Budget Kits and Bits Brew Experiment...

[menoetes]

Hi Guys,

I've been brewing for a little over a year now; starting with the standard tasteless Kit and Kilo and progressing with many mistakes, hours of reading and much help from people on this forum through to kits and bits, then extract brewing and then finally to my first partial/mini mash brew a few weeks back.

Now I have always enjoyed the process of brewing and for the most part I have enjoyed the products (ie. Beer) of the aforementioned process. I've even come across some really nice recipes in my constant searching and experimenting

However home brewing hasn't always been as cheap as I had originally hoped, especially when beginning extract brewing I noticed a real jump in my brewing costs with the expense of added ingredients such as fresh hops, specialty yeasts, specialty grains and extra equipment.

Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge the extra expense. Home brewing is a true example of the old adage; "You get what you pay for" or even; "You only get out what you put in" both ring true in this case IMHO. But it did get me to thinking... what was the best beer I think I could make for a budget price?

Now it couldn't just be any old swill; it would still have to be something I could enjoy on an evening after work or be willing to serve unashamedly to my friends. So I finally settled on a Kit & Bits and here she is...

Tight-Ass Vic's Secret Ale​

23 lt batch​

​

Ingredients
1 x Homebrand Lager Kit from Woolworths - $9.05
1 x 500g Jar of Chinese Rice Malt - $2.60
1.5kg of Pilsen Liquid malt extract - $6.90
250g Carapils grains (cracked) - $0.98
60g of Vic Secret Hops - $3.60
150g of Dextrose (for bulk priming) - $1.00
Recycled yeast from last brew (Wyeast 1272 in this case) - Free
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total - $24.13 (or approx 40c a stubbie)

All for a about 2 1/2 cartons worth of beer... it's going down tomorrow and I have high hopes for it. Hopefully it will stand as a testimony to the fact that you don't have to spend a fortune to make an enjoyable beer. Only time will tell...

 

[SnakeDoctor]

If you want cheap, get into all grain, you can do a brew for under $20, here is a copy and paste from a recent order of mine (MHB) for an aussie ale:


4.8 KG of ale malt for $15.07 and 25g of pride of ringwood hops for $1.50

23L batch + some yeast from coopers stubbies.

 

[menoetes]

It's true that the ingredient costs of AG brewing is quite low, but the start up equipment cost isn't h34r:

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

It's true that the ingredient costs of AG brewing is quite low, but the start up equipment cost isn't h34r:

Yeah it is. I've made a whole brewing career based on dead cheap equipment and using stuff already lying around the house.

 

[Sippa]

Well AG maybe cheap and produce the best beers but it is extract brewing that caters for convenience!

Back to the topic of this thread, My current brew in the fermenter which is an extract brew as I have posted in this area under "First brews this year" is the cheapest extract brew I have done. Without Itemising everything it has cost $38 for the 23L in the fermenter. Will give at least 21L of beer so around $16-$17 a carton.

And to boot by all indications it is going to be a really nice beer.

I like the convenience of extract brewing!

 

[menoetes]

Hey Raja,

I actually read your your 2 pot stove-top AG method the other day and I was impressed by the ingenuity of it, cheers for posting it sir. However I feel like I've got a bit more reading/learning to do before I'm willing to try an AG brew by your method or by Bribie's Urn BIAB or even by Nick JDs AG for under $30. That and I'm not real handy in a DIY sense for making my own ghetto equipment; so this recipe is what I have come up with using the knowledge and resources I have at my disposal now.

Part of the reason I posted it in the Kits & Extracts section was because I was hoping to avoid the all the old AG vs extract arguments. Some of us just aren't there yet guys. I just hoped this recipe would be of interest to the kit and extract brewers out there who are keen to brew nice beer without spending too much on ingredients or equipment.

 

[Forever Wort]

When looking back my extract brews of 23-26 litres each cost between $25-$30. However, buying extract, spec grains and hops in bulk and reusing yeast makes a big difference to the bottom line and can put brews at $20.

Menoetes, where do you pick up that rice malt for such a cheap price?

 

[menoetes]

Got the rice malt at a Asian grocers in china town, so it's cooking malt. I don't know how clean/refined it is but this an experimental brew so I'm not terribly worried if it doesn't ferment out as completely as other malts. My FG will probably be higher than predicted but I not too concerned with that. If that's the case I'll just add some dextrose to the recipe when I next try to refine it.

 

[Eagleburger]

I started on AG, bypassing kits. am up to 900$ and so far have made 3 cartons of beer. 8-O


But I do have 40 odd kilos of grain, 6kg CO2, kilo of hops, plenty of yeast and the equipment to brew it.

 

[gsouth82]

Where are you getting LME for $6.90 for 1.5kg? I want some!

I've just kegged my cheapest brew ever. Defiantly not my tastiest but its still beer and a good glass filler.

3 x Mr. Beer Classic American Light tins (clearance at Target for 50c each) - $1.50
500g Light DME - $5
25g Cascade - $1.50
Kit yeasts
Grand Total $8 - That's a cheap beer!

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Hey Raja,

I actually read your your 2 pot stove-top AG method the other day and I was impressed by the ingenuity of it, cheers for posting it sir. However I feel like I've got a bit more reading/learning to do before I'm willing to try an AG brew by your method or by Bribie's Urn BIAB or even by Nick JDs AG for under $30. That and I'm not real handy in a DIY sense for making my own ghetto equipment; so this recipe is what I have come up with using the knowledge and resources I have at my disposal now.

Part of the reason I posted it in the Kits & Extracts section was because I was hoping to avoid the all the old AG vs extract arguments. Some of us just aren't there yet guys. I just hoped this recipe would be of interest to the kit and extract brewers out there who are keen to brew nice beer without spending too much on ingredients or equipment.

Fair call. I never wanted to get into an AG vs extract debate either. Just defending a method against mistaken assumption. Each had it's own pros and cons.

I'm useless at DIY, hence part of the reason for my ghetto method and using as much existing, non modified equipment as possible.

One thing to reduce costs is buying bulk hops - it helps both methods. Possibly consider reusing yeast, even dumping a 2nd batch on an existing cake immediately after racking is a good option. And stock up on coopers stuff on clearance at kmart.

Hope this helps.

 

[spryzie]

Go scrumping. Free cider!

 

[menoetes]

GSouth; yeah that liquid malt is very cheap and I've kinda cheated there.

As a few people have already mentioned on this thread, buying in bulk is a great way to save and I bought a 15kg Unhopped Liquid Pilsen Malt growler from National Homebrew (site sponsor) for $69. The 1.5kg of malt comes from there ergo the 1.5kg for $6.90.

I think they have it in golden malt too or at least they did. It's a solid good deal as you can use it for your malt in a kit & bits or for your complete malt base in an all-extract brew.

 

[Widows Son]

Great post. I live in a regional town without much sophistication in brew shops. They charge $7.50 for a kilo of Amber malt extract. So a couple kilos, 50g of whatever hops they have, yeast...economically I'm better off buying a kit.

I know that kind of misses the point of home brewing, but ...

 

[menoetes]

Great post. I live in a regional town without much sophistication in brew shops. They charge $7.50 for a kilo of Amber malt extract. So a couple kilos, 50g of whatever hops they have, yeast...economically I'm better off buying a kit.

I know that kind of misses the point of home brewing, but ...

I don't think you've missed the point at all Widows Son, a good Kit and Bits brew in my experience is generally going to be step above the common megaswill of your choice (XXXX, Carlton, VB etc) and cheaper to boot. Plus you have the fun and satisfaction of making it yourself and impressing your friends with it

 

[Widows Son]

Thanks for the support. My dad-in-law lives is Brisbane and has access to heaps of resources and bulk buys grains with other folks etc... And when he tries hard enough, he makes a very good British Bitter from scratch.

My little home town brew shop trades mostly in spirit essences. They seem to know little about beer or brewing and don't seem too fussed about it.

So I buy various kits and add things like different hops, crushed grains sometimes, rolled oats (a try an making oatmeal stout) honey, DME...whatever whim takes my fancy and the month's brewing budget allows.

 

[menoetes]

FG turned out to be 1013, lower than I expected. I guess the Chinese rice malt fermented out better than I expected, pretty good for cheapo malt. It has a little bit more of a bitter bite than I had originally estimated but it should smooth out nicely once in the bottle for a while. All in all I'm happy with it's progress so far.

Tomorrow it's into the secondary and dry hopped with the last of the Vic Secret hops to be cold crashed this time next week. So far so good...

 

[TheBaron]

I think this is actually an interesting idea as I went into homebrewing mostly due to the ability to make cheap beer that I liked as much as commercial beer, but as you get deeper into it you seem to keep spending and spending...

I'm also too lazy to start all-grain for now so the idea of a cheap kit version that tastes decent is pretty attractive to me.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[Vini2ton]

I wish I'd started doing BIAB when I started homebrewing. Live and learn as they say. A bit more time and effort but a quantum leap in quality,control and variety of beers I make. yum beer.

 

[menoetes]

Cracked the first bottle last night and I have got to say I'm pleased with the result. It's a well rounded full flavoured beer.

It doesn't seem to have been hurt by the use of the Homebrand Lager kit or the chinese rice malt. It's also the first time I've used Vic Secret hops after tasting them in the bridge road Hop School pack and I'm not disappointed, they are a gorgeous hop! I Love that flavour and smell.

If I have any criticism, it would be that it doesn't seem to have much of a head but the weather has been cold and they have only been in the bottle for 3 weeks so we'll see if that changes with time... I'm not saying it's the best beer I've ever made but it is lovely and more than just 'drinkable' - and by far the cheapest!

Sounds like a session beer... :chug: