Frugal Brewing

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

I buy bricks of dry yeast. Saves a hell of a lot of money. And grow my own ho[p]s (well that is taking a while to get going since ai had a bad fisrt year).

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

I buy bricks of dry yeast. Saves a hell of a lot of money. And grow my own hos

I prefer to rent my hos. I don't think I could tolerate growing them from scratch. It sounds awfully expensive and time consuming! But at least, I guess you know where they've been....

:cross:

In all seriousness though, I think partigyle brewing is a great way to stretch your brewing dollar. Add a little extra malt to your recipe and you can brew three beers rather than one. Get a nice 7-8% beer, a 5% beer, and a 3% beer for roughly the price of a 10% beer. Doing it this way, 90%+ efficiency is really easy...

And don't be afraid to add a little extra malt for the second or third runnings. There's no need to make the beers taste the same. I made a 2.9%ABV Stout that tasted incredible by adding some dark malts to an amber grist after I'd done the second runnings. The cost for that extra third batch was about a half pound of grain, an ounce of hops, and a couple bucks worth of propane. I think I even recycled the yeast... So that third batch cost me about $7.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

1. Dry yeast is a huge saver for me: $1.65 for Notty vs. $7 for Wyeast 1056 or WLP001.

2. Split a barley crusher with 2 other guys in my town, and buy bulk grain. Seriously, who needs to pay $160 to have a crusher sitting around for 2 weeks so you can use it for 5 minutes??? I paid a bit over $50, and now I can buy bulk 2-row for around $0.55/lb. 11 gallons of my house ale costs me just $18.93 for ingredients, and figure another $3-4 for propane.

3. Lighter beers, FWH'ing. Instead of high gravity beers and huge hop additions, stick to beers around 5.5% and FWH for additional hop aroma instead of dry hopping.

Even though I've spent a ton on equipment for 10 gallons, I could have easily stuck with my old 5 gallon system and simply added a corona-style mill for $30-40. Bulk grain is the way to go for super-cheap brewing. And if you don't go overboard on equipment purchases, you can achieve your "savings" over extract in just a couple months.

 

[Braid]

I'd recommend getting to know any professional brewers in your area. We have a friend that brews at a local resaurant. We help her on her brew days, stop in the restaurant to eat and drink every now and then and she provides us with yeast, occasional leftover grain, spent grain (for our compost piles), and let's us order bulk grain at commercial prices, letting the restaurant eat most of the shipping cost.

She has also been very useful in helping us improve our efficencies and beer quality.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Buying grain right from the malting house. Nice savings that way.

 

[fratermus]

Who's got budget friendly tips?

Try out low-grav, low-hop brews like mild ale to see if you like them. Tasty and cheap.
Go all grain.
Buy grains in bulk.
Wash, culture, or otherwise reuse yeast.
Use a syringe to measure sanitizer so you don't overuse it.
Make apfelwein

 

[Chello]

Didn't read through all the posts, but here is my trick.

Re-use hops.

If being used for dry hopping, remove them and then use the same hops for the 60min addition in the boil of your next brew. They should keep the majority (~80-90%) of their bittering ability.

I'v done this on several occasions and it has been very successful.

Cheers!

 

[mangine77]

Didn't read through all the posts, but here is my trick.

Re-use hops.

If being used for dry hopping, remove them and then use the same hops for the 60min addition in the boil of your next brew. They should keep the majority (~80-90%) of their bittering ability.

I'v done this on several occasions and it has been very successful.

Cheers!

Really?? Very interesting. Has anyone else tried this?

 

[mangine77]

I buy bricks of dry yeast. Saves a hell of a lot of money. And grow my own ho[p]s (well that is taking a while to get going since ai had a bad fisrt year).

Bricks of dry yeast? Please explain. Thanks

 

[Homercidal]

Bricks of dry yeast? Please explain. Thanks

Ditto! I also would like to know about Gordon's Grain Prices. I called a nearby GFS store and asked. He is trying to look it up. I think they don't stock all GFS products, but mostly what local business and peoples might buy. I hope he can quote the correct item!

Also, reusing hops is an interesting idea. I generally use hop pellets and have not yet dry-hopped, but it's coming up and I might see about doing this. I can dry-hop and then when I bottle/keg that beer, brew another batch and use those hops for bittering! Great idea!

 

[Homercidal]

Nope I Gordon's called me back and said they could not find anything like malted barley. I may go up there and see if he will let me help him search...

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

500 gram (1.1lb) brick of saf 33 = $33 Can

Thats almost 50 sachettes worth of yeast. (you do the math)

I just use a vacum sealer to reseal the bag.

I have safale s-04 and mauribrew, with safbrew 33 on order.

 

[blackwaterbrewer]

going all grain will save. as for equipment, go to a used restaurant equipment warehouse and look around for stainless pots and old kegs. be creative, you may find something awsome! check craigslist every day for good deals. "when everyone is greedy, be fearful. when everyone is fearful, be greedy."

 

[The Pol]

All grain brewing is more $$ for the equipment... we love our equipment. BUT, I will admit that I am a real mizer when it comes to buying ingredients and getting deals.

 

[McKBrew]

All grain brewing is more $$ for the equipment... we love our equipment. BUT, I will admit that I am a real mizer when it comes to buying ingredients and getting deals.

I feel exactly the same way. No issue dropping money on equipment, but if I buy a $120 grain mill and save $2.00 on a batch due to better efficiency, I'm all for it.

I keep meaning to wash my yeast, but have just been using Nottingham instead at $1.10 a pack.

 

[flyangler18]

All grain brewing is more $$ for the equipment... we love our equipment. BUT, I will admit that I am a real mizer when it comes to buying ingredients and getting deals.

But there's a real difference between a gravity-fed system and your eHERMS systems in terms of cost. Just sayin'

 

[novafire]

Buying grain right from the malting house. Nice savings that way.

How easy is this? Do all places sell directly to the homebrewer? Briess is only an hour away from me.

 

[atwaterville]

500 gram (1.1lb) brick of saf 33 = $33 Can

Thats almost 50 sachettes worth of yeast. (you do the math)

I just use a vacum sealer to reseal the bag.

I have safale s-04 and mauribrew, with safbrew 33 on order.

where can you buy yeast in bulk?

 

[The Pol]

But there's a real difference between a gravity-fed system and your eHERMS systems in terms of cost. Just sayin'

What, I have like, one pump?

 

[LibertyBrewer]

Like someone else said, make Apfelwein. The last batch I made cost me $0.34 per bottle. That's about as cheap as it gets.

 

[farmbrewernw]

Use dry yeast it's cheaper. Nottingham is pretty much my house yeast these days.

 

[remilard]

I brew all grain. Let's say a batch takes me 8 hours (brewing, kegging, cleaning etc).

I could take a part time job at Burger King and make $80 to $100 in 8 hours. I can buy a sixth barrel of essentially any commercial beer for less than that.

Brewing is a hobby. Like all hobbies, I do it to spend money, not to save money.

 

[llazy_llama]

I brew all grain. Let's say a batch takes me 8 hours (brewing, kegging, cleaning etc).

I could take a part time job at Burger King and make $80 to $100 in 8 hours. I can buy a sixth barrel of essentially any commercial beer for less than that.

Brewing is a hobby. Like all hobbies, I do it to spend money, not to save money.

Yeah, but why spend more than you have to? Times are tough for a lot of people right now. If you can wind up with the same beer for $100 or $30 why wouldn't you go the cheaper route? Seems like pretty simple logic to me.

 

[Chello]

Also, reusing hops is an interesting idea. I generally use hop pellets and have not yet dry-hopped, but it's coming up and I might see about doing this. I can dry-hop and then when I bottle/keg that beer, brew another batch and use those hops for bittering! Great idea!

I'v never done it using pellets, so i don't know how well they will stay together. I have done it with leaf hops that i'v dry hopped in a muslin bag so they were easily removed and just put directly into the boil kettle.

 

[madcapstudios]

I'm a fan of plastic buckets for brewing - easy clean up, easy lifting, etc.

Has anyone ever gotten buckets NEW from a non-homebrew source? I was looking at something like this...
6 & 7 Gallon Buckets - US Plastic Corporation

Thoughts?

 

[brown_dog_us]

Here are my thoughts:

-Bulk buy your grains. There are no brewers around you? Start looking. You'd be surprised. Don't be shy.
-Be patient when looking for new equiptment. I picked up 2 cornies last week for free. I waited six months for a deal.
-Try using FRESH liquid malt extract. I've been buying it from Austin and Morebeer and it works great. I'm not wanting to debate the "twang". I'm just suggesting you try it.
-Late extract addition. If you are doing extract or PM brewing it is just as easy to add most of the fermentables later. It saves on hops. Hops are pricey right now.
-Buy on the internet and out of state. I get free or really low shipping, great prices, and no sales tax. 7% sales tax adds up.
-Embrace building your own stuff. There are tons of great posts on here with parts lists to build almost everything you need or want for cheap. I built a grain mill out of a pasta roller that we've never used in 13 yrs. I have $0 in it and about 1 hour of my time.

 

[mangine77]

500 gram (1.1lb) brick of saf 33 = $33 Can

Thats almost 50 sachettes worth of yeast. (you do the math)

I just use a vacum sealer to reseal the bag.

I have safale s-04 and mauribrew, with safbrew 33 on order.

No one answered this question yet. Where are you purchasing bulk yeast at this price?????

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

No one answered this question yet. Where are you purchasing bulk yeast at this price?????

I get it from http://beerandwinefilter.com. In Canada. Not sure where in the US.


Novafire, give bries a call and find out. I buy from Gambrinus which is about 1.25 hrs from my house.

[edit] keep in mind those are 25kg (50lb) sacks. gambrinus has no min order.

 

[Boondoggie]

Yeah, but why spend more than you have to? Times are tough for a lot of people right now. If you can wind up with the same beer for $100 or $30 why wouldn't you go the cheaper route? Seems like pretty simple logic to me.

As you say, times are tough, so you're going to deny your LHBS that extra $70? You're heartless.

 

[Homercidal]

I get it from Beer and Wine Filter. In Canada. Not sure where in the US.


Novafire, give bries a call and find out. I buy from Gambrinus which is about 1.25 hrs from my house.

[edit] keep in mind those are 25kg (50lb) sacks. gambrinus has no min order.

How much are you spending on sacks of grain? The cheapest I can find is $40 a sack USD.