Comments on: Brewing Your Own Good Beer on the Cheap

By: Sherri

Sherri — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:14:43 +0000

My spouse has been brewing wine for over 20 years and is getting into brewing beer. He is looking for a more frugal way to brew beer. Do you have any suggestions of where to find the grains, recipes, etc.? This year, we are harvesting our own hops (which we are using to shade the south side of our house.) This is the one thing we don’t need a source for.

By: frugal

frugal — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:48:29 +0000

I have been homebrewing several years and have made some pretty exotic kits and some really simple recipes with varying success. I love a good Pale Ale and am able to come up with a decent brew by using 2- 1 liter cans of Blue Ribbon malt (hopped) and adding 1 oz. bittering and 1 oz. finishing hops, (which I buy by the pound and store in the refrig in zip-locks) along with 1 to 2 pounds corn sugar. I don’t use the yeast that comes in the can lid because I can’t determine what it is. I use a $3 package of ale yeast, boil for 1 hour, and I don’t even try to determine beginning and ending gravity. I couldn’t change it anyway. Then, when bottling, I add 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming.
The liquid malt is $6 per can so I end up with less than $20 invested in 5 gallons of my notion of really good beer. Specific gravity can be adjusted by increasing sugar in wort.

By: Jimmy Jojo

Jimmy Jojo — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:32:52 +0000

I recently made my first ever batch of beer. It’s something I have been thinking about doing for years and have been saving the “Grolsch” style bottles with a swing-top cap so I can eliminate the bottle capping process. That saves a few bucks and time for each batch.

By: Dale

Dale — Thu, 18 May 2006 16:42:48 +0000

For Cap the joy-killer, I will point out that many homebrew supply stores will also happily sell you kits and ingredients for making your own soda at home. I don’t know whether that is cost-effective or not, but it might be worth checking into.

By: saving advice

saving advice — Mon, 08 May 2006 05:05:30 +0000

I may have to pick up a kit on my next trip back home – at $2.50 a beer for the cheap stuff out here, it would be a great savings. Wonder if I’ll have any trouble importing it?

By: Cap

Cap — Fri, 05 May 2006 14:14:43 +0000

“how can you afford not to brew your own beer?”

easy. be a joy-kill bastard like me and not drink at all.

By: jim

jim — Fri, 05 May 2006 13:39:29 +0000

Great comment Blaine, I agree, if you start getting into creating your own recipes and multiple fermentation periods (I do agree, the longer the better) the price will start going up but at that point you’re loving the craft and not just trying to get a cheap beer.

I starting using glass carboys but the first time I did it, I put the hot mixture into the glass and ran some water on it… boom, explosion, extreme sadness, and then frustration as I had to clean it up. Hot to cold real quick in glass is BAD.

By: Blaine Moore (Run to Win)

Blaine Moore (Run to Win) — Fri, 05 May 2006 12:45:05 +0000

I’ve been brewing beer for years; in fact, my fiance and I are giving homebrew to our wedding guests as the favor. Which reminds me, I need to get going brewing that…

Depending upon the style of beer, it can take more than 3 weeks. In fact, almost everything I make has at least a two month turnaround, and my stouts and porters usually have about a 4 or 5 month turnaround before I start drinking them. They taste so much better after they have aged.

Generally speaking, the first batch is the hardest while you wait for it to be ready. I use a racking system where I leave it in the primary fermenter for 1 to 2 weeks (depending on style) and then rack it to another fermenter to get it out of its sediment for anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 months. Sometimes I will rack it more than once. The trick is to start the next batch right after the first batch before you can drink it, because then once you do start drinking it you are currently drinking the brew from a few months ago.

I also recommend kegs; they are much easier than bottling. I also use my kegs to do the bottling, which is better than gravity. I will say, though, that unless you are doing all grain brewing, the costs are not a whole lot cheaper than what you would normally buy. A little bit, but not a ton. The satisfaction of having your own recipes though…mmmmm….

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Fri, 05 May 2006 03:28:34 +0000

Weekly Roundup – 05/05/06

Before I get rolling on this week’s roundup, I just wanted to remind y’all about the MoneyBlogNetwork Forums, which are fast becoming a treasure trove of information for personal finance bloggers of all shapes and sizes. Please stop by and …

By: jim

jim — Thu, 04 May 2006 17:25:27 +0000

Well you pick your ingredient kit based on what you like, I think that the stouts I brewed were as good as Guinness/Murphy Irish if not better, of course I am biased because I brewed it.

You won’t think that you’re drinking an inferior beer but I wouldn’t brew a light beer since it’s really not worth all that effort to brew yourself a miller lite.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 04 May 2006 16:42:45 +0000

How do you rate it, on a taste scale?

By: lamoneyguy

lamoneyguy — Thu, 04 May 2006 15:57:25 +0000

Sweet! Now THIS is useful personal finance advice! A buddy of mine and I tried home brewing once. We followed a recipe online instead if a kit. We ended up with over fermented skunky stuff. I agree, for newbies, go with the kit.