Willing to spend on a recipe

Was starting a topic here wanting to know what's the most you guys have ever spent on a beer recipe and the cheapest beer recipe you brewed?

$20 and it turned out like a nice Bud - I hated it but others loved it.

$68 and it tasted like turpentine!

I think I average about $35 now if I include yeast!

Purpose-made kit or custom recipe?

My most frequently brewed and inexpensive recipe is a dark mild which runs about $20/batch retail, shooting entirely from the hip. If you are buying in bulk, this could be a $10 batch.

The most Ive spent was $45 for the Dead Guy box kit

Considering I buy in bulk, my most expensive was a Saison at $50.00 and least expensive is my dark mild that I can make for about $12.00.

Tomorrow's special at austinhomebrew.com is the Pliney clone. Making it before was the most expensive batch I've ever done. It has like 17 ounces of hops. Austin Homebrew Supply is the kit.

My cheapest? Well, probabably a brew using 10 pounds of grain and two ounces of hops (hops were $1.19 an ounce a couple of years ago!) along with some saved yeast. That would be around $11 or so.

These most expensive numbers so far are pretty weak. That's what you get when it's all-grain brewers... from an extract brewer, my most expensive so far is $77.50 for a Dogfish 90 Min clone.

I keep cost break-downs of most of my beers, so here's the break-down if you're interested:

Cost: 35.00 (7.5lb DME @ 13.95/3lb) + 12.95 (3.3lb LME) + 6.50 (yeast) + 2.00 (grain) + 12 (3oz Amarillo) + 4 (1oz Simcoe) + 5 (1oz Warrior) = $77.50 ($1.55 per 12oz / 9.30 per 6-pack - still cheaper than actual Dogfish 90Min!).

Cheapest batch so far was probably around $40.

Most expensive? Extract Double Chocolate stout rang in at about 50-55...

Cheapest? I've done 10 gallon AG batches of BM's Centennial Blonde for $17-20

I don't remember the exact prices, but the most expensive was a wee heavy (around $45, I think), and the cheapest was a fizzy yellow beer, around $12. including yeast.



It stands to reason that the big beers are going to cost more, and the little ones will be cheaper.

I think I've got about $80 into my batch of mead so far, and it's not even done yet.

So far as the cheap end, around $12 or $13.

$48.00 and change for the berry weiss. Plus I spent 6 weeks picking berries from the elderberry tree in the bac yard.

Ed's Haus Pale Ale came in just under $25.00

Both are carb'ing in the kegs right now....I will know how they turned out shortly.

The BerryWeiss is almost carbed, and right now tastes great. I think it will age greatly.

Some good posts going, mine would have to be my recent Nut brown Mapple ale was about 55$ and my cheapest would be a 25$ wheat kit. How do you guys keep your cost down so much for some of your beers?

With hop prices where they were in '07/'08 I had over $100 in Hopacles '08. I used 10 oz more hops this year and it was $30 less.

I've done a Blonde Ale for less than $12.

The cheapest I have ever been able to get is about 23 dollars. On avrg it costs me about 45 bucks to brew something. Where are you guys ordering from to brew 5 gallons of beer for 10-20 bucks?

Tiako said:

The cheapest I have ever been able to get is about 23 dollars. On avrg it costs me about 45 bucks to brew something. Where are you guys ordering from to brew 5 gallons of beer for 10-20 bucks?

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All grain...When I started brewing (extract) my most expensive was an Imperial Stout (~$75) and least was a NB Stout kit (~$25). Start brewing AG and costs drop dramatically.

Extract is expensive, my friends. Look into buying in bulk (hops, grains) and washing your yeast. Then go PM or AG if space and time permit.

Don't really remember my most expensive batch. I think somewhere around $48 for a Stone IPA clone from BYO.

Cheapest was Orfy's mild. Came in at $16.

Well wait ... I just brewed a beer last weekend that was totally free. But that's because I work at the LHBS and was asked to brew something for a tailgate.

I also get a sweet discount up there, so I can't factor that in to be fair. I pay around .50 to .60 for an ounce of hops.

Yeah I was looking to go All grain but don't know if I should until I can get Extract right...

Tiako said:

Yeah I was looking to go All grain but don't know if I should until I can get Extract right...

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I did extract brews for about a month before I jumped straight into AG. Never looked back. I learned more from my first all grain attempt (a wit with 40% flaked wheat) than from all my extract brews combined.

Also, buy hops in bulk. I used to pay $4.00 an oz at the LHBS and now pay $0.60 oz from hopsdirect. That's a lot of money saved.

Using home malts, my 4.5-gal Infested Wheat batches run pretty cheap. I wash and reuse my yeast, but here's the rundown without taking that fact into account:

6-lb wheat @ $0.20/lb = $1.20
4-lb barley @ $0.50/lb = $2.00
1oz Chinook Hops = $3.00
7-gal quality water @ $0.25/gal = $1.75
WL300 vial = $7.00
TOTAL = $14.95

With the yeast being the most expensive part, that's rather cheap, to me. I should be able to get 1 + 4 + 4 = 9 batches by washing the yeast twice, which drops the cost down to $8.73/batch!

Of course, it takes a hell of a lot more work to malt the grains myself, but it works. >.<

My most expensive brew?

My first one!
kettle, wort chiller, digital scale, autosyphon, tubing, carboy, starsan concentrate, capper, caps, all the beer I had to drink to get enough bottles...

But seriously, I'd say my most expensive brew was my dunkel extract brew. Probably came in over $50. Now I bought bulk grain for all grain. So I'm gonna say about $11-15 for a batch if I use dry yeast.

B

I guess the cheapest single batch would be around $8-9 for a cream ale. I have made similar recipes several times just to have on tap and once for a donation for a fundraiser. Let's see...

6.5lbs 2 row (picked up a 25kg bag for $20) = .3636/lb = 2.36
1 oz hops bought in bulk = 1.25
1.5lbs of flaked corn @2/lb = 3
.25lbs rice = 1.50/lb = .38
yeast (washed 8x) = $1/per use = 1

total 7.99 - not too shabby. even though i have no desire to, i guess i could have done an all 2-row light ale and end up quite a bit cheaper than this (-flaked corn and rice and replace with 2 lbs two row = savings of ~2.60). Of course that would not be factoring all the equipment and the MANY hours of learing about brewing. I guess it the end, it's my main hobby so who really care how much it costs. Can't put a price on happiness!!

I get pretty strict about this, so if you're doing it right, you have to account for the propane and for the money spent on things like DME for starters even if you're washing yeast. I buy everything in bulk, but also have to account for shipping and handling for hops. My eisbock is easily my most expensive, because you have to make 12 gallons to yield 6. It's 1.090 before freezing.

Grains: $70
Hops: $8.80
Extract: $8
Fuel: $14

Total: $100.8/6 g

Tiako said:

Yeah I was looking to go All grain but don't know if I should until I can get Extract right...

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It depends on what you're doing wrong with extract. If you can't keep fermentation temps down, or you're not pitching enough yeast, AG aint gonna help.


If the issue is you can't get fresh extract, then, by all means.

Yeah but I rather mess up a beer that cost me 20 to make than one that cost me 40-50 to make... That has been about what I have been spending on 5 gallons of beer.

I just know I need to go cheaper.

Edit

23456789

About $45 for a barley wine and $6 on an extract wheat. Got the extract on sale and used a yeast cake.

YooperBrew said:

Tomorrow's special at austinhomebrew.com is the Pliney clone. Making it before was the most expensive batch I've ever done. It has like 17 ounces of hops. Austin Homebrew Supply is the kit.

My cheapest? Well, probabably a brew using 10 pounds of grain and two ounces of hops (hops were $1.19 an ounce a couple of years ago!) along with some saved yeast. That would be around $11 or so.

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That is a fantastic price.