Frugal Brewing

[BooneDocks]

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!

Interesting, how do you process and store them for reuse?

 

[undallas]

I did a search in the forum.. Several threads indicate positive results.
Their procedures was to wash the hop and freeze them. Some people claim that they don't really have any AA lost by doing this. I think FWH is a good idea with this hop. It probably would produce a smoother bitterness. I have one of my brew with FWH. I haven't bottle it yet...

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

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

Around $22 to $28 CAD a sack depending on the grain. Gambrinus does not malt caramel malts but for the convenience of local micros they carry bries cara 60 at $40 a sack.

 

[Chello]

Interesting, how do you process and store them for reuse?

Every time i have done it, I have removed them from dry hop the same day as i am brewing my new batch.

I'd imagine that if you were to remove them from dryhop and then just freeze them they should keep, but i have never done that.

 

[Symbiote]

I pasteurize my fruit/sugar wine in Ragu-type spaghetti sauce jars.

The wine is made from 3 gallons of apple juice, 2.5 gallons of distilled water from jugs, and 1/2 gallon of simple syrup containing 4 pounds of sugar.

It ferments out tasting like a white table wine from the grocery store.

Pasteurization means there is no need to sanitize prior to bottling.

So far I have used the same collection of jars twice and they re-seal each time.

6 gallons of wine fits into an even 30 sauce jars.

It is tasty, convenient and cheap. 6 gallons costs around $12 in materials. That is around 40 cents per quart jar.