How to keep it cheap?

Hi everyone,
I am new to home brewing and was wondering of anyone can give me any good tips for cutting costs? I'm not cheap, but at the same time I am not made of money. And for me it seems like with a hobby like this, anyway to be cost efficient would add to the hobby since it allows you to brew more often, experiment, try new things, and impress/brag to your friends about how little it costs to enjoy the fine brew you made yourself at a fraction of the cost of their <insert generic McBeer here>. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Paul

 

What kind of beer are you looking to brew?

 

go all-grain asap. the eqpt pays for itself quickly, the beer is so much better (and cheaper), and you can brew so many more different styles

 

Thanks for the advice. Any good books, threads or websites you can recommend that would take me throughout the process? I am TOTALLY new to the whole thing.

 

At this point I'm not sure. My favorite beer is a double bock but I am also partial to dark ales and stouts.

 

there are a ton of books on it, but anything by charlie papazian or john palmer are great. my best advice on it is to get in with a local brew club, as there are many experienced brewers who can work with you locally and can help you with the build of the equipment

 

That's a good idea. I didn't even consider the clubs aspect. Great advice! Thanks.

 

If you want to keep it cheap, here are some tips:

1) Buy in bulk

2) Look up brew in a bag (BIAB) all grain brewing

3) Buy in bulk

4) Aluminum brewpot

5) Buy in bulk

6) Wash and reuse yeast

Buying in bulk can save you over 50% on ingredients. Of course, it means you have to commit to a fair number of batches. Once you pay for your equipment you don't really 'feel' those costs anymore, so bulk ingredients is the best way to make your wallet hurt less.

 

Thanks for the tips. I'll have to look into BIAB. Sounds interesting.
With buying in bulk, ect, how much would be the average cost to brew a 5 gallon batch?
Wash and reuse yeast? Isn't it a 1-use thing?

 

I'm about to go to BIAB. After 5 extract batches I'm done. Seems I can save about $18-20 per batch alone. I'm also going to try and start washing, saving and even slanting yeasts. If I can cut out the yeast costs I think a batch will be around $20-$25.
I'm also going to order hops by the pound and split it with a buddy.

 

I'm in the Sultans of Swig and we meet at Gene McCarthy's on the 3rd monday of the month at 7:30. People usually start showing up about 6:45 to have a couple pints before the meeting starts. We also have socials the first monday of the month at various establishments around the area.

Stop in for a meeting if you get a chance, and bring 3-4 bottles of any beer you have ready for the tasting. It also helps if you bring the recipe/brewing methods used.

 

1) DIY Anything you can.
2) Buy in Bulk, Things like grain, hops,yeast etc you will save in the long run.
3) Brew Lower ABV Beers, Less goes in, Less cost. OTOH you could brew VERY high ABV Beers, say around 12% so you have to drink less for the same effect.
4) Don't get caught up on LHBS Loyalty unless they take care of you well, If you can buy it cheaper Online DO.
5) See what kinda deals your LHBS can offer you on Bulk buys, Say you what to buy a case of Nottingham yeast, Ask if they can cut you a deal if you buy in bulk.
6) Don't fear simple sugars they are cheaper than malt and as long as you keep it to 20% or less of the brew, you prolly wont notice much other than the brew may be dryer.
7) Buy Used equipment when possible.If it has been cared for well it will take care of you.
8) Grow your own Hops, may take a couple years to see the savings but when they start producing you will save a ton.
9) Buy Grains that dont need to be malted such as wheat or rye from a Local Grain Elevator, i was quoted 55lbs of red wheat for 5 bucks. Wheat will Gelatanize at standard mash temps, so you can just crush it, mix it with malted barley and brew.
10) Always shop around and compare prices before you buy. A buck cheaper here or 2 bucks cheaper there really adds up FAST.
11) Buy beer in bottles that you can reuse, IE Not twist offs if you plan to buy beer, Free Bottles when the beer is gone.

 

Check out this thread on yeast washing: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

And actually, to save even more money, I usually avoid making starters by scheduling my brewdays and bottling days for the same day so that I can just scoop yeast right out of the fermenter and pitch into the new beer. This calculator even tells me how much to use under the 'repitching from slurry' tab: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html If you do it this way you will have better results if you strain your wort into the fermenter and you'll probably have to ferment in buckets (I just set a strainer on top of my primary bucket and pour it from the pot into the bucket through the strainer)

The cost of a five gallon batch will vary based on what kind of beer you make and how hard you are willing to work for deals, but with minimal effort I can get my grain costs down to $1/lb and my hops to $1/oz. If I get six batches out of one liquid yeast packet, that's also $1/batch, and I can make 5 gallons of a basic pale ale with an ingredient cost of $15 or less.

 

Whoa! Hi!! Sign me up!

 

For your general ales, use dry yeast instead of liquid.

 

Where in Buffalo are you?

On task again, buy in kits. Not nearly as cheap as pure bulk buying, but still about half the cost of piecing a brew together. At least, kits allow me to order from a distant HBS instead of paying the rather high LHBS price for grain. I want to go bulk grain soon, but am going to have trouble storing 55 lbs. of 2-row. Ehhh, figure it out. Kyle

 

I live near UB South. You?

Yeah I can see where 55 pounds would be sorta hard to store. Haha

 

Buy hops by the pound. I don't know what your lhbs charges but it's around $4.50 for two ounces. A pound (16oz) online is around $10-12 plus a little shipping.

Your recipe will also affect the price. Fewer grains=cheaper, unless that means you just drink more at a time.

 

A few people have advised buying in bulk (grains, hops, etc) I know that several different places have several different prices, so in everyone's opinion, which HBS has the lowest prices for the individual bulk items, including shipping, while still maintaining quality?

 

Easier than you think.

 

Not as a plug but just as general info, Farmhouse Brewing sells hops and grains in semi-bulk with discounts based on how much you buy. If you arent ready to buy 50 lbs of specialty grains this is a good place to look.

 

Not for me. I have 2 german shepherds that like to rip things up. ha ha.

 

I'm definitely a fan of buying in bulk, but unfortunately i don't have the money or places to store it. Also on the buying in bulk thing, it only works if you do all grain. If you can brew a 5 gallon batch with with 10 to 15 pounds of grain multiple times a month then it might be feasible, but if you can't the grain will go stale after about a month which can ultimately affect the taste of beer.

The way i save money is to brew lower abv beers like a blonde ale, i will even do a pale ale from time from time. i either use dry yeast or i will use some yeast i washed from another batch. I also buy non twist off beers from the store, enjoy them then fill em up to enjoy them again!! I also found a homebrew store near my house that sells grain for about 15cents cheaper per pound (and the upside to buying from them is that they are helping us create a homebrew club for the Texas hill country!!) but just enjoy brewing and you will find ways to brew cheaper as you advance!! I know i did!!

 

+1 freezer space for hops is harder to find for me, a 55 lbs bag takes up about as much space as 2 cases of beer at most. I recommend just buying it and finding a place for it when you get home. I'm still working on my first 55lbs bag and I felt like a bandit when I placed my last order at Northern. Got enough specialty grain, hops, and bottle caps for 6 batches of beer along with some extra dry yeast to make mead and whatnot for 63 bucks.

I think I may invest in a bulk bag of 60L in the future

 

+1

In addition their hops are in 4oz packs, which means new brewers can try out four different kinds for only a few bucks more than buying a pound elsewhere. Yeah, it may be 15-18 instead of 10-12, but that is still less than half of what the cheapest LHBS here charges. Buying grain in bulk obviously helps, but hops are easier to store and really cut costs.

+1 to reading the yeast washing sticky too. Yes, it really is as easy as the sticky makes it seem. IF your sanitation techniques are up to snuff, you can still use liquid and save a bunch of money.

 

If you live in a state that has bottle deposits, hit up a store to buy back their recycling. IN OR it's a nickel per beer. Recently bought 24 22oz bottles for $1.20. Soaked in Oxiclean to clean and get the labels of and perfectly good. Bottling has been my personal hold up. Now I just buy them back.

 

I go in with a buddie of mine on our grain and hops. I supply the washed yeast for the both of us and he in return gives me some of his beer. He bought the barley crusher, I made the wort chiller and converted a 10gal rubbermaid cooler for a MT. I get 3 batches of beer out of 25# and with everything included it costs just about $15 for a 5gal batch. Makes SWMBO happy im not spending too much for MY hobby.

 

I noticed this thread, I know it's old but I just got into brewing and hope to bump into a club or something to learn more about it.

 

When I went from Extract to All-grain, my cost per batch went from an average of around $50 to around $40. From there, the next big savings I see is washing and reusing yeast as the cost of that (other than the grain of course) is the single most expensive item. Running from there, you're into buying your own sacks of grain, but I'm not going there as I don't have the place for it, nor do I have a grain mill. I'm OK with buying from my LHBS and having them package up the grain for me.

 

Surprised with this thread that people mention "buy in bulk" but don't mention the initial outlays needed to support that.

Buy grain in bulk = you need a malt mill to crush your malt
Buy hops in bulk = you probably need a FoodSaver / vacuum sealer for storage

With those two, you're probably out $300 or so to save money by buying in bulk. Which amortizes over time (and of course the FoodSaver is good for saving money in the kitchen by buying in bulk, not just for brewing), but that's still a significant chunk of change.

You can probably recoup that cost over ~10 batches or so depending on what styles you normally brew. So it's definitely worth it.

 

Well.....maybe not that high. You can get a Cereal Killer mill for circa $100. It's not a Monster Mill but it will work for dozens and dozens of batches, maybe hundreds.

Add some 5-gallon buckets with lids....FarmandFleet has 5-gal buckets right now for $2.99 each, lids are $1.19 each.....with tax figure $4.50. You can get maybe 25# of grain in a bucket....figure six total buckets and lids for $26.

A vacuum sealer will cost well under $100. Here's one with great reviews for $60. You'd need add additional seal packs.

Depending on where you buy in bulk, the savings can be huge. I get my barley from RiteBrew; $.76 per pound for 2-row in 25- or 50-pound sacks. I can get Maris Otter for $.98 per pound in 55-pound sacks.

Compare to LHBS where the 2-row is $1.50 per pound and the Maris Otter is nonexistent.

With a grain bill of 10 pounds, saving 74 cents per brew is $7.40 saved. If compared to extract, well, it's really a savings.

 

YMMV, but storing a modest amount of hops in plain freezers bags has been working for me. And whatever you think about Brulosopher, tasters had trouble distinguishing between that method of storage and vacuum sealed.

The mill is easy, especially if you BIAB. Use a Corona mill. Works great and cost about $30 or so.

 

Wow... You guys are better at finding deals than I am lol... I have a Barley Crusher I've had for 5+ years and about the same for the FoodSaver, so I haven't priced them out for a long time.

BTW if you're a Costco member, these large bins works well for grain storage:

http://hip2save.com/2016/12/30/cost...ust-6-99-womens-patagonia-jackets-only-99-97/

I store them in the bag in that bin, and that'll basically hold 2 sacks of grain (sometimes I don't put the grain in until after I've used it for one batch to take a few pounds out). And I keep leftover specialty malts in there in plastic bags as well. I didn't want a bunch of 5 gallon buckets of grain around, especially since I'd have to split bags and label each bucket (I know, I'm lazy).

 

I need to blame you for something....

While I was checking the costs of Foodsaver-type sealers, I felt compelled to buy one....and some pint bags. Here comes buying hops in 1-pound increments.....

You're a bad influence.....

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I went with buckets as I had in mind a system to stack and store them. I actually have a few of those bins, but they don't work well for the space I have. But it's a great idea.

I ended up doing this as I was out of wall space. Made a rolling shelf unit on which I could store my buckets. It's inspired by the rolling "file walls" you see some places using. In other words, I can push this back against the rest of my brewing equipment and pull it out when I need to access that.

 

@bwarbiany you have no issue with pantry pests with those bins? Anyway, good tip the biggest bulk I buy is 10# (I do small batches) bags they fit fine in in a 5 gal bucket with gamma lid.

 

I havent gone into buy hops in large increments or reusing yeast yet, I dont have the space for it and I dont brew enough. All grain is definately the cheaper method for brewing. Buying bags of grains over prepackaged kits.

 

I calculated a "basic budget for beer" a while ago and it came to $30 for 5 G

Water and heating cooling treating water $3
Grain 12 pounds at $1.50 .. $18.00
Yeast 3 batches per $9 purchase .. $3
Hops 4 oz at $1.50 each $6

9 times out of 10, I beat that budget, but then I do a New Zealand ipa and blow the budget 6 bucks a gallon .. 70 cents a beer .. as close a calc as I need

 

seconds to reusing the yeast, especially when you get down to about three or four main yeasts you stick with. Most of my beer is on the lighter side with an OG of 1.056 or less. I spend about $25 on grain for a 12-14 lb grain bill and I stick with three or four different hops as well, I'll buy those by the pound and keep the pellets in the freezer. Just picked up grain for a belgian wit today and total was $22 including an 8 oz bag of East Kent Goldings which will last me for at least 4-5 brews. Talking 5 gal of course.

 

I haven't had issues. They have a lid that snaps into place, and I have other things that sit on top of the lid and weight it.