The Best Cheap Brew Competition
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Cost is the least of my brewing concern. I do avoid extremely expensive brews...but Quality is #1 here.
I'd save for a year to make 1 good batch before I'd brew 1000 batches that were just O.K.
Having said that, BierMunchers Cream of 3 crops is pretty cheap...as is Ed's Haus Pale.
Not sure about my Inter coastal ale yet...I think it needs tweaked, and that'll crank up the cost a bit.
Cost is the least of my brewing concern. I do avoid extremely expensive brews...but Quality is #1 here.
I'd save for a year to make 1 good batch before I'd brew 1000 batches that were just O.K.
Having said that, BierMunchers Cream of 3 crops is pretty cheap...as is Ed's Haus Pale.
Not sure about my Inter coastal ale yet...I think it needs tweaked, and that'll crank up the cost a bit.
do you do all grain, can you lager? if so I have a good light lager recipe for you. If not, you shouldn't really attempt this.
6 lbs. American six row malt
3 lbs. Rice, cooked on the stove
Mash at 150 for two hours.
Boil for 60 minutes
1 oz Pride of ringwood for 60 minutes.
Cool wort and pitch lager yeast when wort reaches 60 degrees f. Follow lagering directions on the yeast vial or package. Any clean fermenting lager yeast will do.
All your BMC Friends will love this and it only winds up costing about $15 for all of the ingredients.
6 lbs. American six row malt
3 lbs. Rice, cooked on the stove
Mash at 150 for two hours.
Boil for 60 minutes
1 oz Pride of ringwood for 60 minutes.
Cool wort and pitch lager yeast when wort reaches 60 degrees f. Follow lagering directions on the yeast vial or package. Any clean fermenting lager yeast will do.
All your BMC Friends will love this and it only winds up costing about $15 for all of the ingredients.
Hagen
Well-Known Member
Most of my recipes are under $20 for a 5gal batch, and they are some tasty, quality stuff.
ScubaSteve
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Apfelwein is hella cheap (not exactly beer)...I think it costs roughly $18 and takes less than 20 mins to make.
BrewDoc_Md
Well-Known Member
Hefeweizens are pretty cheap (very few ingredients), especially if you use banked frozen yeast. Plus they're ready to drink soon, no conditioning needed.
how are you all getting 5 gall for less than $20. my lhbs has grain for 2.45/lb. even if i used a washed yeast, asssuming cost = $0, to get a decient beer, need at least 8 lbs grain to get to approx 1.045, and 1-2 oz of hops (lhbs hops = 4/oz). = 8 x 2.45 + avg 1.5 x 4 == 25.60 w/o yeast or other costs (sani, dme for starters, etc) :rockin::rockin:
ChemE
Well-Known Member
$2.45/lb for grain is very expensive. I'm able to get grain for $0.81/lb from my LHBS (Friar Tuck's) when I buy 10# bags. Try buying in bulk from an online vendor if you'd like to get your raw material costs down.
Blender
Well-Known Member
You are getting murdered on the grain cost of 2.45 a lb. I buy full sacks and it runs about a $0.90 a pound
I'll break it down for ya.
6 lbs of two row (if you buy a 55 lb bag for about $50 that is just about 90 cents a pound) So that would be $5.40
3 lbs of rice (Practically free, a big sack of rice from the grocery store for eating, maybe 20 lbs is about $8.00) so lets be generous and call it $1.50
1oz of pride of ringwood hops if you buy it now is fairly cheap as the australian harvest just came in so for sake of argument lets call it $4, I purchased a few ounces for about $2.50 an ounce a few months ago.
A packet of dry lager yeast is less than $2.00 ( you will want to make a starter, but it doesn't have to be huge, so lets use some dme and water lets cal this an additional $3.00) If you wash yeast or pitch onto a cake like I do there is no cost.
5.40+1.50+4+5 = $15.90 if you buy everything. If you wash yeast and had purchased extra hops last summer before the shortage, your cost would be even lower. I have hops in my freezer from last summer, that cost me $6.00 a LB!... If i used those the cost would drop down to less than $10 for 5 gallons.
Essentially if I really wanted to get technical, I don't use a lot of star-san when brewing maybe twenty five cents worth and as I rent water is free. So essentially it is possible, you just need to know how to do it.
6 lbs of two row (if you buy a 55 lb bag for about $50 that is just about 90 cents a pound) So that would be $5.40
3 lbs of rice (Practically free, a big sack of rice from the grocery store for eating, maybe 20 lbs is about $8.00) so lets be generous and call it $1.50
1oz of pride of ringwood hops if you buy it now is fairly cheap as the australian harvest just came in so for sake of argument lets call it $4, I purchased a few ounces for about $2.50 an ounce a few months ago.
A packet of dry lager yeast is less than $2.00 ( you will want to make a starter, but it doesn't have to be huge, so lets use some dme and water lets cal this an additional $3.00) If you wash yeast or pitch onto a cake like I do there is no cost.
5.40+1.50+4+5 = $15.90 if you buy everything. If you wash yeast and had purchased extra hops last summer before the shortage, your cost would be even lower. I have hops in my freezer from last summer, that cost me $6.00 a LB!... If i used those the cost would drop down to less than $10 for 5 gallons.
Essentially if I really wanted to get technical, I don't use a lot of star-san when brewing maybe twenty five cents worth and as I rent water is free. So essentially it is possible, you just need to know how to do it.
EVEN if you have to pay the extra $10 Shipping fee from Austin Home Brew, you're still at less than $1.30 a pound....for the 40# sack.
Damonic
Well-Known Member
Oooh... good thread. Gotta have some cheapie recipes for the people that don't know any better!
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