Cheapest Beer To Brew?

I LIKE BEER... with that obvious statement out of the way, I am looking to brew another batch, but I am a college student and seeing how it is the middle of the second semester, I am already very low on funding... This is where my question comes in. I am wondering if anyone had a decent (doesn't have to be great) recipe that is cheap? I enjoy lighter beers, but don't mind darker ones. I am looking for an ALE because time is of the essence as well... Just curious to see what other people do for that not so crafty yet drinkable cheap home-brew?

Your replies, wisdom, and recipes will be accepted with great appreciation!

 

extract or all grain?

 

Something with a dry yeast and low hops maybe? I just did a Stout for $31 but it did have lactose and oats and flaked barely, all of which is more pricy than reg grain.

 

For an extract beer, Brown Ale is pretty cheap - and it still tastes really good so you wouldn't be giving up anything IMO. I've made it from the Williams Brewing Nut Brown Ale extract in a 6 pound pouch. It comes with the specialty grains already in it, so there's no extra grain to worry about shelf life. Southern English Brown Ale is fairly low in bitterness, so not much hops cost. I've found you can substitute bittering hops without loosing the desired flavor - this can save some money. I don't usually add any finishing hops to Nut Brown, either.

 

BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde costs me $8.97 for 5 gal. But I buy my 2-row by the sack and my hops by the pound and I wash my yeast.

 

Austin homebrew has some budget mini mash kits. Just brewed it last week so don't know how it tastes. Think it was around $27 with the dry yeast and 1% boost

 

Anything without a lot of hops or specialty grains would be a good place to start. Hefeweizens, brown ales, and blonde/amber ales can all be pretty cheap.

 

SMaSH is pretty cheap to brew

 

Either would work for me

 

I'd also recommend checking the prices at various brew shops. I discovered that there is quite a price difference between the brew shops in my area for extract kits. I believe the cheapest might have been a Brewers Best kit for $27.

Also there are some cheap kits on Amazon, but then unfortunately the shipping kills it.

 

I've been looking to cut down on costs. Unfortunately, the easiest way to do this is to buy ingredients in bulk. I say unfortunately because if I buy a 50 lb bag of grain I'm going to need a mill to grind all of it up!

 

All grain is going to be cheaper. Your situation is a little different though as I would normally recommend buying bulk hops and bulk grain.

 

Cheapest and easiest for a college guy is going to be an all extract beer; something like a pre-hopped wheat beer. Is it the cheapest in terms of every last penny? No, but it will save you a ton of time. Having balanced school and work I know that time is the most valuable thing you have.

 

If you are going to do extract, buying in bulk is key to saving money. I am not sure where you can buy 50# bags now, I think Great Western quit taking new customers. I get it for about $125, so 2.50/lb. You can do a Wheat beer with 6 lbs DME and an ounce or 2 of hops (also bought in bulk from hopsdirect) and washed yeast for about $17 for 5 gallons. A basic IPA will set you back about 5 dollars more for additional hops (~4-5 oz) and a pound or so of specialty grains.

 

Thanks for all of the suggestions! Keep them coming if you want! If all grain will be cheaper I don't mind doing that over extract in relation to saving time. I have a lot of free time during the weekend to brew, all grain or extract... As for buying in bulk, I don't think that is an option financially for me right now...

 

Midwest Supplies has an Irish Ale or Irish Stout for $27 (then there's shipping...)

What about something like Skeeter Pee??

 

Assuming wine over beer? welll Skeeter pee is I think 10lb of sugar - so that is liek $5+ yeast, nuetrent, and LEmon Juice - 3/4 gallon and I think that goes for like $7. so probably in the >20 range, since for yeast nutrient you can on a budget buy bulk yeast and boil it. (ain't it grand that a major component of yeast neutrient is 'yeast hullls'?)

But again, that isn't beer, but a lemon wine. NOT hard lemonade as Mikes is a malt beverage of about 5% and SP is closer to 10% (or slightly higer).

OP: is your goal beer? and do you have a fairly local store to get ingredients from? shipping will kill savings.

 

EdWort's Apfelwein is pretty darn cheap & easy to make, although fermentation/aging time is a bit more extensive...
you could adjust the recipe for a milder cider and cut aging time down.

All grain with dry yeast and minimal hopping will be your cheapest route - something along hte lines of the aforementioned beermunchers centennial blonde should ring in pretty cheap.

 

I have a batch of edworts aging right now in bottles....

 

Austin homebrew has some pretty good deals right now on their budget line of kits:

$22.99 5gal partial mash and extract kit with specialty grains
IPA, APA, Brown, Stout, Kolsch
Shipping is a flat $6.99 making the total 29.98 (minus yeast)

to save the most money skip liquid yeast and use dry (US04/05) or even better yet harvest some from a previos batch.

 

It's a trade-off. All-grain is cheaper in the long run but only after you invest in the extra equipment to do all-grain. Bulk purchases are cheaper in the long run, but only if you have the money for the initial purchases.

What kind of equipment do you have for brewing already?

 

Depends on your equipment, but I buy hops and malt in bulk, and have a pretty good yeast bank built up so I don't usually buy yeast. If I am going for cheap, I can make a very basic smash pale ale for under $5 for 5 gallons (5-6lbs 2-row, 1-1.5 oz Belma hops, or whatever is cheapest, and reused S-05 yeast).

 

If you have no gear and no money to invest in the gear, then going for a kit extract batch is what you want.

I'm on my way to doing all grain everything, but it's semi-costly to get to that setup. BIAB is pretty cheap, but you need access to a grain mill and enough money to buy some larger amount of grain, up front.

$35 will get you 55lbs of 2-row, so that's about 5-6 batches of standard ales, right there. Add in $10 per batch for hops, specialty grains and dry yeast (cheaper) and you should be ok.

 

I have mainly done extract, but have done one successful all grain batch, using a bottling bucket as my mash tun... I have safale- 04 and 05 washed and in the fridge.

 

American Adjunct Lager/Adjunct Ale.

When a fair bit of your grain bill is made up of rice and/or corn and you have very low hopiness then you've got a fairly inexpensive beer.

If you mean actual 100% barley beer, a Koelsh style german ale would be pretty inexpensive if you have a good source of pils malt.

 

here's a simple and fairly cheap recipe, obviously if you do it all grain it will be cheaper
3lb bag of extra light dme
3lbs of table sugar
add hops to bitter in boil ~20ibus
dry hop with an ounce or 2 of cascade


just make sure you control fermentation temperature for the first couple days, because with all those simple sugars fermentation will get very hot very quick

 

Try brew in a bag 3 gallon batches. I did a Kolsch and a dry stout for around 20 bucks each.

 

For all-grain on a budget, you can't beat BIAB...$2 for a yard of voile and $25 for a corona mill.