How to make the cheapest case of beer

[ryno1ryno]

Anybody have any really good cost reduction tecniques?

Buy 50 lb bags of grain?

Buy hops in bulk?

Cheap LME/DME?

Yeast in bulk?

Who has the cheapest case of beer brew recipe?

 

[cadwaladr]

Cost reduction... well, buy grain and hops in bulk. I pay $25 for a 25kilo sack of pale, 10 bucks a pound for hops is common. I brew all grain, so dont use LME/DME for much other than starters. Wash your yeast to reduce the amount of times you purchase it. Cheapest case? it all comes down to the recipe.

 

[blizzard]

Anybody have any really good cost reduction tecniques?

Buy 50 lb bags of grain?

Buy hops in bulk?

Cheap LME/DME?

Yeast in bulk?

Who has the cheapest case of beer brew recipe?

Grain and hops in bulk, DME in bulk if you use it, wash and re-use yeast. I think you can also get a deal on a carton of dry yeast packets.

 

[weirdboy]

Yeah, all those things work pretty well. And as mentioned, washing & reusing yeast.

I don't know about a case of beer, since I typically make larger batches than that, but if I had to estimate I'd say I could make a case of a decent pale ale for less than $5.


I suppose you can reduce your per-batch costs by going electric, although you'll spend some money getting there...

Rather than using DME for starters, make yourself a bit of extra wort on a simple batch (e.g. pale ale) and save it in the freezer. Personally, I just make small batches for starters in my rice cooker.

You can also make your own specialty malts at home if you like, although it's a bit of a pain IMO.

 

[ryno1ryno]

Yeah, all those things work pretty well. And as mentioned, washing & reusing yeast.

I don't know about a case of beer, since I typically make larger batches than that, but if I had to estimate I'd say I could make a case of a decent pale ale for less than $5.


I suppose you can reduce your per-batch costs by going electric, although you'll spend some money getting there...

Rather than using DME for starters, make yourself a bit of extra wort on a simple batch (e.g. pale ale) and save it in the freezer. Personally, I just make small batches for starters in my rice cooker.

You can also make your own specialty malts at home if you like, although it's a bit of a pain IMO.

All good ideas... You gave some different angles to think about.

Thanks.

 

[gcdowd]

Wash and re-use yeast. Yeast is always the most expensive thing to purchase

 

[Skagdog]

Yeah, all those things work pretty well. And as mentioned, washing & reusing yeast.

I don't know about a case of beer, since I typically make larger batches than that, but if I had to estimate I'd say I could make a case of a decent pale ale for less than $5.

I suppose you can reduce your per-batch costs by going electric, although you'll spend some money getting there...

Rather than using DME for starters, make yourself a bit of extra wort on a simple batch (e.g. pale ale) and save it in the freezer. Personally, I just make small batches for starters in my rice cooker.

You can also make your own specialty malts at home if you like, although it's a bit of a pain IMO.

Do you have a write up on using your rice cooker to make starters? If not, could you elaborate a bit on that? Obviously through a PM or alternate thread as to not hijack....please and thank you!

 

[Psych]

Yeast and hops are the most expensive things for me. Everything mentioned is bang on, wash your yeast for 5+ batches, buy bulk grain for dirt cheap, use more base malt than specialty and bulk hops, or grow your own hops for free!

My cheapest batch was a SMaSH with Munich 10L malt from a local malting company (.40c/lb), fresh whole hops from a local farmer (.60c/oz) and washed yeast on it's fourth or fifth cycle. Total for the 6 gallons was something like $7. I average around $10-$18 per batch of real cost using the above techniques, with the high end being IPA's.

 

[metanoia]

I agree that using cheap yeast is important in keeping price down. Wash or pitch on yeast cake as often as possible, or use a known commercial yeast cultured from the bottle; a six pack typically only cost a few dollars more than a vial of liquid yeast.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Buy ingredients in bulk. Reuse or grow your own yeast. If you have a spread, grow some hops. That's about as cheap as you'll get.

 

[gcdowd]

And if you have a local brewery, ask them for some yeast. Often times, they'll give you a ton. They have way more than they can use.

 

[shelly_belly]

Premier Malt Extract ($7.26 at Piggly Wiggly comes with yeast+instructions) + 2 pounds of sugar = 5 gallons of mediocre cheap beer.

 

[ryno1ryno]

Do you have a write up on using your rice cooker to make starters? If not, could you elaborate a bit on that? Obviously through a PM or alternate thread as to not hijack....please and thank you!

Wait... I want to know too... if you start a new thread for this let me know... otherwise I want to know too

Also, what about freezing the wort? Does sugar get damaged when frozen?

 

[diS]

No, you can freeze it w/out any concern.

 

[BrewerBear]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/d...tarter-then-why-not-farm-yeast-freeze-269488/ this will not help with the rice cooker but good info on freezing.