Economical Brewing

[bwible]

Homebrewing is a hobby. I don’t do it to try to compete with Anheuser Bush to try to make my beers cheaper than I can buy theirs for.

As far as reducing costs, there aren’t many areas I want to go that route. Do you want to buy the cheapest base malt? No, most of us are buying better. Do you want to buy old expired cans of extract? Trust me, you don’t. Do you want to buy cheap old hops on sale? Sure, no better way to ruin your beer.

Yes, it pays to buy grain by the sack. I’m not so sure about hops by the pound unless you brew alot of big, highly hopped beers and would use a pound of the same hop pretty quickly

About the one thing I do is try to re-use yeast. Especially since I’m a big fan of liquid yeast and I’m doing smaller batches. I think that pays.

 

[bwible]

I went to a local brewery today and bought a 4 pack 12 oz bottles of their imperial stout brewed with vanilla beans and cocoa aged on borbon - $40. I also bought a 4 pack of their barleywine for another $40.

If you’re talking in economical terms these are beers that pay to brew if you enjoy them and don’t skimp on ingredients and you still come out ahead.

 

[bwible]

I never noticed an uptick in my natural gas bill when I used to brew on my stove top. Propane is the most expensive energy you can use to brew, but the easiest to track. I'm still on my first 15 lb tank since moving outdoors four or five batches ago, so we're talking less than $4 a batch and still dropping.

You use alot of water brewing though. More than you think. You use it for cleaning, soaking, rinsing as well as brewing

 

[Airborneguy]

My area is known for horrible water bills. Roughly $100-150 per quarter, which seems to really bother lots of people. I don’t even think about it. It may have ticked up from brewing but not enough for me to notice.

 

[MaxStout]

You use alot of water brewing though. More than you think. You use it for cleaning, soaking, rinsing as well as brewing

This.

I chill with an IC, and know I use a lot. I bought one of those garden hose water flow meters on Amazon. Last brew took 26 gallons to chill to 63F. And our tap water is very cold--water pipes are buried deep here. Imagine the amount needed in, say, southern California, where the ground water isn't so cold and it's much more expensive and scarce.

Quantifying that made me think I need to capture that chiller water. I do that in summer when I brew in the garage. I pour it on trees and shrubs. And I keep the first few gallons for cleanup as it's plenty hot.

But in winter I brew indoors and let most of the water go down the drain. I could always save it for the washing machine.

I could be less wasteful.

 

[mac_1103]

You use alot of water brewing though.

I brew in spurts - three or four batches in a month and then nothing for the next few - and the water bill isn't dramitically different in months when I do or don't. Then again, water is pretty reasonable here so a 25% increase would only amount to five bucks at most. Did two beers and five gallons of fig wine in September and the water bill was $2 higher than the month before. I use rainwater for chilling.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

This.

I chill with an IC, and know I use a lot. I bought one of those garden hose water flow meters on Amazon. Last brew took 26 gallons to chill to 63F. And our tap water is very cold--water pipes are buried deep here. Imagine the amount needed in, say, southern California, where the ground water isn't so cold and it's much more expensive and scarce.

Quantifying that made me think I need to capture that chiller water. I do that in summer when I brew in the garage. I pour it on trees and shrubs. And I keep the first few gallons for cleanup as it's plenty hot.

But in winter I brew indoors and let most of the water go down the drain. I could always save it for the washing machine.

I could be less wasteful.

I brew indoors all of the time. I use a plate chiller but the outlet water goes into the sink bowl for cleanup. I can also fill my HLT for the next brew.

I'm on a well but I still don't want to waste water. That reminds me it's time to change my emergency water storage. I have four corny kegs of stored water for the next power outage.

 

[Langerz]

When we post costs I feel like we need to add some info on the beer.

There’s beers I can do $40-50 for a 10 gallon batch but no way if it’s a high abv really hoppy beer

 

[Brewer Mike]

The joy of drinking and sharing a beer you made far exceeds the cost of the product.

Nice sentiment, but I wouldn't agree with a blanket statement like that. If it cost $1M a bottle to produce I don't think anyone would say that the enjoyment of drinking it and sharing it far exceeds the cost. Certainly, it would never cost someone $1M per bottle to produce, but it does point out that there is a point of diminishing returns. Where that point is, is subject to the individual, whether it's $0.25, or $25 a bottle. I think that's the point of this thread.

 

[jcfontario]

I do many of the items already suggested here - base grain in 25 kg sacks, frequently used hops by the pound, save and repitch expensive yeasts such as Kveik Voss and 34/70. By doing this, I can make a 14 L batch of Pale Ale with Citra hops and Kveik Voss (working with Gen 5 right now) for about $1 (Canadian!) per litre. That also includes a couple of dollars worth of pink sanitizing detergent.

To make the process even more closed loop, I have been treating the spent grain as as a co-product. My wife can make 3 loaves (2 lbs for each loaf) of delicious spent grain bread with half the grain and then use the other half of the grain to make 4 pounds of dog treats for the kids pets. With the value of the bread and dog treats, the beer is essentially free - at least that is what I tell SWMBO!

 

[beersk]

This.

I chill with an IC, and know I use a lot. I bought one of those garden hose water flow meters on Amazon. Last brew took 26 gallons to chill to 63F. And our tap water is very cold--water pipes are buried deep here. Imagine the amount needed in, say, southern California, where the ground water isn't so cold and it's much more expensive and scarce.

Quantifying that made me think I need to capture that chiller water. I do that in summer when I brew in the garage. I pour it on trees and shrubs. And I keep the first few gallons for cleanup as it's plenty hot.

But in winter I brew indoors and let most of the water go down the drain. I could always save it for the washing machine.

I could be less wasteful.

Honestly, I think this is probably more wasteful (to pour it on trees and shrubs that get by just fine without the extra water). Better use for it would be a garden or house plants or outdoor plants/rose bushes. Water down the drain is going back to the waste water management facility to be reused, which is far less wasteful.
Of course the easiest way to save on brewing is to just drink/brew less. Or, because that sounds incredibly limiting - don't brew more than you need to brew. I've done a lot of brewing over the course of my hobby that was either experimental/failures that were drain pours or beers I simply wasn't committed to. It's difficult when you're learning, but once you get to a certain level, finding a process and recipes that you are 100% on in conjunction with being smart about buying ingredients is the best way to brew. And IPAs are right out.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

For the folks with a septic system, like me, water goes back to Mother Earth eventually. Actually almost all water makes it back to the earth, hopefully clean water that is

 

[Langerz]

Nice sentiment, but I wouldn't agree with a blanket statement like that. If it cost $1M a bottle to produce I don't think anyone would say that the enjoyment of drinking it and sharing it far exceeds the cost. Certainly, it would never cost someone $1M per bottle to produce, but it does point out that there is a point of diminishing returns. Where that point is, is subject to the individual, whether it's $0.25, or $25 a bottle. I think that's the point of this thread.

I mean you’ve never had one of my beers…

 

[Danny Wallace]

I like this thread. I just thought I was the cheapest person in the world.

I'm new and trying to learn, so can everyone do the same for cheap equipment (5-gallon BIAB)?

I started out using a stainless pot ($5 from a flea market) with a propane fish cooker ($15 new plus $15 for a propane refill). Using leftover weedeater string (free-ish) to hold up my bags for drainage. My grain bags are paint strainers from the local paint supplier ($2.49 for 5 and I'm reusing them). For my fermenter, a 5-gallon bucket from Lowe's with a plastic spout added for easier bottling ($7.99 for all the components. Also reusable). Had to buy an airlock ($4.99). And of course leftover Coke bottles, jars, and whatever else I could find for bottling. Did I miss anything?

I do have better equipment now but these were fun times.

 

[Langerz]

I like this thread. I just thought I was the cheapest person in the world.

I'm new and trying to learn, so can everyone do the same for cheap equipment (5-gallon BIAB)?

I started out using a stainless pot ($5 from a flea market) with a propane fish cooker ($15 new plus $15 for a propane refill). Using leftover weedeater string (free-ish) to hold up my bags for drainage. My grain bags are paint strainers from the local paint supplier ($2.49 for 5 and I'm reusing them). For my fermenter, a 5-gallon bucket from Lowe's with a plastic spout added for easier bottling ($7.99 for all the components. Also reusable). Had to buy an airlock ($4.99). And of course leftover Coke bottles, jars, and whatever else I could find for bottling. Did I miss anything?

I do have better equipment now but these were fun times.

Used weed eater string for the natural grassy notes

 

[Danny Wallace]

Used weed eater string for the natural grassy notes

Oh. So you've done the same.

 

[Agent]

I'm currently squandering my winter down-time on brewing-related endeavors.

I picked up a 50lb sack of wheat from the feed mill and malted half of it. Then as a feasibility demonstration, I brewed up a batch of starter wort for canning with the wheat malt.

So for a chunk of my time during these dark days of winter and $1.65 worth of wheat, I've got 14 quarts of starter wort ready to roll.