What are your tips for keeping costs down

[Jaybird]

I am going to toss in my .02 and keep it SIMPLE. OK NOT SIMPLE.... There are LOADS of ways to "CUT COSTS" in this hobby. Really depends on your idea of cost cutting. Me I am a "It's a hobby" kind of guys and say.... What am I getting for my hard earned and very well spent dollar. Time? YUP! loads of personal reflection time. Expressing my personal creativity. YUP! quality product that I get to share and enrich other peoples lives. Really nothing better than tossing someone a cold one and saying "with confidence" This beer is going to change your life.... WELL that might be a stretch BUT it sounds good! There is so much more but you get the gist.

Cost cutting has to be calculated in an OVER TIME idea. IF you plan on doing this for any length of time your initial investment of $150 or so wont come back to you any REAL time soon. IMHO. because there is ALWAYS that 1 more thing you cant live without or that 1 more thing that will make brew day THAT much easier ETC... Will it come back? Ahhhh maybe not. If your anything like me you will spend the next 24 years of your life trying to brew YOUR perfect pint and spending $$ on gear to reach that unreachable goal LOL Its only another $25 ha ha ha...

Welcome to the obsession! The journey has just begun but I will tell you this. The places your beer will take you and the people you will get to meet along the way.... That will change your life!

I need to give you at least 1 good cost cutter advise. Reuse your yeast. just a couple times is all. Use star san for cleaning and only make enough for a spray bottle, once you are creating recipes, buy your hops in 1 pound packs.

LOVE THIS STUFF!

Cheers
Jay

 

[Dland]

So I'm curious what do you do to keep costs down?

Cobbed together a three vessel rig made with old sanke 15 gal 1/2 kegs. Later converted electric, partly from what I learned on this site.

Bought my conicals off ebay, one NOS discontinued, one used, older gen, but decent quality, that was a luck out I guess,

Have some very old cornys from when the coke(coca cola that is) dealer left. DYI most stuff, but use quality parts (this is key, BTW).

Run fermetor "cone to cone", long runs W/O having to re pitch or sanitize fermentor.

Purge kegs with fermentation gas, carbonate by spunding. CO2 usage way down.

Never buy store bought beer anymore.

That is the biggest saver, 'cause when I do have to buy store bought, it ain't the cheapest swill. Been a couple years now,,since I had to buy that is, ,and trying to find fresh brew in what I like to drink locally, it is just is not there.

 

[corkybstewart]

I get my malt at a brewery in the city where I used to live, buy hops in bulk, reuse yeast.
I'll pick it up on a day that I have to drive into work for meetings, as I am able to telework most days.
The malt is usually about 75-85 cents a pound, however, I bought three sacks of Franco-Belages malt so it's about $1 a pound.

Where I used to live there was a tiny brewpub, I made friends with the brewer and he sold me malt at his cost plus 10% to keep the owner happy. I was getting malt for $22 per sack. I was able to do that with 3 brewers, but the 4th considered it a hassle and refused to sell to me.

 

[corkybstewart]

A friend gave me his original immersion chiller when he upgraded. I cleaned it on the inside with a strong vinegar bath and a few gallons of Starsan solution. I now use it by circulating my wort through it while it sits in an old ice chest full of ice water. I use yogurt and sour cream tubs to make big ice cubes so I don't have to buy ice

My immersion chiller sucks. It will drop the temperature below 100 pretty quickly but stalls around 90 even if the water running thru it is in the low 60's. If I'm pitching kveik yeast, that's fine. For everything else, I have 1 liter pop bottles of ice in the freezer. I sanitize one or two with Starsan and add them directly to the fermentation bucket.

I may try doing a lager in the summer by just swapping out ice bottles as they thaw. Or not; I tend to brew with the seasons rather than fighting them. But it could be done

r

 

[corkybstewart]

Well since this has happened to me once too many times, I am done with it.
When dryhopping in a corney, I put one small marble in the bag with hops. I use thin dental floss to tie it and have the floss come thru the corney opening. Normally after pressurizing, there is no leak. I give ample sting length so when the keg goes down you can get more chance of a leak with the weight of bag if strings hanging. But what happened is I ran out of CO2 which was at the end of use and went out and got a refill. Hooked it up, checked everywhere for leaks, and no problem showed. After a few hours I checked again and a leak appeared at the string coming out of the corney keg thru the gasket. This keg was still pretty full so I was really surprised. So no more of that in future. I opened the lid and just dropped the bag in. Hopefully I don't have a problem dispensing. Next time maybe tie it to the release valve under lid? Anyone else dealt with this? Really pissed me off at losing some CO2 money down the drain. Or maybe just nix the marble?

I tried the dental floss trick and had the same results. I just toss the hops bag in now. I've never had any issues with dispensing.

 

[EthanH]

For instance, Mosaic from 2021, $12/pound:

https://yakimavalleyhops.com/produc...-n-my-wxLD5zkqk8dCz_2hnEWatjcRVzMIdkQ=.VQEefX

 

[z-bob]

Cheapest good beer ever:

40% Pilsener malt, 60% wheat flour. 45 minute mash, 65c.

Og 1.04 - 1.042

Generic hops, bittering only, 25 ibus.

Saison yeast of your choice (I love Imperial yeast rustic for this).

Only caveat, you have to biab because sparging would be a problem with that much wheat flour.

I brewed a little stronger version of this today (OG 1.053, 32 IBU). I went 50/50 with the malt and wheat flour because my malt is a couple of years old. It converted just fine; in fact I think conversion was done in 10 minutes or less. Draining the BIAB bag was a pain but it drained eventually without a lot of squeezing. I also added a half ounce of German aroma hops. I just pitched the yeast about a half hour ago. The wort is amazingly pale; about like dishwater.

It wasn't all that cheap to brew because I bought an expensive packet of yeast for it, but it's a yeast I've been wanting to try (OYL-033), and it will be really cheap to re-brew if it turns out good.

 

[McMullan]

Don't drink it all at once.

 

[bmc1313]

My chiller sucks too.

I should have clarified that what I use the ice for is to pump through my immersion chiller. I keep the ice in an ice chest and then use a pond pump to pump the ice water through the chiller. It will crash a boiling kettle from 200F+ to 110F in about 15 min or less. But then to get from 110 to 70 takes about another hour, even though there's still plenty of ice in the water.

What I do is run normal tap water through the chiller as fast as it can go and once the wort temp is down below 130 or so switch over to running the ice water through.

 

[Oleson M.D.]

It's my understanding the best use of ice for chilling is to wait until the wort temp hits 100 F, and then add the ice.

 

[level-one]

Quite possibly, and I've thought about doing that. I live in a severe drought area so I'm trying to be conscientious about my water usage and I know I can try to reclaim that water to use for watering plants, etc. but it's kind of a pain with my setup to do that. So I've kept it a closed system with a set amount of water that I just chill. I upgraded my chiller recently to a bigger one with more surface area (and I've switched to making my own ice instead of buying it) and so far it's been better results.

 

[Oleson M.D.]

We reclaim our discharge cooling water, by running it into the swimming pool.

In the winter when the pool water is 45 degrees, we simply use that for cooling. It gets pumped through the immersion chiller (Hydra) and goes right back into the pool.

 

[level-one]

That's a great idea! Now I just need a swimming pool...

 

[bracconiere]

That's a great idea! Now I just need a swimming pool...

 

[renstyle]

A friend gave me his original immersion chiller when he upgraded. I cleaned it on the inside with a strong vinegar bath and a few gallons of Starsan solution. I now use it by circulating my wort through it while it sits in an old ice chest full of ice water. I use yogurt and sour cream tubs to make big ice cubes so I don't have to buy ice

I have 2 IC’s, the SS coil from my foundry and a copper coil.

The copper goes in the kettle.

I use a 5 gal igloo cooler for MAIB, no false bottom, basically just swap the stock spigot for a SS ball lock.

Drop the SS into the cooler with large homemade ice cubes similar to yours and water.

Feed the output of this to the copper IC in the kettle.

Sounds complicated but not too bad. I can drop to pitch temp (20C/68F) in about 15 mins consistently, which makes the extra effort worthwhile.

 

[Martys1]

Ok I read somewhere that in the UK that some brewers would brew another beer with the spent grain, so I tried it. After mashing for an ipa, I took the mash pipe out and put the spent grains in a kettle on the stove with a bag, BIAB.Now I’m brewing 5 electric and 5 Biab, I also added 1 lb grains and 1 lb of DME, some hops then some saved yeast, Now you’re not going to win any competition with it but it’s pretty good.Actually I paid for beer at some breweries that wasn’t as good.

 

[k-os]

Ok I read somewhere that in the UK that some brewers would brew another beer with the spent grain, so I tried it. After mashing for an ipa, I took the mash pipe out and put the spent grains in a kettle on the stove with a bag, BIAB.Now I’m brewing 5 electric and 5 Biab, I also added 1 lb grains and 1 lb of DME, some hops then some saved yeast, Now you’re not going to win any competition with it but it’s pretty good.Actually I paid for beer at some breweries that wasn’t as good.

I'm looking to do this with a Double IPA and then "re-mash" for a low ABV pale. Can you provide some details? How much grain did you use, what was your OG of your main batch, and what was the OG of the second batch?

 

[Miraculix]

I'm looking to do this with a Double IPA and then "re-mash" for a low ABV pale. Can you provide some details? How much grain did you use, what was your OG of your main batch, and what was the OG of the second batch?

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Parti-Gyle_Brewing

 

[passedpawn]

I'm looking to do this with a Double IPA and then "re-mash" for a low ABV pale. Can you provide some details? How much grain did you use, what was your OG of your main batch, and what was the OG of the second batch?

Party-gyle used to be pretty popular. Plan for the second beer to be half the volume of the first beer, and the OG will be half also. I kinda figured this out while doing it a long time ago - was pretty accurate with my system.

So, for example, if you make 10g of a 9% IPA, you can make 5g of a 4.5% beer with the spent grains.

 

[passedpawn]

In the winter when the pool water is 45 degrees, we simply use that for cooling. It gets pumped through the immersion chiller (Hydra) and goes right back into the pool.

Ayup. Been doing this since the beginning. However, I also use the pool water for cooling in the summer. Sure, it only gets down to 90F, but then I just put the fermentors into the fermentation fridge and they get the rest of the way down in a few hours. Then I pitch the yeast (often I just pitch the yeast the next morning).

 

[DBhomebrew]

Re: partigyle. I think there's something missing. It's not just a matter of creating two or three different worts from the various runoffs and turning them into their respective beers.

The independently boiled worts were blended before fermentation. The strong beer might have 80/20% 1st/2nd running, the small beer 20/80. Maybe a third beer in there at 50/50.

This blending is what keeps the small beer from being tasteless, bodiless, and otherwise insipid.

ETA: Ron Pattison's take on British parti-gyling. Check out the comments for a discussion including Ron, Graham Wheeler, and Martyn Cornell.

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2010/04/party-gyles.html?m=1

 

[Martys1]

I'm looking to do this with a Double IPA and then "re-mash" for a low ABV pale. Can you provide some details? How much grain did you use, what was your OG of your main batch, and what was the OG of the second batch?

Orig grain was 8 lbs 2 row oh 1.048 in 4.5 gal water sparged 1.5 gal in a anvil foundry 6.5,
BIAB on stove added grains and DME, aprox 5.5 gal, 45 min boil, 1/4 lb DME, no og as this is guerrilla brewing,5-6 Abv

 

[BrewBerg]

Buy malt in full sacks, and hops by the pound or more.
Buy in bulk.

Most homebrew shops will let you "buy" a full sack of malt at a steep discount and track your usage via a card. Then when you've hit 50 pounds, you "buy" another one. It's great picking out a recipe knowing that your base malt is largely taken care of.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Most homebrew shops will let you "buy" a full sack of malt at a steep discount and track your usage via a card. Then when you've hit 50 pounds, you "buy" another one. It's great picking out a recipe knowing that your base malt is largely taken care of.

That's works out if you have a local homebrew store, none close to me however, and the one that is remotely close totally sucks.

 

[bleme]

What I do is run normal tap water through the chiller as fast as it can go and once the wort temp is down below 130 or so switch over to running the ice water through.

My Cuss TriCoil goes from boil to 108F in 3 minutes. Then I re-pitch kveik yeast.

 

[z-bob]

My next beer will be a raw ale. I don't want to use the immersion chiller because it's too much of an infection risk. The wort won't be all that hot to begin with, then I will chill it with sanitized ice bottles. If this works, it might be my new "house beer" for the summer.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

I have a wood stove just outside the rollup door, under the overhang of my shop, and access to plenty of wood. I use it to bring my strike water to temperature while I am getting everything else ready and grinding my grain. Once I get the mash going, I put the sparge water on the stove. This way, no propane use until I start my boil.
I run my garden hose to a pre-chiller made from a piece of copper tubing left by the previous owner by wrapping it around an oxygen cylinder. It goes in a bucket of water with a couple frozen juice jugs. This water goes through my homemade immersion chiller. I catch the water and use it for cleanup. Any surplus goes on my garden. Spent grain is fed to the chickens.
I am purging with fermenter gas.
I will use yeast a couple times before opening another packet.

 

[pvtpublic]

The best way to save on beer is to not drink be... hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I couldn't even say that with a straight typing face

 

[pvtpublic]

I know it's been mentioned a few times, but I'm going to reiterate milds. Just a great, flavorful style. And not much alcohol, so you could enjoy a few more than you normally would. But don't make them too good, it wouldn't be cost effective anymore.

 

[An Ankoù]

Ok I read somewhere that in the UK that some brewers would brew another beer with the spent grain, so I tried it. After mashing for an ipa, I took the mash pipe out and put the spent grains in a kettle on the stove with a bag, BIAB.Now I’m brewing 5 electric and 5 Biab, I also added 1 lb grains and 1 lb of DME, some hops then some saved yeast, Now you’re not going to win any competition with it but it’s pretty good.Actually I paid for beer at some breweries that wasn’t as good.

This sounds like parti-gyling. It's a no sparge method where all the wort is run off to make a very strong beer, more water is added and this is run off to make a decent-strength beer, then more water is added to make a weak beer. The wort's can be fermented separately or blended together to get the required strength.
Don't add water that's too hot as you don't want to extract tannins.