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So I just brewed my first batch and am looking to make more. I don't want to buy a kit, is there any way for me to save money by buying the ingredients separately?

What's the best method to save money?

Thanks!
 
Sure! Buy in bulk. Get involved in a group grain buy, and order your hops by the pound directly from a distributor. If you use extract, buy it 50lbs at a time.

Until you're ready to go that direction, though, kits are usually not any more expensive than buying the ingredients individually.
 
Sure! Buy in bulk. Get involved in a group grain buy, and order your hops by the pound directly from a distributor. If you use extract, buy it 50lbs at a time.

Until you're ready to go that direction, though, kits are usually not any more expensive than buying the ingredients individually.

Thanks!

Also the kit I ordered said it was possibly to re use the wheat, is this true?
I put it in the fridge just to be safe..
 
No, you can not reuse the wheat. The point is to use the sugars from the wheat. If you managed to do that the first time, there is nothing to reuse, shy of great compost.
 
Watch this video, it illustrates what you are doing with your grains in a great way.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you're just starting out, you might not want to go bulk just yet. But I buy my hops from Hops Direct for roughly $10 a pound, a huge discount from the local. However, you have to be committed to the hops you use! Can be a bit of a trade off to consider.
 
If you're just starting out, you might not want to go bulk just yet. But I buy my hops from Hops Direct for roughly $10 a pound, a huge discount from the local. However, you have to be committed to the hops you use! Can be a bit of a trade off to consider.

there are vendors selling hops in 4 oz packs, like farmhouse supply. i have 6-8 pounds of various hop varieties so i don't feel like i have to be committed to any particular one.
 
Thanks for that, Farmhouse looks good. However, if you want to save money by buying bulk then you need to buy bulk. Farmhouse - Cascade hops around $3/oz, Hop direct around $1/oz. You decide.
 
bulk prices (aka, discount) are in buying by the pound.

find someone to brew with
 
Pascal said:
Farmhouse - Cascade hops around $3/oz, Hop direct around $1/oz. You decide.

I don't know what you are looking at, but cascades at FH are not $3 oz, they are also around $1oz. The price on their site is for 4 oz bags. Cascades (for example) are $3.60/4oz, making them $.90/oz. Hopsdirect will save you maybe $1-2 per pound, but not a ton. Plus, you have to buy a full pound, which a beginner may not want to invest in just yet as they aren't familiar with hop profiles. I plan on buying a pound of Centennial and Williamette from hopsdirect, but that's because I know I'll use those varieties a bunch. The rest of my hops will likely come from farmhouse.

To the OP - besides hops in bulk, which is a great way to save, I suggest using as little extract as possible. Grain is cheap comparatively, so using it instead will certainly give you a boost. Also, wash your yeast. If you use liquid it can save ~$8 a batch. Check out the yeast washing sticky on HBT.
 
Thanks!

Also the kit I ordered said it was possibly to re use the wheat, is this true?
I put it in the fridge just to be safe..

Yeast, not wheat. Re-use the yeast.

Brew your batches back-to-back and just re-use the yeast from the cake (or don't brew back-to-back, but that's a little more work to save it).
 
Brew your batches back-to-back and just re-use the yeast from the cake (or don't brew back-to-back, but that's a little more work to save it).

+1. This will save you a ton of cash. I always try and pitch on top of a first generation yeast cake (although my compulsive nature sometimes gets me brewing beers of a completely different style).

There's a good demo on yeast washing around here too - all you really need are some mason jars. I made five different beers from one smack pack of Bavarian hefe yeast.
 
You can save money by buying bulk extract.

But you won't really start saving until you brew All Grain.

Hops you can buy in bulk right away. You can also save money by washing and reusing your yeast. At that point, you're trading money for time.

If you aren't doing AG yet, it's very easy. You can do BIAB on the stove if you wish and get started using bulk grain right away. Note that you will have to crush it somehow. If you don't have any way of doing this, you can still start saving money buy ordering or buying crushed grains and doing AG even not in bulk.
 
Great advice! Thanks Guy!

Im going to be re-useing the yeast I get. However yeast really doesnt seem to be that pricy.. The dry yeast I used for my last batch was $2 and it worked well.. a little to well. Had 3 spill overs.
As for the quality of the strain of yeast im not sure, but it worked great. Started fermenting in hours.

I apologize for my typo, I meant re-useing grains not wheat.
Take a look here:
(Step 3, 2nd to last sentence)
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/downloads/58/Liberty Cream Ale Instructions.pdf

So I saved those in a ziplock bag in the fridge for future use possibly.

Thanks for the input and help I appreciate it!
 
Great advice! Thanks Guy!

Im going to be re-useing the yeast I get. However yeast really doesnt seem to be that pricy.. The dry yeast I used for my last batch was $2 and it worked well.. a little to well. Had 3 spill overs.
As for the quality of the strain of yeast im not sure, but it worked great. Started fermenting in hours.

I apologize for my typo, I meant re-useing grains not wheat.
Take a look here:
(Step 3, 2nd to last sentence)
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/downloads/58/Liberty Cream Ale Instructions.pdf

So I saved those in a ziplock bag in the fridge for future use possibly.

Thanks for the input and help I appreciate it!

It says that you can re-use the BAG. The actual bag. Not the grains inside of the bag! If you are a nylon/muslin bag, you can empty the grains out of it, and add new grains to the bag next time you brew.
 
1) Buy in bulk if possible. If not, buying the base grain/hops separate in smaller amounts is pretty much always cheaper than buying pre-made kits.

2) Use the same speciality grains in many brews: there's is no need to have every variety of crystal on hand for example. If not, you risk wasting grain.

3) Brew lower gravity beers that share the same base grain: pretty much all my beers are brewed with Maris Otter, which allows me to buy a sack of it and save. All my bitters use sugars too, which is dirt cheap.

4) Brewing the same recipes over and over again also helps.

Reusing yeast can be helpful if you are using liquid yeast, but you have to take into consideration the cost of making starters. Dry yeast you can reuse/wash the cake too if you want, but as was said, you're trading your time for money here.
 
Thanks for that, Farmhouse looks good. However, if you want to save money by buying bulk then you need to buy bulk. Farmhouse - Cascade hops around $3/oz, Hop direct around $1/oz. You decide.

i buy from both and hops direct very often sells out very fast. this year they have a 1 pound limit for some hop varieties. both are great places.
 

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