How Do You All Do It?

[gfd622]

I truly am amazed at timing and your ability to stay out of your homebrews for weeks at a time. I have no patience for this, yet I'm having a great time brewing and am looking forward to my next batch. Part of my issue is that my wife likes IPA's while I like dark beers. I have 2 beers going most of the time, one in primary and one in secondary, but still, I can't seem to catch up yet alone get ahead.

I don't have a homebrew shop in my town. I have to order online from various places, and frankly, shipping is killing me. Any ideas how to cut this down for future batches (do I need to plan 3 batches ahead or ???). I'm still saving money, and more important, the beer tastes so much better than anything I would have bought. How do people save when doing their own recipes. That is, do you buy in bulk or do you simply buy what you need every time? I'm still new at this, having only 4 brews under my belt (2 still going actually, not quite in the bottle yet), but I'm trying to figure out how to purchase items for my next brew. I do have certain beers I like more than others, but frankly kits are cheaper to buy (and nothing wrong with kits, I just like brewing my own). I want to do recipes (I think in the end I will want to impose my own flavors in the beer, and so recipes are a must in my mind), but the last recipe I bought cost me around $50 for 2 cases of finished product (which isn't bad but it isn't great in my mind).

Just curious. Thanks

GFD622 (Indiana brewer/chemist/firefighter/?????)

 

[Kai]

I have an LHBS, so I buy by the recipe. I'd buy in bulk, though, if I had to pay for shipping on each order. I'm still planning (when I have a couple of dollars) to buy a sack of two-row, and maybe split sacks of specialty grains with a few brewer friends.

 

[Arneba28]

Shipping. Austin Homebrew has 6.99 flat rate shipping for most things. I believe they are the cheapest around.

To stay ahead so you dont run out, I brewed once a week for a month. Let it all age out good. Then went back to my normal, every 2 or 3 weeks schedule. You will have to find your own pace.
To save money is hard in this hobby. There is always one moe thing you want. But once you start doing your own recipes you done really have to buy in bulk. Just buy a little more then you actually need 1# vs 2#, 15#DME instead of the 6# that you need. You will slowly build up a supply so when you do brew you may just have to go out and get some yeast, or stockpile dry yeast!

 

[Bobby_M]

Buying in bulk saves money once you know the recipes. Converting to all grain brewing is the only way to really make it cost effective though. It's literally HALF the cost of an all-extract batch. The key to staying out of your beer is to brew again, sooner. Brew at twice the speed of your consumption until you have no more carboys.

 

[malkore]

Just keep brewing all the time, and you'll eventually have 2-3 beers that are ready to drink while the rest are aging or still fermenting.

 

[dibby33]

Turtles.
Make 1000s of them.
Some will make it to maturity.

Turtle Brewery. ...I like that

 

[Yooper]

I also have to order online, and I usually order where the flat rate shipping is $6.99. I plan my batches, and order enough for 3-4 batches at a time. I have TONS of hops in my freezer, so I don't buy hops very often any more. I bought hops when they were $1.19 or so an ounce, so that is a big savings right there. I use high AAU hops for bittering, and the lower AAUs for flavor and aroma, so the hops go farther, and I need to use less overall. (I also got lucky and got some hops in a bulk buy/lottery here on HBT- that also was a big help!)

As far as saving money beyond hops:
I wash liquid yeast, to reuse, so I rarely buy yeast. I make lagers and cooler fermenting ales in the winter, and make ales in the summer, so I don't have to use a fridge for fermenting. (I live in a cold climate, which helps) All-grain is much cheaper, ingredient wise, than buying extract. I usually can make an entire batch for what others pay for 3-4 pounds of extract. Planning ahead really does help save money- you pay shipping once, and get enough for 4 batches at that time. I brew on my stove, so I'm not buying propane, and I haven't seen any increase in my gas bill in my home. So I don't think I'm using much gas or electricity with my brewing. I realize we are in this hobby for fun and to make good beer- but money is always a concern for me, too.

 

[rurounikitsune]

I quit buying by the recipe. We have family in Cincinnati so when it's time for one of us to visit the other, a few hundred lbs of malt makes its way from Listermann's to my house. I just buy more of the malts I use more of (2-row, Munich, Vienna) and less of the heavily roasted stuff, and a few new yeasts I want to try. You don't know anyone who lives near a nice, big HBS?