Big W greed

[Ducatiboy stu]

Its definatly not shorter. But, you need to realise that whilst your grain is mashing, you go do something else. Go do some washing, leaning up etc.

An AG brew takes 4-6hrs. This is the actuall time needed,milling,mash,boil,chill etc. You can cut corners with prep and cleaning.

But thats not the point.

AG is about your passion and what you are perpared to put into it.

Regardless if you have an esky or BM it is going to cost you time & passion

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

We have retirees with tight budgets who are award winning brewers. BribieG being one who immediately comes to mind.

It can be done on the very cheap. The thirty bucks thread mentioned above, my two pot stovetop method are examples of basic, cheap equipment (and repurposing/borrowing stuff you already have) producing good beer.

Bulk buys, reusing yeast, and time will do it for the ingredient size.

My batches are costing me around $10-$20 for 25L at the moment, courtesy of bulk bought grain and hops, though I'm too lazy (read: time poor, I have 4 daughters) to bother with reusing yeast.

 

[zarniwoop]

Slightly off topic but what's the best approach with bulk grain? I'll normally use 7 or 8 different types throughout the year and I don't think swmbo will tolerate that many bags sitting around.

Do most people just buy a couple of different base malts?

 

[spog]

Have a go at home roasting your base malts,once you get it sorted all you need is bags of base malts and you will always have freshly roasted malts on hand.
Mind you my missus only let me do it when she wasn't home as she hates the smell so I set up an old oven in my shed,it's an interesting thing to do and a lot cheaper,well for me it is due to transport costs for me living so far from the nearest supplier.
Cheers....spog....

 

[mr_wibble]

AG cost depends a lot on how you do it, if you're prepared to buy base malts in bulk, crush them yourself, reculture yeast and buy hops in bulk and store then yes I think it can be cheaper. But if you're a lazy sod like me who only brews once a month and often does very different styles each month then I'd say no it's probably not cheaper. (just spent $50 something at Grain and Grape to produce 25L of Irish Red Ale with liquid yeast - I really need to start buying in bulk :blink: )

Oh and as has been alluded to it's definitely not a shorter process, but a hell of a lot more fun and tastier Extract with hops is a good intermediate stage.

But that's still only $2 / litre. The liquid yeast was probably close to 20% of the cost too.

Even if it was 2.20 with gas/electricity & cleaning, it would still be cheaper & better than say a case of VB at $5.101 / litre.

I don't make beer because of the price, I do it to get fantastic beer.
But I do like to remind myself that the beer is also much cheaper than I could buy it for.

cheers,
-kt


1 Dan Murphy's website - 24x 375ml VB stubbies at $44.99 => 9 litres => $5.11 / litre

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Slightly off topic but what's the best approach with bulk grain? I'll normally use 7 or 8 different types throughout the year and I don't think swmbo will tolerate that many bags sitting around.

Do most people just buy a couple of different base malts?

Bairds Perle is my favourite base - it'll pretty much cover most of my bases with the beers I produce. Small packets (5kg or so) of specs which will fit in the cupboard.

I've got some JW Pils (a freebie, no complaints) that's been sitting around, being leapfrogged by other malts that I seem to just prefer.

 

[Grott]

thanks for the basic advice about AG, will do some searches on set ups (plenty about) and cost appropriately.

 

[zarniwoop]

Thanks guys, yes you're right it's still a lot cheaper and I don't do it just for the cost. I'll check this out.

 

[gsouth82]

I'm am a member of the Coopers club so thanks for the suggestion chemfish . This could be a good way to go. Do you know how often they offer free delivery?

Just got the latest Coopers email and the free shipping for orders over $50 is back. Enjoy.

 

[Grott]

Thanks, just got same and just posted on coopers thread, hadn't seen your message but thanks again

 

[barabool]

Coopers being the one of the last truly 'Australian' owned breweries and also with their support of home brewing since ...well..forever -I have a soft spot for them in my diseased liver.
It would be a great tragedy to lose them as a kit supplier. Grott - if you live in Adelaide, don't mean to be obtuse but - go to the source. I have no idea if Coopers has a shop attached to the brewery but book yourself into a tour and have a look.
PS: Big W, Woolworths and Dan Murphy's - all the same company (not that means the same price)

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

Coopers being the one of the last truly 'Australian' owned breweries and also with their support of home brewing since ...well..forever -I have a soft spot for them in my diseased liver.
It would be a great tragedy to lose them as a kit supplier. Grott - if you live in Adelaide, don't mean to be obtuse but - go to the source. I have no idea if Coopers has a shop attached to the brewery but book yourself into a tour and have a look.
PS: Big W, Woolworths and Dan Murphy's - all the same company (not that means the same price)

A coopers "insider" told me that they felt a sudden "pinch" after the whole "Halal Accreditation" thingo (a load of BS to me though). Might have something to do with the price increase.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

A coopers "insider" told me that they felt a sudden "pinch" after the whole "Halal Accreditation" thingo (a load of BS to me though). Might have something to do with the price increase.

Um.....

How does it involve animals and doesn't Halal seem unnecessary for alcohol?

 

[sponge]

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/78342-coopers-copping-halal-hate/

 

[barabool]

Thought Alcohol could not be considered Halal ??
Started looking but got bored - http://www.halal-australia.com.au

Cheers

 

[Vini2ton]

Hey Grott. Check out doing BIAB. Heaps cheaper than extract or even kits I reckon.Bit more effort but you're rewarded with much better malty hoppy goodness glaraaaaah dribble burp.

 

[Nizmoose]

If I can chip in here I do understand the OP's frustration relating to the coopers cans, I use them for bittering without bittering additions in some extract brews and the frustrating thing is I haven't seen one lhbs in SA that sells coopers tins, brewcraft I've noticed have way inflated prices compared to brew adelaide and beer belly but none stock the coopers cans, so in response to the op I'd definitely recommend brew Adelaide for their hops and grain prices and the guys at beer belly were really helpful and was where I got all my starting equipment from. When it comes to cans I am just going to get mine from Coles, I work there and they do turnover and you can always check the dates, they have the most common cans, be2 and carb drops

 

[sp0rk]

Thought Alcohol could not be considered Halal ??
Started looking but got bored - http://www.halal-australia.com.au

Cheers

It's on their malt extract products, not the beers, it's used for baking in a lot of countries
seeing as it's not actually an animal product, it more or less just gets waved through for halal certfication

 

[SnakeDoctor]

As long as you pay the toll

 

[Grott]

Hey Grott. Check out doing BIAB. Heaps cheaper than extract or even kits I reckon.Bit more effort but you're rewarded with much better malty hoppy goodness glaraaaaah dribble burp.

Thanks, currently costing/locating AG here in Adelaide but will now take this method into account. I have to consider bulk buy outlays as I have to travel a fair bit for a homebrew shop other than Brewcraft.
Cheers