Cheapest Beer You've Ever Done

[Bribie G]

Laziness alert!

I dry hop in swiss voile "swags" tied with string. After bottling, I whip out the swag, rinse off all the trub and give it a few squeezes to flush out the beer in it ... and then chuck it in the freezer.

Then when your next wort is boiling, you open the freezer and there's 20g of hops pre-bagged. Chuck it in the boil as the 60 minute addition.

BTW - I use 40cm squares of voile so the hops are not restricted.

Nick.. to what extent did that work? I mean did you get serious bittering? RdeVuyn and I are thinking of experimenting along those lines to see if we can by-pass the 'hot period' in the no chill cube and end up with a more aromatic beer:

• Prepare about 45g of a dual purpose hop, make it into a hop tea in a french press coffee plunger and then fridge the 'runnings'
• Use the hops as bittering in the boil
• No chill in cube as usual
• Add the 'runnings' to the fermenter at the same time as pitching the yeast

I got a comment from one experienced member who said that it likely wouldn't work as the alpha acids would still get extracted with the hop tea, but just not get isomerised. However you had good results yourself?

 

[Swinging Beef]

I dressed it up with crushed ice, mint leaves, Buderim ginger cordial and a cocktail umbrella and it was bloody nice and refreshing.

 

[bum]

Holy Crap, Beef. I am literally downloading FF7 right now. Weird.

 

[Bribie G]

It's even better served out of a hollowed out pineapple with pink frosty sugar round the rim

 

[Nick JD]

Nick.. to what extent did that work? I mean did you get serious bittering? RdeVuyn and I are thinking of experimenting along those lines to see if we can by-pass the 'hot period' in the no chill cube and end up with a more aromatic beer:

• Prepare about 45g of a dual purpose hop, make it into a hop tea in a french press coffee plunger and then fridge the 'runnings'
• Use the hops as bittering in the boil
• No chill in cube as usual
• Add the 'runnings' to the fermenter at the same time as pitching the yeast

I got a comment from one experienced member who said that it likely wouldn't work as the alpha acids would still get extracted with the hop tea, but just not get isomerised. However you had good results yourself?

Nicely bittered. I'll try and find the chemistry, but I'm pretty sure that even boiling the crap out of hops leaves a lot of the acids behind. The reason lots of breweries use extraction techniques so they're not chucking any goodness. These dry hop swags are in pretty cold wort ... not a boiling tea, that might be the difference, but it's a guess.

 

[Bribie G]

Thanks Nick, I'm hoping that the relatively brief exposure to near-boiling water will still leave most of the AA intact. I'll try it today with a SMASH using NZ Hallertau Flowers - fairly reasonable AA of 6.5% so they may work well.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Bribie - dry hopping and steeping in boiling liquid = different. Alpha acids are soluble at high temperatures, not so at low temps. Give it a go though, I'll be interested to see if and to what extent it works.

My cheapest brew... cost me the electricity needed to boil the wort and run my fermentation fridge

Water is free
Malt is free
Hops are free
and in this instance someone gave me the yeast

So maybe a dollar then??

 

[Bribie G]

Prepping the urn shortly, I'll report on the taste test this evening

 

[Nick JD]

There's actually an advantage to using hops that were previously used for dry hopping - they have much of their flavour oils removed, even those pesky ones that seem to make is past 60 minutes of boiling (you listening Nelson Sauvin!).

 

[rendo]

Hey Pete!!

I did a toucan of farmland draught, $1 each....plus 1 kg of dex and 30g cluster hops boiled for 30mins

F#$k me it was bitter.

After 1 year the bitterness has mellowed and the malt is coming thru. I have enjoyed it immensely over the year monitoring its taste and seeing how it changes. (not your every night beer, but its great with a stew in winter...wait a min...it is a stew in itself! Anyway...best $2 I ever spent)

EDIT: and its about 6.5% alc from memory!! i could check, but I am being lazy

Did a toucan of Farmland Draught once I got on special for $1.50 a can.
Honestly it was more of a waste of $3. :lol:

 

[rendo]

HAHAHAHA

not often I crack up laughing, but this had me in stitches.

I too salute you....

And I know that I will be doing the exact same thing, when I eventually do my first dry hop.

As I have said before, I love this site!

And I thought I was a tight arse - I salute you!

 

[rendo]

Holy crap, now I am in tears...

is that you SB?

 

[kelbygreen]

mine was tonight

coopers european lager (xmas present)
400g LDME (left over from a brew, was crystallising so needed to be used so i say free)
300g dextrose (left overs say $1 worth)
300g sugar (about $1)
400g yellow box honey (was in cupboard for 2 years so I say free, was a good find )
2g amarillo @ 10 mins
4g centennial @ 10 mins (left overs not even worth counting)
and most costly was the yeast S-23 yeast but had for almost 3 months so needed to be used

 

[rendo]

BribieG,

Can you let us know how your experiment goes today?? I reckon it sounds like you are on a winner with your plunger etc.

Thanks Nick, I'm hoping that the relatively brief exposure to near-boiling water will still leave most of the AA intact. I'll try it today with a SMASH using NZ Hallertau Flowers - fairly reasonable AA of 6.5% so they may work well.

 

[Bribie G]

BribieG,

Can you let us know how your experiment goes today?? I reckon it sounds like you are on a winner with your plunger etc.

linky

 

[boingk]

Looking back through my brewing book I see that the cheapest brew was "25c/stubbie beer," with all that that entailed

It was a toucan of Homebrand Lager made to 23L and dryhopped with 15g of Hallertau. Came out alright, nice and creamy after a few months with fair bitterness and roughly 6.5%. Fermented like nothing else haha.

On the other end, the most expensive was probably by foray into Chilli Beer - $46 for 22L; primarily because of the jalapenos and chipotles, plus some real vanilla beans.

Cheers - boingk

 

[Kevlar84]

[SIZE=10.5pt]My dad gave me a ND Aussie Pale Ale Brewers Selection Wort Kit (FREE). It was 4 years old and well past its expiry date. I chucked it in the fermenter anyway (what could possiby go wrong right?).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Spent $6 on Yeast, couple of bucks on Dextrose.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]After 2 weeks in the bottle I tried 1 and it tasted exactly how you would expect 4 year old wort to taste. I was going to chuck it out then and there but decided to give it a little more time. I cracked another after a month and although it’s not quite pleasant, it had come a long way, almost drinkable.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]I’m going to leave it for a few months before cracking the next one but I have my fingers crossed for this tight-ass brew.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Furthermore, I picked up a 2nd hand fermenter on ebay and rather than replacing the old worn out o-ring, I just put a layer of honey around the lid and the seal holds tight. Honey is cheaper than food grade lube [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]J[/SIZE]

 

[bum]

Also has antibacterial properties so is probably better than sanitising, amirite?

That was a joke. Don't go smearing fermentables around the top of your fermenters, guys.

 

[Florian]

I picked up a 2nd hand fermenter on ebay and rather than replacing the old worn out o-ring, I just put a layer of honey around the lid and the seal holds tight. Honey is cheaper than food grade lube [/font][/color][/size][size=NaN]J[/size]

Wow, great idea!

What sort of honey was it? Do you reckon it matters, I mean, should I invest in some good quality honey or can I just get the cheapest one from Aldi?

Oh, and welcome to the forum, first post I see.

EDIT: oohhh, beaten by bum by miles, must have fallen asleep in me chair. Time for bed...

 

[Kevlar84]

Also has antibacterial properties so is probably better than sanitising, amirite?

That was a joke. Don't go smearing fermentables around the top of your fermenters, guys.

Haha, makes sense, thanks for the tip Bum. I've just upgraded to a glass demijohn fermenter and I'm keen to put down my next brew.

Thanks for the welcome Florian.