Brewing Beer...but breaking the bank.

[Captainfester]

reuse the bottles. i have a large collection going from my friedns that drink sam adams

 

[brew2enjoy]

Don't get to overwhelmed with all the water chemistry at first. Just get your process dialed in and go from there. You will have the initial investment of buying the equipment needed (looks like you are already on your way there).

And as far as cost... I just brewed a 5 gallon batch of Biermuncher's Centennial blonde and the grand total was $22 after shipping! AG rocks!!

 

[Rbeckett]

Brewmaster,
I have the same issues you have. I want/need to understand what each component contributes to the overall whole. That way when I am comfortable tweaking recipes it will not result in a batch of moose urine or worse. I just left the local shoppe and got an extract kit for a hefe for about 25.00 buck including yeast. It had a 3.3 weise unhopped malt, a kilo or so of DME and 2 OZ of hops. I think the yeast was safale 3638 (from memory). The total I spent at the local was only 44.00 and I got a brew bucket and some other yeasts and a hydrometer. So it is possible to extract brew a lot cheaper if you buy your components seperately rather than packaged from the vendor. Eventually I intend to go AG, but till I get the hang of sanitation, brewing and following directions I will slowly add to my knowledge base till I am ready. In the meantime I think I can get the cost of a good mid ABV hefe to around 15-20 bucks by buying larger quantities of bulk DME and LME's. Either way, I only have one brew under my belt so I am plundering along and learning as I go. Have fun, hope this helps your wallet too. I'm disabled so I have to watch my pennies close or not eat. That sucks!!!!
Bob

 

[thughes]

I am going AG. Thanks for all of the advice, it was very helpful/informative. I've spent the past 48 hours reading and researching the AG brewing process. To be honest, I became overwhelmed by the AG process back in October as a result of reading John Palmer's, "How to Brew." This is not to say that Palmer's work is written in a fashion that overwhelms the reader, but that on that particular day I should have put the book down and taken a breather. Instead, I made it as far as mash PH and residual alkalinity before standing up and yelling "Dammit John, I'm a brewer not a scientist!". I then drove to the HBS and purchased an extract brew kit. After reading all of your comments, I decided to give Palmer's chapters on AG another go. Between reading Palmer, your posts, and other information online, I've come to the realization that AG doesn't need to be complicated.

In addition to that, like other homebrewing newbies, I need to chill (anxiety wise). I'm so worried about following instructions and doing everything perfectly but the reality is as long as I keep my equipment and ingredients clean/sanitized...I will make beer and it will probably taste good. I'm not going to whine about cost anymore either. I took a look at everything that I was spending money on and honestly, until I acquire the additional equipment to go AG, $30 bucks for five gallons of beer, which I made myself, is pretty damn good. What's killing my wallet is that as a newbie I am spending an additional $26 on bottles for each brew. But until I acquire a keg, I am just going to have to suck it up and convince my wife that I do "need" to have two or three five gallon batches fermenting at once...and I will only have to buy these bottles once, as I will make sure to always wash and reuse (riiiight).

So, yeah. Thanks for the push, it's exactly what I needed. I made some calls last night and my parent's turkey fryer, with 30 quart pot, should be here within a few weeks, I built my own wort chiller for only $30 (gotta love Lowes) and when summer rolls around my father-in-law is going to realize one of his coolers is missing. Again, thanks for all of the responses guys!

If you can extract brew, you can do this:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/connect/episode/brewing-tv-episode-54-jakes-got-a-brand-new-bag/

Make sure you read the comments too, there is some good advice from some knowledgeable people there.

Welcome to AG.

 

[Sippin37]

+1 on Yeast Washing, Buying Grains/Extract/Hops in Bulk, reading Designing Great Beers, and purchasing brewing software like Beersmith.

I was doing the same thing, just following directions on kits for my first 3-4 brews. While they tasted great, I didn't feel like I was learning anything besides the brewing process. Once I started to read Designing Great Beers and then experimenting with different ingredients in Beersmith I learned how these ingredients affected the beer. You can take a proven great recipe from Recipes section on this site, plug it into Beersmith and then tweak a few things and make it to your own liking. And yeast washing/reusing is a great way to save $6-$7 on liquid yeast per batch. If you brewed a 5 gallon batch each month for a year then you'd save yourself an easy $75 right there.

Either way, just keep browsing this entire forum for great ideas on how to save money and learn more about brewing. Cheers!

 

[RM-MN]

What's killing my wallet is that as a newbie I am spending an additional $26 on bottles for each brew.

Got any friends that drink bottled beer? Have them save you some empties (pop off, not twist off). Most of the time they aren't hard to clean and sanitize. I had a friend grab me some clear bottles so I could see what my beer was doing. I know enough to keep them in the dark because with enough light exposure the beer will turn skunky.

 

[thughes]

I get my bottles from the bar around the corner. I flip the manager $5.00 per case....covers his deposit and puts a couple bucks in his pocket....hell of a lot cheaper than buying them at the LHBS.

 

[TopherM]

When I first started, I went up to the local recycling center on a Sunday. Someone showed up about every 5-10 minutes with a bin full of beer bottles, which I was happy to recycle for them. I left with 4+ cases of clean pop top bottles in about 45 minutes.

As a side note, if you are also a winemaker, you can snatch up 50+ wine bottles this way in less than an hour as well.

 

[paulmac]

A number of folks have mentioned bulk hop purchases. Any particular vendors specialize in this area or just check in at the usual suspects?

 

[TopherM]

Hopsdirect.com
farmhousebrewingsupply.com

These are where I buy. Both do bulk sales starting at the 4oz level at farmhouse and the 1lb level at hopsdirect.

 

[cincydave]

Plus 1 to Farmhouse.
You can get good prices at the 4 ounce level, allowing you to try a lot of varieties.

 

[cacique]

Anyone used/heard of hopsbythepound.com? They got what I want but can't find any reviews. Thanks

 

[kman6234]

I just received my first bulk hop purchase through hopsdirect this morning and happened to calculate how much I was saving vs buying through a typical online retailer.

3lbs of hops (Cascade, Willamette, Magnum) shipped to my door for $43

After weighing the packages I received 54 ounces of hops (hefty pounds)

So buying in bulk my hop cost is about .79 cents/ounce vs 2.15 / ounce at my online retailer saving me about 60% on my hop cost. (this assumes that none of these hops go to waste and I only use these 3 varieties)