Homebrewing cheaply

I'm interested in brewing, but I don't have to invest too much in brewing equipment (various reasons). So I've done a bit of research as to how I can cut down on the costs and space to homebrew.

My plan would be to use 2 3 gallon pots (I already have these and I don't drink that much beer so I plan to brew 2 gallon batches) and aluminum foil for the airlock. I already have everything else necessary minus the hydrometer (carboy, bottles, sanitizer, thermometer, etc.).

So my question is:

For 2 gallon batches, can I just multiply by 2/5 on 5 gallon recipes? Will the aluminum foil be a fine replacement for the airlock (especially since its a large carboy for a 2 gallon batch)? And how necessary is the hydrometer?

Thanks!

You can get a 6.5 gallon bucket for like $15 and an airlock for about 2 bucks. I think you should save up for those two items. With all the time that goes into brewing a batch, you may regret brewing such small batches. Also, you can brew a five gallon batch in a 3 gallon pot...I did for about six years. You brew the beer then add water to take it up to 5 gallons. You may not drink much beer but I am sure your friends will!

Sorry for the rant and that I did not answer your question. I would have if I knew the answer

I would say do 2.5 gallon batches, so you just have to half the recipe. But yes, your math is right.

An airlock only costs a couple bucks. Nice to see if there is any bubbles going on. However aluminum foil will work, make sure it is not on tight so the gasses can escape.

For small batches especially you only need one 3 gallon pot. I am assuming you are going to do extract brewing. You can put all the ingredients in that small batch, and then top off the wort to your final volume after it is in the fermenter with either boiled water that is cooled, or easier and cheaper bottled water (can get a one gallon jug for cheap at Safeway).

Hydrometer is rather important in my opinion. It lets you know if your fermentation is completed. It isn't 100% necessary, but incredibly useful. You can just add yeast and let it go for 2-3 weeks, and if you didn't kill or sleep the yeast then fermentation should be done. So it is really good to have for many reasons, but you don't really need it (though lots of questions here are answered with "Check the gravity with hydrometer").

Just sanitize it and make sure air can't get in but gases can get out. That's all an airlock is. But airlocks are pretty cheap i'd suggest just picking one up and one of those big food buckets that hold frosting for like $10

But yeah, what you have planned should work fine.

An airlock is VERY cheap. Just get 2 of them.

I'd also have to recommend a hydrometer. They are not much either, and if used properly can not only help you make better beer, but to bottle safely too.

If you have a fermenter, and a large pot to boil in, those are the only 2 things that I can really think that you'd need to get started.

Im like you and didnt want to break the bank to get into the hobby. Id rather splurge on quality ingredients and make damn good BEER. In the end, your drinkers could give a rats azz if you have a wort chiller vs ice bath or auto siphon vs spigot. Here is what I did and you can steal what you want to keep costs low:

Brew Pot: went to a supermarket after turkey day and bought a 32 q aluminum pot for $20.

Fermenters/Bottling Buckets: do you have a Chick fil A near where you live? If so, talk to the mgr and ask him to save you 3-4 of their pickle buckets. I know when other people on this forum read this, they are going to scream at me about off-flavors, but i guarantee you cant tell once the beer is done. Just scrub them really good 3-4 times before you use them and youll save 15 bucks or so.
For bottling, I drilled a hole in the bottom of the buckets and bought some plastic spigots from Lowes for 2-3$ each. Hook up a pastic tube and youre ready to go.

Airlock: F* it. You dont need one. Drill a hole 1/2 inch in dia in the top of ur pickle bucket and buy a cheap rubber stopper with a hole in it. Stick another plastic tube in there and drown the other end in a bottle of water. Just make sure your fermenter is higher in elevation than your water or youll get blowback.

Capper: if youre bottling as opposed to kegging, go on ebay and buy an old used one. I got mine for $5. Works great

Bottles: first, tell all your friends that youre starting this hobby. Ask them to save all their bottles and you will trade them beer for bottles. Another idea is to go to your favorite bar, ask nicely if the waitresses will save you some that night and bring them home. Also, whenever i pay for beer at a bar, i always bring the bottle home. Just try not to get pulled over.

Soap/sanitation: if you have a sams/costco card, go buy non-scented soap and some industrial sanitizer. Saves a good deal there.

Other than that, everything else i use i have around the house. Plastic spoon for stirring, sponges for cleaning, diswasher for cleaning bottles. Like I said, i know i will have purists on here blasting me for some of this, but i expect most of them are jealous they didnt think of this first and overspent on their setup. I work with an ex-contest judge and hes praised my batches a number of times so im not worried about mine.

Oh, forgot to mention, I do agree with the others here about a hydrometer. Definitely get one of those and a graduated cylinder.

unionrdr said:

Not jealous at all. But there is such a thing as too cheap. I'd rather buy the minimum of equipment when I can than try to brew $30-$50 worth of beer in 25c worth of stuff. But I do try to save as much as I can on good equipment. Just the minimum of equipment to get the job done. It's your process that makes good beer,true. But decent equipment can make that easier.
You can find set ups on fleabay,& craig's list where people are giving up on the hobby. Take advantage of these to save some good bucks.

Click to expand...

Agreed here.

Even if you have made good beer with using soap and industrial sanitizer doesn't mean it will work for other people. Same for cleaning bottles. Actually, when you factor in water and electricity costs, it would be cheaper to use 2.5g of water and 1/2 oz of StarSan than running your dishwasher, or at least not much of a difference.

Spending a couple bucks more in the end can make the difference. Sure, you don't need a temperature controller or wort chiller, but hell, the OP saved the money he would have used on a second 3 gallon pot, which is money he can spend now on a $2 air lock and a hydrometer. And an airlock is easier and more convenient than a bucket of water.

However, sounded like the OP had everything he needed except a hydrometer, air lock, and pots, so a lot of these points are moot. Pretty much an air lock is convenient and cheap, hydrometer is not required but damned handy to have, and you only need one 3 gallon pot be it for a 2.5 gallon or 5 gallon batch.

Happy brewing!

For cheap sanitation, you can just add 1 tablespoon of regular strength non-scented house-hold bleach (AKA Clorox) to a gallon of water and let the items soak for 15-20 min. This is after a good scrub, of course.

BUY a hydrometer. ( bottle bombs suck) $5

You can get free food grade buckets from any supermarket deli for free. ( if you want them)

Join a brew club for bulk buys. That is where the real savings are had.

Robusto said:

For cheap sanitation, you can just add 1 tablespoon of regular strength non-scented house-hold bleach (AKA Clorox) to a gallon of water and let the items soak for 15-20 min. This is after a good scrub, of course.

Click to expand...

You can use bleach, many have with great success, but it is indeed a pain. You have to wash it out thoroughly, as opposed to using a sanitizer that doesn't need to be washed off. Also, it is really easy to ruin clothing during this stage using bleach.

For a couple more bucks you can get a sanitizer such as StarSan and it saves a lot of effort, which I am willing to spend a few dollars to have.

I've used pickle buckets to brine turkeys and marinate large cuts of meat. The best way of getting the pickle scent off, that I've found, is to coat the inside with plain yellow mustard, let it sit for at least half an hour, then rinse off. Hopefully that will save some of the rough scrubbing that can create bacteria-harboring scratches.

unionrdr said:

Just for the record,I paid $10.45 for 8oz of star-san concentrate. And at 1 1/4tsp per gallon of distilled water,it'll last a very long time. $6.50 for an 8oz bag of PBW,4 3/4tsp per gallon of water & it'll clean just about anything off your brewing stuff & bottles. These are both well worth the money. And the star-san is no rinse,making sanitizing easier & faster.

Click to expand...

+1. I would not use bleach for anything related to brewing. Star San is SOOO cheap when diluted properly and mixed with distilled water. A spray bottle makes applying it super easy and there is NO need to rinse, saving time and lessening the chance of infection due to rinsing.

I've used two small bottles in the few years of brewing , and a LOT of that went down the drain before I started using distilled water and a spray bottle.

So you have everything other than the two cheapest things? An Airlock and Hydrometer?

Dude, an air lock (or blow-off tube) is $2. A hydrometer is $5. That's $7. Both things are handy.

Make a PB&J sandwich for lunch the next 2-3 days, and buy them. They are worth it.

If you really don't want an airlock you can easily get by without. Just use saran wrap or similar to securely cover the fermenter. Just be sure that there is a way for CO2 to escape while keeping pests and bacteria out.


I cannot count the number of batches I have fermented in extra fermenters that I didn't have drilled & grommeted stoppers/lids for where I just made do with something else.

There is never a good reason to use bleach. terrible stuff. You need to rinse it off so completely that it defeats any reason to use it in the first place. I would use tap water to "sanitize" over a bleach solution any day. After all, when using bleach, you only sanitize as well as your rinse water anyway.

Malintent said:

There is never a good reason to use bleach. terrible stuff. You need to rinse it off so completely that it defeats any reason to use it in the first place. I would use tap water to "sanitize" over a bleach solution any day. After all, when using bleach, you only sanitize as well as your rinse water anyway.

Click to expand...

I also dislike bleach, but in the proper concentrations you do not need to rinse. You do however need to let it dry so all the chlorine evaporates.

EDIT: I should add that getting the proper concentrations can be difficult to do, given differing concentrations and breakdown of the bleach over time.

weirdboy said:

If you really don't want an airlock you can easily get by without. Just use saran wrap or similar to securely cover the fermenter. Just be sure that there is a way for CO2 to escape while keeping pests and bacteria out.


I cannot count the number of batches I have fermented in extra fermenters that I didn't have drilled & grommeted stoppers/lids for where I just made do with something else.

Click to expand...

Yesterday brewed an extra large batch of stout and filled two 1-gallon jugs for an experiment. Then found out I only had 1 airlock in my kit 9where the heck to they disappear??)

So I just wrapped a bit of sanitized foil over the tops. Only concern is if I will need a blow-off tube.

So yeah, it can be done, but airlocks are just so cheap.

chask31 said:

You can get a 6.5 gallon bucket for like $15 and an airlock for about 2 bucks. I think you should save up for those two items. With all the time that goes into brewing a batch, you may regret brewing such small batches. Also, you can brew a five gallon batch in a 3 gallon pot...I did for about six years. You brew the beer then add water to take it up to 5 gallons. You may not drink much beer but I am sure your friends will!

Sorry for the rant and that I did not answer your question. I would have if I knew the answer

Click to expand...

+1
I can get an airlock for $1 at my LHBS. And if you want to know how much alcohol is in your beers, you need a hydrometer. Sounds like the stuff you would need to purchase won't cost too much anyway. Cheers!

My sister wants me to come to her apartment and show her and her roommates how to brew a batch of beer. I am an all-grain brewer, and have spent a couple years brewing on my rig, but her request got me thinking about this exact topic.

I agree with a lot of what has been said, but I'll add a bit. It was a little unclear what the OP already has on hand, so excuse me if anything is redundant.

First of all, stick with extract and steeping grains. The ingredients will be more expensive, but the equipment requirements are so minimal that the costs will off-set should you decide not to stick with the hobby. I also do not think it is a bad idea to purchase 6 gallons of bottled spring water for use on brew day. It makes measurements easy, and you know the water is free of chlorine.

This is long, so I'll break it down the by process.

Research
Use the free tutorial at howtobrew.com to learn about extract brewing with steeping grains. It doesn't get cheaper than free. A little reading can help you avoid big mistakes, and there is no bigger waste of money and time than a stupid mistake that ruins a batch.

Brew day
Boil
The first thing you need is a 3-5 gallon pot with a lid. You will be doing a stove top partial boil. I would shoot for the 5 gallon pot.

The next thing you need is a large stainless whisk or spoon, which you should already have. This will serve to break up and dissolve the DME/LME. A quick note, use the lightest extract available, and get your character and color from the specialty grains.

Also, you will need a grain bag to hold the steeping grains, and that should be included with your kit.

Use the first 2.5-3 gallons of bottled water, and conduct the boil, uncovered, per instructions. A little jar of foam contol will do you good here.


Post boil
Cover the wort with the brew pot's lid, and submerge the kettle into a sink full of ice water. It is not the quickest way to chill things down, but it is the cheapest, and with a partial boil volume, it is good enough.

Cold side + Fermentation
This is where I really started thinking. I really like the idea of purchasing two brewing buckets, each with a ported lid, and each equipped with a bottling spigot. These buckets are the exact same, so mark one for bottling and one for fermentation. This also brings me to cleaning and sanitation. This is not the place to cut costs. A small tub of PBW, and a small jar of star-san are must haves. Do not be lured into the world of one-step cleaning. While the wort is cooling (it will probably take 45 mins or so), clean the fermentation bucket and its components with PWB, rinse with warm water, and sanitize with star-san. When that is done, rehydrate your dry yeast in 100F water, which had been pre-boiled in a pyrex container, and is now cleaned, sanitized, and covered with sanitized foil. Timing is a bit of an issue here, because you don't want to rehydrate more than 20 minutes before pitching - if you do, the yeast will start spending reserves.

Add the remaining 3 gallons of "dilution water" to the sanitized fermentation bucket (It will probably be 2-3 gallons). Now just dump your cool wort right into the fermentation bucket on top of the spring water. Dry yeast have minimal oxygen requirements, so the dumping will serve to oxygenate as well as mix the two liquids. Now pitch the rehydrated yeast, stick an airlock into the ported lid, and place in a stable, cool (65-70F), interior closet for 3 weeks.

Bottling
Three weeks later, set your fermentation bucket on a counter, and let the trub you just kicked up into solution settle. Next, measure out the appropriate amount of corn sugar and dissolve it in the microwave in a pint or two of water. While your priming solution is boiling and then cooling, get the PBW and Star-san out, and clean and sanitize your bottling bucket (and components - spigot, lid, gaskets), a 5' length of 3/8" vinyl tubing and your bottling wand. Dump your priming solution into the bottling bucket, and cover it back up with the ported lid. Now, run your 3/8" tube from the spigot on the fermentor down through the hole in the lid of your bottling bucket (which is sitting on the floor). Open the valve on the fermentor, and allow the beer to drain through - it is a closed transfer with no syphon required! This would be a good time to get your bottles cleaned and sanitized (if you have not done it already), and you can use the dishwasher racks to help you with this. Now elevate your bottling bucket onto a counter or stool, and hook the bottling wand up to it as described on these forums (I really like Revvy's preferred method, which uses a 1"-2" piece of cut tubing to make a hard connection to the bottling bucket's spigot - google it). Fill your bottles, and cap with a wing capper. Put them back into the closet, and reserve judgement for 3 weeks.

So a quick inventory

6 gallons) spring water
1) 5 gallon brew pot
1) stainless spoon or whisk
1) extract w/ steeping grains kit of choice, with a grain bag and dry yeast (US-05 is a great choice that is forgiving to fermentation temperature) A pale ale kit is ~ $30
1) small jar of foam control (optional)
1) microwave-able pyrex container (for yeast rehydration and for priming
solution)
2) brewing buckets, each with a ported lid, and a plastic spigot valve
1) air lock
5') 3/8" vinyl tubing
1) small PBW
1) small Star-san
4oz ) corn sugar for priming
1) bottling wand
1) bag of caps
1) wing capper
48-52) pry-top repurposed brown bottles

I think those instructions will maximize results with minimal investment. The keys to your success will be using a highly fermentable and fresh light extract, not underplaying cleaning and sanitizing the cold side equipment, properly handling your dry yeast, and keeping the fermentor in a stable temperature for at least three weeks.

Good luck!

Joe

Wow, there are a lot more posts here than I thought there'd be.

The whole reason I don't want to spend much is because I'm not currently living at my home and I cannot bring any of the brewing equipment I have here to my home. Therefore I'd only be able to use the equipment for at most 3 months and who knows when I'll be back to use them.

I suppose I'll look into the airlock and hydrometer. Is it possible that the airlock at the store won't fit my carboy? Or are they both produced in standardized sizes that it shouldn't be a problem?

Thanks again.

You need a drilled stopper (bung) to fit the airlock.

You should absolutely use an airlock. It's not just protection versus infection but a way to keep a new supply of oxygen out of your fermenter during fermentation and bulk conditioning.

ballmouse said:

I'm interested in brewing, but I don't have to invest too much in brewing equipment (various reasons). So I've done a bit of research as to how I can cut down on the costs and space to homebrew.

My plan would be to use 2 3 gallon pots (I already have these and I don't drink that much beer so I plan to brew 2 gallon batches) and aluminum foil for the airlock. I already have everything else necessary minus the hydrometer (carboy, bottles, sanitizer, thermometer, etc.).

So my question is:

For 2 gallon batches, can I just multiply by 2/5 on 5 gallon recipes? Will the aluminum foil be a fine replacement for the airlock (especially since its a large carboy for a 2 gallon batch)? And how necessary is the hydrometer?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

My Honest advice, This hobby can be done cheaply, BUT you cant skimp on the initial investment. I understand that you REALLY want to start brewing, trust me i have been there. But do yourself and your brews a HUGE favor and save up for a really good set of starting equipment. I personally would save up for this kit.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/master-brewers-kit-with-kegging-setup.html

Also SAVE UP and READ UP and start out with all grain, it is a TON cheaper than extract. You can add this to that kit and be ready to go for all grain brewing.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/deluxe-all-grain-kewler-kit-10-gallon.html

The Kit and the All Grain cooler kit will run you over 500 yes, but when your ready to start, you will be TOTALLY ready and have EVERYTHING you need. This hobby is well worth doing right, and well worth saving up to start, this will also allow you time to read up and learn more before you start. Also, someone suggested using bleach to sanitize DO NO DO THIS EVER Invest in Star San, trust me i used to use bleach and it was nothing but a hassle and did not work well.