Cheaper mass quantity drinking beer

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Brewser_

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Hey all,
I have been extract brewing for a while and I am looking to make the jump into all grain in a few months. While I understand all grain is cheaper I am looking for a cheap extract brew because of the time I have available, and leave the better brews for all grain.

Bottom line I'm looking for an extract beer recipe that I can bring to bachelor parties and the like for people to drink. I understand from a little research that blonde ales and cream ales are good for this, but any easy drinking beer about 5% abv range will do.

Thanks for all the help so far :rockin:
 
I personally like a Witbier as a light drinking beer. An English Mild is also a pretty cheap beer, and even though it's dark and flavorful, easy drinking too.
 
6 pounds of DME
1/2 pound Carared
1 oz Saaz at 60 minutes
california yeast
call it an iris red, it will be gone so quick it will amaze you
 
bajaedition said:
6 pounds of DME
1/2 pound Carared
1 oz Saaz at 60 minutes
california yeast
call it an iris red, it will be gone so quick it will amaze you
Click to expand...

Or C10/C20 instead of the red. Split the hops or add .5 oz at 30. Dirty blonde.

Wheat DME makes it interesting, too!
 
Maybe a nice pale-ish ale would do the trick.
I have a recipe that I adapted from an article of the New Albion brewed by Sam Adams a couple years ago. I do all-grain, but can be done extract if you want - I just don't have the conversions.
I use 11.5 lbs pale ale malt, .5 lb crystal 20, and 2 oz cascade hops, split 3 ways.
a pitch of WLP001/WY1056 etc, and good to go. Very easy drinking but very tasty.
 
I also think you should consider the season. If it's warm weather, then a blonde is great. A witbier is really good. If it's winter, then an English mild or a brown is good.
 
ericbw said:
bajaedition said:
6 pounds of DME
1/2 pound Carared
1 oz Saaz at 60 minutes
california yeast
call it an iris red,
Click to expand...

Or C10/C20 instead of the red. Split the hops or add .5 oz at 30. Dirty blonde.
Click to expand...

Just a couple minor nitpicks:

1.) The recipe shown above will be waaaay too light to be called "red." Red ales have to have at least a few ounces of roasted barley in them. That's where the red colour comes from. Carared isn't actually red. Which brings me to ...
2.) Carared and Crystal 20 are basically the same malt. They impart the same colour to a recipe.

That said, I'd suggest the OP brew up the extract version of Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde. It'd disappear faster than Michael Bay doing a presentation at CES.
 
kombat said:
Just a couple minor nitpicks:

1.) The recipe shown above will be waaaay too light to be called "red." Red ales have to have at least a few ounces of roasted barley in them. That's where the red colour comes from. Carared isn't actually red. Which brings me to ...
2.) Carared and Crystal 20 are basically the same malt. They impart the same colour to a recipe.

That said, I'd suggest the OP brew up the extract version of Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde. It'd disappear faster than Michael Bay doing a presentation at CES.
Click to expand...

I have a minor nitpick on your nitpick! :D

Reds, at least "American reds" don't need any roasted barley at all. The amber/red comes from crystal malt. Carared does impart a red hue, but I like a mix of carared and a darker crystal to give a depth of flavor. I have never used roasted barley in an American red, although once I used some in an Irish red.

What I was thinking just now was even though the OP asked for an extract batch for the mass quantity drinker, it would be MUCH cheaper (and make a great beer) to make the mass quantity drinker an AG batch. You can make 10 gallons of awesome cream ale for about $16 or so. Low hops, neutral ale yeast (dry is fine), and 20% flaked rice or corn (or grits or whatever) with some base malt= big favorite drinker and much cheaper than an extract batch. I bought some Uncle Ben's Rice from the Dollar Store for my last batch, but popcorn or flaked maize or instant grits would work great as well and it's a cheap adjunct that makes the beer extremely quaffable.

My dad never liked any of my "homebrewed ****" (that's what he called it even to my face!) but he loved my cream ale and he'd down that in a big quantity. It's cheap, easy, and light beer drinkers love it.
 
Yooper said:
I have a minor nitpick on your nitpick! :D
Click to expand...

Bring it on! :)

Yooper said:
Reds, at least "American reds" don't need any roasted barley at all.
Click to expand...

What's an "American Red?"

With all due respect, Yooper, I'm looking at the BJCP Style Guidelines, and "American Red" isn't a recognized style. But "Irish Red Ale" is (9D). In the "Ingredients" section, it specifically mentions roasted barley: "Generally has a bit of roasted barley to provide reddish color."

Admittedly, I'm looking at the 2008 Style Guidelines. Perhaps "American Red" has been added since then?

Yooper said:
The amber/red comes from crystal malt. Carared does impart a red hue, but I like a mix of carared and a darker crystal to give a depth of flavor.
Click to expand...

I think you'd have to use an awful lot of Carared to produce any kind of discernable red hue. I use it in my IPAs as a substitute for Crystal 20.

Furthermore, the style description indicates that an Irish Red Ale "Finishes with a light taste of roasted grain," and I don't know how you'd get that with crystal malts.

But, of course, I agree with you about the AG cream ale, if cost and drinkability are the paramount concerns.
 
Yooper said:
I have a minor nitpick on your nitpick! :D

Reds, at least "American reds" don't need any roasted barley at all. The amber/red comes from crystal malt. Carared does impart a red hue, but I like a mix of carared and a darker crystal to give a depth of flavor. I have never used roasted barley in an American red, although once I used some in an Irish red.

What I was thinking just now was even though the OP asked for an extract batch for the mass quantity drinker, it would be MUCH cheaper (and make a great beer) to make the mass quantity drinker an AG batch. You can make 10 gallons of awesome cream ale for about $16 or so. Low hops, neutral ale yeast (dry is fine), and 20% flaked rice or corn (or grits or whatever) with some base malt= big favorite drinker and much cheaper than an extract batch. I bought some Uncle Ben's Rice from the Dollar Store for my last batch, but popcorn or flaked maize or instant grits would work great as well and it's a cheap adjunct that makes the beer extremely quaffable.

My dad never liked any of my "homebrewed ****" (that's what he called it even to my face!) but he loved my cream ale and he'd down that in a big quantity. It's cheap, easy, and light beer drinkers love it.
Click to expand...

I was thinking that American Reds often (maybe even usually) don't have roasted barley, or that "crunchy" roast flavor (which is what I like about Irish Red!). But they do often have a big hop nose, which might be too much for mass appeal. But still, a malty, lightly hopped red w/o roast barley is still good! It's kind of in line with a mild.

Do you need to mash long when you're using minute rice or non-flaked grains? Or cook the rice first to gelatinize?

When you say popcorn, you mean popped or the kernels? It has to be ground then?
 
ericbw said:
I was thinking that American Reds often (maybe even usually) don't have roasted barley, or that "crunchy" roast flavor (which is what I like about Irish Red!). But they do often have a big hop nose, which might be too much for mass appeal. But still, a malty, lightly hopped red w/o roast barley is still good! It's kind of in line with a mild.

Do you need to mash long when you're using minute rice or non-flaked grains? Or cook the rice first to gelatinize?

When you say popcorn, you mean popped or the kernels? It has to be ground then?
Click to expand...

Often, American reds are well hopped but not always. Ambers (also known as "reds") like Fat Tire are not hopped heavily. American reds are in BJCP category 10A, also known as American Ambers. Rich in caramel flavor, but not roast, many people like them as a gateway to craft beer

I like to mash "low and long" with adjuncts, but if they aren't flaked or pregelatinized, a cereal mash is needed (or cook the rice or corn). Popped corn is what I mean by "popcorn". I've only done it once, but I know a few others have done it when out of flaked maize and it works out well.

The reason for a long and low mash is so that the finish is dry. Often, my cream ale will finish at 1.007 or 1.008. That gives it it's crisp, lager-like finish with a thin body, more like non-craft beer drinkers are accustomed to (ie "not heavy"). A longer mash, 75-90 minutes, is needed at a temperature of 147-149 to ensure conversion.
 
Hey all,

Thanks for all the great input, Yooper I'm just hesitant to do a mass quantity drinker (that I would make often) because at times its hard for me to find the time to do an extract batch. But I can certainly try to make an AG batch, although I am very new to AG so what would be the quantities of grain, hops, and rest times and such. Ok I just looked at the posts again and got some of that info

As far the extract goes I do have some to use up so I might try that dirty blonde recipe (because my most, not all, of my buddies were practically raised on bud light and busch light and the like) so a lighter beer would probably disappear faster. Since I certainly could drink all my beer, its good to have the help, the faster it goes the more I can brew :mug:

Thanks for all the help so far posters, I think this forum might be creating a monster, SWMBO would probably ban me from the internet if she saw this site
 
I'll second kombat's suggestion. The extract version of Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde that I brewed for a christmas party was a HUGE hit among the BMC drinkers. And a 5g batch costs about as much as a 6pack of 'craft' beer. Just search the forums for 'Centennial Blonde'.
 

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