could this get any cheaper?

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rexbanner

rexbanner

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I want an extremely cheap beer to brew. After brewing a cream ale, I was wondering if I could make something even cheaper. Here's my idea:

6 lbs 2 row
1.5 lbs candi sugar
1 lb dextrine
0.5 oz warrior for 60
0.5 cascade for 30
0.5 amarillo for 5

Probably gonna add some fruit flavor, either through lemon, orange, or grapefruit rinds or via priming with liqueur. The candi sugar is practically free and it's under 20% so it should be fine right?

I know it may be somewhat lacking on the flavor but I figure it should have enough hoppyness to hit the spot on a summer day.

Tell me what you think.
 
twoodward15 said:
yes it could. Table sugar is cheaper then candi sugar!
Click to expand...

You can easily make candi sugar from table sugar at a 1:1 ratio. It's in the wiki. I just want to make some to add a little color and whatever flavor it imparts, if it's anything different than table sugar.
 
three hops additions using three varieties seems excessive if you're trying to make a cheap beer. you could save several dollars by skipping on your aroma hops and increasing your bittering hops to an even one ounce; or, you could just pick one variety and go with it - cascade is a good all around hop. you could bitter with an ounce of cascade and aroma with an additional ounce. I'm just riffing here, of course. those changes would change the character of the beer a great deal.

I don't really get the candi sugar inclusion. it isn't "cheap" in my brewing store! an additional 2 pounds of base malt is probably cheaper than 1.5 pounds of candi sugar, though I've never heard of making it from table sugar.

how much does that batch of beer cost you, anyway?

yrs-
Evan!
 
ejunk said:
three hops additions using three varieties seems excessive if you're trying to make a cheap beer. you could save several dollars by skipping on your aroma hops and increasing your bittering hops to an even one ounce; or, you could just pick one variety and go with it - cascade is a good all around hop. you could bitter with an ounce of cascade and aroma with an additional ounce. I'm just riffing here, of course. those changes would change the character of the beer a great deal.

I don't really get the candi sugar inclusion. it isn't "cheap" in my brewing store! an additional 2 pounds of base malt is probably cheaper than 1.5 pounds of candi sugar, though I've never heard of making it from table sugar.

how much does that batch of beer cost you, anyway?

yrs-
Evan!
Click to expand...

It costs 25 bucks for 10 gallons. I'm going to add either some type of citrus rind or artificial peach extract to it. The combination of hoppyness, extremely light body, and fruit flavor combines to make an extremely tasty beer. It might not impress beer snobs but everyone I've made it for raves.

Candy sugar can be made from inverting table sugar, adding citric acid, and boiling. I'm not sure if it really adds anything other than maybe a bit of color, but I just want to try using it.

The extra hops aren't expensive, and warrior's high alpha is attractive to me because I wouldn't have to use as much.

Lastly, replace dextrin with 8 oz maltodextrine
 
I'd buy some bulk neutral hops like willamette or something and use those for bittering and flavoring additions.
 
I agree with going with 2 more pound of two row rather than the sugar. If you want grapefruit taste, you Amarillo for aroma will give it to you. If you want other citrus, move your Cascade to be your aroma hop.
 
25 for 10 is pretty cheap! I'd say at that price that a savings of a buck or two would be pretty significant. $2.50 equates to a 10% savings, after all. you'd save, what? $1 or so, by dropping all the hops but warrior and increasing warrior to 1 oz total, distributed through the boil as you please. that's 4%!

let me emphasize that I would never tear apart a recipe like this under normal circumstances. but the question is "can it be cheaper," not "can it be better." it sounds like a good recipe to me, as is, and like I said earlier, 25 for 10 gallons is cheap already!

yrs-
Evan!
 
At bulk pricing, this is more like:

6 lbs 2 row - $4
1.5 lbs candi sugar - Probably $2 making your own
1 lb dextrine - $1
0.5 oz warrior for 60
0.5 cascade for 30
0.5 amarillo for 5

$1.50 for hops
$2 for yeast

$10.50 total
 
rexbanner said:
I want an extremely cheap beer to brew. After brewing a cream ale, I was wondering if I could make something even cheaper. Here's my idea:

6 lbs 2 row
1.5 lbs candi sugar
1 lb dextrine
0.5 oz warrior for 60
0.5 cascade for 30
0.5 amarillo for 5

Probably gonna add some fruit flavor, either through lemon, orange, or grapefruit rinds or via priming with liqueur. The candi sugar is practically free and it's under 20% so it should be fine right?

I know it may be somewhat lacking on the flavor but I figure it should have enough hoppyness to hit the spot on a summer day.

Tell me what you think.
Click to expand...



In the Goya section of the supermarket is sold press cane juice. They're like semi-hard little hockey puck looking things (sometimes square). Either way the stuff completely rocks for adding to a brew. It is a totally unprocessed sugar and nothing like the granulated cane sugar. They typically cost around a $1/lbs.
 
rexbanner said:
It costs 25 bucks for 10 gallons. I'm going to add either some type of citrus rind or artificial peach extract to it. The combination of hoppyness, extremely light body, and fruit flavor combines to make an extremely tasty beer. It might not impress beer snobs but everyone I've made it for raves.

Candy sugar can be made from inverting table sugar, adding citric acid, and boiling. I'm not sure if it really adds anything other than maybe a bit of color, but I just want to try using it.

The extra hops aren't expensive, and warrior's high alpha is attractive to me because I wouldn't have to use as much.

Lastly, replace dextrin with 8 oz maltodextrine
Click to expand...

I could make 10 gallons of that beer for about $17 not including yeast or propane (I reuse my yeast)
 
Clear Belgian candy sugar Is only Sucrose just like Pure Cane Sugar. So if a recipe doesn't call for Amber or Dark Candi Syrup,(which is not as easy to replicate), then i just use pure cane sugar, and beware of Super-Wal-Marts sugar, because i don't know where it comes from, since it only says sugar.
So i use cane sugar in a 1=1 ratio when substituting clear candi sugar, which would be what were talking about in this recipe (i think).

so instead of using candi sugar for $4-$6 dollars a pound, i use cane sugar for around a dollar a pound, even the devil may cry belgian golden strong ale here uses cane sugar, defining it as SUCROSE
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/devil-may-cry-10-10-10-edition-official-recipe-132569/
 
StAnthonyB said:
In the Goya section of the supermarket is sold press cane juice. They're like semi-hard little hockey puck looking things (sometimes square). Either way the stuff completely rocks for adding to a brew. It is a totally unprocessed sugar and nothing like the granulated cane sugar. They typically cost around a $1/lbs.
Click to expand...

Panela (aka Piloncillo). Or at least that's what I've seen.
 

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