Easiest way to keep costs down on recipes?

[alexacuna]

Hello,

Still new to brewing and enjoying it. I'm doing extract brewing and I'm trying to find the best ways to keep the costs down. My local brewshop sells caps (144 @ $4.50) and bulk liquid malt extract for $2.40 / pound. I'm reusing and washing yeast, but was wondering if there were any other tips worth sharing?

 

[Brettomomyces]

Buy as much as you can in bulk and invest in good storage options for whatever you get. Hops by the pound, grain in sacks, LME or DME in bulk. You could get a sack of DME, it would last a LONG time and would be a little difficult to manage but I imagine you'd save a bundle.

 

[tnsen]

once you make the jump to allgrain, the cost after you equipment purchase will be cheaper......Tom

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Buy as much as you can in bulk and invest in good storage options for whatever you get. Hops by the pound, grain in sacks, LME or DME in bulk. You could get a sack of DME, it would last a LONG time and would be a little difficult to manage but I imagine you'd save a bundle.

This...

To manage the DME issue, get a vacuum sealer and make common (for you) packages. I have not done extract in 20+ years but my guess is 3# packs and 1# packs. If you can find a place to sell you the 20 gallon drums of LME without enormous shipping charges., that requires only the appropriate tap...and patience.

That same vac sealer is GREAT for pre-packaging those bulk hops into 1 and 1/2 oz packets.

Edit: and yes, switching to all-gran can have a very fast return on investment if you like to brew a lot and can handle the extra 2-3 hours a per brew day. I could replicate my manual eBiaB system on a 5- gallon batch scale for about $150-200. that is basically a 10 gal AL pot with lid, single 2000w element and the bits to switch it, a Wilserbrew bag and a chiller.

It can be done even cheaper is you can do stovetop batches.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

1) All grain. Biab is a good way to go. Only thing you really need is a good grain bag. I recommend wilser brewers bags over in the biab forum.

2) Buy hops online. 0.70-1.00 per oz vs 2-3 at lhbs.

3) Reuse yeast I prefer harvesting from starters instead of after fermentation.

 

[Calder]

Grain is cheaper than extract for the same points. You can get base grain delivered for $1 a pound (50 lbs sacks) or cheaper quite easily - maybe get it even cheaper locally. 1 lb of grain will give you about 30 gravity points, vs the 36 points from a lb off LME (= half cost vs your $2.40/lb of extract). All grain (or partial mash) does involve extra equipment, time, and effort which you may not want to move to. Do some research and you could be doing PM batches with 4 to 6 lbs of grain for very little cost (20+ quart pot, 5 gallon paint straining bags, and corona mill).

Hops, buy in bulk. Several lbs at a time. Store vacuum packed in the freezer. I estimate my hop cost is about $0.75 per ounce (some cost more, some cost less - including delivery).

$2.40 per lb for LME is pretty good. I PM and I used to get 33 lb packs from my LHBS for $59, which worked out at ~$2.00/lb (including tax).

You can probably get DME delivered for a similar price as you get LME for. Remember DME has more sugar than LME, so you need less - 1.25 lbs of LME = 1 lb of DME, so $2,40 for LME = $3.00 for DME. But you will need to buy in 50 lb bags to get that price, but if stored dry, will last 'forever' without deteriorating.

And reuse yeast.

 

[alexacuna]

Picked up a mash tun cooler (one of the beverage types that have been modified) for $15. I'm still only using a 2.5 gal kettle, so i'll likely only be able to do half batches of all grain. If I compared my current recipe i'd spend about $6.80 with grain vs $9.60 for LME, so it might come more in handy when I buy in larger bags.

Wheat beers are becoming quite popular amongst my friends of the beers i've made so far, so i'll likely start getting a stock pile of those ready for the spring.

 

[mongoose33]

Picked up a mash tun cooler (one of the beverage types that have been modified) for $15. I'm still only using a 2.5 gal kettle, so i'll likely only be able to do half batches of all grain. If I compared my current recipe i'd spend about $6.80 with grain vs $9.60 for LME, so it might come more in handy when I buy in larger bags.

Wheat beers are becoming quite popular amongst my friends of the beers i've made so far, so i'll likely start getting a stock pile of those ready for the spring.

Maybe you need fewer friends who like beer; that would cut down your costs!

This is all similar in some ways to reloading ammunition; you can save big bucks but those savings only come from buying in bulk, and significant bulk.

This has me thinking about buying grain in 50# sacks, DME in 50# increments, and so on. What everyone eventually realizes in this is that to get the per-unit cost down, you have to spend a lot of money up front. I pay $5 for a pound of DME at my LBS, $4 per pound if I buy 3 pounds, and if I want to pony up and get 50#, I can get it down to $3 or even possibly less.

Problem is, to get that last price it will cost me $150 up front. And that's only for one type of DME. Hops, other grains, etc. are extra and it adds up in a hurry.

And that says nothing about the equipment needed to make it all work efficiently.

This brewing thing reminds me of starting in reloading--I wish I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have bought some equipment that it turned out was a waste of money, since I bought more effective equipment later.

I'm trying not to make the same mistakes with brewing. I keep asking myself, "What are you going to wish you'd done 6 months from now?" I'm trying not to be chintzy on what I buy but it's costly to do that up front. I already have about $1000 into this venture and I can see another $400 or $500 in additional costs--and that doesn't include a keezer with multiple kegs and so on.

It's an addiction, I think. Not chemically, but spiritually.

 

[Dirt_McGirt]

I don't know that this is the thread to serve that purpose, but I'd think that some kind of omnibus thread on this topic would be a good candidate for a sticky on one of the sub-forums. I know that many if not most folks don't do this to save money by any means, but at the same time may of us are on relatively slim budgets and would like to get it done on the cheap, where it's possible.

 

[alexacuna]

I bought a 3-gallon carboy for my flatmate and gave him a kit to get started for a christmas present. I have friends from all walks of life, and surprisingly at 26 I'm one of the few with a relatively comfortable life. I'm enjoying the creative process that comes with brewing so far and it's nice branching out more and more.

I've got maybe $100 in equipment so far and i've got about 12 gallons working right now. I'm probably buying a six pack of good beer every two days to split with friends, so I compare my $32.41 per week ( @ 9.26 each) to yielding around 24 beers coming to $18.00 for the ingredients (including caps) coming out to about $4.50 per six pack. I realize i'm going to have waste, so i'm just slowly trying to be aware of ways to continually cut down on costs (and allowing myself the freedom to brew lots of different types of beer at once).

 

[RM-MN]

This...

To manage the DME issue, get a vacuum sealer and make common (for you) packages. I have not done extract in 20+ years but my guess is 3# packs and 1# packs. If you can find a place to sell you the 20 gallon drums of LME without enormous shipping charges., that requires only the appropriate tap...and patience.

That same vac sealer is GREAT for pre-packaging those bulk hops into 1 and 1/2 oz packets.

Edit: and yes, switching to all-gran can have a very fast return on investment if you like to brew a lot and can handle the extra 2-3 hours a per brew day. I could replicate my manual eBiaB system on a 5- gallon batch scale for about $150-200. that is basically a 10 gal AL pot with lid, single 2000w element and the bits to switch it, a Wilserbrew bag and a chiller.

It can be done even cheaper is you can do stovetop batches.

I've learned to streamline my system and can do an all grain batch in about the same time as an extract batch. With a cheap Corona style mill, a couple of paint strainer bags, and a little larger pot, going BIAB can pay back the investment pretty quickly.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I've learned to streamline my system and can do an all grain batch in about the same time as an extract batch. With a cheap Corona style mill, a couple of paint strainer bags, and a little larger pot, going BIAB can pay back the investment pretty quickly.

I mention 2-3 hours only as a newbie doing partial boil switching even to BiaB will likely add that much time to their brewday for a while.

My day is still that much longer BUT I spend even less time actively brewing with my all manual eBiab system than I did on stovetop extract (or even with a burner). No babysitting the process at any step.

There are a million different ways to reduce time and cost. In my early days of all grain it was a triple 11 gallon brewday (33 total gallons) because each the second and third only takes an extra hour each. Once all the fermenters are purchased...

 

[toolboxales]

These are all great suggestions. The best way I could save money in brewing.....quit making IPAs. Those little green nuggets of love are expensive!!

 

[bucfan1234]

once you make the jump to allgrain, the cost after you equipment purchase will be cheaper......Tom

This. You could go BIAB with minimal cost though.

 

[thaymond]

I BIAB and the cost to me is minimal. I buy bulk base grains and then go to lhbs for specialty or crystal malts. I grow my own hops, and haven't had to buy hops in a looooooooooong time. When I do, I'll buy pounds at a time to save $. I wash and reuse yeast, and if I buy yeast, it's usually dry. I'm down to less than 20 bucks per 5 gallon batch, and that's including IPAs and brewing and kegging costs.

 

[alexacuna]

I BIAB and the cost to me is minimal. I buy bulk base grains and then go to lhbs for specialty or crystal malts. I grow my own hops, and haven't had to buy hops in a looooooooooong time. When I do, I'll buy pounds at a time to save $. I wash and reuse yeast, and if I buy yeast, it's usually dry. I'm down to less than 20 bucks per 5 gallon batch, and that's including IPAs and brewing and kegging costs.

That is exactly where I'm looking to be, so I'm going to try and score some BIABs and some grains soon. Trying to keep track of everything to continually compare costs. Bottled about 60 beers last night, so it's pretty cool to see my closet stocked with brews we made at home.