Brew low cost beer. The amount of time you spend on brewing beer
makes the small difference in cost between "just OK" ingredients
and top quality ingredients a minor point. Either way, the cost
of brewing a 5 gallon batch is much cheaper than buying a couple
of cases of beer in the store.
Beer is made of cheap ingredients, so it doesn't hurt to buy the
best. Surprisingly, the cheapest way to brew beer gives you the
best results: all grain brewing is the cheapest way to brew when
grain is bought in bulk.
You do need a grain mill and a mash tun, so there is a small
investment in equipment needed. But you should be able to brew
excellent quality beer for less than $2 per gallon, and you
could brew a mild ale for as little as $1 per gallon, or less
than 10 cents per bottle (one gallon is about 10-1/2 12oz
bottles). Most of my pilsners are about $1.50 a gallon brews.
Other ways to reduce the cost of your beer are by growing your
own hops and reusing yeast from the fermenter. Easy to do, and
it means that I don't have to buy yeast more than once every
half year or so. The hops should last e through most of the
winter brews. So all you need is grain, which is about $0.70 per
pound in a bulk purchase (much of the cost is in shipping).
Beer Brewing Equipment Basic, simple, cheap equipment that gets
the job done. Sometimes it adds to the challenge. Vut through
the mystique of brewing and remember that illiterate alewives
brewed for centuries using tried and true recipes and procedures
before the dawn of kegerators, ph meters or hydrometers.
Beer Keg Brewing. After using bottles for years, you can jump to
the corny keg (Cornelius keg). This is an important step because
it makes brewing so much easier. You can still bottle, but just
a few bottles per batch, and use a corny keg to fill the
bottles. You can use corny kegs as secondary fermenting vessels.
You can try out method where you leave the beer in the primary
for about two weeks until it clears nicely, and then upi
carefully siphon it over to a corny, avoiding transferring any
trub.
Bulk Purchase of Grain and Hops.I purchased about 300lbs of
grain and 5lbs of hops from North Country Malt. I have two bags
of pilsner, two of Munich, one of pale ale and one carapils.
This should cover my base malt needs for a year. I can make my
house favorite recipes (pilsner, altbier, pale ale) with the
ingredients I have on stock. I hope to work through this supply
in about a year, which is the shelf life. I will also order
specialty malts and hops as special recipes require.
Beer Drinking Philosophy. Beer is good food. Beer is healthy
when used in moderation. Beer is a great beverage.
About the author:
Shannon Brown is the owner of wemakebeer.com. This site caters
to home brewers around the world and has numerous links and
resources. You can visit the site at:
http://www.wemakebeer.com
