How would you go cheap?

It really is cheaper and better. I did a wheat beer for my first batch and it only cost me $12 for 2.5 gallons and it turned out great. ABV around 4.5. I saved my yeast and will be buying the larger size malt extract for my next 5 beers all 3 gallon batches: (IPA, Pale Ale, American Brown, Duvel Green Clone, and Cream Ale). I'm buying a Belgian Strong Ale Yeast for my Duvel Green that I will use in my IPA. The rest will be the Nottington Yeast from my wheat batch. My cream ale is an everyday drinker that's gonna cost $2.31 a sixer.

Cheap and even with extract and some specialty grains I think they will come out great.

I also save money. I brewed a Belgian Wit that I pay $12 a four pack around here for and brewed up 2.5 Gallons all grain for around $18 plus love and labor.
$78 - $18 = $60 savings.
Plus I tweaked it to taste even better IMHO

I have friends and family that pay for ingredients and come over to brew and go home with beer after it's bottled because they like what we brew, spend time together, and they save money on their personal beer stash.

My LHBS sells 55lb. bags of weyermann grain (pils, pale, vienna, munich) for $38. So that helps a bunch. I also buy hops by the pound from hopsdirect.com. I just keep something high AA% on hand at all times and a pound of something noble(ish) and then just buy other hops an ounce or two at a time if and when I need them.

Washing and reusing yeast is a big money saver too. I also have a habit of brewing things that are pretty sessionable. I don't care much about how drunk a beer will get me, I just want it to taste great. And I can make beers that have tons of flavor with little in the way of ingredients. In fact I just finished a batch of Mild that only had six pounds of grain and 1oz. of hops.

Home brewing definitely saves money for us but I brew session beers. We have no problem polishing off a case of beer each week. While this may sound like to some people, two beers a night for each of us is a case in six days not including any "extra" beers on the weekends or friends/neighbors who might drop by for a beer

So, a couple of weeks ago the wife and I did some quick napkin math for the beers we usually have on hand. The prices listed for retail are for two cases and the others are for 5.5 gallon batches...this is what we came up with using Beer Smith:

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Retail - $72
Extract - $20
All Grain - $11

Flying Dog Doggy Style Pale Ale
Retail - $72
Extract - $24
All Grain - $14

Centennial Blonde (Bud Light Replacement)
Retail - $40? No idea on the cost of 2 cases of Bud Light
Extract - $20
All Grain - $11

When the wife saw how much cheaper it was to home brew she suggested I get the stuff I need to go "all grain" :rockin: I already had the turkey fryer, carboys and kegs from many years ago, I buy hops and grain in bulk from my LHBS which is very reasonably priced in comparison to online shipping and I wash my yeast.

I figure that with the money I have saved already this year, my recent purchases of a Penrose kettle and two 10g Rubbermaid coolers with stainless fittings are already paid for. A few more batches and I should have saved enough to buy a pump so I don't have lift my HLT onto my 3 tier stand

Finding a good source for bulk grain is important... Group grain buys help a LOT there.

I'm about to brew a ESB in a few days, using washed (liquid) yeast, and the base malt I bought during the group buy... 5 gallon batch cost: <$12...

Find hops where you can buy them in more bulk size, to save. I've used Farmhouse Breing Supply to get 2# of hops for less than what I' spend for just 1# from the LHBS... Shop around for the ingredients you need. Check the different online vendors to see who can either get it to you at the better rate, or faster at the same rate. There's plenty of really solid vendors listed in the vendor section of the main page. Check them out and see what they have to offer.

I do still use the LHBS for some things, but if I don't need something right away, or they can't beat the end cost of the online sources, I don't get it from them.

But, going all grain, once you get the hardware (you can go with either very little, or a lot there, you're choice really) for going all grain, the batch prices go way down. A few other adjustments and you're looking at 5 gallons of brew for less than a 12 pack of micro brew... :rockin:

1. Go AG. It's amazing how much you can save this way

2. Try a SMaSH recipe. Conceivably cuts the cost down even more

3. Get a water filter. Saves me ~$9 per batch versus buying water at the store

4. Use the spent grain to make bread. Doesn't save money on the beer batches but saves money you would spend on bread, which you can then spend on more beer supplies

5. Harvest your yeast. I haven't done this yet but it's on my list

Another thing I haven't seen mentioned here is to bottle instead of keg. While this may not be very popular due to the PITA it is to bottle, it can be cheaper if you're already drinking beers with pop tops that you can re-use when bottling. Or, I used to ask the bartender or waitress of the restaraunts I frequented to save these bottles for me, saving me even more money.

I also buy the generic version of OxiClean at Wal-Mart for less than $2, and will re-use StarSan (although only once) if I need to.

This may be going too far for some, but I keep a 4 gallon bucket in my shower and collect the cold water as I'm waiting for it to warm up before a shower (my bathroom is far away from my furnace). I'll then collect that water and use it as the first rinse in cleaning the trub and crap off my brew equipment on brew day (the second and third rinse will use water straight from the faucet).

This doesnt save much, but over time it can certainly add up.

I do see bottling as a good way to at least start off, if you want to keep the costs lower. Most of the costs for kegging includes the keezer (and it's components) as well as the CO2 tank(s), corny kegs (they're starting to get more expensive) and all the fittings to go along with them. That can end up as a large chunk of change to shell out... Granted, once you have most of that, the cost to maintain is low. But, the same can be said for bottling.

I use Grolsch and Belgian style bottles. Which means that my cost to bottle each batch, once I've purchased the bottles, is rather low. You can typically go 5-6 fillings before you replace the gaskets on the Grolsch bottles (less than 10 cents each if you buy them in 100 packs, so cheaper than caps)... Belgian bottle corks are also pretty cheap (not as cheap as the gaskets though)... I use Belgians for my bigger brews, with Grolsch for pretty much everything else. I was destined to get a floor corker at some point (I have mead in process that will get bottled eventually) so I did that when I got my first round of Belgian bottles. For a full 5 gallon batch, I use less than 36 Grolsch bottles, and under 24 Belgian bottles.

Sure, it takes time to bottle, but having a bottle to pop open is part of the enjoyment of home brewing.

Eventually I do see myself kegging part of a batch. I plan to get 3 gallon corny kegs, and bottle the balance of most batches. I'm sure I'll eventually get some 5 gallon corny kegs to fill, if I'm NOT planning on sharing a brew with anyone else, or take it with me to anyplace. Not to mention, 3 gallon corny kegs are pretty damned portable. I know of one person that has a backpack setup with a CO2 cylinder in it, as well as a 3 gallon corny, and he dispenses from a picnic tap... The tap is the only thing visible of the entire assembly. Very cool...

So, basically, there are plenty of choices for keeping costs down. It's just a matter of what you're comfortable with... Brew partial mashes and your cost per batch will be lower than extract. All grain will be the cheapest of all there. For dispensing the brew, that's something you'll need to figure out on a more personal level. If you NEED to keep it as cheap as possible, then bottling will probably be your better choice. Unless you happen upon some of the kegging parts for really cheap money (or free)...

You guys know you are replying in a 3 year old thread right ?

Blame jprobinson for bringing this one up from the bowels...

Austin Home Brew Supply is having a sale on their beer kits. They have 20 kits for $20 each. Seems like an awesome deal. I'm planning on ordering a few. Check it out.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php?cPath=178_452_638

NRS

I wish I didn't live in an apt and had room to buy bulk grain and keep a mill. Might have to do it anyways..

I think most of my batches are in the $40s. Damn big beer addiction

I'm glad I ran across this thread! Despite its age and adjusting for inflation its still valuable info for a $$ conscious novice like myself!

artyboy said:

Buying from the home brew store I end up spending just about the same amount of money brewing my own beer as I would buying the same amount of good micro brew from the liquor store. What do you do to get your costs down? Once I get my all grain setup finished that'll help a bit. I might even try my hand at growing my own hops. I've thought about going to the feed store down the street and buying a 50 lb bag of wheat from them. Barley isn't a whole lot more expensive. I've got the basic equipment. Now I want to know how to buy the ingredients as cheaply as possible.

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First thing go all grain. The cost of a cooler and some sort of manifold can be made up in just a few batches.

Second buy hops in bulk. There are a bunch of places where you can get hops for less than dollar an oz. I personnally have not been able to buy grain in bulk. Shipping kills the savings. Plus you need a mill and have to store 55# of grain. Which adds to the cost.

Lastly, reuse yeast. At 8 dollars its the biggest cost. If you can get 2-3 batches you lowering the cost a lot.

After the initial investment in equipment for me it is cheaper even buying from lhbs. I did manage some cost savings in equipment like homemade 52qt cooler mashtun for50 bucks. I just bought ingredients yesterday for an ag organic pale ale (organic ingredients are priced higher than regular) and my total cost with a Wyeast pack and 6 lbs of hops was about 37.50 (not bulk). Not bad for 2 cases of beer, my local stores sell decent pale ales at a min of 7.99 per sixer. Doesn't take long to recoup the investment and them upgrade some more. Plus we all know that our beer is way better than commercial beer. lol!

Here's cheap...I drank it for years (college). It's currently $6.75 at Piggly Wiggly. This & some table sugar.

Brewing belgians gets a lot of bang for the buck , considering a 22 oz bottle of chimay white is 10-12 bucks....and I can make it for about 45 bucks for 2 cases.Those Belgians are really simple ingredient bills and low on hops...so cheap to make at home vs the huge mark up you pay for them in the store.

Very true about the belgian beers....they are delicious, but when you are talking about cost of ingredients vs. retail price, it's all out of wack. price has actually prohibited me from buying and trying at the beer store. I was planning on brewing a belgian this spring and am looking for a good ag/high abv belgian intro recipe

missing link said:

My local brewery will fill a cornie for $37, if you want cheap that can't be beat. Excellent beer for only $10 more than the ingredients!!!

Linc

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Damn straight you can't beat that! I wonder how much I would brew if that deal was available near me. Equipment costs for me are killer. An all grain setup is getting expensive. Ingredient cost will help pay for the investment over time, but like I told SWMBO, if you want to drink good beer, you can brew it cheaper, but if you like to drink 'the champaign of beers' its hard to beat their price doing it yourself. People used to sew their own clothes to save money, now the cost of fabric exceeds the cost of the same garment in most cases. Doing things yourself used to be cheaper, but now, not so much. Don't buy retail, I guess.

if you're not doing it for fun you should be drinking a 40 of miller or bud.

Interestingly, since I got into this hobby, I think I spend way more on commercial beer than I did before. I used to buy a case of beer from Costco, usually Sam Adams or New Belgium every few weeks or so, and I ran out all the time. Now, I buy all kinds of imports; Belgians, English, Scottish, et al and I buy all the locals, New Belgium, Bristol, Left Hand, Odell's, growlers from Trinity, Phantom Canyon, Colorado Mountain Brewery so, I guess I spend a lot more on beer than I did before home brewing, but I also appreciate it more and enjoy it. Do I spend more money than before? Probably not. I just spend it on beer now I mean, I'm working with the same discretionary spending as before But now, I'm never out of beer and have increased my intake to about a quart a day.

EDIT: You know, I came up with a "cheap beer" recipe a while back and I've never attempted to make it. I was curious if I could make something for < $10 that my BMC friends would like, but have never bothered to follow through. On the other hand, I have bought LME in bulk as well as hops, so my latest 6 batches are on average 6% ABV and ran me about $25/batch. That's including everything, so not too bad.

I've probably spend $500 on equipment so far (including kegging system) and then another $500 on ingredients. So that's $1000. I've made 15 batches of beer, approx 45 bottles each after trub loss etc (I keg, but anyway).

That's $1.48 per beer including equipment cost, or $8.88 per six pack- which is just about what a decent six pack costs at the store where I live.

If you take out the equipment factor, the price goes down to about $0.75 per beer, or $4.44 for a six pack. Since I've already bought all the equipment, every beer I brew now costs me way, way less than going to the store.

So for me, it IS about money now. I can't even buy BMC for the price of my homebrews.

I think I figured that I am currently making beer at around $1-1.50 per beer when you factor in all the equipment and ingredients. That's pretty good for having brewed a little less than two years.

schlenkerla said:

you do it because you love it and its better than watching the crap on tv!

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+1

I'm so tired of smug brewers saying "if saving money is why you brew, you're brewing for the wrong reasons." That's silly. There's a slew of reasons to brew (to intoxicate oneself, to express oneself creatively, to produce beer that better than your small town's poor commercial selection, to save money, community , etc). Don't elevate your motivation to brew over those of other people. I enjoy brewing as a pastime, but it saves me hundreds of dollars a year compared to buying comparable commercial beer. If my sole motivation for brewing beer was because it's the only way I can afford to drink well, what the hell's wrong that? If my primary concern was producing "cheap" beer, then it sounds like I'm in the RIGHT hobby doing things CORRECTLY. Suck it snobs. Let others value this hobby for the many different benefits it produces, and stop acting like there is a "right way" to value homebrewing.

bigbeergeek said:

I'm so tired of smug brewers saying "if saving money is why you brew, you're brewing for the wrong reasons." That's silly…

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+1, Amen. Nice post. I see no conflict between brewing great beer and doing it in a manner that's easy on the wallet, too — if that pleases you. I came from a thrifty family, and inherited the trait. I find pleasure in finding ways and means of making tasty brews that balance the budget, too. Most of my AG efforts come in for $18-$20 for a 5 gallon batch. Of course I don't dive into any exotic ones that require 3/4 lbs. of hops, etc. I'm not super-cheap — but I estimate I've spent about $350 of basic equipment so far, and have probably recovered a major part of that investment already. Once that's cleared, I estimate that my per bottle costs will level out between 35¢ to 45¢ per bottle.

Honestly when I got started again on Homebrewing I made the switch from cheap BMC beer and my budget was roughly $15 week for beer. One of the reasons I started again was I wanted the ability to drink "good" beer and not spend much more money. After the initial $400 or so on my all grain equipment I routinely brew 10 gallon batches of good quality beer for roughly $25.

I wash yeast routinely
I'm not a big fan of quadruple imperial double blow your socks of beers
I'm not a huge fan of monster IPA's (hops are getting expensive)
I buy my bittering hops in bulk..($1 per ounce)
I grow my flavor and aroma hops (essentially free)

All that in addition to the fact that I am crazy about beer and beer history and this is the most rewarding hobby I've ever had. I love to cook as well so this is kind of an extension of that. I really enjoy positive feedback, it is very rewarding to me!

Any who...that's my 2 cents!

bgruis said:

Any who...that's my 2 cents!

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With a little thought you could probably cut that down to a penny.

geezerpk said:

With a little thought you could probably cut that down to a penny.

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Ha ha ha ....thanks

Compared to the age of this thread and inflation I would say that at least for me, home brewing is far cheaper. Using craigslist and searching around my garage and work I got my AG setup for around 100$ I would say the biggest expense so far has been bottles.

Hardest part for me is trying to balance Gas vs Shipping. Do I sub an ingredient so I don't drive an extra 35 miles, do I order what I want online, or just get the local store to special order. Think I saved more money by working closer with my new LHBS on ordering than driving all over creation for a better deal.

Well, I've noticed that the All Grain kits offer a good opportunity. For example, I just order the all grain kit for Ferocious IPA. Cost was $37.00

I was going to go to my LHBS to purchse the ingrediants for a SCALED DOWN batch (2 gallons) of the recipe. I would of spent around $35 for that!

I just ordered the kit, will use half and store the rest for future use. This way, I have the base recipe and I can fool around with additives, other grains etc. So, I will get 2.5 gallons for $18.50 versus $35 at the LHBS.

Personally, I think the kits offer the best deal when it comes to price. You can still always add and or take away from the recipe instructions to make it your own special "blend".

I just did this with a Pumkin Ale kit. I used the guts of the kit, but added many personal touches to make this my own recipe.

Problem is, you're going to need so many different base malts and speicalty grains, that to buy them all in bulk will simply cost a fortune.

Start with the kits, modify and keep notes. Once you have something you like, then order your ingrediant in bulk for that particular recipe.

You don't need to get that many base malts. I have two, UK 2-row on hand. I use either one in all my recipes. The specialty grains are easy to get in small amounts, depending on how much you use them. If you're brewing styles that are all over the map, then you might need more base malts. Even then, you can probably brew 99% of the recipes out there with just a couple/few different ones.

base malts are just that, a base. You can sub pretty much any base malt for another and not affect the flavor all that much. Sure you may miss out on some breadiness if you trade out something like MO for standard 2-row, but it is the specialty grains that contribute the most flavor

Save an reuse your yeast.
Recycle your dry hops as bittering for another brew.
Buy in Bulk for base grains and Hops.
Learn to love adjunct beers and experiment with cereal mashing.
I can make a 10 gal batch of a splendid cream ale for about $15, this can be altered into a vienna style, IPC, IPL..you name it!

Also, make local brew friends who you can do bulk buys with and swap supplies and such.

good luck