How cheaply/inexpensivly can you brew 5 gal

[jhubert]

So I brew mainly APA, IPA style 5 gallon batches. I am now planning on buying my base malts in bulk and start reusing yeast. Do you think I can get down to $15 / 5 gal batch? How low can you guys get per batch? What are some ways to save here and there besides buying bulk base malt and reusing yeast?

 

[mattd2]

First one to say bulk hops (big savings for IPA/IIPAs)
I guess if you list out your expenses then you can see where you can save;
Malt - buy in bulk
Adjunts - buy in bulk (use more but this will affect your beer)
Hops - buy in bulk
Yeast - Reuse
Water - use town supply if using bottled, i don't know?
Fuel/power - look at making your brew setup more energy efficient

 

[williamnave]

Just a few things I've personally done to save money

- Buy grains/hops in bulk
- Work on fine-tuning efficiency (less grain=less $$)
- Have propane filled at service station instead of Blue Rhino/Amerigas
- Reuse/wash yeast
- Don't buy, build! There's a ridiculous amount to be saved DIY'ing

Do what works for you, and don't get caught up in doing all at once...one step at a time......

 

[jhubert]

What blows me away is the savings on grain. If I buy per pound Rahr 2 Row it is 1.34/lb, but if I get a 50lb sack it is 35.99 or .72/lb. This is huge! Then if I start reusing yeast I am darn near cutting my costs in half. I will have to look into buying hops in bulk as well. Dang, if I can save $15 per batch and brew 4 batches a month that adds up real fast! It will help me justify getting some more brewing toys/equipment! LOL.

 

[C-Rider]

What blows me away is the savings on grain. If I buy per pound Rahr 2 Row it is 1.34/lb, but if I get a 50lb sack it is 35.99 or .72/lb. This is huge! Then if I start reusing yeast I am darn near cutting my costs in half. I will have to look into buying hops in bulk as well. Dang, if I can save $15 per batch and brew 4 batches a month that adds up real fast! It will help me justify getting some more brewing toys/equipment! LOL.

If you buy hops in bulk don't you need to purchase a vacuum sealer so they don't spoil?

 

[pcollins]

If you buy hops in bulk don't you need to purchase a vacuum sealer so they don't spoil?

Depends on how quickly you use them. LOL

I keep mine in zip lock bags and just squeeze the air out of them and keep them in the freezer. They're fine. It's not like we're dealing with ground beef or ground chicken that is going to go bad and kill you. Their shelf life is much longer and they won't make you sick.

To answer the OP's question, though. I haven't broken down the math just yet but my basic ingredients for a Cascade SMaSH or something similar:

55lb 2 row: $45 CAD
1lb Cascade Pellets: $9.75
500g US-05: $43.60
City water: no idea

Let's assume I do a conservative OG SMaSH and use 9lbs of grain:

grain: $7.36
hops: $1.21
yeast: $1.04
total: $9.61

Now, this doesn't include the cost of the water or the gas that I'm using but that's a rough estimate. I'm doing this stove top as well so it's natural gas piped into the house and all city water. A couple of extra pennies for the starsan and you've got a batch of beer for around $10.

 

[pcollins]

Did a bit more digging and calculating and found my water bill. LOL

We are charged a consumption rate of $1.3667/m3.
Basic Cascade SMaSH uses 9.8g of water.
9.8g=0.037m3
Basic cost of water to make one batch of beer: $0.05!!

Who knew?

 

[bbrim]

I make a Blonde ale that cost me $9.92, then grain prices climbed a bit, now its around $10.50. Then there is the cost of propane. For a typical batch ingredients cost $15-18. This is still damn cheap and usually tastes as good as the micros at the store.

 

[Moonpile]

Did a bit more digging and calculating and found my water bill. LOL

We are charged a consumption rate of $1.3667/m3.
Basic Cascade SMaSH uses 9.8g of water.
9.8g=0.037m3
Basic cost of water to make one batch of beer: $0.05!!

Who knew?

In all fairness you probably use three or four times that amount of water, counting cleaning for fermenters, bottles/kegs, etc. So make it a whopping $0.20!

 

[pcollins]

In all fairness you probably use three or four times that amount of water, counting cleaning for fermenters, bottles/kegs, etc. So make it a whopping $0.20!

Oh, absolutely! Agreed. But the only measurable quantity I had was what gets used for the actual brewing.

But what you said, a whopping $0.20 for a brew day.

This also adds weight to my KISS argument. I am able to brew very decent beer using straight tap water going through a water softener for $0.05/batch (not including cleaning/rinsing water etc.). I don't need to drive anywhere to get water, I'm not paying for RO or chemicals, etc... Obviously, everybody's water is different but this is what I have so it's what I use.

 

[hts]

You guys forgot to consider the cost of caps if you bottle or CO2 if you keg.

 

[Yooper]

I buy hops by the pound. They vary in price from $8 for willamette to $16 for amarillo. Most were about $12 per pound.

Grain is $37 per sack (50 pounds). Specialty grain is about $1.50/pound or so.

For a basic "Sierra Nevada" type APA:

10 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 8.89 %
0.50 oz Magnum [13.40 %] (60 min) Hops 20.4 IBU
0.50 oz Pearle [8.40 %] (30 min) Hops 10.9 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (10 min) Hops 6.6 IBU
2.00 oz Cascade [8.50 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1 Pkgs Safale S-05 (Fermentis #S-05) Yeast-Ale


That came to just about $15. It would have been over $2 cheaper if I would have used a yeast that I had washed and saved.

The nice thing is you can adjust each recipe as you need to. No magnum? That's fine- sub galena. No crystal 60L? Ok, use 40L or another crystal. If I have some extra maris otter, I can sub in a pound or two of that. Or Vienna malt. The changes are good!

I buy 4 gallons of RO water for each brewday, at a cost of $1.56, plus use some of my own water and some calcium chloride. Figure about $2 or so for water, the salts, cleaning supplies, etc. I have an all-electric brewery, so there is no cost for propane. I'm not sure what the total cost is for running my system, as my electric bill seems the same whether I brew or not.

C02 is cheap. I've been on the same 10 pound tank since before Christmas- I'd say it was $12 or so to fill.

 

[pcollins]

You're right and I keg so that is definitely a cost to take into consideration but it's one that I can't easily measure at this point in time.

There are a myriad of expenses to take into consideration:
cleaners/sanitizers (and the water for mixing those)
electricity costs if you're set up for that
waste water costs
propane (if that's your set up)
clarifying agents
refrigeration
transportation (I have to drive to get my grains)
shipping

Probably the biggest expense that isn't factored in is the initial equipment costs (and ongoing as well).

And the list goes on...

 

[kpr121]

You guys forgot to consider the cost of caps if you bottle or CO2 if you keg.

Okay I'll be the first to say it, since its inevitably going here:

What about the cost of your equipment? Electricity to run your refridgerator/ferm chiller? Your personal time that it takes to fix that leaky faucet or clean 100 bottles a week?

You have to draw the line somewhere.

Me personally I look at cost of ingredients and immediate operational costs that go with the brewday. Stuff like propane, electric, water, ice, etc are what I count in.

If you just look at ingredients I can be below 10 bucks per 5 gallons for a simple pale ale or the like (reuse yeast, buy hops and grains in bulk). But when you add the operational costs I estimate that goes up to between 15 and 20 dollars.

Propane is expensive. I've started to battle that cost by building a E-HLT, now I can get between 3-4 10 gallon brews off one tank. That puts the propane cost per batch at around 2.50 per 5 gallons.

Ice is also expensive. I buy 10-20 lbs per brewday usually. This is like 3-4 bucks. I have fought this cost by freezing 2 liter bottles a few days before brewday.

Water is not so expensive since I have a dedicated filter at my brew area. Sometimes I will use bottled spring water if I feel like it. I havent noticed much of a difference so I guess my tap water is pretty good.

 

[PVH]

If you buy hops in bulk don't you need to purchase a vacuum sealer so they don't spoil?

I just press as much air out as possible and carefully iron the bag closed again. If you open the bag only enough to get the hops out, you should be able to reseal it many times.

Also, I recall someone using SWMBO's curling iron to do this. Perhaps the most amusing recruitment of a household item into the brewing operation.

 

[Catt22]

This also adds weight to my KISS argument. I am able to brew very decent beer using straight tap water going through a water softener for $0.05/batch (not including cleaning/rinsing water etc.). I don't need to drive anywhere to get water, I'm not paying for RO or chemicals, etc... Obviously, everybody's water is different but this is what I have so it's what I use.

It's my understanding that water run through a water softener unit is not suitable for brewing. I use a carbon filter for my brewing water and if brewing some lagers I dilute the tap water 50/50 with distilled to soften it up.

 

[BeerLogic]

I buy 55 lb. sacks of Golden Promise (@ about $1 a pound) and make my own crystal and toasted malts out of it. That saves a ton, and even crystal malts are much easier to make than you would think if you have a decent oven.

I brew a lot of English styles, so I keep Challenger and EKGs around in bulk (@ about $12 a pound), and I have a strain of 1968 that I've been propagating for about 6 months now.

Since my landlord pays the water bill, it looks like I can do my usual ESB (10 lbs. GP, 1 lb. crystal 60, .5 lbs. amber malt, 1 oz. Challenger, 2 oz. EKG) for $13.75 (plus whatever fraction of the cost of the original package of 1968 I'm at now and the electricity to run the stove).

 

[permo]

Buy grain in bulk and grind it yourself
Buy hops by the pound in bulk
Wash yeast
Mash Overnight (large increase in efficiency)
Double or even triple sparge if batch sparging (increase efficiency)

using these methods I routinely brew 10 gallon batches of beer for between 25 and 40 dollars depending on gravity and hop levels. I am consistently between 80 and 85 % efficiency.

 

[BeerLogic]

Is mashing overnight really necessary? I use a variant of the Fix mash schedule with a single batch sparge infusion and my efficiency is pegged pretty solidly at 82%.

 

[lextasy23]

Am I the only one who doesn't really care what it costs?

 

[scottland]

Am I the only one who doesn't really care what it costs?

I'm with you. I do things to save money making beer (buying hops and grain in bulk), but I don't ever calculate how to make my batches cheaper. I simply don't care.

If i had to guess how cheap a simple batch was, like a blonde ale:

$6 in base malt, $1.50 in specialty malts, $1 in hops, $3.50 in yeast, $3 in ice, and $1-2 in propane.

So $16.50, which i'm perfectly ok with. My IIPA probably costs like $35-45, and I've got DFH 120 minute on the schedule, and that batch is like $90 in ingredients alone.

 

[beerkrump]

I've got some Canadian Malters Pale Ale for around $0.48/lb. For my CAA, Cheap Ass Ale, I take 12 pounds of the malt and roast two of those pounds to varying degrees. I use washed yeast and home grown hops. I end up with 5 gallons of tasty beer for around six bucks.

 

[lextasy23]

I've got some Canadian Malters Pale Ale for around $0.48/lb. For my CAA, Cheap Ass Ale, I take 12 pounds of the malt and roast two of those pounds to varying degrees. I use washed yeast and home grown hops. I end up with 5 gallons of tasty beer for around six bucks.

For. The. Win.

 

[permo]

Is mashing overnight really necessary?

Nope it isn't. Now that I think about it, neither is brewing your own beer. You can just buy it if you want.

In my system and they way I do things, I like to overnight mash when it fits into my schedule. No big deal.

 

[BeerLogic]

By that I meant that I can't imagine you would get much, if any, increase in efficiency. If it's for convenience that makes sense, but otherwise I don't really see the point since after 1 to 2 hours you really aren't going to get much, if any, more conversion.

 

[cwheel]

I brew a lot of English styles, so I keep Challenger and EKGs around in bulk (@ about $12 a pound), and I have a strain of 1968 that I've been propagating for about 6 months now.

I do the same thing, and love the strain of 1968 that I have! Its honestly my favorite yeast. I use it for almost everything. So you say you've had it 6 months: how many generations is this? I vaguely remember reading somewhere that you should really only use / wash / reuse a strain of yeast about 6 times, after that it becomes less effective. Have you found that true with the 1968?

Sorry to hijack the thread. FWIW, I would pay twice as much as it currently costs me to brew my own beer. Its not about the money, its about how much fun it is to brew with my son.

 

[foltster]

Nope it isn't. Now that I think about it, neither is brewing your own beer. You can just buy it if you want.

In my system and they way I do things, I like to overnight mash when it fits into my schedule. No big deal.

If I mash overnight it is usually more to save the time of mashing in the morning so I can finish up my brew day sooner. Gotta love only losing ~10 degrees F in 8-10 hours.

Waking up at 8 and be all cleaned up by 12 is nice.

 

[BeerLogic]

I don't reuse the yeast from an actual fermentation, I propagate in 1.020 dme wort in 22 ounce bottles. I would guess I'm on something like the 15th generation.

 

[Scooby_Brew]

I buy my base grain in bulk, hops in bulk and I reuse yeast. That saves me a lot of mullah.
One area where I could save some more money is switching from propane tanks to natural gas. One propane tank cost me $20 and it lasts me exactly for two 10 gal batches. So the cost of propane for me is ~$10/10 gal batch, or about 25% of the total cost. I have a feeling I could save some money by switching to natural gas, although I'm not sure how much would that cost me per batch.

 

[onthekeg]

I make a cheap light beer for the guests that prefer that type of thing. 14 gallons is only about 14 dollars.
Malt 9lb. 6.00
Corn 5lb 3.00
Magnum Hops 1.0 oz .80
Yeast free
Elec 2.11
Total:11.11 water is free so I would guess that leaves allot for star san and other stuff. I built my elec system for 100 dollars a couple years ago so that's depreciated out.

 

[Frank99]

+ 1 buying in bulk for hops/grains. Also, my LHBS has an annual sale every September in which I load up.

 

[Haputanlas]

I'm not getting the best prices, but I typically spend about $13 for 5 gallons of either a hef or pale ale.

I do like my beers a little bit stronger, so my grain bills might be larger than others.

Once I move to milling my own grain and propagating yeast, I suspect I'll get this down to about $8 or $9 per 5 gallon batch.

 

[pcollins]

It's my understanding that water run through a water softener unit is not suitable for brewing. I use a carbon filter for my brewing water and if brewing some lagers I dilute the tap water 50/50 with distilled to soften it up.

But have you tried it?

I had heard that as well and for most of my styles I was bypassing my water softener so that I was brewing with hard water. I started brewing a Pils in my regular rotation and started using the soft water for it and it worked fine. One day I was brewing a pale ale and was too lazy to do the bypass so ended brewing with the soft water and it was fine.

Again, it fits with my KISS philosophy. I want my brew day to be as simple as possible and still produce good beer. I'm doing that with tap water and running through the water softener. Not everybody is going to be able to do that but that's just what it is.

 

[BlackJaqueJanaviac]

For a few bucks worth of iron pipe and a brass quick-connect you can run a natural gas port to the outside or whereever your brewspace is. Natural gas is cheaper than propane and it doesn't run out in the middle of a boil. The aggravating thing is if you don't have 2 propane tanks you have to refill a partially full tank and pay for gas you already paid for.

 

[lumpher]

main problem with the $7-10 estimate for 5 gallons is they don't add in the cost of the propane, and maybe the yeast, which usually adds up to another $10-12 between the propane and the yeast if it's liquid yeast. i can do a 5 gallon anywhere from $12-30, depending on just how specialized the brew is. some brews take really special grain, some take liquid yeast ( i usually use dry yeast )

 

[Calder]

I run about $18 for my average batch (1.058, 6.2% abv, 4.8 ozs hops). .... OK, I'm anal and keep detailed records; this includes bottle caps, sanitizer, fermcap, priming sugar, etc, etc. Works out to about $0.35 per bottle.

When I add in equipment, it comes out to about $0.50 per bottle for everything.

BUT ........ If I add in the time, about 10 hours for a 6.5 gallon batch (buying, prep, brewing, cleaning, racking, bottling, and recipe formulating, and I'm probably underestimating that), and factor a pretty low wage of say $10 per hour, it adds $1.50 per bottle.

I do make some awesome beers, some of which would stand up against $5 bottles, but there are also many others that I can pick out flaws, that I certainly would be disappointed if I paid $2 for.

While buying ingredients in bulk may keep my cost down, I'm not doing this to save money; overall if I include my time, I think my beers cost a lot more than I could buy similar for.

I love the hobby, and have a great store of many different types of beers, some of which you just can't get from the store; such as an Oaked Rum Robust Porter, or a Gumballhead clone (can't get the stuff around here - just had one), or a Bretted Brown Ale, or an All-Brett beer, etc.

 

[lumpher]

can't add time in, as it's a hobby most of us love . i'm still fascinated by it

 

[Vance71975]

So I brew mainly APA, IPA style 5 gallon batches. I am now planning on buying my base malts in bulk and start reusing yeast. Do you think I can get down to $15 / 5 gal batch? How low can you guys get per batch? What are some ways to save here and there besides buying bulk base malt and reusing yeast?

I have done a batch for 8 bucks, it was a really good sale and i had a yeast cake to pitch on. This has only happened once, normally i am between 12 and 22 per batch depending on how big of a beer it is.

 

[Beezy]

The cheapest I have gone because I haven't bought bulk yet is around 25. And that is not including yeast, I re-used it. The cheap will be coming though. Bulk...

 

[passedpawn]

main problem with the $7-10 estimate for 5 gallons is they don't add in the cost of the propane, and maybe the yeast, which usually adds up to another $10-12 between the propane and the yeast if it's liquid yeast. i can do a 5 gallon anywhere from $12-30, depending on just how specialized the brew is. some brews take really special grain, some take liquid yeast ( i usually use dry yeast )

Reusing yeast is so easy. Not a stretch to assume it's near free when reusing.

No propane here. Electricity, which can't run more than a buck or two.

I'd say a 5g batch is around $10. I don't do 5g batches tho: a 10g batch takes the same time, and time is $$