Whats with the big beer frenzy?

[fearwig]

You pay a lot for commercial craft beer in America, whether it's a big beer or not, so I think given that people tend to lean toward buying the stuff you sip over session ales. What you drink the most affects your tastes and preferences, and that affects trends on a large scale.

I didn't drink many small craft beers until I started homebrewing. I still don't often buy craft beers under 5% unless I have a very high expectation of quality (I did buy Boulevard's Pop-Up Session IPA last week and was impressed). I'm more likely to make a 4% beer than to buy one.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I still don't often buy craft beers under 5% unless I have a very high expectation of quality (I did buy Boulevard's Pop-Up Session IPA last week and was impressed). I'm more likely to make a 4% beer than to buy one.

+1 This is exactly why I started brewing! I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for an import or lower ABV session bitter. It was really that simple.

 

[mikeasu]

+1 This is exactly why I started brewing! I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for an import or lower ABV session bitter. It was really that simple.

Beginning to see your point. Kegged my first mild last week, almost nailed my target at 3.9% ABV - great toasty/biscuity flavor, lightly hopped - but if I found an similar import 6 pack at Total Wine, probably run me $9 - think my ingredient cost for this mild easily came to less than $30.

 

[sfgoat]

Beginning to see your point. Kegged my first mild last week, almost nailed my target at 3.9% ABV - great toasty/biscuity flavor, lightly hopped - but if I found an similar import 6 pack at Total Wine, probably run me $9 - think my ingredient cost for this mild easily came to less than $30.

Start buying in bulk and you can get that cost down to $15.

 

[mikeasu]

Start buying in bulk and you can get that cost down to $15.

Ahh, then I have to deal with storage of ingredients, etc...at better than .55/bottle (ingredient cost / 48 - know I can get 48 12 oz bottles out of a batch), was very impressed. Of course, it's on draft, so I'm pulling 16 oz pints or more...

 

[fearwig]

If you buy sacks of grain and pounds of hops, your prices can really be crazy low on smaller or especially low-hops beers, $10-15 for a 5 gallon batch. A 1.050 hefe is like $8. Grain $0.80-$1/lb versus $2/lb, hops $1/oz instead of $3/oz--you really pay a huge premium for small quantities.

I did struggle with storage this spring. I was hanging my grain in ikea bags from nails in the basement rafters until the mice figured out how to climb along the electrical wiring and down the bag handles. Once the first one figured it out I had to move them, they were having little mouse parties in there. At least they had the courtesy to pull the grains out of the bags this time, rather than climbing inside and pooping in my wheat! They even squeezed through the lid of a closed rubbermaid tote. Amazing. My cat can't kill them fast enough.

Anyway, one sack of grain fills two homer buckets almost perfectly, so I stocked up on those and it's all good. As long as you keep grain dry and not unreasonably hot, it's good for a year or maybe a lot more--if the mice don't eat it first. My wife is pretty sick of all the leaf hops in the second freezer, though!

 

[mikeasu]

Anyway, one sack of grain fills two homer buckets almost perfectly, so I stocked up on those and it's all good. As long as you keep grain dry and not unreasonably hot, it's good for a year or maybe a lot more--if the mice don't eat it first. My wife is pretty sick of all the leaf hops in the second freezer, though!

That's all unmilled grain lasting a year, correct? Just gotten into all grain the past year, was wondering how long my crushed grains would last before brewing w/o going bad a bit - like, could I buy everything I need for a batch, make a starter one weekend, and brew the next? Right now, I tend to buy and mill the grains at the LHBS and brew the next day. If I do a starter, I make an earlier trip the week before to get the yeast and extract.

 

[Qhrumphf]

That's all unmilled grain lasting a year, correct? Just gotten into all grain the past year, was wondering how long my crushed grains would last before brewing w/o going bad a bit - like, could I buy everything I need for a batch, make a starter one weekend, and brew the next? Right now, I tend to buy and mill the grains at the LHBS and brew the next day. If I do a starter, I make an earlier trip the week before to get the yeast and extract.

Yes, the shelf life of crushed grain is substabtially less. You should be fine going a week with crushed grain. If it's a couple months I'd be concerned.

 

[fearwig]

That's all unmilled grain lasting a year, correct? Just gotten into all grain the past year, was wondering how long my crushed grains would last before brewing w/o going bad a bit - like, could I buy everything I need for a batch, make a starter one weekend, and brew the next? Right now, I tend to buy and mill the grains at the LHBS and brew the next day. If I do a starter, I make an earlier trip the week before to get the yeast and extract.

Crushed grains are "freshest" when "fresh" but it's really all perceptual, there's no definite point at which they become bad, just think "use ASAP". If you have a reason to wait a week, that's fine. Unmilled grains are good for a very long time, I think one year is very conservative but it's a commonly stated figure. I don't buy more base grain than I can use in a year.

I would not throw out unmilled grains that are a year old, especially e.g. my sack of crystal 20 that I just whittle away at--I'm not looking for delicate aromatics from crystal and it's just ~5% of most recipes. I would not overpurchase Maris Otter or biscuit or something I expect a certain malt character from.

To answer your question you can definitely keep them a week, it's no problem. I recommend getting a cheap corona/drill setup like I have though, it'll make you happy!