Expensive beer you homebrew

[Aspenextreme]

Wondering what beer everyone homebrews instead of buying it at the store? Personally i would rather clone / make my own three floyds zombie dust than pay for it.

What does everyone else brew, how much does it cost to buy in a sixer at the store and if you have a good recipe post it.

 

[scottland]

Dogfish 120 minute. It's an expensive batch, but it's like 6x cheaper to homebrew.

 

[Zabuza]

Wee heavies/Scottish ales. They're typically hard to find, and when found usually cost $3+ per 12oz. bottle.

That being said, I do always buy Traquair House Ale when I find it, and don't even attempt to clone it. It's like the perfect beer.

 

[VaBrewer]

Gulden Draak and Aventinus to name a few but pretty much everything now. I still buy beers for comparison or research though.

 

[Malric]

3 Floyd's Dreadnaught. Depending on how I do the ingredient list, I can make it at a 80-90% cost savings. It's not identical, but it is fun to tweak the recipe each time.

 

[garbageman]

Being on the east coast and hearing everyone talk about Piney from Russian River, I brewed that. With a large grain bill and a ton of hops and hop extract, its the most expensive brew yet.

 

[TNGabe]

Brewed a 5 gallon batch of Rochefort 10 clone with a friend for under $50 - used homemade syrup not the fancy stuff. Ended up with 50 bottles I think. Rochefort 10 are about $8 ea here so saved about $350 oh two cases. Perfecr knock-off? No, but it sure will be fun to keep trying.

 

[dfess1]

Stone 15th anniv - double black ipa

 

[CastleHollow]

Hopslam. Sure beats $18-$22/6pk (if you're lucky enough to score one) and there are a few reasonably close recipes available so it's not hard to approximate, especially using Bell's yeast.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Sours are definitely cheaper to brew but expensive to buy because you don't pay for the time at home involved in making them taste delicious but you definitely pay for it at the store.

I typically find myself perusing beer displays and rather than picking up bottles to buy I often think, "I could brew something like that, no need to pay for it pre-brewed." It's probably really arrogant but I look at beers like typical beers with X fruit or spice added or typical beer style aged on oak and don't see why it's $15/bottle just because they ran it through a barrel for a few weeks when the base beer isn't anything special. I have oak I can add to a generic beer, too. Again, probably arrogant, but I'd have a lot more fun brewing it myself and spending less money than paying a lot for one bottle. I mean, $15 for a 750ml is about what I would spend to brew 3-5 gallons of the same thing.

 

[DPBISME]

Belgians.... especally my Triple...

 

[Lgaddy44]

I agree with you on the sours. I liked the first couple I tried, and then found myself doing more "research", on different varieties. It can get expensive. I still buy a bottle of Jolly Pumpkin here and there, though. I just need to make a few more batches to keep the pipeline going, once I can start kegging my sours. Can't wait to have one on tap at all times.

 

[Curtis2010]

My "buy at the store" options are pretty limited. Every beer I brew, all with imported ingredients, is relatively expensive.

 

[Bmorebrew]

Troegs' Nugget Nectar. It usually prices in the $12-$14 /6pack range, but I bought a couple of pounds of Nugget hops at around $8/lb - much much better price point.

 

[H-ost]

Oh I am so excited for my Sour Brew...!!! Some sours around here cost 25$ a bottle.

 

[EnjoyGoodBeer]

I would love to brew some kind of good beer (clone maybe) it seems that most of these good beers and or clones I hear about are All AG? Im not into AG is there a thread somone can point me too for brewing a good beer without AG? Please and thank you.

 

[taylja06]

My sour cost me a good bit, and sadly the recipe is not very well received. Hoping it turns out better when done than experience would predict.

 

[MisterTipsy]

I would love to brew some kind of good beer (clone maybe) it seems that most of these good beers and or clones I hear about are All AG? Im not into AG is there a thread somone can point me too for brewing a good beer without AG? Please and thank you.

Most AG recipes can be converted to extract. Typically, you would sub LME/DME for the base malts (2row, pilsen, munich, etc) omit carapils and the rest remains the same. They aren't subbed at equal weights.

Or you could always pick an AG recipe and ask someone to convert it for you.

 

[david_42]

I buy beers when I don't want to have 5 gallons of it around. I brew clones of beers that sound interesting but aren't available locally.

 

[sj_engr]

The collaboration brews in the recent BYO, seems I can't buy some of them anymore.

 

[rhamilton]

Trappist & Belgian specialty beers.

$10-$15 per bottle will definitely put some hurt on your wallet -- and a Duvel clone is on my list of to-do's this Fall.

 

[smokinghole]

Trappist and Belgian beers.

At $5-$6 a bottle for Orval I can make 3 cases of something similar enough for 1/3 the cost of an Orval case.

Then 12%abv quads and high alcohol tripels. Sure they're more spendy for me to make due to the ingredient costs, but damn 8 gal for $50 vs $15-$20 per 750ml for domestic or import versions.

 

[Zamial]

I just finished a pirate beer for a pirate themed comp. It is a: smoked, peppercorn, medium toast french oak soaked in and fortified with Captain Morgan black rum. Yea, it's awesome...

 

[Curtis2010]

Trappist & Belgian specialty beers.

$10-$15 per bottle will definitely put some hurt on your wallet -- and a Duvel clone is on my list of to-do's this Fall.

Wow, quite spendy there! I was quite pleasantly surprised to find a full line of Chimay Trappist Ales, and other Belgian brews, in Bocas del Toro, Panama this year at about $5 a bottle.

 

[Whattawort]

The most expensive beer I've home brewed? Well, there was this partial mash Rogue Shakespeare Stout clone that I did once. I think it was something like $40 for the ingredients + $25 for the propane refill (mid boil) + $30 vet bill (kicked the dog when he ran under me with a kettle full of hot wort) + $15 for the degreaser for the garage floor (2 boil overs) + $20 for a case of beer + $50 for SWMBO (a professional massage does wonderful things when SWMBO sees a hot mess like all of this). Oh yeah....$40 in a 4gal brew kettle. NEVER use your good Calphelon pots for brewing beer. I was a newlywed. The hell did I know about good cookware? Still surprised that she didn't divorce me or ban me from brewing after all of that. I think she's saving that should I ever have a fermenter bomb.

Grand Total = $220 for a Rogue Shakespeare Stout clone
My friends and I all unanimously agree that it was hands-down the tastiest beer I've done to date. But I'll be damned if I make it again.

 

[payton34]

bells hopslam and three floyds gumballhead

 

[DarthMalt]

being on the east coast and hearing everyone talk about piney from russian river, i brewed that. With a large grain bill and a ton of hops and hop extract, its the most expensive brew yet.

+1

 

[grathan]

I spent $90 on ingredients for a Scottish ale called kilt lifter.I only got 3 gallons and missed my OG by like 30 points, but it was still worth it.

 

[passedpawn]

Sours. I like them. I've bottled them in the past, but I've got a oud bruin on tap now (enjoying a nip right now) and I think I'll just start kegging them. They drink more like wine for me, so they are perfect for the weekdays when I don't want to overdo it.

 

[tugbucket]

Ditto on sours. The 3 sours currently available here are $18-$20 a 4-pack. We have 15 gallons (3 different brews) in the pipe right now.

We are also getting ready to brew up a Midas Touch clone. It's an expensive beer but, you can still brew it for less than $1 a bottle. Plus, DFH has pulled out of Tennessee.

 

[Lurch69]

I made saq's Westy 12 clone last year. Delicious! Too bad I only have a few bottles left.

 

[bmick]

Living in NYC, every craft sixer is at least $12, so everything I brew I come out ahead. I stopped by a shop in Grand Central recently that wanted $9 for a bottle of DFH 90 minute. One. Twelve ounce. Bottle. Assuming I can make a batch of that for $70, that's 1/6 the cost.