Frugal Brewing : Getting Started without going broke.

[Hankins2010]

A lot of you new brewers want to get into the hobby and are checking this site and the forums out ,just drooling and thinking ,I wish I could but bills,family obligations and with everything else ,your thinking maybe some day.
Am I right ???
I'm in the same boat . Divorced ,debts ,bills ,car payments ,rent, . But still there's beer fermenting ,Theirs beer stored and in the fridge and I'm drinking it and its delicious. You can start ultra cheap .
I started using ROPAK 5 gallon white plastic buckets. Then upgraded to Wal Mart $7.00 PET water bottles which I use now along with some glass.
You can pick up a thing here and a thing there when there's a few bucks topick up an air lock or two or pocket change to grab a couple 1/2 inch grommets to put the airlocks into lids with . You can brew damn good beer without spending a lot on equipment .

 

[Hankins2010]

Rule #1 Use food grade everything ( ROPAK buckets are food grade)
I'm not familiar with other brands but that what they sell at my local brewing supplier.

 

[TheBlindBeastBrewery]

Ya or you just buy a whole bunch of s**t from Northern Brewer.com and worry about your credit card bill next month. Ha. Heh.

 

[MaxStout]

Lots of ways to enjoy this hobby--and brew good beer--without spending a fortune. There's good used gear to be found on Craigslist. You can use an ordinary kitchen soup pot for a boil kettle and do partial boils of extract. You can go DIY and build stuff like immersion chillers and stir plates.

 

[Hankins2010]

Amazon works pretty good , I search for Amazon Prime eligiblle or free shipping .

 

[Hankins2010]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A6TZCKI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

real cheap airlock deal

 

[TimelessCynic]

Don't kid yourself. Brewing beer is expensive on the equipment side. Even if you do a lot of DIY like myself. The hobby consumes and somehow you spend as much money as you can afford on new stuff. Its not spending enough money to brew good beer. If it was like that I would had spent my initial 100$ and stopped.

 

[JoefromPhilly]

I got a used kegerator on Craigslist in trade for a 32" flatscreen that I had for several years and no longer needed. The guy even included a fairly new pressure regulator and two CO2 tanks.

One of the most important things you need a a controlled fermenting environment. You can get a cheap used chest freezer on CL, and then build out an inexpensive dual stage controller. I built one using the STC-1000 that I got on ebay for $18. There is an excellent video here somewhere on how to build out the box for about $15. You will need a dual stage controller (one side for cooling and one side for heating) if your fermenting chamber is in a room that can go much above or below 66 degrees. I have an old fridge, where I added a $14 space heater inside. My controller maintains a very tight temperature range for fermenting.

 

[Hankins2010]

Right now I lack funds to buy proper bottling or kegging stuff ,so for now 1 liter and 2 liter High Pressure carbonated soda bottles will work just fine . No joke ,They work pretty damn good and they have an pretty high pressure rating for beer.
Mason jars will leak .They are made to work in negative pressure not positive pressure . Fine for drinking out of ,A quart mason jar is my favorite beer glass but their not dependable for bottling in my experience.

 

[kewlceo]

1 liter and 2 liter High Pressure carbonated soda bottles will work just fine . No joke ,They work pretty damn good and they have an pretty high pressure rating for beer.

Right, plus you can squeeze them to test for carb pressure during conditioning.

 

[Hankins2010]

Yup , And PET bottles also serve a s a wort chiller . Freeze water solid and dip it in a bucket of 1 step and rinse before setting it into the wort.

 

[Renoun]

If you enjoy cider, or possibly meads too, you can get by with much less equipment since the pre-fermentation prep doesn't require boiling wort or sparging grain. It's nice to have a hydrometer, auto-siphon, and bottle filler but otherwise one can do a lot with scrounged food grade buckets and improvised airlocks.

 

[hausbrauer]

What's the best way to put a hole in a plastic lid suitable for an airlock/rubber stopper? I don't have a drill - if I did, I'd use that. I tried a knife but it just broke the lid.

 

[broadbill]

Brewing to save money on beer is like buying a boat to save money on fish.

 

[TheBlindBeastBrewery]

Haha ya I'd say if you're not willing to spend on the hobby, or can't spend on the hobby, find a new hobby. Don't get me wrong I think you can get by at first with minimal expenses. But to really satisfy your inner brewmaster you're gonna need to spend at decent chunk of change.

 

[Renoun]

What's the best way to put a hole in a plastic lid suitable for an airlock/rubber stopper? I don't have a drill - if I did, I'd use that. I tried a knife but it just broke the lid.

With a little bit of creativity and persuasion you can take a lid with you to a hardware store, stand next to a tradesman's van with a beer and beg, find a friend with a drill, bribe the guy who does maintenance at your apartment, the workshop at your school/university, or somehow find a way to get a hole drilled. It won't take more than a minute with a power drill. My favorite power tools are made in Germany, I know you have them around you somewhere.

If you want to do it by hand you might be able to find an appropriately sized drill bit with a hex shank and drill by hand with a multi-bit screwdriver. It will be slow but the bit will cost less than a six pack of beer.

 

[Hankins2010]

A step drill bit or uni bit is what I use

 

[fartinmartin]

Two buckets with lids
Hoses for siphoning
Air locks are not necessary !
Kitchen utensils
Thermometer
Hydrometer
Bottles
Kitchen stove top
Some initiative and you can make beer.
It as expensive as you make it.

 

[yeahfairly]

When I first started brewing I bought an upgraded Kit with everything I needed, other than Temp Control, and I had less than $300 invested. I was doing extract kits at the time so every 5 gallons cost me about $30 bucks. When you compare brewing to other hobbies folks tend to have, I would say brewing is one of the cheaper hobbies on the list. The reason it's get's expensive is the desire to have all the cool equipment with all the bells and whistles. Don't get me wrong.... I like that stuff too, but $400 to $1000 for a stainless conical.... come on! It's totally unnecessary!

You drop $500 to $1200 bucks on a set of golf clubs, go spend $50 bucks on green fees to play 18 holes and all you end up with is half a dozen less golf balls than you had at the first tee box! You spend $300 bucks on brewing gear, spend a Saturday afternoon brewing on the patio and you end up with......beer! Outside of Hijacking Beer trucks, what other hobby puts beer in your refrigerator?


"Disclaimer: The above post is solely the opinion of the author. HBT does not endorse, promote or encourage the Hijacking of Beer Trucks!

 

[bizarrojosh]

Brewing to save money on beer is like buying a boat to save money on fish.

That's not true at all if a person drinks moderately or heavily. (2-6 beers a day)

Yes there are equipment fees and yes you will have to end up spending at least $150 to really get started. But it is entirely possible to never spend more than say $250 and still make (good) beer.

 

[TheBlindBeastBrewery]

Yeah I agree that you don't have to spend a fortune. Start up cost will run you a few hundred bucks. But if you are squeezing pennies to buy an airlock then you might be in trouble.

 

[MotorcycleMatt]

my brewing expenses havnt been much since i started, got an upgraded kit with bottling bucket, 2 glass carboys etc for 140. Got my propane burner for free from a client that was going to throw it out, spent 30 on my first 5 gallon stainless pot, and had a gift card to lowes so i built my wort chiller for free.

Ive upgraded a lot since, but it hasnt been expensive. I have probably 125 into my keggle, 10 bucks into my biab voile bag, 65 into the ferm chamber.

 

[TimelessCynic]

I agree with the post about not needing to spend more than 250$. However i Still max out my purchases to a level that I am comfortable with. My beer just gets better and better. Combo of increase in experience and tailored home built equipment.

I drink about 4 pints a day and not sure if i am saving any money over commercially purchased beer. My ingredients are really cheap. Anywhere between 15 to 50 cents a glass. But my equipment expenses are significant. Its a part of the hobby i love. Just got a vacuum sealer for hops. Getting a chest freezer soon too.

 

[Thirdthorpe]

For someone to get started all you really need is a 16 quart stock pot and a five gallon bucket. Start with extract kits and minimashing and if you like it you can just keep your eyes open. After a year I've accumulated a ton of great equipment from just being watchful. My work had an old Rubbermaid 10 gallon cooler collecting dust so I convinced my boss that it was taking up valuable inventory space. Mash tun! I was installing a new system in a restaurant that was being renovated and noticed an old keg in the back and got it for ten bucks. Brew kettle! The diy projects will also save you a fortune if you consider yourself handy enough to do them.

 

[soccerdad]

Nothing wrong with being a frugal brewer. I was lucky in that my kids got me a starter kid one Christmas. I still have and use most of it. Have been through a few thermometers and more than my share of hydrometers I spend a bit here and there on equipment, but it does not break the bank. If I were a casual brewer, I would consider equipment to be an expense .. but I brew enough to consider it an investment. I buy what I think will make me better and what I can afford.

 

[Zuljin]

"Disclaimer: The above post is solely the opinion of the author. HBT does not endorse, promote or encourage the Hijacking of Beer Trucks!

Too late.

Check the for sale section of this site. Ask around bars for bottles. Groceries, bakeries and any restaurant for buckets. Craig's List. eBay. Amazon. Goodwill and the like for pots. I saw a Mr. Beer at a garage sale last month.

 

[adiochiro3]

I wanted to weigh in on this one too: between scrounging, ingenuity, thrift stores and CL, you could easily start this hobby for less than $50 if you're not trying to make 10 gal. batches or impress anyone with your bling. The only necessary brewing- specific gear is a food-grade fermenting bucket with a lid (free at many restuarants) a hydrometer with cylinder (~$10), a bottle capper (~$20) and some vinyl tubing (~$5) for a makeshift airlock and for transferring/bottling beer.

Most people already have what it takes around the house:

• a pot or two
• a stove
• some type of collander or strainer (nice, but not absolutely necessary)
• thermometer
• stir spoon
• wisk (maybe)
• a cooler or tub to chill wort and to regulate ferm. temps.
• a dishwasher or oven for sanitation

Everything else I use is handy and convenient, but not necessary to produce good beer.

If you're creative and patient, you can scrounge food-grade buckets and bottles for free at restaurants and bars. Bakeries are great for food-grade buckets (filling and icing containers). Ask friends and family to save bottles for you.

I also find a crap-ton of stuff on CL. I have acquired enough gear to outfit myself and my son -- at no net cost over the course of time. I've bought brewing "packages" offered at low prices, kept what I needed/wanted and re-sold what I did not need to other brewers -- recouping my expenditures.

Will it be ideal? No. Will it be fun? I think so. Will you produce good beer? Absolutely!

 

[MindenMan]

I agree with the above post, ingenuity, or is it necessity, is the mother of invention. I started with a home kit, with two buckets, one spigot, a hydrometer, a length of tubing, and a capper as I recall.

Free buckets at your favorite restaurant, or bakery. A spigot w/gaskets is less then $5.00 each, I would buy two. My wife gave me a 22 qt SS Bk for a gift. You can got to Wally world and get a 20 qt for $19.00, not great quality, but after it is no longer your mash tun, heat strike water with it. In the beginning, you can make a Zapap tun with a drill and two five gallon buckets. Google zapap. I had a burner already for a propane smoker, and it didn't get hot fast, but I could boil at hot break. My gas stove has plenty of BTU's available, but our new microwave is blocking the stove top. I still use my Zapap tun, and get great conversion. Empty bottles can be had for free at a bar or restaurant. If you are patient, you can collect enough stuff to do extract batches, for no extra costs. You even be able to Brew I A Bag, (BIAB), anyway, good luck in brewing and if you advice, there are plenty solid brewers with many batches under their belts willing to help.

 

[yeahfairly]

Too late.

Haha..... Had a cousin that lived next to a Liquor Store back in the late 70's. We were 15 years old and heading out on the Illinois River for a week long camping / fishing trip without adult supervision (you could do that back in those days). He decided to hide behind the privacy fence behind the store and wait for the delivery driver to take his first dolly load inside. He sprang from behind the fence and grabbed a case and ran. We had river temperature beer to drink on our fishing trip!

Morale of the story...... If you are going to be a Thieving Turd and steal beer..... Don't steal "Pearl Light".... Get the good stuff (lol)!