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All time cheapest ingredients
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Go to Youtube and search for Hiphpapotomus, it's another song by Brett and Jermaine in your avatar.
Yes, you will need a wort chiller to cool your wort as fast as possible after the boil.
Kevin Dean
Well-Known Member
Firstly, I drink for the alcohol. I love beer. I love pairing a great beer with a great dish of food, or getting just the right beer to refresh me after lugging the groceries up two flights of stairs.
But the benefit is the buzz. I sometimes drink to get smashed too.
I appreciate a great drunk and I appreciate a great beer. I don't think there's shame in getting drunk, and while I don't mean to call doubt on to anyone here, I think more people drink for a buzz than readily admit on these forums and there's NOTHING wrong with it. Homebrewing and drinking harms nobody, and helps build community, so it's all good.
As a brewer, I've wondered how to cut costs here and there. In addition, one of the challenges I put myself against is making the best beer I can for the least amount of money. To me, doing that is NO different than attempting to make a dead-on clone of your favorite commercial ale or lager, it requires understanding of the brew process, your equipment and your ingredients and a brewer can feel damn proud of a success in that arena.
For a really simple and cheap drunk, check out apfelwein. It's high ABV and pretty cheap. If you're looking to stay with beer, I've done that math and found that bulk grain buys are about as close to "cheap" as one can get unless you happened to have married the heiress to a maltster fortune. The "buying from a local brewery" might count here too, since they're getting volume discount for sure.
Check Craigslist for equipment before hitting your LHBS.
And finally, don't ever forget that brewing is supposed to be a hobby, not a means to an end. You really can purchase crappy beer cheaper than brewing your own (merely on the volume purchase benefits) so never forget that brewing is supposed to be the fun part of the process.
But the benefit is the buzz. I sometimes drink to get smashed too.
I appreciate a great drunk and I appreciate a great beer. I don't think there's shame in getting drunk, and while I don't mean to call doubt on to anyone here, I think more people drink for a buzz than readily admit on these forums and there's NOTHING wrong with it. Homebrewing and drinking harms nobody, and helps build community, so it's all good.
As a brewer, I've wondered how to cut costs here and there. In addition, one of the challenges I put myself against is making the best beer I can for the least amount of money. To me, doing that is NO different than attempting to make a dead-on clone of your favorite commercial ale or lager, it requires understanding of the brew process, your equipment and your ingredients and a brewer can feel damn proud of a success in that arena.
For a really simple and cheap drunk, check out apfelwein. It's high ABV and pretty cheap. If you're looking to stay with beer, I've done that math and found that bulk grain buys are about as close to "cheap" as one can get unless you happened to have married the heiress to a maltster fortune. The "buying from a local brewery" might count here too, since they're getting volume discount for sure.
Check Craigslist for equipment before hitting your LHBS.
And finally, don't ever forget that brewing is supposed to be a hobby, not a means to an end. You really can purchase crappy beer cheaper than brewing your own (merely on the volume purchase benefits) so never forget that brewing is supposed to be the fun part of the process.
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Putting cost aside with kids on the way. Time will be a bigger factor. I too have a pregnant wife. It can be a struggle to find AG brew time.
If I were you and dollars are a potential issue. You might agree to a monthly brewing budget. Take your cash each month, save it and spend it when you have brewing time.
I think this is a good way to avoid arguments when cash can be tight.
I may try budgeting my time too since my wife and I seem to have occasional arguments about my time spent brewing. I don't want to give up the hobby just to raise kids.
With the wife being pregnant I'm trying diplomatic tactics to keep the piece now and when I have a baby to chase after.
- Hey you fathers out there.... Did your wife's have unexplained fits of rage during the pregnancy? Mine has misplaced things like sunglasses and almost had a mental meltdown.
If I were you and dollars are a potential issue. You might agree to a monthly brewing budget. Take your cash each month, save it and spend it when you have brewing time.
I think this is a good way to avoid arguments when cash can be tight.
I may try budgeting my time too since my wife and I seem to have occasional arguments about my time spent brewing. I don't want to give up the hobby just to raise kids.
With the wife being pregnant I'm trying diplomatic tactics to keep the piece now and when I have a baby to chase after.
- Hey you fathers out there.... Did your wife's have unexplained fits of rage during the pregnancy? Mine has misplaced things like sunglasses and almost had a mental meltdown.
Couevas
Well-Known Member
dp69_2001
Well-Known Member
Well... The time I spend all-grain brewing is almost like spending time with my boy. He's two, and he is so damn interested in everything I do he stays right on my heels. Which isn't necessarily good with all of the hot things I'm running around with. But, he just manages to stay out of the way. I love to keep myself busy. So if I wasn't home brewing, I'd be out golfing, or working. So really a brew day is an afternoon spent at home. Much of the brewing process consists of waiting, when I'm not running around sanitizing things crazy like. I'm playing with my son while waiting for the water to boil, or the enzymes to convert the starch to usable sugar, or the wort chiller to do it's job. As far as the budget. I place brewing right after rent, utilities, food, and diapers. That keeps us pretty happy.
P.S. She had some small outbursts. But, she's mostly a very mellow person. Most of the time she just whines alot.
P.S. She had some small outbursts. But, she's mostly a very mellow person. Most of the time she just whines alot.
Chriso
Broken Robot Brewing Co.
Yours too?!?!?
(And shame on you for missing that episode, it's easily my favorite rap!
)------
SWMBO is full of rage... no kid, just angry a lot...
Most of us homebrewers do like to save a buck. I really enjoy the variety of tatse from making many different kinds of brew. I buy grain in bulk by the pallet and split it with other brewers. Read the thread on here about washing yeast to save on the yeast costs and still match the beer to your favorite style. Trying buying hops in bulk with the new harvest coming up in aug and sept. If you have the room, plant your own rhizomes next spring and grow your own. I have not planted any hops yet because I just got back into brewing after 8 years. When I brewed back then hops were dirt cheap!
+1 for hitting up the local brewpub. If you volunteer to help clean tanks etc. you will get a source for cheap grain, hops and free yeast slurry when they transfer.
- Eric
- Eric
jatlrdierk
Member
Oh yeah, I forgot to put that on there. I made one of those a while back to use with my garden hose. I'll edit my post.
And my wife has been on my case about brewing and drinking quite a bit lately. She doesn't seem to understand the difference between having a beer or 6 versus getting plowed and puking. That's also the reason I want to brew so cheaply...I can't put beer ahead of my mortgage and baby food.
Gedvondur
Well-Known Member
Can't save money making your own beer. Go buy cheap beer on sale. You simply cannot achieve the economy of scale that BMC can.
Gedvondur
What a nice, straightforward question about how to do things in the most simple and inexpensive way.
If you can care enough to do things as frugal as you can, you will certainly put that determination into making a beer you can be proud of, when it fits your lifestyle.
And the cut-through-the-BS of a down-to-earth member. I love it when I see recognition of a sincere question, even when it falls outside the lives of the common HBT wallet-on-sleeve gloaters and the AC's.
I raise a glass, Kevin Dean.
Chriso
Broken Robot Brewing Co.
+1 to this. If you need proof, find a local liquor store, make friends with the owner, and then ask him about buying a half-pallet of something cheap that you like to drink. For me, it was Miller High Life.
If I wanted to pony the cash to buy a 4-5 month supply at once, I could've paid about 70% of normal retail cost, and gotten my per-beer cost down to about $0.35-0.40/can. Normally $0.50 when it's on sale. Just by buying in quantity. Especially once you factor in time, It's not a question of which is the cheapest.
That said, I am all for trying to make your brewing process as cheap and efficient as possible! I'm a fan of this idea, I'm not knocking it! I'm just being realistic about which is truly, truly cheaper. I, too, am trying to stretch my buck wherever I can - bulk hops, hop-thrifty recipes, bulk grain, washing yeast.... about the only thing I haven't gotten to yet is growing my own hops. (I'm not doing it 'cuz of a baby, tho, just 'cuz of my frikking gas tank.
) But it will always be the *hobby* that keeps me going.
As you have found out many of us do not drink to get drunk. I drink beer because I enjoy the flavors. 1 or 2 beers does give a nice feeling but after that I'm really wishing the alcohol did not have its affect. If I could make a great IPA or Stout with no alcohol I would.
As for brewing on the cheap, if you really don't care about flavor use lots of white sugar and use the cheap dry yeasts. White sugar in bulk is usually the cheapest form of sugar easily available. And sugar makes alcohol.
However you can brew good beer for not much more by buying malted barley in bulk and growing your own hops. I would get several different varieties of hops And buy a couple bags of 2-row and a bag of crystal malt. With that you could make a variety of pale ales and amber lagers.
Craig
As for brewing on the cheap, if you really don't care about flavor use lots of white sugar and use the cheap dry yeasts. White sugar in bulk is usually the cheapest form of sugar easily available. And sugar makes alcohol.
However you can brew good beer for not much more by buying malted barley in bulk and growing your own hops. I would get several different varieties of hops And buy a couple bags of 2-row and a bag of crystal malt. With that you could make a variety of pale ales and amber lagers.
Craig
b767fo
Well-Known Member
By the time you factor in your time it becomes obvious you will not be able to undercut BMC on the cost/bottle. However if you enjoy well crafted beer you can make beer as good or better than any micro you've ever had for much less than you can get it at the market. Brewing is a craft. It requires dedication, time and energy. The brewers here do much more than brew and get wasted; they study and research methods and ingredients, they collaborate and share knowledge with anyone showing interest in what they do, and they strive to continually hone their skill and improve the beer. Is this elitist? I don't know; is it elitist for a guitar player who has studied jazz/fusion rifs and styles and practiced endless hours to perfect his own style, to be a bit condescending to a head banger who just wants to learn a few chords to make noise in his parents garage?
... and I thought a good quility partial mash kit from the local store for 22~25 bucks was a good deal. WOrks out to be around the same or slightly cheaper than the cheap 30 packs... but they taste so much better.
(or at least I hope so)
Have my first batch bottled and tried one after a week... needs to sit longer. So I filled up the fermenting buckets again... this time with a Ordinary bitter and Weisbier.
I'm on a low budget myself, but figure transferring my beer funds into brewing something that Really Tastes good is worth giving up a few cheap beers. Lol... and it makes for great hurricane supplies.
(or at least I hope so)
Have my first batch bottled and tried one after a week... needs to sit longer. So I filled up the fermenting buckets again... this time with a Ordinary bitter and Weisbier.
I'm on a low budget myself, but figure transferring my beer funds into brewing something that Really Tastes good is worth giving up a few cheap beers. Lol... and it makes for great hurricane supplies.
Well I do 10 gallon batches and I can bang out 10 gallons of pretty decent all grain beer for about $30, but this doesn't mean I am skimping on the beer. I can actually make a good lager that is very similar to BMC, the lager style saves you a lot of money, you can mash things like rice, which boosts alcohol content and doesn't cost much. You can also re-pitch on top of your current lager yeast which will give you a nice strong start to the lagering process. Additionally to be in style you don't need to add many hops, so you save about $4 an oz right there.
TwoHeadsBrewing
Well-Known Member
Seems to me *if* you already have the equipment, beer is pretty cheap to make:
1. Don't grow/malt your own grain, you can buy it cheap as many others here have said. At $1.50/lb. for a 10lb. grain bill for a 5 gallon batch, that works out to just over $0.31 a beer, or $3.75 for a 12-pack.
EDIT: Someone just quoted a deal of $7.99 for a 10 pound bag of Marris Otter 2-row...that's less than $1.00/lb.!!!
2. Grow your own hops! Again, rhizomes can be found cheap...and locals might even give you some cuttings for free. Grow as many as you have room for then dry and freeze them for use in the colder months. This would save you $4-10 per batch.
3. Get a packet of Nottingham dry yeast and make several starters with DME in some sanitized bottles. Nottingham yeast is $1.29 at my LHBS, and if you're careful you could make several starters, then store in the fridge for up to 12 months. This saves $5-7 per batch compared to Wyeast/White Labs liquid yeast.
4. For sanitizer, use bleach but just rinse well...a gallon of bleach will last a LONG time.
5. Use tap water instead of bottled water
At the end of all this, you'll still have some damn fine beer...for the price of grains!
1. Don't grow/malt your own grain, you can buy it cheap as many others here have said. At $1.50/lb. for a 10lb. grain bill for a 5 gallon batch, that works out to just over $0.31 a beer, or $3.75 for a 12-pack.
EDIT: Someone just quoted a deal of $7.99 for a 10 pound bag of Marris Otter 2-row...that's less than $1.00/lb.!!!
2. Grow your own hops! Again, rhizomes can be found cheap...and locals might even give you some cuttings for free. Grow as many as you have room for then dry and freeze them for use in the colder months. This would save you $4-10 per batch.
3. Get a packet of Nottingham dry yeast and make several starters with DME in some sanitized bottles. Nottingham yeast is $1.29 at my LHBS, and if you're careful you could make several starters, then store in the fridge for up to 12 months. This saves $5-7 per batch compared to Wyeast/White Labs liquid yeast.
4. For sanitizer, use bleach but just rinse well...a gallon of bleach will last a LONG time.
5. Use tap water instead of bottled water
At the end of all this, you'll still have some damn fine beer...for the price of grains!
Go for nuggets. High alpha and very disease resistant.
Out of all of my varieties nuggets took off the best.
Good luck with your money savings, but what you might find out that you'll have alot of fun and learn alot of new things and save NO money! Sorry just my opinion.
Out of all of my varieties nuggets took off the best.
Good luck with your money savings, but what you might find out that you'll have alot of fun and learn alot of new things and save NO money! Sorry just my opinion.
cee3
Well-Known Member
+1 on the completeness and absoluteness!
ohiobrewtus
Well-Known Member
Making good beer inexpensively is one thing, making cheap beer just to get loaded is quote another.
Just don't take this route and you'll be fine:
[ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=FDPrl50RxeU[/ame]
Just don't take this route and you'll be fine:
[ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=FDPrl50RxeU[/ame]
DonkeyShoes
Well-Known Member
sirsloop
Well-Known Member
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2A9257341E3DF381[/ame]
Watch these video's... and duplicate AT YOUR OWN RISK. Craig is a champion at making cheap beers even cheaper.
Watch these video's... and duplicate AT YOUR OWN RISK. Craig is a champion at making cheap beers even cheaper.
cheapest route:
buy 2-row (or even 6-row) in bulk.
kiln your malts and make your own specialty grains.
buy nottingham yeast once and start culturing it.
do all-grain with the bag-in-kettle method (little extra equipment)
grow your own hops.
that's it.
buy 2-row (or even 6-row) in bulk.
kiln your malts and make your own specialty grains.
buy nottingham yeast once and start culturing it.
do all-grain with the bag-in-kettle method (little extra equipment)
grow your own hops.
that's it.
jatlrdierk
Member
OK once again I have to clarify what I was asking for. In my first post I said we are not extremely concerned with taste. This means that we don't care if it has 6 different hop varieties, or six types of specialty malts. I didn't mean I want to make a beer out of table sugar, I just wanted to use cheap ingredients.
I think people are so used to telling their wives that they don't drink beer to get drunk that they have started believing themselves. I appreciate that some men on here are with me in admitting they like beer for what it's made for. That doesn't mean we drink anything just to get a buzz, we like it to taste good too.
By the way, does anyone have an all grain King Cobra clone recipe :cross:?
I think people are so used to telling their wives that they don't drink beer to get drunk that they have started believing themselves. I appreciate that some men on here are with me in admitting they like beer for what it's made for. That doesn't mean we drink anything just to get a buzz, we like it to taste good too.
By the way, does anyone have an all grain King Cobra clone recipe :cross:?
TwoHeadsBrewing
Well-Known Member
King Cobra is made from grain??? I thought the recipe was
-Water
-3 oz. Wolfschmidt Vodka
-Beer flavored powder packet
Put it in a mason jar, and you're all set!
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jameswardpeterson
Well-Known Member
Well yea, that and I like how the smoke looks...
Good luck in your venture here. I hope you can make something cheap, but I also hope you get the curse of homebrewing addiction. It's much more of a hobby to me. But hell, I like getting piss drunk once and a while (still at that age...) and so do my friends. Just treat your homebrew as something special, something you created, not something you picked up down at the CVS on sale.
fungusamungas
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When I used to live in Denver some beer distributers/warehouses would sell dented cans, extra lots, real cheap. just look them up in the yellow pages .
EvilTOJ
Well-Known Member
Mutilated1
Beer Drenched Executioner
Well homebrew beer is cheaper than beer from the store, but only if the beer from the store that you buy is some kind of microbrew or craft beer and only if you don't value your time. If you break it down on a $/beer basis, you're never going to be able to beat just picking up a couple of cases of whatever mass marketed store beer is on sale this week, especially if you value the time you're going to spend making it. Homebrewing is a rewarding hobby if you like to have a high quality hand cafted beer and take pleasure in the idea that you made it yourself. If you're just looking for cheap beer homebrewing isn't really going to work out.
If I was just going to go for cheap 5 gallons, I would try something like this:
* 8# 6 Row or 2 Row @ ~$1.35/#
* 1-2# Dextrose @ ~1.20/#
Shoot for OG close to 1.040
* 1/2 oz Liberty, Sterling, or Mt Hood @ ~2$ - ( I'd try and use leftovers from other recipes or grown my own. Maybe check eBay for "Hops" and get a pound of unknown variety )
Shoot for IBUs around 15
* Dry Lager yeast and reuse it as many times as possible.
You could maybe get your costs down to $15-16 for a 5 gallon batch, certainly under $20. Now if you do it for enjoyment, you don't have to consider what your time is worth - so if you your having fun making beer its play time. If your just trying to save money, you might as well buy a couple cases of whatever happens to be onsale at Wal-Mart or the grocery store.
Also, you might search this forum for "Apfelwein", if you catch the ingredients on sale you can get everything you need for $20 or less. A lot of people really like it, and I think most all of us have made a batch at some point or other.
If I was just going to go for cheap 5 gallons, I would try something like this:
* 8# 6 Row or 2 Row @ ~$1.35/#
* 1-2# Dextrose @ ~1.20/#
Shoot for OG close to 1.040
* 1/2 oz Liberty, Sterling, or Mt Hood @ ~2$ - ( I'd try and use leftovers from other recipes or grown my own. Maybe check eBay for "Hops" and get a pound of unknown variety )
Shoot for IBUs around 15
* Dry Lager yeast and reuse it as many times as possible.
You could maybe get your costs down to $15-16 for a 5 gallon batch, certainly under $20. Now if you do it for enjoyment, you don't have to consider what your time is worth - so if you your having fun making beer its play time. If your just trying to save money, you might as well buy a couple cases of whatever happens to be onsale at Wal-Mart or the grocery store.
Also, you might search this forum for "Apfelwein", if you catch the ingredients on sale you can get everything you need for $20 or less. A lot of people really like it, and I think most all of us have made a batch at some point or other.
Chriso
Broken Robot Brewing Co.
I just assembled 10 gal of Apfelwein
$25 - 10 gals Apple Juice
$4 - 2x 2lb bags of Brown Sugar
$2 - packet of Lalvin EC-1118 wine yeast
$1.50 - the dregs of my starter of Cry Havoc, AFTER I split it up into multiple jars for making starters for beer. Call each jar $2, and that leaves $1.50 left in dregs.
$32.50 for 10 gal of ~8.5% liquid panty remover.
I don't even drink the stuff, myself, it's too appley for me... but SWMBO, SWMBO's friends, and my roommate all love it dearly, and it's cheap and easy.
How many people commit 18 months to brewing and souring a beer to reproduce a classic sour style, just so they can get f'ed up on it and run out in two days? Not many. That kind of brewing takes commitment. This is a hobby, not just a means to feed an addiction.
$25 - 10 gals Apple Juice
$4 - 2x 2lb bags of Brown Sugar
$2 - packet of Lalvin EC-1118 wine yeast
$1.50 - the dregs of my starter of Cry Havoc, AFTER I split it up into multiple jars for making starters for beer. Call each jar $2, and that leaves $1.50 left in dregs.
$32.50 for 10 gal of ~8.5% liquid panty remover.
I don't even drink the stuff, myself, it's too appley for me... but SWMBO, SWMBO's friends, and my roommate all love it dearly, and it's cheap and easy.
I'm sorry, but I think that's the most sexist and demeaning thing I've ever seen on this forum. Many of our SWMBOs are proudly involved in our beer lives, and many of us cherish that interaction and involvement. Some SWMBOs even go so far as to accompany their brewers to national conventions, and meet other HBTers and their SWMBOs, and have a really good time in the process. It's about friends and good conversation, and it's beer that brings us together. But it doesn't mean that we're just in it to get sh!tfaced. If that's all we cared about, we wouldn't have a Recipe DB here - we'd just have a 2-page list of hooch recipes.
How many people commit 18 months to brewing and souring a beer to reproduce a classic sour style, just so they can get f'ed up on it and run out in two days? Not many. That kind of brewing takes commitment. This is a hobby, not just a means to feed an addiction.
Your first paragraph is much better than you originally asked for. What I get from that is you want simple recipes that work well and don't cost an arm or a leg. You don't have to have award winning beer but you want a quality home brew.
2-row and a single crystal in bulk are a good basis for alot of beers. If you feel like splurging you can pick up an extra specialty grain or 2 to vary the flavors some more. Grow several varieties of you own hops or buy the hops in larger quantities and freeze them. Dry yeast is much cheaper than liquid.
However I am offended by your next 2 paragraphs. I usually drink a single beer in the evening. It is seldom that I open 2 beers in an hour. And the few times I have gotten drunk it has not been with beer. I feel no need to justify my beer to my wife. So NO I DO NOT DRINK BEER TO GET DRUNK.
Second King Cobra is not beer. It is malt liquor which has about the same relationship with beer as coolaid has with fruit juice. It is produced using industrial processes that are difficult to recreate at home and not worth the effort.
So while the question you want to ask may be very valid you attitude will upset many brewers here who are proud of the quality beer they produce.
Craig
+1. I've stayed away from this thread because of the original tone. I drink beer because I like beer. Is it nice to get a buzz going on occassion? Sure. Is it nice to get ripped on rare occassion? Sure. I probably drink enough to get a mild buzz maybe a couple times a month; it's usually one pint a night, and not even every night. Beer is something that I take a helluva lot of pride in, not because it can get me loaded but because I love the taste and I love the art of putting it all together.
So, when someone who's brand-new to the forum, comes on and implies that we're all here just to get drunk... well, yeah, I get a little offended.
When you make the assumption that we're all homebrewers because we love getting drunk... from my experience on this forum, I'd wager that the majority of the people here drink pretty much like I do; one or two a night, a few more on the weekends, on rare occassions a LOT more. Don't make assumptions about a group of people you don't know.
bergman1118
Well-Known Member
sorry if i'm out of line here, but why don't we all just calm down and have a homebrew?
I would like to throw my .02$ in. First i enjoy my limited experince as a homebrewer and find myself enjoying a brew more than in the past where i guzzled BMC after BMC with a few friends just to get piss drunk. Second i cant buy any beer even 30 packs of old mill as cheap as i could make it for, granted i reuse my yeast which is minimal at best since he's asking for cheap....cheap means dry and reuse mulitple times. So log onto Northernbrewer or other fine establishment find a kit you like and order a bunch of them to take advantage of there shipping. Or 2 take there recipe to your LHBS and buy from them but i can order the ingredients alot i mean alot cheaper online.
jatlrdierk
Member
MOD EDIT: Don't double post.
jatlrdierk
Member
Indeed! Those were what I like to call 'jokes.' The wife bit and the King Cobra request were not meant to be taken seriously. I didn't realize that a group of beer slingers could be so sensitive!
It seems as though some see beer drinkers as divided into 2 groups. First there are those who only drink to enjoy the taste. They don't drink for any sort of buzz or enjoyment of the effects of alcohol, and can't stand those who do. The other group only drinks the cheapest pigswill they can get their hands on. Their only goal in life is to get so hammered they can't see straight. I hate to break it to y'all, but there are some folks like me who lie somewhere in the middle of those 2 groups. We enjoy a good beer and a good buzz. Is that so wrong?
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