Home brewing blues.

[Gustavo]

Well as most new home brewers know it takes a lot of money to start an. AG home brew setup. As a NEWB you spend most of your income on equipment and now I'm to broke to brew, lol. Kind of ironic.

 

[Corey_James]

Do you at least have enough $$ for grains???? I know the feeling. It took me almost 2 years to get all the equipment together for all-grain.

 

[benbradford]

I have the setup, and it is hard sometimes to justify the expense of $40-$60 for a batch of ingredients to make more beer that I can't even enjoy for the next 30 days...

 

[Airborneguy]

If it costs you that much in ingredients to make an AG beer, you're either doing something wrong or using too many hops.

 

[Gwitz]

I tend to drop $100 or so on bulk grain and hops at a time :S

 

[benbradford]

How big of a batch?

I can brew 2 gallons for 10 bucks or 12 gallons for between $30 and $90

 

[Airborneguy]

12 gallons for $30 wouldn't be bad actually. My 6 gallon batches probably cost me around $12-13.

 

[benbradford]

6 gallons for 12.50 is super cheap! I buy hops from hops direct, and wash yeast, but how do you get that low?

I think the cheapest i mentioned is a wit beer that is a low cost one for me for sure.

 

[Airborneguy]

I buy everything in bulk and re-use yeast. Most of my grain comes from bulk buys. My base malts cost me less than $1 a pound.

I also get a lot of fresh hops from a friend who grows way too much for himself. I'm not a hop-head, which keeps costs down compared to what many people are used to. My recipes rarely use over 2oz of hops total.

 

[Gwitz]

I get 55lb sacks of grain for 25 bucks, its gone up, used to be 22. So if i did a simple beer, it would be like 12 bucks for 10 gallons.

 

[coastwx]

I get 55lb sacks of grain for 25 bucks, its gone up, used to be 22. So if i did a simple beer, it would be like 12 bucks for 10 gallons.

Our bulk buy is about $30 for 55 lb. That's around $7 for the base grain of an IPA (5 gal). Bulk hops at less than $1 an ounce including shipping. Throw in free yeast via washing and few dollars for specialty grains and you can easily do a batch for around $12 not including the other small stuff.

 

[Piratwolf]

I haven't broken it down on a spreadsheet yet, but my move to AG has hardly broken the bank.

Used 5-gal MLT=free; SS braid & ball valve set-up = $25
5-gal brew pot from extract/PM days
Washed yeast
70 lbs grain (base + specialty) for $115 delivered
Bulk hops in the freezer
CFC chiller FREE from a buddy
SQ14 + 20lbs propane $65
Already had ferm fridges/controller

So total cost of move for me, given that I had a lot of stuff from PM days, has been about $205. I am planning on a 15-gal brew pot in a month or so (which will add about $200) and kegging, but neither of those is strictly necessary to AG as far as I can tell.

If you're patient and obsessed, you can find good deals and keep it cheaper... Seen several posts to that effect.

"All your home brew are belong to us!"

 

[RM-MN]

My move to all grain has hardly broken the bank either. Less than $20 for a Corona style grain mill, a couple of paint strainer bags and my 20 qt pot that I already had and I'm ready to do half size (3 gallon) batches right on the kitchen stove. Since I do smaller batches, I get to brew more often. It takes me about 3 hours from bringing out the equipment to putting it all away for that size batch.

 

[pm5k00]

I am planning on a 15-gal brew pot in a month or so (which will add about $200)

You can pick up a used keg at a scrapyard for cheap (around 30) then cut off the top and you have a 15.5 gallon SS brew pot.

Sent from my Samsung Epic 4G using Home Brew Talk

 

[dcHokie]

Most of my normal brews come out between $11-$15 with bulk grains, bulk hops and washed yeast too.

Not to be too assumptive on your situation here, but you can definitely make the transition to AG over time while you are building up your brewery equipment. In the meantime, brew with a buddy. If you haven't found or joined a homebrew club in your area, I would highly recommend it. We have tons of apartment brewers in our club that don't have space for equipment and folks brew together quite a bit.

Cheers

 

[Revvy]

What did you buy to go ag a saabco system? My ghetto rig probably didn't cost more than 200 I think.

My ghetto brew-rig, featuring the 15 dollar harbor freight folding workbench and milk crate.

Been doing it this way for 5 years.

 

[mcaple1]

I really dislike people trying to one-up everyone regarding how little their batches cost. There are so many variables. If someone says that it costs them 40-60 to make a batch, and then someone tells them they are spending too much, how the hell would you know. They didn't even mention their batch size or intended recipe...you telling me that a cream ale will cost the same as an imperial russian stout....get real people. Even if you wash your yeast, buy your grains and hops in bulk in bulk, you still have so many variables that yes...even for a 6 gallon batch, you could spend upwards of 50 bucks. So quit knocking fellow homebrewers down, and let them just make beer for the price they want to pay. It's not a competition to see who can brew the cheapest. Most of our recipes wouldnt even be commercially sustainable they cost so much per gallon...but we do it anyway.

 

[Airborneguy]

It's not a competition to see who can brew the cheapest.

True, you're right. The best thing to do is let the OP keep making such expensive batches that he doesn't have enough money to brew. I don't know what I was thinking. After all, who really wants to brew more often anyway?

 

[Revvy]

True, you're right. The best thing to do is let the OP keep making such expensive batches, that he doesn't have enough money to brew. I don't know what I was thinking. After all, who really wants to brew more often anyway?

Yeah especially since not everyone knows about buying bulk, harvesting yeast etc, or that you don't need shiny expensive toys to make great beer....

 

[Airborneguy]

I wish more people had kept their mouths shut when I was learning, imagine how much more money I could have spent! Knowledge is such an awful thing.

 

[mcaple1]

Dude...its not useful information to tell people "you are doing something wrong or using too many hops". Who are you to decide how much hops he should be using? And I'm pretty sure that most of us that get into homebrewing aren't pondering whether or not they will be putting food on the table, or brewing beer. Obviously this is a hobby that costs money, and I don't think someone would brew to the point that they financially can't sustain their hobby anymore just because they dont wash yeats or buy their grains in bulk. If the OP is really riding the fence that hard, then maybe he shouldn't start the hobby in the first place. But yeah, your right, totally. He clearly needs help.

 

[Airborneguy]

Who are you to tell him he shouldn't be in the hobby?

 

[mcaple1]

Who are you to tell him he shouldn't be in the hobby?

I hope you're kidding right now. Seriously. If you aren't then yes, if he is so financially unstable that he questions his ability to afford a 30 dollar batch of beer...then yeah, I think maybe he should re-evaluate his hobbies.

 

[Airborneguy]

So just so I have this straight, the OP is better off not hearing the opinion of people who might have tips which will cut his costs and allow him to brew more beer, because he probably doesn't have enough money to be in the hobby to begin with. Who's the elitist?

Not trying to pick a fight here, but you really tripped yourself up with your logic. Was my initial statement a little blunt? Maybe. But I learned a good portion of everything I know about brewing by reading random comments on this forum. If YOU don't want to know how other people cut costs, that's fine. But there's a chance, based on some of the posts in this thread, that the OP and a few other's might. So I'll keep flapping in my own way just in case they want a little help.

 

[harrydrez]

Could you guys please stop arguing? It is not very productive. My best advice is buy in bulk and don't buy fancy-shmancy equipment. You don't have to buy pre-made mashtuns, kettles that could double as nuclear reactors, etc. If you do some searching you can find many ways to save money.

Look for homebrew clubs too!

 

[Revvy]

Well as most new home brewers know it takes a lot of money to start an. AG home brew setup.

This is the part I'm curious about....I don't think most new homebrewers know this. historically the last 30 years of homebrewing ag has been about really cost effective solutions- Originally it was papazians "Zap a Pap" system, simply two buckets, one with a bunch of holes in the bottom as the filter.

Then came the brilliant idea to convert a cooler with some cheap plumbing parts into a mash tun.

The other evolution was the cheap turkey fryer. Neither of these things break the bank.

Those really are the two most important parts of Ag brewing. Then maybe a wort chiller (and even that isn't necessary if one chooses to use the no-chill method.)

The third allgrain method which is even cheaper is the brew in a bag/no sparge method, all you really need is your kettle and a big bag.

There's not a lot of expense in these methods, and great beer can be made with all the methods.

That's why I'm curious as to what Gustavo did, and why he felt the need to go whatever route he chose.

 

[Dale_3rd]

The good thing I found was that after the expense of getting all the equipment, the home brewing blues go away and before you know it, you've got plenty of home brew on hand for cheap.

 

[LarryC]

I went AG about a year ago. A friend supplied the 5 gal. cooler for the MLT and I paid about $25 for a valve & braid. I have tacked on a few things since then to make brew day easier but I do it at my pace.

I don't have much room for storage so I buy the grain as I need it - that definitely bumps the price up. If I go the LHBS route I usually get out of there with $30+ less dollars in my pocket. I can get the grain cheaper online but the shipping just about evens it out for single batches (and then there's the "ooh, shiny new stuff" problem).

All things said, going AG wasn't a big hit in the wallet, it made my brewing more interesting for me and I think because I am more pragmatic on brew day, I make better beer. Bottom line, totally worth it... for ME

 

[Dan]

Is this really HBT? The hostility is unusual.

Brew, drink, and be happy!

 

[topend]

Is this really HBT? The hostility is unusual.

Brew, drink, and be happy!

+1. So many of these conversations turn into criticism and competition. Chill out, this is supposed to be a fun hobby.