How to brew cheap beer:

Buy in bulk and wash yeast.

After getting in on a bulk hop group buy, I decided to look into how much I would save buying everything in bulk (minus specialty grains).

Using the hops I just signed up for (2 lbs us goldings, 1 lb ger hallertau), I can make 23 4 gallon batches of beer.

Using bulk grain, hops, and washing yeast: roughly $300, which works out to about $13.50 per 4 gallon batch.

Buying everything from the lhbs, a 4 gallon batch usually costs $25-$30.

So to brew 92 gallons from the lhbs, and not reuse yeast, total cost would be over $600.

I'm sure a few of you have figured this out years ago, but I was quite surprised to see that I could cut my brewing budget in half.


THIS is how you save money brewing at home. If you're trying to save money, but not buying in bulk, you're doin it wrong.

I agree! I pay about $37 for a sack (50 pounds) of US two-row, and buy hops by the pound or grow my own. I wash and reuse yeast. I buy specialty grains in quantities, so I have no shipping charges.

Some of my beers have been running $15.50 (oatmeal stout) for 5 gallons, up to $51.40 for 11 gallons of IPA (with 13 ounces of hops!). My cheapest every day beer (5 gallons) is my basic SNPA-ish pale ale with homegrown hops- $15.13 for five gallons. A cream ale is $16, a California Common is $16.50, etc.

Go buy some cereal mash it and corn sugar then use brewers yeast from a store.Mm MM crap! Im a jerk? Cheap though,crappy beer.

I pay $31 for Breiss 2 row locally and paid $27 at Michigan Brewery (30.00 minus 10% for Homebrew club members) Specialty grains I overpay for but sometimes I can get them for $1.00 lb. Hops by the pound or 4oz quantities. Yeast I usually reuse either from purchased yeast, cultivated from bottle, or from yeast dumps at the local breweries.I keep US-05, WB-06, S-33, and Nottingham in the fridge for emergency (about $2.00 each). I can get RO water for 25¢ a gallon. Propane is 80¢ a pound.

I buy almost everything in bulk. The only thing I buy for each brew is yeast. Used to wash, and reuse, but I got inconsistent results. And for me, it was more a pain in the ass than just buying more. 8 dollars sounds like a lot for yeast each time. But the time I spent boiling the jars, letting them cool, waiting for the trub to settle and finally the space in my man fridge....screw the 8 dollars. Sure, I'm gonna get flamed for that....but that's just me. To each his own.

Hammy71 said:

I buy almost everything in bulk. The only thing I buy for each brew is yeast. Used to wash, and reuse, but I got inconsistent results. And for me, it was more a pain in the ass than just buying more. 8 dollars sounds like a lot for yeast each time. But the time I spent boiling the jars, letting them cool, waiting for the trub to settle and finally the space in my man fridge....screw the 8 dollars. Sure, I'm gonna get flamed for that....but that's just me. To each his own.

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I've used Safale US-05 for most of my batches. At $3 a pack it's hard to beat. My recent double IPA I just pitched 2 packs.

Joe_K said:

I've used Safale US-05 for most of my batches. At $3 a pack it's hard to beat. My recent double IPA I just pitched 2 packs.

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+1 on US 05...a very versitile yeast and in my mind a really good base line yeast...good in almost anything minus say a Kolsch...some specialty Belgians or Saisons....Love it.

The other Yeast I've had great success with reusing in big variety of recipe's is Scottish Ale Yeast (Wyeast1728).

I am brewing two 10 gallon batches (200 beers FTW!) of a 1.043 Blonde Ale for my brothers graduation party for a grand total of $56 not including tap water and propane costs. Thats also using 6 lbs of DME at around $4/lb since my HLT/MLT setup can only handle 5 gallons worth of mash. When I get truly setup for 10 gallon all grains that price will be somewhere around $40 dollars. Wow that's 20 cents a beer!

I buy 2-row in bulk at ~$50 per sack (I need to get in on a group buy), and hops by the pound are around $0.80/ounce. I reuse yeast for 3-4 batches, and the price of the blonde ale does not include yeast since I bought that 2 batches ago. Its US-05 so not expensive anyhow.

To me this is a hobby so I do not include equipment costs. But I havent gone crazy overboard with expensive equipment either. I've probably spent around 200 bucks total for my actual brewing equipment, then another $600-$800 on kegs, kegerator, bar, ferm chamber, etc. I'm a DIY guy so that saves alot of money. Alot of this stuff is not necessary, but makes my life easier so its worth it to me.

Growing hops is another good way to save on money. You can buy a rhizome for nearly what it costs for 1-2oz, or even get them for free if you know somebody. With the price of hops, you could stand to save a lot by growing them.

7 lbs. Rahr 2-Row Pale
0.75 lbs. Gambrinus Honey Malt
0.25 lbs. Belgian Biscuit malt
1oz Cluster
Safale US-05 Ale Yeast

All said and done you have a $18 5 gallon (lawnmower beer)

Holy Necro-post, Batman!

kpr121 said:

To me this is a hobby so I do not include equipment costs. But I havent gone crazy overboard with expensive equipment either. I've probably spent around 200 bucks total for my actual brewing equipment, then another $600-$800 on kegs, kegerator, bar, ferm chamber, etc. I'm a DIY guy so that saves alot of money. Alot of this stuff is not necessary, but makes my life easier so its worth it to me.

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Fast forward to today, with a fully temperature controlled 5500W PID electric setup that set me back a couple hundred bones shy of a grand. And I still don’t think that’s crazy overboard.

I am making 10 gallon batches at closer to $25-$30 dollars now though (as opposed to $56 apparently from my post), and that includes power costs. So theoretically I would have paid off my electric upgrade in about 30 brews. Or at least that’s what Im telling my wife if she ever realizes how much that “robot box” actually costed.