How Cheap Can You Go?

[GrowleyMonster]

How cheap can a 5 gallon batch be made for? I mean, pulling out all the stops, going all grain, homegrown hops, all that. Maybe even malting the barley. No more than two fermentables in the bill. Keeping it simple, but drinkable.

 

[grampamark]

Paging @bracconiere. bracconiere pick up a white phone.

 

[day_trippr]

lol ^seriously^ he's gotta be the authority wrt brewing at rock bottom cost

 

[davidabcd]

He has spreadsheets laying out his costs for the last ten years or something like that.

 

[shoreman]

What ABV range are you looking at? Technically you could mash 1lb of grains with a couple pellets of Magnum and make a table beer. You could go as low as $5 for a 5 gallon batch including yeast.

 

[MaxStout]

You could do SMaSH beers - single malt and single hops. Buy base malt by the bag, get hops by the pound online (much cheaper per oz). Just keep a few yeasts, ones that will cover many styles, and harvest yeast from each batch for the next one.

 

[Jayjay1976]

"Drinkable" is such a subjective word. I mean, what's drinkable to one person might be totally unpalatable to another.

Do you want to brew something decent, tasty, or even good to drink?

Also, what's your time worth? You know, it doesn't take any longer to brew a good beer than it does a cheap beer, so why skimp on the ingredients?

"Pulling out all the stops" to a beer nut usually means a well thought-out grain bill, a carefully selected yeast strain, a multi-step mash and/or a decoction, and of course precisely controlled fermentation and conditioning temperatures.

What you're asking for is more like "apply all the stops and see if it's drinkable".

 

[grampamark]

"Pulling out all the stops" to a beer nut usually means a well thought-out grain bill, a carefully selected yeast strain, a multi-step mash and/or a decoction, and of course precisely controlled fermentation and conditioning temperatures.“

I would submit that more bad homebrew has been made as the result of overthinking than any other reason.

My sole criterion for judging my beers is: “Would I be happy if I’d just paid $5 for this pint in a brewpub?” It’s taken 8 years and 100+ batches but I can meet my expectations with my ghetto quality system.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

You could do SMaSH beers - single malt and single hops. Buy base malt by the bag, get hops by the pound online (much cheaper per oz). Just keep a few yeasts, ones that will cover many styles, and harvest yeast from each batch for the next one.

Yeah you got the idea. I am looking for a not too hoppy gold to amber ale with an ABV of 5% or so, IBU under 30, fermentable at room temperature which in our hose runs 74f but I can cheat for up to about three days at 68 or 70 until GF starts grumbling about it being awful cold for New Orleans in the summer. I just bought a pound of Cascade and 6 6lb jugs of NB's gold LME so I am good with extract for the next couple of months at least, but I am definitely thinking seriously about throttling back still more on the brewing expenses. The only way to go cheaper than what I am doing, is to go with grain.

Haven't decided whether to make a false bottom mash tun or go with BIAB style. Right now I am brewing extract ales with small amounts of steeping grains, packaged yeasts such as US-05, and hops pellets. GF loves to garden and wants to grow us some hops and I am like, yay. Her gardening results have been underwhelming so far but hey, if she can produce some hops for me, that will save some few bucks, anyway. My next batch is going to be all LME and I think I will do that this evening. I just wanted to try just the extract and some cascade, and see how it comes out.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

The cheapest I've ever done a batch for was free. A local homebrew shop was giving away a kit for the cost of shipping. They're close to me so no shipping.

Otherwise, if I can math correctly, the cheapest I go is a session beer I have on constant rotation, a hit with the BMC friends, and has garnered a couple awards as well.

$4.90 for the grains at my local shop
$0.47 worth of hops ($5/lb on sale online)
Yeast is recycled from the previous batch

$5.37 / 5 gallons

or $0.13 / pint

 

[tellyho]

No way you're malting your own barley. Would actually cost more in time and energy.

I make a garbage pail ale with my homegrown hops once a year. Cost is basically for the 2 row: 10 pounds from bulk sack is $8, plus some C-something-or-other. Pitch some dried kveik and go. Do I amortize in the cost of star San? Electricity? Equipment (shudder)? Maybe another $1.

So, $9 for 5 gal.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I just bought a pound of Cascade and 6 6lb jugs of NB's gold LME so I am good with extract for the next couple of months at leas

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...ascade-hops-will-it-work.670642/#post-8688535 ?

 

[bracconiere]

damn, my pic messed up my post, anyway, i can brew a 10 gallon batch for $8...homemalt from the feed store, and year old hops by the pound...pull off 8% alcohol using gluco-amylase...

and if you want to know what i spent back in 2016 i think on drinking the equivelent of a case a day...and yes it's itemized....

malting your own grain is the best cost saver, i buy a bag of whole barley for 12.99 at the feed store, that gets me 2 10 gallon batches with some to spare....

doesn't really take much work to malt your own just time....(and that beer actually finished dry at 1.000, just didn't change the number)

i've posted my method of malting here in a couple threads....but beer CAN be cheap! because god loves us!

edit: another killer is propane, i brew on NG now...practicably free...

 

[GrowleyMonster]

Wow some nice replies there! Especially the last one, from @bracconiere. Very detailed! I had in mind to make sort of a tumbler style malter using a barbecue rotisserie gearhead motor or a stepper motor and arduino or pi controller. I can wet, air, and dry all in the machine, and I will figure out how to roast or if I wanna, later.

We only have two feed stores in New Orleans, and the websites didn't show any barley. I will make a special guest appearance there and see what they got. Otherwise I have an Uncle up in Texas, in the hill country, and I know you can get barley up there. I go visit every year or two.

 

[bracconiere]

Wow some nice replies there! Especially the last one, from @bracconiere. Very detailed! I had in mind to make sort of a tumbler style malter using a barbecue rotisserie gearhead motor or a stepper motor and arduino or pi controller. I can wet, air, and dry all in the machine, and I will figure out how to roast or if I wanna, later.

We only have two feed stores in New Orleans, and the websites didn't show any barley. I will make a special guest appearance there and see what they got. Otherwise I have an Uncle up in Texas, in the hill country, and I know you can get barley up there. I go visit every year or two.

you have to kiln, or it'll taste like chicken scratch....and most feed stores would probably special order whole barley for you....

edit: for a 5 gallon batch you're looking at like 12 pounds of malt, not sure if a BBQ rotiser would do it...plus you need to dry it at room temp, so the enzymes stay intact for mashing....once the kernels are firm and crunshy you can put it in the oven... i use @Schlenkerla patent pending wire baskets, if the barley sprouts are at least crunchy to the squeeze, they can kiln in a 170f oven for 12 hours...it'll be a dark beer, but convert fine.....

edit #2: you can make a dry hopped rice beer with a 20lb bag of rice too, just dry hop it....10 gallons for the price of a bag of rice...pretty good.....i can get a 20lb bag of rice for ~$8 here, with the alpha, and gluco-amylase, comes out to about 7.5% ABV, for a 10 gal batch..but that takes a lot of rice hulls, if you can find a bale at a garden store..wouldn't recommend it from a homebrew shop....

further note: if you got $600, you could make booze for $1.25 a 1.75l, but it's just not the same as naturally fermented.....

 

[GrowleyMonster]

you have to kiln, or it'll taste like chicken scratch....and most feed stores would probably special order whole barley for you....

edit: for a 5 gallon batch you're looking at like 12 pounds of malt, not sure if a BBQ rotiser would do it...plus you need to dry it at room temp, so the enzymes stay intact for mashing....once the kernels are firm and crunshy you can put it in the oven... i use @Schlenkerla patent pending wire baskets, if the barley sprouts are at least crunchy to the squeeze, they can kiln in a 170f oven for 12 hours...it'll be a dark beer, but convert fine.....

edit #2: you can make a dry hopped rice beer with a 20lb bag of rice too, just dry hop it....10 gallons for the price of a bag of rice...pretty good.....i can get a 20lb bag of rice for ~$8 here, with the alpha, and gluco-amylase, comes out to about 7.5% ABV, for a 10 gal batch..but that takes a lot of rice hulls, if you can find a bale at a garden store..wouldn't recommend it from a homebrew shop....

further note: if you got $600, you could make booze for $1.25 a 1.75l, but it's just not the same as naturally fermented.....

Rice, huh? I was thinking about adding rice to a mash. One thing we got here in Louisiana, is plenty of rice. I figured the enzymes in the barley malt would convert a fair amount of rice, given a chance. I know you can't malt it through normal methods very well. I will have to get with you some day about that alpha-gluco-whatis and the buck and two bits a handle booze, too. Asking for a friend. LOL! My understanding being that it is supposed to take about 10 gallons of mash to make a gallon of er, ethanol fuel.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

 

[bracconiere]

Rice, huh? I was thinking about adding rice to a mash. One thing we got here in Louisiana, is plenty of rice. I figured the enzymes in the barley malt would convert a fair amount of rice, given a chance. I know you can't malt it through normal methods very well. I will have to get with you some day about that alpha-gluco-whatis and the buck and two bits a handle booze, too. Asking for a friend. LOL! My understanding being that it is supposed to take about 10 gallons of mash to make a gallon of er, ethanol fuel.

if you're doing a 50-50 rice-barley malt mash, should convert fine...but you're going to need rice hulls for it...100% rice and you'll need the enzymes, alpha for the mash, gluco into the fermenter...booze is easy, boil some wheat germ in water, add that to a 5 gallon bucket of sugar water, with enough sugar to ferrment out to 16% ABV, add yeast that go that high...gives a 1 gallon of cask strength (65%), add some toasted hard wood, smoking chips of some kind...after 2 weeks you got booze...

P.S. personally i've done a lot of mashes using white flour in them to cut costs, before i learned how to malt better i was limited to only being able to malt 10-12lb's at a time, and white flour sounded more appealing then white sugar...5lbs in the mash converted just fine, sparging was a bitch though, lol..

 

[Miraculix]

How cheap can a 5 gallon batch be made for? I mean, pulling out all the stops, going all grain, homegrown hops, all that. Maybe even malting the barley. No more than two fermentables in the bill. Keeping it simple, but drinkable.

I just made a really delicious saison with 50% wheat flour and 50% pale malt. 10-15ibus, bittering only, yeast "Lille Saison" which is a repacked belle saison for 1.5 GBP per pack, og 1.03, abv around 4%, delicious, refreshing and the cheapest beer I ever made.

 

[bracconiere]

I just made a really delicious saison with 50% wheat flour and 50% pale malt. 10-15ibus, bittering only, yeast "Lille Saison" which is a repacked belle saison for 1.5 GBP per pack, og 1.03, abv around 4%, delicious, refreshing and the cheapest beer I ever made.

Damn Good point! when i started repitching my yeast from batch to next, saved me a lot of money also! i reuse the same yeast for a year at least, sometimes two...

 

[Miraculix]

Damn Good point! when i started repitching my yeast from batch to next, saved me a lot of money also! i reuse the same yeast for a year at least, sometimes two...

I get infections pretty easily, so I don't repitch anymore. But if it works for you, it's a nice way to safe as well.

 

[bracconiere]

I get infections pretty easily,

i do too, which is why i only pasteurize, and don't sterilize anymore....my natural biome tastes pretty good, and if i kill it off my beer sucks....

 

[Miraculix]

i do too, which is why i only pasteurize, and don't sterilize anymore....my natural biome tastes pretty good, and if i kill it off my beer sucks....

Sorry, I meant, my beer gets infected pretty easily. This kitchen is haunted.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I just made a really delicious saison with 50% wheat flour and 50% pale malt. 10-15ibus, bittering only, yeast "Lille Saison" which is a repacked belle saison for 1.5 GBP per pack, og 1.03, abv around 4%, delicious, refreshing and the cheapest beer I ever made.

Sounds like a nice simple recipe, curious what kind of hops you used. Using wheat flour sounds interesting, how does the flavor compare to raw and malted wheat?

 

[bracconiere]

Sorry, I meant, my beer gets infected pretty easily. This kitchen is haunted.

LOL, which is why after my last attempt at "sterile" brewing, i had to put my fermenter out side in the open air and sunlight to get the biome refreshed... @IslandLizard gave me that tip, thanks man, been brewing my mediocre but not bad/great beer again...

 

[bracconiere]

Using wheat flour sounds interesting, how does the flavor compare to raw and malted wheat?

when i used white flour, instead of table sugar....well i add gluco to the fermenter anyway, but the flour has more mouthfeel than the sugar....

 

[bracconiere]

And to the OP, damn! minimum wage is $7.25 in Louisiana! no wonder you need to drink on the cheap!

 

[Miraculix]

Sounds like a nice simple recipe, curious what kind of hops you used. Using wheat flour sounds interesting, how does the flavor compare to raw and malted wheat?

Doesn't taste like much to be honest. It enhances head and mouthfeel nicely but the flavour is neutral. I used Perle, but everything noble or neutral should do!

 

[GrowleyMonster]

And to the OP, damn! minimum wage is $7.25 in Louisiana! no wonder you need to drink on the cheap!

ROTFL! I couldn't work for that. I am a retired ship's Bosun and I usually made around $90k/yr. If I had to live on $7.25/hr I wouldn't bother working. I would make myself a sign and find a good intersection. "Please help with whatever you can spare! Just got a margin call from my broker!" LOL. Or, "Sure, I'm just a bum. But if you give generously, I will be a happy bum!" Or how bout "Will work for sex and beer. Or just give me a buck or two, whatevah."

 

[bracconiere]

to answer the OP's question more directly...for a 5 gallon batch, you CAN brew it for about $2, but then you'll spend more on co2, so $4 and brew it twice as strong as the 4.4% store bought is....here's a hypotetical recipe design for 5 gallons...using homemalt, year old hops from YVH, and gluco-amylase...

you can see this is 7.8% alcohol, store bought is only 4.4%...and the price of my malt even included electricity to run the box fan, and gas in the oven to kiln it...i brew on a NG range over two burners and, don't notice a difference in my gas bill...so i can't calculate that....

(and if i seem excited, i've spent the last 15 years having fun seeing JUST how cheap i can brew beer for, so i am! )