Best Investments to Save Money on Brews Long-term
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Abrayton
Well-Known Member
Grain mill so you can buy in bulk
+1 to the above, also buying hops in pounds instead of ounces at your LHBS, and a vacuum sealer to keep them fresh. YCH or Hops Direct have great sales.
So building up large starters to separate?
If you're buying water, RO filter. When I started I was buying water in gallon jugs (no refill place locally) for something like 79 cents per gallon. If I needed 7 gallons, well, over $5 in water every time.
My RO system cost $139 from Buckeye Hydro, and it's worked wonderfully. How fast you pay that off depends on how often you buy water.
There's another advantage: I'm not schlepping water from the store to home every time I brew. I feed the water from the RO filter into a 7-gallon aquatainer; on brew day, that goes into the kettle, then I set the filter to refilling that container. I also have 1-gallon jugs of water a well (refilled, same source). I use those to feed my Keurig coffeemaker at work.
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As noted, a grain mill is likely the biggest cost-saver, along with a way to buy and store bulk grain. I buy my main grain
)) from Ritebrew, and almost always get it picked up so no shipping. I am at 70 cents per pound for 2-row, 98 cents per pound for Maris Otter. I keep my grain in 5-gallon buckets, though you could use tubs lined with trash bags or similar.
IMO, the best/most cost effective/most convenient mill out there is the Cereal Killer. $99.
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Buying in bulk is the name of the game wherever you can. I get PBW in the 4# refill size from Ritebrew; $16.99 for those 4#. If you buy the 4" canister, it's $23.99, so you're paying...$6 for the canister. A plastic coffee can will work just fine for this, it's the perfect size.
Compare to buying PBW a pound at a time. I pay $4.25/pound this way, a single pound container is probably double that.
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Same with Star-San. I buy the 32-ounce container. Buy the 8-ounce container, it's over $1/ounce; with the larger one, roughly half that.
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I know, it can be hard to dedicate a lot of money up front to bulk purchases, but if you pay yourself every time what the normal non-bulk costs would be, you'll repay yourself in a hurry.
My RO system cost $139 from Buckeye Hydro, and it's worked wonderfully. How fast you pay that off depends on how often you buy water.
There's another advantage: I'm not schlepping water from the store to home every time I brew. I feed the water from the RO filter into a 7-gallon aquatainer; on brew day, that goes into the kettle, then I set the filter to refilling that container. I also have 1-gallon jugs of water a well (refilled, same source). I use those to feed my Keurig coffeemaker at work.
********
As noted, a grain mill is likely the biggest cost-saver, along with a way to buy and store bulk grain. I buy my main grain
)) from Ritebrew, and almost always get it picked up so no shipping. I am at 70 cents per pound for 2-row, 98 cents per pound for Maris Otter. I keep my grain in 5-gallon buckets, though you could use tubs lined with trash bags or similar. IMO, the best/most cost effective/most convenient mill out there is the Cereal Killer. $99.
*********
Buying in bulk is the name of the game wherever you can. I get PBW in the 4# refill size from Ritebrew; $16.99 for those 4#. If you buy the 4" canister, it's $23.99, so you're paying...$6 for the canister. A plastic coffee can will work just fine for this, it's the perfect size.
Compare to buying PBW a pound at a time. I pay $4.25/pound this way, a single pound container is probably double that.
***********
Same with Star-San. I buy the 32-ounce container. Buy the 8-ounce container, it's over $1/ounce; with the larger one, roughly half that.
***********
I know, it can be hard to dedicate a lot of money up front to bulk purchases, but if you pay yourself every time what the normal non-bulk costs would be, you'll repay yourself in a hurry.
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applescrap
Be the ball!
I buy hops and grain in bulk. I used to have them premill it all but now I go batch by batch. The more you buy in bulk, the more you might have to adjust though. Subbing your bulk ingredients for whatever the recipe calls for. Some beers cost more than others. A smash with your bulk hops and grains is going to be cheapest. If you reuse yeast, then very affordable. For example the cheaper domestic 2 row costs me about 70 cents a pound, and the hops a dollar an ounce. So a smash with 10 pounds of grain, 4 oz of hops and reused yeast would be 11 dollars to make.
Corona mill and a paint strainer bag. Now buy grains in bulk and the lower cost per pound of grains plus the lesser amount of grains needed as your brewhouse efficiency goes up will pay for both within a few batches. Learn about BIAB.
It would be easier to make recommendations if we could get a bit more info about your process, current equipment, and ambitions for the future. You mentioned having done extract brewing. Have you got a kettle and propane burner already used for full boil? Were you using a partial boil and late addition of the extract on the kitchen stove, then top up water in the fermenter? Big OG dreams, or 10g batch size dreams?
When I took the plunge to AG I got a mill, mash tun, grain bags, grain storage buckets, and so forth. Later discovered that my stovetop wasn't up the the task, and could barely get that 5g pot boiling. Summer so ventilation was plentiful, steam not an issue. Decided that a dedication E-kettle was the way to go, this time didn't make the mistake of getting something that should be adequate and got (made) a 15g pot, 5500w element, control panel, allowing full volume boil of 10g final batch sizes.
Not saying this is the ideal or best setup to have. Truth be told I'd probably be using BIAB if I didn't already go and get the mash tun with false bottom. Fancy bag and a ceiling pulley (Hooray concrete ceiling) would have been much less costly and storage space friendly. Speaking of which, how does your current storage space look?
One thing that certainly didn't save money on brews was the keezer. Get a new freezer because new is shiny, get Perlick SS faucets, CO2 tank, regulator, hoses, fittings, oh yes, and the kegs. They're important to the setup. Kegs in the closet are more space friendly than cases. I have a heavy duty shelf in there so stacking never was an issue with them or bottle collection. Saved space in closet becomes chest freezer somewhere else. Bottles are cheaper, kegs save time.
When I took the plunge to AG I got a mill, mash tun, grain bags, grain storage buckets, and so forth. Later discovered that my stovetop wasn't up the the task, and could barely get that 5g pot boiling. Summer so ventilation was plentiful, steam not an issue. Decided that a dedication E-kettle was the way to go, this time didn't make the mistake of getting something that should be adequate and got (made) a 15g pot, 5500w element, control panel, allowing full volume boil of 10g final batch sizes.
Not saying this is the ideal or best setup to have. Truth be told I'd probably be using BIAB if I didn't already go and get the mash tun with false bottom. Fancy bag and a ceiling pulley (Hooray concrete ceiling) would have been much less costly and storage space friendly. Speaking of which, how does your current storage space look?
One thing that certainly didn't save money on brews was the keezer. Get a new freezer because new is shiny, get Perlick SS faucets, CO2 tank, regulator, hoses, fittings, oh yes, and the kegs. They're important to the setup. Kegs in the closet are more space friendly than cases. I have a heavy duty shelf in there so stacking never was an issue with them or bottle collection. Saved space in closet becomes chest freezer somewhere else. Bottles are cheaper, kegs save time.
You'll never really save money on the equipment side, so just spend up front to get something you'll be happy working with for a while.
The best way to save money is to buy your ingredients in bulk. Buy 50lbs bags to two row (or whatever other malt you use in significant quantity). Buy your hops in as big a bulk as you think you will use. Harvest and re-pitch your yeast. These will help you save tons of money brewing.
Another one I would recommend that doesn't necessarily save a ton of money but will save time is getting a bigger brewing system. Get a 10gallon system and split your wort. At one point I was splitting 10gallong into 3x3.3ga fermenters and able to make 3 different beers off one wort. It's a pretty awesome
GOod luck!
The best way to save money is to buy your ingredients in bulk. Buy 50lbs bags to two row (or whatever other malt you use in significant quantity). Buy your hops in as big a bulk as you think you will use. Harvest and re-pitch your yeast. These will help you save tons of money brewing.
Another one I would recommend that doesn't necessarily save a ton of money but will save time is getting a bigger brewing system. Get a 10gallon system and split your wort. At one point I was splitting 10gallong into 3x3.3ga fermenters and able to make 3 different beers off one wort. It's a pretty awesome
GOod luck!
specialkayme
Well-Known Member
1. Buy base grains in bulk. LHBS has base grains for around $1.85 /lb. I can buy a sack for $0.70 /lb. Over the long haul, it can be significant savings. You don't get much savings on specialty grains though. Make sure you store the grains dry and away from pests.
2. Get a grain mill that you can adjust the gap on. Set it to the lowest setting. You'll need the mill for the bulk grains anyway, but you can increase your efficiency by tweeking the setting.
3. For me, get a BIAB set up going. Again, with the grain mill you can increase your efficiency. Maybe another 10-15%. Might not sound like much, but over a decade it really saves cash.
4. Buy hops in bulk. One or five pounds at a time. I can get some of my hops for $0.50 an ounce, as opposed to $1.95 at the LHBS.
5. Get a food saver vacuum sealer. When you buy a pound or five of hops at a time, break up the hops into smaller bags and freeze them. Brulosophy found hops stored for a decade that were vacuumed in a freezer were still good.
6. Make overbuilt yeast starters and save the extra. Most can go 6-10 rounds with a yeast this way.
7. Buy all of the non-perishable items in larger quantities. DME for starters, cleaning supplies, ect.
8. Wait till bulk grains go on sale, or HopsDirect has hops on sale, and stock up. You can take some of those large savings above and cut it down even further.
With all of those steps, I can make a 5 gallon beer for $11-15. Not all of them, of course, are that cheap though. If I get really crazy with some ingredients, or get a special type of yeast, or some candisugar or something my batch might be $25-35. Still not bad though. It took a couple hundred dollars of infrastructure investment (grain bins, mill, foodsaver), but you'll make it back in a couple dozen brews.
2. Get a grain mill that you can adjust the gap on. Set it to the lowest setting. You'll need the mill for the bulk grains anyway, but you can increase your efficiency by tweeking the setting.
3. For me, get a BIAB set up going. Again, with the grain mill you can increase your efficiency. Maybe another 10-15%. Might not sound like much, but over a decade it really saves cash.
4. Buy hops in bulk. One or five pounds at a time. I can get some of my hops for $0.50 an ounce, as opposed to $1.95 at the LHBS.
5. Get a food saver vacuum sealer. When you buy a pound or five of hops at a time, break up the hops into smaller bags and freeze them. Brulosophy found hops stored for a decade that were vacuumed in a freezer were still good.
6. Make overbuilt yeast starters and save the extra. Most can go 6-10 rounds with a yeast this way.
7. Buy all of the non-perishable items in larger quantities. DME for starters, cleaning supplies, ect.
8. Wait till bulk grains go on sale, or HopsDirect has hops on sale, and stock up. You can take some of those large savings above and cut it down even further.
With all of those steps, I can make a 5 gallon beer for $11-15. Not all of them, of course, are that cheap though. If I get really crazy with some ingredients, or get a special type of yeast, or some candisugar or something my batch might be $25-35. Still not bad though. It took a couple hundred dollars of infrastructure investment (grain bins, mill, foodsaver), but you'll make it back in a couple dozen brews.
Homebrewing isn't about saving money vs store bought beer. Homebrewing is brewing quality beer. Perhaps brewing a desired style that isn't available or has a long journey (meaning quality probably declined). Also, the creative aspect adds to the enjoyment of homebrewing.
jack13
Well-Known Member
And vacuum sealers are pretty affordable, but are also the kind of thing people tend to buy, use a couple times, then stop bothering with...i.e., often available at Goodwill.
specialkayme
Well-Known Member
I actually enjoy both sides. I get to make better beer AND make it cheaper than I can buy it for. Both sides bring me enjoyment. A few days after I brew, I add up what the cost of the brew was, then calculate what I'd have to spend if I bought that same beer in 6 packs at Total Wine. I put in my brew log the cost and the savings.
YMMV though.
specialkayme
Well-Known Member
Also, no one seemed to mention this yet, but reuse StarSan.
I have a big bucket fermenter, I think 7.5 gal, that I fill with StarSan and re-use over and over again for a few months at a time. After about two months I dump it out and mix it back up again. By then there is usually a layer of gunk at the bottom of the bucket. I could go longer, but two months is what I feel comfortable with.
You can make StarSan stretch pretty far by doing this.
I have a big bucket fermenter, I think 7.5 gal, that I fill with StarSan and re-use over and over again for a few months at a time. After about two months I dump it out and mix it back up again. By then there is usually a layer of gunk at the bottom of the bucket. I could go longer, but two months is what I feel comfortable with.
You can make StarSan stretch pretty far by doing this.
Brewing software easily calculates the batch cost. However, prices aren't static. So, this means, must make separate inventory entries with the different prices. Too much trouble for me. I just enjoy formulating a recipe, doing the brew, fermanting and enjoying what I've made.
Also, when others, especially, BMC drinkers, reluctantly have some of my homebrew and say "Wow, that's good", that's really cool too.
Also, when others, especially, BMC drinkers, reluctantly have some of my homebrew and say "Wow, that's good", that's really cool too.
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Abrayton
Well-Known Member
[QUOTE="mongoose33, post: 8468538,
IMO, the best/most cost effective/most convenient mill out there is the Cereal Killer. $99.[/QUOTE]
AIH just had these at $83 with free shipping. I think it’s back up to $99 but it comes down to $89 frequently. I really like mine
IMO, the best/most cost effective/most convenient mill out there is the Cereal Killer. $99.[/QUOTE]
AIH just had these at $83 with free shipping. I think it’s back up to $99 but it comes down to $89 frequently. I really like mine
I'd also vote for the mill. Get one with a base and hopper. This is one of those buy once cry once vs eventual upgrade decisions. I got 5 years out of my $120 barley crusher and eventually upgraded to a monster mill 3. It worked for me but if I'd known how long my interest in the hobby would persist I'd of been better off going straight to the better mill. YOu are just starting out and that recommendation for a cereal killer makes a lot of sense to me.
With your mill invest in something to store grains. I use home depot buckets with gamma lid seals. These work great. Some quibble about the food safety of the home depot buckets but I am just storing dry grain in these not boiling or fermenting in them. If you are of that persuasion you can get food grade plastic buckets somewhere. These gamma lids are the bomb and run about $8 each at home depot. Unlike the cheaper lids these will seal tight enough to keep smallest pests out as well as humidity. Two buckets will hold a 50 pound sack of grain but not a 25kg 55 pound sack of imported grain. I tend to keep my grain in the sacks until opened, use what I need and the rest fits in the buckets. I have 8 buckets and ususally have 3 kinds of base malt taking up 6 of these and the other two are for storage of specialty malts I buy in 1 and 10 pound quantities.
The other thing you need for mill is a good drill. Don't kill your electric screwdriver of lightweight drill motor trying to grind grain. You want a low speed high torque drill. I'm on my second one from Harbor Freight. Motor burned out on first after about 3 years. I think this is the current model: https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-Heavy-Duty-Spade-Handle-Drill-63112.html
With your mill invest in something to store grains. I use home depot buckets with gamma lid seals. These work great. Some quibble about the food safety of the home depot buckets but I am just storing dry grain in these not boiling or fermenting in them. If you are of that persuasion you can get food grade plastic buckets somewhere. These gamma lids are the bomb and run about $8 each at home depot. Unlike the cheaper lids these will seal tight enough to keep smallest pests out as well as humidity. Two buckets will hold a 50 pound sack of grain but not a 25kg 55 pound sack of imported grain. I tend to keep my grain in the sacks until opened, use what I need and the rest fits in the buckets. I have 8 buckets and ususally have 3 kinds of base malt taking up 6 of these and the other two are for storage of specialty malts I buy in 1 and 10 pound quantities.
The other thing you need for mill is a good drill. Don't kill your electric screwdriver of lightweight drill motor trying to grind grain. You want a low speed high torque drill. I'm on my second one from Harbor Freight. Motor burned out on first after about 3 years. I think this is the current model: https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-Heavy-Duty-Spade-Handle-Drill-63112.html
Thanks guys! Looks like I've got a bit of homework to do. My current setup is biab in a 16gal bayou classic kettle I scored for cheap. Still have yet to brew in it though due to a hectic work schedule. Wednesday I'll have time though and will make a separate thread to show it off.
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