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JeffD1

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I'm very new to AG, but one of the reasons I was excited to get into it was that I couldn't wait to start making $20 batches like everyone talks about. I went to my lhbs and with a couple of extra cheap things (caps, pbw, etc) it costs me $70! I decided to price my next brew out on NorthernBrewer and that came out to $44.96 without shipping. What am I doing wrong? I copied and pasted my cart from northernbrewer (see below). The grains are crushed, but that did not add to the price. The only extras in there are caps and an airlock. Is there a cheaper place to shop?



Product Name Unit Price Qty Subtotal Remove
Continue ShoppingUpdate Shopping Cart

Belgian Special B - 1 lb. crushed
$1.75 $1.75
Remove item

Bairds Carastan Malt - 1 lb. crushed
$1.75 $1.75
Remove item

Belgian Caramunich - crushed
$1.75 $1.75
Remove item

Weyermann Carahell - 1 lb. crushed
$1.75 $1.75
Remove item

Weyermann Dehusked Carafa II - 1 lb. crushed
$1.99 $1.99
Remove item

Sterling Hop Pellets 1 oz
Edit $1.75 $3.50
Remove item

Columbus Hop Pellets 1 oz.
Edit $1.75 $1.75
Remove item

White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale
Edit $6.99 $6.99
Remove item

Briess 2-Row Brewers Malt - 1 lb. crushed
$1.25 $12.50
Remove item

Bubbler Air Lock
Edit $1.25 $1.25
Remove item

Dark Belgian Candi Sugar 1 lb.
Edit $5.99 $5.99
Remove item

Brewers Best Crown Caps - 144
Edit $3.99 $3.99

Grand Total $59.90
Subtotal $44.96
Shipping & Handling (Ship Method - Shipping Information - UPS Ground ( 4 business days )) $14.94
Proceed to Checkout
 
LBHS don't always have the best deals. The closest LBHS's I have near me are over an hour away and 1 is ridiculously overpriced while the other is comparable to online. Like the others have said, buying in bulk will lower you price. One pound of of 2 row can vary from 1.25 to 2, but in bulk it is less than 45 dollars (at least where im at)
 
Thank you for the quick replies!

I may have to invest in a grain mill.
 
Bulk base and hops are the best way. Bulk hops cost me $.067/oz and base malt can be as low as $0.72/lb for domestic 2-row. I spend about $24 for a 5 gallon batch. Oh, yeah a good mill will allow you to get better efficiency which can amount to less grain being needed for the same OG/SG.

Mouse
 
Also, Northern brewer is great but not the cheapest by a long shot. In fact they are about the most expensive on most things...
 
You can start with a simpler recipe to begin with. Your recipe calls for a Belgian Candi Sugar and liquid yeast....that's 13 bucks right there. A twenty dollar AG recipe will probably be pretty simple( Blonde, Pale Ale, Dry Stout, etc..)and either used dry yeast or washed yeast.
 
As noted above:
1. Buy grains in bulk. While group buys are best, sometimes you can grab decent deals locally. For instance, my LHBS offers sacks of briess 2-row for $40 per 50 pound sacks a couple times a year. This works out to $.80/lb, or under $10 for base grain in a typical 5 gallon batch.
2. Reuse yeast. Trade yeast. This can save boat loads of cash. I just got done making a bunch of batches, all with washed s-05 from a previous batch. So my $4 package of s-05 has made 1 batch plus 4 more batches, and EACH of these will result in enough yeast to make 4 more batches. That works out to a pretty small $ per batch, but at the cost of a mason jar collection, some time, and space in a refrigerator.
3.Buy hops in bulk. There is a huge savings in buying a pound for $6, $10, $15 even $20 over per ounce prices. Another suggestion here is to "discover" hops other than those which always seem to be in short supply. I picked up pounds of Columbus, williamette, and several others for $6/pound. By looking for deals and buying a bunch to offset shipping, I've been able to accumulate a freezer full...including pounds of Chinook, Centennial, EKG, Simcoe, ... One last thing on hops, many recipes don't require the use of expensive flavor/aroma hops for bittering, where a clean bittering hop like magnum or perle will do.

Hope this helps...my typical IPA cost is under $15 for a 5 gallon batch!
 
I buy my base grains in bulk. Everything else I will buy when I brew. I found that buying hops and dry yeast a online vender is cheaper then my local place (maybe buying enough for 3 brews or so).

I change styles so often, I waste money trying to buy some ingredients in bulk that I will never use.
 
All of the above. Harvesting yeast is a huge money saver. Also, that recipe is quite exotic. It would be hard even with relatively lower pricing in general to get under $20 with all the specialty grains. If you have a brew buddy, you can share equipment and trade yeast strains. I find most of my costs rise when I go to pick up my ingredients and always end up with another gadget or something from the LHBS. You gotta be disciplined to not get anything... I am not..
 
I started brewing in 1990 --- I wanted to drink cheap, and I did.... A can of extract and a bag of sugar - the can came with yeast under the lid! Kinda funny looking back. I continued to brew because I really enjoy good beer and found out it's not rocket science. Home Brewing is a big part of who I am ---

I cannot imagine ever drinking a BMC product again..... The marketing department over there at the big 3 have made the American beer drinker - it certainly isn't the beer.

You can brew a very good beer cheaper than you can buy it -

Just remember to have fun :mug:
 
Thank you all! This helped a lot. I had a feeling exotic recipes were part of the problem. I am definitely not one to keep it simple.
 
I buy my grains and hops in bulk. A 55# sack of 2-row $45 Hops I buy by the pound $15 and up:rockin:
 
I buy my grains and hops in bulk. A 55# sack of 2-row $45 Hops I buy by the pound $15 and up:rockin: Just started washing yeast so that is going to help
 
CA_Mouse said:
Bulk base and hops are the best way. Bulk hops cost me $.067/oz and base malt can be as low as $0.72/lb for domestic 2-row. I spend about $24 for a 5 gallon batch. Oh, yeah a good mill will allow you to get better efficiency which can amount to less grain being needed for the same OG/SG.

Mouse
Click to expand...

What kind of hops do you get for 6.7 cents per ounce! :mug:
 
sj3324 said:
What kind of hops do you get for 6.7 cents per ounce! :mug:
Click to expand...

This. I really want to know.

I've got some 67 cent per ounce hops. Plenty, in fact.

I think my cheapest hops were $8 for 1 lbs, which would be dead on 50 cents per ounce. Though many most expensive ones were several times that price.

Here's 11# of Columbus/Tomahawk for $73 shipped. That's 41.7 cents per ounce.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fresh-Hops-...t=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item2a2af94113

Good luck using up 11# of CTZ as a homebrewer though.
 
TIming is everything on hops purchases, but here's some examples:
Hopshack
Nugget for $9/# ($0.5625/ounce): http://www.hopsshack.com/store/HP1231.html

Columbus for $9/# ($0.5625): http://www.hopsshack.com/store/HP1071.html

Williamette for $9/# ($0.5625): http://www.hopsshack.com/store/HP1341.html

Farmhouse Brewing Supply:
Challenger for $10/# ($0.624375): http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=553
Northdown for $9/# ($0.5625): http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=532
Summit for $10.49/#: http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=572
Looking at Farmhouse's page where they sell 4 ounce packages, there are TWENTY EIGHT or so hops listed for UNDER $1/ounce: http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/scripts/hopsList.asp?idCategory=21

Ritebrew:
While not quite as good, they have a bunch of hop varieties for under $1/ounce when bought in 1# increments:
http://www.ritebrew.com/category-s/1942.htm?searching=Y&sort=1&cat=1942&show=100&page=1

Finally, some lhbs's will give you a better price if you order 1# from them...doesn't hurt to ask.
 
copyright1997 said:
TIming is everything on hops purchases, but here's some examples:
Click to expand...

1# Nugget - $9 @ Yakima Valley Hops
1# Columbus - $10 @ Yakima Valley Hops
1# Willamette - $9 @ Yakima Valley Hops

Only $1 more for Columbus there. They'll cram 12# in a large flat rate shipping box for $12 through USPS, IIRC. They came next business day (a Saturday) for me. They also have the best price on Simcoe I've found shipped.

At $8/lb: Millenium
At $9/lb: Bravo, Nugget, Galena, Super Galena, Willamette
At $10/lb: Columbus, Cluster, Tettnang
At $11/lb: Magnum, Mt. Hood, Summit
At $12/lb: Apollo, Brewer's Gold, Northern Brewer, Cascade, Delta, Liberty

With just 1# of a strong bittering hop like Magnum or Warrior and 1# noble hops like Nugget or Tettnang, you can make a whole lot of cheap beer styles.
 
To the OP: go onto the DIY forum and search for "junk corona mill" or "ugly corona mill" and you'll find a loooooong thread with peoples' ideas for setting up their cheapo corona mills.

I got gypped into spending $50 for a corona mill - I paid twice as much as I should have but it still paid for itself in a little over a year. I'm on my 3rd or 4th bag of base malt.
 
BlackJaqueJanaviac said:
To the OP: go onto the DIY forum and search for "junk corona mill" or "ugly corona mill" and you'll find a loooooong thread with peoples' ideas for setting up their cheapo corona mills.

I got gypped into spending $50 for a corona mill - I paid twice as much as I should have but it still paid for itself in a little over a year. I'm on my 3rd or 4th bag of base malt.
Click to expand...

Thank you! This is helpful.
 
+1 for the corona mill, I secured mine to a scrap board, found a bolt that threaded into the crank end, and use a socket on my cordless drill to turn it. When I grind I use a couple of vise grips pliers to attach the board to a cheap bucket and use an old plastic folgers can to funnel into the bucket. Think I am about $30 into my milling setup. Washing yeast is a huge money saver though I have made some good beer by pitching directly onto a yeast cake from a batch that I bottled off while brewing the new batch.
 
JeffD1 said:
I'm very new to AG, but one of the reasons I was excited to get into it was that I couldn't wait to start making $20 batches like everyone talks about. I went to my lhbs and with a couple of extra cheap things (caps, pbw, etc) it costs me $70! I decided to price my next brew out on NorthernBrewer and that came out to $44.96 without shipping. What am I doing wrong? I copied and pasted my cart from northernbrewer (see below). The grains are crushed, but that did not add to the price. The only extras in there are caps and an airlock. Is there a cheaper place to shop?


Product Name Unit Price Qty Subtotal Remove
Continue ShoppingUpdate Shopping Cart

Belgian Special B - 1 lb. crushed
$1.75 $1.75
Remove item

Bairds Carastan Malt - 1 lb. crushed
$1.75 $1.75
Remove item

Belgian Caramunich - crushed
$1.75 $1.75
Remove item

Weyermann Carahell - 1 lb. crushed
$1.75 $1.75
Remove item

Weyermann Dehusked Carafa II - 1 lb. crushed
$1.99 $1.99
Remove item

Sterling Hop Pellets 1 oz
Edit $1.75 $3.50
Remove item

Columbus Hop Pellets 1 oz.
Edit $1.75 $1.75
Remove item

White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale
Edit $6.99 $6.99
Remove item

Briess 2-Row Brewers Malt - 1 lb. crushed
$1.25 $12.50
Remove item

Bubbler Air Lock
Edit $1.25 $1.25
Remove item

Dark Belgian Candi Sugar 1 lb.
Edit $5.99 $5.99
Remove item

Brewers Best Crown Caps - 144
Edit $3.99 $3.99

Grand Total $59.90
Subtotal $44.96
Shipping & Handling (Ship Method - Shipping Information - UPS Ground ( 4 business days )) $14.94
Proceed to Checkout
Click to expand...





Buy in bulk
 
I grow my hops spent about 60 bucks to get started now I have more than I can use, and I brewed 100 gal last year
 
Oh one other thing I find corny kegs on craigslist for cheap and trade them in to my LHBS they give me a $50 store credit for ea one
 
Just looking at your inventory I have the following comments:

$15 bucks is just shipping. (60 is now 45)
$6 is candi sugar. This is a luxury to your recipe and not the norm (45 is now 39)
$10 of specialty grains are you really using 1lb of each? you can buy by the oz at most LHBS (39 is likely 35ish)
$7 for yeast. Wash and reuse (35 could be amortized down to 32ish)

So you see, if you go to a LHBS you could save a lot right off the bat. Stick to less exotic styles and you will knock off more in the specialties. Wash your yeast and save half your investment on the first try alone (or even just use half and save the rest for next time. Your starter will need longer, but it should be fine)
 
dphornguy said:
So you see, if you go to a LHBS you could save a lot right off the bat. Stick to less exotic styles and you will knock off more in the specialties. Wash your yeast and save half your investment on the first try alone (or even just use half and save the rest for next time. Your starter will need longer, but it should be fine)
Click to expand...

I can't agree more! Since I went to All Grain, started culturing my yeast and bought a grain mill, my average 6 gallon brew costs less than $30US. Heck I brewed an American Black Ale and used 15oz of hops that only cost me $35US most of it being the 7 different hops.
 
I agree with everyone. I actually like to shop with Morebeer.com. They have a category of beers under .50 a bottle. Buy 2 or 3 of those kits and shipping is free after 60 bucks. Your right around your price point.
 
Great advice from everybody, I'll just sort of reiterate one point: you're making what looks to be an abbey ale. An expensive beer commercially. You'll get over 2 cases in the end for about $25 or so per case. That's a pretty good deal.

Also, Austin Homebrew Supply sells "budget" kits (you can choose AG version) and offers free shipping. Being in PA I also like Morebeer. Very fast shipping with their new Pittsburgh location.
 
How long do grain stay fresh if stored in a pladtic bin?

And what about pellet hops if stored in the fridge?
 
sar_dog_1 said:
How long do grain stay fresh if stored in a pladtic bin?

And what about pellet hops if stored in the fridge?
Click to expand...

Grain should last 6 months to a year if the bin is airtight. Less if it is milled.

If your hops are in the mylar bag, store them in the freezer. 6 months tops in the fridge and years in the freezer.
 

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