Cheaper session beer?

[fowlintent]

I am now brewing my 5th batch since I started back homebrewing (after a 26 year hiatus). First brewed a cream ale, turned out great! Second batch was an amber ale, bottled about 2 weeks ago, and it is much more flavorful, and is getting better and better with age. Third batch bottled 5 days ago is a coffee porter. I tasted it today and after it carbs, I think it will be great as well. Have a Kolsch and an IPA brewing now.

There have been great advances in the homebrewing field in 26 years, but with those advances have come a significant increase in expense. I was brewing a very drinkable beer, using a hopped Munton & Fison extract and corn sugar, for about $1.50 per six pack. Now it seems my expense is more like $5.00 -$6.00 per six pack depending on the recipe.

So, my question is, what is the best way to brew a decent session beer at a reasonable or minimal cost? I see that the Munton and Fison extract kits are now in the $16-$20 range, which would reduce the cost per 6 pack to around $3.00 with cost of sugar and some hops.

Any suggestions? Are the Munton and Fison extract kits worth a shot? Anybody want to share a recipe you have found or developed?

 

[RM-MN]

I am now brewing my 5th batch since I started back homebrewing (after a 26 year hiatus). First brewed a cream ale, turned out great! Second batch was an amber ale, bottled about 2 weeks ago, and it is much more flavorful, and is getting better and better with age. Third batch bottled 5 days ago is a coffee porter. I tasted it today and after it carbs, I think it will be great as well. Have a Kolsch and an IPA brewing now.

There have been great advances in the homebrewing field in 26 years, but with those advances have come a significant increase in expense. I was brewing a very drinkable beer, using a hopped Munton & Fison extract and corn sugar, for about $1.50 per six pack. Now it seems my expense is more like $5.00 -$6.00 per six pack depending on the recipe.

So, my question is, what is the best way to brew a decent session beer at a reasonable or minimal cost? I see that the Munton and Fison extract kits are now in the $16-$20 range, which would reduce the cost per 6 pack to around $3.00 with cost of sugar and some hops.

Any suggestions? Are the Munton and Fison extract kits worth a shot? Anybody want to share a recipe you have found or developed?

You might have to learn to brew all grain and buy in bulk to get the prices down. Then start brewing beers that are lower in alcohol and have less hops.

 

[runningweird]

extracts are a trade off, they are easier but a bit more expensive. if you can get past the little investment to get into all grain you can get the cost down a little. If you took 6 pounds of 2 row and a little sugar, a little bit of hops you could make a very cheap batch of beer. I pay about 80 cents a pound for grain.

 

[evrose]

Check the recipe forums here... there are dozens of cheap and easy recipes that make great beer. Centennial Blonde, Cream of Three Crops, and others...

Welcome back to the obsession.

 

[abrdnck]

Check out some of the posts on the brew in a bag (BIAB) method. It is a cheap way to get yourself into all-grain brewing, and that will save you money.

If you brew smaller batches - try 2.5 gallons for ease of calculations - you could get by with a smaller kettle and stovetop preparation, and you could chill the wort in an icebath rather than using a wort chiller.

There are some cheap kits out there, though - and you can make drinkable beer from them. Personally, I am looking for something more. I live in Canada, and a cheap kit runs about $15 and requires the addition of sugar. The beer is pretty darn mediocre. On the other hand, I recently made a hopburst rye ale at 6.5% ABV using Safale yeast - total cost was about $30 for 60 bottles. That price could have been cheaper if I had bought bulk ingredients. Was it twice as good as the cheap kit? No, it was far better than that...

 

[Yooper]

Even though there may be more expenses with equipment, in the long run all-grain brewing is cheaper than extract brewing. The short of it is that extract is very expensive.

I have a cream ale recipe that I'm drinking now that came to a grand total of $19 for 10 gallons. (The rice came from the dollar store, and the corn meal came from the grocery store, and I bought the grain in bulk and reused the yeast. Hops were bought in bulk, but some were from my yard).

Aside from that, you can try some things that really help save money, even if you're still doing extract. One is simply rinsing and reusing yeast. I do that, and buy yeast in larger quantities twice per year or so. I spend $80 a year on yeast, and brew a LOT. Buying hops in bulk when they are available this fall from hopsdirect.com and freshops.com will also save a fortune.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Brewing to save money is debatable. It all depends on you. If you can buy equipment and stick with it for the long haul you can definitely save money.

If you are an extract only brewer - Buy in bulk. It is the only way to get extract costs down.
If you are willing to get into AG, you can save a lot (after you offset the costs of equipment) by buying base grains in bulk.

Grow your own hops. Wash/reuse yeast. That can save you quite a bit.
Additionally look at your kits and look how the prices would compare if pieced out from your LHBS/an online retailer. Sometimes kits are actually not as cost effective, though you get exactly how much you need instead of having spares. Of course this is not a problem if you brew the same thing(s) repeatedly.

All in all the most noticeable savings can be done through group buys of your main fermentables.