What are some ways for the all-grain brewer to cut his costs on each batch? Right now I get everything from the LHBS. Sometimes I use dry yeast instead of activated, but what are some other ideas that actually save money?
What are some ways for the all-grain brewer to cut his costs on each batch? Right now I get everything from the LHBS. Sometimes I use dry yeast instead of activated, but what are some other ideas that actually save money?
grow your own(hops that is).
If you have the room, patience, and such to do so... From what I've read, you need more than a few bines in order to get even a pound of dried hops at the end of a season. Besides, I can buy EKG either whole or in pellet form, with the AA% for pretty cheap
I hear you, just some insurance in case of another hop shortage.
I tried growing the hops, but we live in OK, and after 2 years, they only got to 18 inches high with no flowers. :-(
Keep your equipment simple. You don't need a pH meter, refractometer, DO meter, boil kettle with a site tube etc.
Reuse yeast, and skip the starter, just pitch the appropriate amount of saved slurry.
I typically make starters with 100-250g of DME (3.5-8.8 ounces). With a fresh pack (yes, I use liquid, at ~$7 a packet) it's normally about 200g (a 2L starter). With older packs I often step the starter at least twice, in the .5-2.5L range. Buying 3# bags of DME keeps that cost down. So, I'm normally using <1# of DME total for the starter steps, to get the same amount of yeast that would be from 2-5 packages. I'm spending less than the cost of the second package of yeast this way.
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