep the price of 5 gal batch to under $25, you need to:

1. switch to AG
2. use dry yeast
3. reuse your yeast
4. stay away from "big" beers with high OG and lots of hops, such as IPA's.

A 5 gal batch of beer w/ about 11 lbs of grain, 2 oz. of hops and free (reused) yeast would cost you about $22, IMO.

can you prime w/ peach schnapps?

please tell me more...as I have a bottle left over from our wedding that we will never never drink.

...and i'm a big-time newbie....

but it wouldnt be that hard to make batch under $25; i just bulk ordered light dme for about $10.50 for 3# bag. that could serve as a base, re-use yeast, and add light hops, little grain for color...no?

morebeer.com offers a bunch of extract kits under $25 and that includes shippping. i was thinking about giving them a go at some point.

Go to austinhomebrew.com, they have excellent kits, and they have a whole section dedicated to cheaper ones - I think its their ".50 cent beer" section.

ManyBrews said:

i just bulk ordered light dme for about $10.50 for 3# bag.

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If that's buying bulk I'm doing something all wrong...

It would be a lot easier to store that than the 100lbs of grain in my garage.

thedigitale said:

If that's buying bulk I'm doing something all wrong...

It would be a lot easier to store that than the 100lbs of grain in my garage.

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haha...i just broke it down to how much you would need for one batch. i bought 18#(my first purchase outside of a kit :>), but really just getting a 3# bag is not that much more.

Lol... I figured that's what you meant, just sounded funny!

Seriously though... DME bumps the price way up... If you're looking to save money, you can brew AG batches for much cheaper. I can probably pull off a decent 10g batch for under $25.

Look at the haus pale recipe. If you cut back on the hops (it used more than most people are used to), you can probably get out for under 25 bucks. I think it costs me about 21 bucks to make a batch of haus pale.

TheFlatline said:

Look at the haus pale recipe. If you cut back on the hops (it used more than most people are used to), you can probably get out for under 25 bucks. I think it costs me about 21 bucks to make a batch of haus pale.

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21 is probably about right for extract.

If you're talking AG (and assuming bulk), we're looking at:

8lbs 2-row * .70/lb= $5.60
2lbs vienna *.90/lb= $1.80
.5lb 10L *1.50/lb= =$0.75

2oz [email protected]/oz = $2.38

=$10.53 plus another 2 bucks for a pack of notty. I pretty much keep a standing cake of US-05, so yeast is free.

imo, if you want cheap ale, go five gallon ag batches, keep the og under 1.040 (less than 8lbs of grain) and use 1.5oz of hops. it will be a simple, cheap ale, but good for sucking down in the heat. ready quickly too 14-21 days if you keg.

Synovia said:

21 is probably about right for extract.

If you're talking AG (and assuming bulk), we're looking at:

8lbs 2-row * .70/lb= $5.60
2lbs vienna *.90/lb= $1.80
.5lb 10L *1.50/lb= =$0.75

2oz [email protected]/oz = $2.38

=$10.53 plus another 2 bucks for a pack of notty. I pretty much keep a standing cake of US-05, so yeast is free.

Click to expand...

I wasn't assuming bulk, I was assuming enough grain for one batch. I think it worked out for me at like 18 bucks for the version I like, and 21 for the original version.

Still, that's pretty damn cheap.

Cooper's hopped English Bitter $18 (comes with yeast).
2# extra light LME $8

That's $26 and for a 5 gallon batch you get an OG of 1.043 and about 40IBUs.

5# DME $15 (in bulk)
1# specialty grain $1
2 oz hops $5
safale dry yeast $3
$24 total and you can cover a lot of styles.

Under twenty five bucks is easy, reuse your yeast, one hop addition and do it all grain. i just made an EPA last weekend for round 18 if i remember correctly

I suppose it depends on a number of factors (ag vs canned kit, your tastes, how pure you want the water to be, etc). But I can pick up a can of Cooper's/Morgans/Muntons up here in Canada for $16.99 - from a couple of different LHBS. Add dextrose for $1.60 and I can put 5G together for under $20CDN. I realize it won't be the best beer possible, but the thread is called "cheap ale"...

Even all grain, I'm over $25 at my LHBS for my cheapest recipe:

8lbs pilsner malt @ $1.50/lb = $12
2oz. hops @ $2.50/oz = $5
Wyeast packet @ $6.50
Subtotal = $23.50
Tax (7%) = $1.65
Total = $25.15

The best way to get costs down is to plan far enough ahead that you can effectively buy some things in bulk and/or reuse some yeast.

Sorry, one more post: You may want to look up recipes on this forum for SMaSH (Single Malt And Single Hop). Buying in bulk for a single malt would definitely be a cost saver.

Also, take a look at the recipe at the bottom of this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/how-would-you-go-cheap-54603/index4.html

Apparently that recipe can be done for $5-$7 for 5G.