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mt_rob

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Kalispell, MT
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!
 
You can still go with 5gal batches. Just do what extract brewers do when they dont have 7g pots for 5gal boils.... Make concentrated brews and top off with water. Ive never done this but I know plenty of people who have and have had "GREAT SUCCESS"

In regards to the Homer buckets.. are the HDP buckets? (food grade)
 
A favorite quote from various sources (in my case related to Motorcycles)
"Cheap, Fast, Quality ... Pick 2"

I brewed 100Gals (beer and wine) for $700 dollars last year. I aquired a Kegerator, 10 Cornies, 1 CO2 system, 3 carboys, 5 cases of bottles + all wine bottles, all ingredients and a few things I didn't list. I'm all for thrift... but you sound like you're pushing it.
 
I'm pretty happy with high quality beers of any style I choose for around $0.50 a bottle. If a batch goes up to $0.75/beer it's still great if you ask me.

I'm all for cost cutting but not at the expense of drinking beer I want to drink at a quality level I consider to be high.

Anyways, buying bulk grain will save you more money. You could probably split a bag with some of your brewing friends since you already coordinate to order online together.

Reusing yeast will save you money, especially if you're doing 3gal batches... the relative cost of yeast to other ingredients is higher when your batches are small.
 
3. Forget the round cooler and learn about BIAB. I do 3 or 5 gallon batches right on the kitchen stove and the cost is for a pair of paint strainer bags. ($3.76/pair plus tax) You already have the Corona mill, set it tight and make lots of fine particles of grain.

9. Make friends with someone at the LHBS and get the bulk grain delivered with their regular delivery truck. You might get a discount and lower shipping too.

8. Spend a little of the money you saved from the round cooler and buy 6 1/2 gallon pails with lids so you and your friends can get together and brew 5 gallon batches at their place to save you the cost of the heating the water. Get them to give you half their share for being the consultant.
 
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!

Your thoughts and mine run along similar lines. I agree with nearly every item you list in the OP. Here's a modest suggestion that would require a little upfront expense but might add a good deal of extra capability to your brewing. Brewing on the cook top, in the kitchen isn't my idea of a great time. I tried it for a few batches and started searching for a better solution.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JQ3KQ4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

This fryer will allow you to get out of the kitchen — I've setup a brew shop in the basement — and get you into doing 6.5 gallon boils for 5 gallon batches. It works on standard 110/120v, 20 amp circuit. Since it heats via and immersion element basis, it may even save you a bit on your electric bill over an extended period. It's certainly cheaper and more convenient than propane. I've been using one for over 2 years and it works perfectly for my purposes.
 
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home brewing to save money? people do that?

yea my beer from now on is cheaper than i can buy it, but if i take equipment into account its not. I do it because its fun and I enjoy the end product.

As for saving, you could probably save by going to 5 or 10G and moving to propane from the stove, or better electric heating element. The difference will be in the electric bill. you didnt mention how you chilled, but maybe a plate or cfc chiller would save you on ice baths?
 
I brew much the same way. I use a 5gal. round cooler bought at a garage sale for $3.00 and a 2gal. round cooler I inherited. I reuse the grain bags. The 5 gal. turn will mash 8# and I can do a few #'s in the smaller one. Then I boil in two pots so I can use two burners on the electric stove. Works for me. Last batch gave me 4 1/2 gal. which I could have brought up to 5# with distilled water. I have used just the 5 gal. cooler and added 1# DME which still makes for an affordable brew. I just do about 30 gal. a year as I also drink some store bought beer and have no home brewers to share with and no family living close by. Mine is a rural area so I order materials for 3 batches to lower shipping costs, and buy 5# lots of 2-row when in the city.
 
I get 2, 4 and 5 gallon frosting buckets from the local grocery store free. I clean them out and soak them in OxiClean for about 24 hours. I can't smell any frosting odor in them.
 
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!
Updates to your list above:
1. Group buys. Enormous savings over $1.50 - $2.50 per pound grains.
4. Electric + propane. A little bit more money, but 5 gallon batches (time is money). I do BIAB for Mash and Batch Sparge, and heat my Mash and Sparge water on the electric stove, then do the actual boil (outside) w/propane.
5. Use dry yeasts (and wash/re-use) for common ales (US-05 and S-04 are workhorses!)
8. Home Depot buckets are not food grade. As another poster said, get used bakery buckets or get some from your local organic food co-op. I got most of my buckets for under $1 each and they are food-grade.

My typical all-in cost (grains + hops + yeast + energy + sanitation + co2) is under $15 for 5-gallons. This is for things like Sierra Nevada Celebration, Bell's Two Hearted, Red Hook ESB clone, ...
 
My typical all-in cost (grains + hops + yeast + energy + sanitation + co2) is under $15 for 5-gallons. This is for things like Sierra Nevada Celebration, Bell's Two Hearted, Red Hook ESB clone, ...

14lbs grain@$0.80 = $11.20
5oz Centennial = $4

Those are really great prices and that's already over $15, and I'd even be using more hops in a Two Hearted Clone. You've got to be exaggerating a bit.
 
If you wanna go cheap stop brewing beer and make skeeter pee man I just made a 5 gallon must and it does cost less then 15 bucks talk about a cheap buzz, the cool thing about brewing beer yourself is that you can make a quality beer for cheaper then buying it at the store, bascally if your beer tastes better then bud light and your making 5 gallons batches you are probably winning....
 
14lbs grain@$0.80 = $11.20
5oz Centennial = $4

Those are really great prices and that's already over $15, and I'd even be using more hops in a Two Hearted Clone. You've got to be exaggerating a bit.

not really... I get grain for around 55 cents a pound and hops for about 50 cents and ounce. if he's electric and reuses yeast that's probably pretty close.

if you really want to get cheap. start looking at using wild yeast and plants/weeds in place of hops. ex: dandilions, lavender, milk weed, certain berries. etc i have a book on how to use all sorts of stuff like that in place of hops.
 
My typical all-in cost (grains + hops + yeast + energy + sanitation + co2) is under $15 for 5-gallons. This is for things like Sierra Nevada Celebration, Bell's Two Hearted, Red Hook ESB clone, ...

:off: Sorry! But may I see your Red Hook Clone recipe? We probably agree on exactly nothing except beer!
 
not really... I get grain for around 55 cents a pound and hops for about 50 cents and ounce. if he's electric and reuses yeast that's probably pretty close.

if you really want to get cheap. start looking at using wild yeast and plants/weeds in place of hops. ex: dandilions, lavender, milk weed, certain berries. etc i have a book on how to use all sorts of stuff like that in place of hops.

Yeah but you live in Oregon, he lives in Albany. Perhaps he's growing his own hops, otherwise I don't really see how it's possible.
 
14lbs grain@$0.80 = $11.20
5oz Centennial = $4

Those are really great prices and that's already over $15, and I'd even be using more hops in a Two Hearted Clone. You've got to be exaggerating a bit.

Bell's Two Hearted: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/bells-two-hearted-ale-clone-close-they-come-91488/

10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 76.92 % @ .63/# = $6.30
2 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 15.38 % @ .74/# = $1.48
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.85 % @ .85/# = $0.43
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3.85 % @ .78/# = $0.39
All of the above prices I just verified on our latest group buy. (I used C15 + a bit of C40 as I don't have C20). My actual inventory used was from prior buys at approximately the same price...grains slightly less $ but not quite as good shipping per bag price.

Hops:
I ordered Centennial from Rebel Brewer late last year @ .79/ounce. Also, I have some Centennial whole hops given to me. Finally, I just ordered (and have in my inventory) 1# whole leaf Centennial on 1/30/12 from farmhouse brewing for $18.49, with a bunch of other stuff (so minimal change in shipping price). So, best case $0, worst case $ 1.16/ounce. Edit: I will use the .79/ounce for the calculation as I used mostly this for the batch (and some of the free local whole for the dry hop, but assume the same .79/ounce price).
Hop Schedule:
1.00 oz Centennial [9.50 %] (60 min) Hops 30.3 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [9.50 %] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Centennial [9.50 %] (15 min) Hops 15.0 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [9.50 %] (5 min) Hops 6.0 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [9.50 %] (1 min) Hops 1.3 IBU
Total = 4.5 oz @ 1.16/ounce = $5.20 (for my actual brew, I used the .79 => $3.55)
Irish Moss = .25 tsp = $0.20
Yeast: I used S-05 for this on my last brew, but regardless of yeast my cost is about $1/batch. For example, assuming $8 liquid: initial use + 2 children + 4 grand children + 8 great grand children = 13 batches per purchase. (I won't go past 3 child generations, and typically only go a couple and get two to three batches from each yeast cake). Assuming 2 (initial + child + grand child, that's 1 + 2 + 4 = 7), so yeast cost is $1.15 per batch.

Total Grain Cost: $8.60
Total Hops Cost: $3.55
Amortized Yeast Cost: $1.15
Total Misc Cost: $0.20
Total Cost = $13.50 for 5 gallons of bliss.

So with propane I might be a bit over $15 for the Two Hearted. Your right, but still pretty darn good.

Edit: I bought 1 gallon of Star San for approximately $31.50 via group buy. That's under $0.25/ounce. 1 ounce makes 5 gallons of Star San Mixture. I use about 1 gallon per batch, between santizing equipment and the carboy/fermentation bucket, and I might use 1 gallon (max) if/when I make bottles from the keg or cleaning a keg....usually much less. But figuring 2 gallons per batch, that's $0.10. I also bought PBW via group-buy, use it once in a while but also use dollar store oxi-clean. Per batch cost is minimal, figure $0.10. CO2 is a bigger cost, 1 pay $2.50/#. According to Micromatic, 2.5# should dispense 7-11 5.0 home brew corny kegs. That would be $0.89/5 gallon keg (assuming the 7 per 2.5# number). Now, I also carbonate the beer, so my actual cost is higher. (But I have on occasion done natural carbonation in the keg via sugar.)
 
Thanks to everyone for your ideas, gives me several new ideas to try. I am needing more fermenters to I'll hit the grocery store bakery on the way home tonight. I like the idea of trying to grow some hops. It would be nice if I did know enough other nearby home brewers to bulk purchase grain, but the guys I know are extract brewers. Maybe I'll 'encourage' them to take it another step.
 
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