Cheap Decent tasting High Alcohol Beer

[boland398]

I am looking to brew a beer that is decent tasting, has a high alochol content, and made from malt extract / corn sugar (cheap). Would like the alochol around 10%, are there any walkthroughs for such a beer brew?

 

[McKBrew]

Hi and Welcome to HBT.

Making a decent high ABV beer is more complicated than you think. It's actually far more expensive than lower ABV beers. If you are just looking for a cheap buzz, you can buy it cheaper or you might want to consider Apfelwein, which can be made with apple juice, yeast and not much else and is pretty damned good based on the reviews.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/

 

[SkewedBrewing]

Try here if all you want is something drinkable that will eff you up...

 

[ArcaneXor]

I doubt you'll find much help here - our hobby is about creating liquid works of delicious art, not about getting the most buzz for the cheapest price.

If you want to learn how to create excellent beer, I recommend reading John Palmer's How To Brew (which has plenty of walk-throughs). Also, do some research by sampling various styles of craft beer to determine where your tastes lie, then learn how to recreate those styles in your home brewery. Stores like Austin Homebrew Supply provide excellent, affordable ingredient kits for many different styles of beers as well as clone-recipes for popular commercial beers.

Come see the light, brother, and abandon thy deviant ways! Cheers!

 

[SkewedBrewing]

Wow, Arcane, we post similar responses at the same time, craziness...

 

[boland398]

If i could make something that tastes better than budlight has twice the alochol and a third the cost that would be great. If i just wanted to get fuked up i would drink vodka but i want something i can get modertly messed up drinking while fishing/watching sports

 

[McKBrew]

You aren't going to have much luck making something like that for less than buying it. Not trying to bum you out, but brewing high ABV beers is spendy.

 

[SumnerH]

I am looking to brew a beer that is decent tasting, has a high alochol content, and made from malt extract / corn sugar (cheap). Would like the alochol around 10%, are there any walkthroughs for such a beer brew?

Well, do the math for a second. Suppose you are new to brewing and sticking with extract (more expensive than all-grain, but easier). And suppose you want a big Belgian strong dark ale. You could shell out $50 for a really nice kit for a pretty darned good beer.

That works out to $1/beer. For twice the alcohol content you'd get in the PBR you'd spend the same amount on, and much better quality of beverage.

Or slice it another way: For $50, you get 25 750ml bottles of BDSA. If you go to the store around here, you pay $10 per 750ml bottle for Chimay Blue, Delirium Nocturnum, and the like--so brewing it yourself costs 1/5th what it would to buy.

By going all-grain, buying in bulk, and such you can probably cut the cost to almost half that $50, but the point is that even "expensive" brew kits turn out to be pretty cheap.

 

[McGarnigle]

SumnerH is right. High alcohol beers are a better bargain than low alcohol ones, certainly when compared with commercial varieties. Not on a per bottle basis, but overall. You'd also save money by brewing a low hopped style rather than an Imperial IPA. The downside is high ABV beers will take longer.

Have you ever brewed before?

 

[Malticulous]

10 LB Pilsner Liquid Extract
3 LB Cane Sugar
2 OZ Sterling 60 Minutes
3L Belgian Strong yeast starter (Or bigger)

It's a fermentation your going to have to pay attention to. It may stall and you will need to warm it up and wait. Done right it will be better than decent but not really cheap.

 

[GuitarBob]

The problem is getting a beer that is all three cheap, high alcohol, and good tasting. You could get two out the three no problem. You could create a cheap, good tasting beer with low to average alcohol, or a good tasting high alcohol beer thats expensive. You could also create a cheap, high alcohol beer that's quite disgusting.

You're going to need to find a beer that has just the right balance of price, alcohol, and taste, but you're not going to find one with everything.

Maybe you should find a style that you like and then do like the macro brewerys do and replace some of the malt with cheaper fermentables to lower the cost. The more malt you replace the more the taste is going to suffer, so finding the correct balance is key.

Also hops are expensive so try to find a style that doesn't use too many.

 

[Evan!]

I'd say an investment in a spelling course would be money better-spent.

 

[GuitarBob]

With the current economic problems people are facing maybe coming up with cheaper alternatives to popular recipes would be a good idea.

 

[Yooper]

With the current economic problems people are facing maybe coming up with cheaper alternatives to popular recipes would be a good idea.

That's not a bad idea. But beer is made up of malt, hops, yeast and water. Sometimes you can add rice or corn for more fermentables, but not as a high percentage of the beer. Changing a recipe to take out some of the malt and add sugar instead would change the recipe. Most of the time, not for the better.

Better than changing good recipes is to consider other money-saving alternatives- yeast washing, buying malt in bulk, using fitered tap water, buying hops in bulk, getting in group buys, etc.

 

[dontman]

Given the cost of equipment, trial and error, bottles, sanitizer and the serious potential for becoming a brewing addict I think it would be much cheaper for the OP to get a fake id or find someone to go into a beerstore for him and purchase malt liquor by the 40.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

This isn't going to end well, so let's end it now.