I've been brewing for about 8 years, not too adventuresome, and still
using the partial-grain method. My last batch of ingredients, for a
Sam Adams "clone," came to $44. (Hops and yeast have gone up
considerably, and I can buy SA for about $40 a case). My supply store
had kits (Brewer's Best and a British one) for $25 to $35 for other
beers I like, so can someone talk me out of going that route?
Thanks.
Dave J

[email]jdjordahl@sbcglobal.net[/email] wrote:[color=blue]
> I've been brewing for about 8 years, not too adventuresome, and still
> using the partial-grain method. My last batch of ingredients, for a
> Sam Adams "clone," came to $44. (Hops and yeast have gone up
> considerably, and I can buy SA for about $40 a case). My supply store
> had kits (Brewer's Best and a British one) for $25 to $35 for other
> beers I like, so can someone talk me out of going that route?
> Thanks.
> Dave J[/color]

Easy, buy in bulk and the cost goes down dramatically. I buy the base
malt in 25kg bags, crystal malts etc, in 3-4 kgs amounts, hops the same.
The initial outlay seems high until you break it down across the
number of batchs you'd get from a 25kg bag of MO.

[email]jdjordahl@sbcglobal.net[/email] wrote:[color=blue]
> I've been brewing for about 8 years, not too adventuresome, and still
> using the partial-grain method. My last batch of ingredients, for a
> Sam Adams "clone," came to $44. (Hops and yeast have gone up
> considerably, and I can buy SA for about $40 a case). My supply store
> had kits (Brewer's Best and a British one) for $25 to $35 for other
> beers I like, so can someone talk me out of going that route?
> Thanks.
> Dave J[/color]
I get ~2 cases out of a 5 gal batch. That would only be $22 a case,
much better than the $40 for the "real thing". If your clone tastes
close to what you are trying to clone, I'd stick with it.

--
Michael Herrenbruck
Herrenbruck Brewery

DragonTail wrote:[color=blue]
> [email]jdjordahl@sbcglobal.net[/email] wrote:
>[color=green]
>> I've been brewing for about 8 years, not too adventuresome, and still
>> using the partial-grain method. My last batch of ingredients, for a
>> Sam Adams "clone," came to $44. (Hops and yeast have gone up
>> considerably, and I can buy SA for about $40 a case). My supply store
>> had kits (Brewer's Best and a British one) for $25 to $35 for other
>> beers I like, so can someone talk me out of going that route?
>> Thanks.
>> Dave J[/color]
>
> I get ~2 cases out of a 5 gal batch. That would only be $22 a case,
> much better than the $40 for the "real thing". If your clone tastes
> close to what you are trying to clone, I'd stick with it.
>[/color]



2 cases out of a 5 gallon batch? What are you doing? I average for the
price on one case I get 5. That's one full corny per batch.

On Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:16:04 -0400, jason <me@invalid.address.com>
wrote:
[color=blue]
>DragonTail wrote:[color=green]
>> [email]jdjordahl@sbcglobal.net[/email] wrote:
>>[color=darkred]
>>> I've been brewing for about 8 years, not too adventuresome, and still
>>> using the partial-grain method. My last batch of ingredients, for a
>>> Sam Adams "clone," came to $44. (Hops and yeast have gone up
>>> considerably, and I can buy SA for about $40 a case). My supply store
>>> had kits (Brewer's Best and a British one) for $25 to $35 for other
>>> beers I like, so can someone talk me out of going that route?
>>> Thanks.
>>> Dave J[/color]
>>
>> I get ~2 cases out of a 5 gal batch. That would only be $22 a case,
>> much better than the $40 for the "real thing". If your clone tastes
>> close to what you are trying to clone, I'd stick with it.
>>[/color]
>
>
>
>2 cases out of a 5 gallon batch? What are you doing? I average for the
>price on one case I get 5. That's one full corny per batch.[/color]

I made an error in the original post--meant to say $20 a case, not
$40. I can't make it as good as Sam does. Anyway, do the kits make
sense, or are the ingredients "stale?" Buying in bulk makes sense,
though it seems like for every batch I use different malts.
Thanks again.
DJ

[dlihcsnatas]

As usual I live in a limited place when it comes to buying local but this is what I have found.

If I buy my own recipe I will pay about $40 for 5 gallons. That is malt, grains, hops, and yeast. My alcohol level is general somewhere around 7-9%. The Brewers Best kits generally run about $25 at my local store and comes with around 6lbs of malt (syrup or dry), yeast pack, grains, hops, bag for grains, bottle caps, and priming sugar.

A friend of mine that has recently gotten into the hobby has made nothing but kits and has stuck to the kits only. Generally a kit is set up to give you a good flavor for the type of brew you are making with around 4-5% alcohol by volume. Drinking these I can say they are good but then I could buy something off the shelves with about the same taste and kick.

For me I normally will add in around 3 more pounds of malt and usually around a pound of corn sugar just to add a bit more kick. In the end I spend about $25 on a kit, $10 on some extra malt, and $2 on some sugar. So I have about $32 invested plus I get the caps & bottling sugar to add on to the savings. So I save somewhere around about $9 per 5 gallon batch.

Not only that but my batch still has the flavors the kit was going for and people can get that buzz factor on around half the brew. OK so many say taste is more important than kick but if I can get a tasty brew with kick then there you go, best of both.

Go all Grain ...... A Sam Adams Bosron Ale Clone cost me 18 cents a bottle.

<jdjordahl@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:p4usr2di3kmfkb23b397qa7pe3qts3t4ha@4ax.com...[color=blue]
> I've been brewing for about 8 years, not too adventuresome, and still
> using the partial-grain method. My last batch of ingredients, for a
> Sam Adams "clone," came to $44. (Hops and yeast have gone up
> considerably, and I can buy SA for about $40 a case). My supply store
> had kits (Brewer's Best and a British one) for $25 to $35 for other
> beers I like, so can someone talk me out of going that route?
> Thanks.
> Dave J[/color]

[email]jdjjordahl@sbcglobal.net[/email] wrote:[color=blue]
> On Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:16:04 -0400, jason <me@invalid.address.com>
> wrote:
>[color=green]
>> DragonTail wrote:[color=darkred]
>>> [email]jdjordahl@sbcglobal.net[/email] wrote:
>>>
>>>> I've been brewing for about 8 years, not too adventuresome, and still
>>>> using the partial-grain method. My last batch of ingredients, for a
>>>> Sam Adams "clone," came to $44. (Hops and yeast have gone up
>>>> considerably, and I can buy SA for about $40 a case). My supply store
>>>> had kits (Brewer's Best and a British one) for $25 to $35 for other
>>>> beers I like, so can someone talk me out of going that route?
>>>> Thanks.
>>>> Dave J
>>> I get ~2 cases out of a 5 gal batch. That would only be $22 a case,
>>> much better than the $40 for the "real thing". If your clone tastes
>>> close to what you are trying to clone, I'd stick with it.
>>>[/color]
>>
>>
>> 2 cases out of a 5 gallon batch? What are you doing? I average for the
>> price on one case I get 5. That's one full corny per batch.[/color]
>
> I made an error in the original post--meant to say $20 a case, not
> $40. I can't make it as good as Sam does. Anyway, do the kits make
> sense, or are the ingredients "stale?" Buying in bulk makes sense,
> though it seems like for every batch I use different malts.
> Thanks again.
> DJ[/color]
Depends on what you mean by "kits" and where you get them, DJ. When I
don't make one of my own "recipes", I either pick up a "recipe" from the
LHBS or order from an online shop. They aren't a prepackaged "box" like
Coopers, John Bull, or Brewers Best. They are ingredient kits put
together in house to make a certain style. When I get the ingredients
from the LHBS, they are from bulk containers, for the grain and extract,
that they measure out the specific amounts of a said ingredient. The
hops and yeast come out a fridge. One shop buys bulk hops and then
breask them down to 1oz bags, another has them prepackaged. I usually
use liquid yeast. Again this depends on where I get my "kits" from but
I usually use White Labs and if I can't get that I try to get a
comparable strain from WYeast. I haven't tried any of the prepackaged
kits, but if you trust your shop keep, check for an "expiration" or "use
by" date, and buy fresh yeast, you should be fine. About the only
ingredient I buy in bulk is DME for making starters.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
--
Michael Herrenbruck
Herrenbruck Brewery

jason wrote:[color=blue]
> DragonTail wrote:[color=green]
>> [email]jdjordahl@sbcglobal.net[/email] wrote:
>>[color=darkred]
>>> I've been brewing for about 8 years, not too adventuresome, and still
>>> using the partial-grain method. My last batch of ingredients, for a
>>> Sam Adams "clone," came to $44. (Hops and yeast have gone up
>>> considerably, and I can buy SA for about $40 a case). My supply store
>>> had kits (Brewer's Best and a British one) for $25 to $35 for other
>>> beers I like, so can someone talk me out of going that route?
>>> Thanks.
>>> Dave J[/color]
>>
>> I get ~2 cases out of a 5 gal batch. That would only be $22 a case,
>> much better than the $40 for the "real thing". If your clone tastes
>> close to what you are trying to clone, I'd stick with it.
>>[/color]
>
>
>
> 2 cases out of a 5 gallon batch? What are you doing? I average for the
> price on one case I get 5. That's one full corny per batch.[/color]
Bot sure what you mean. I do a 5 gal batch and fill 48 bottles (2
cases). When I keg I get 1 corny. If I bottle, it works out to less
than $1/bottle.

--
Michael Herrenbruck
Herrenbruck Brewery

[harsley]

Try re-using your yeast to save money on batches...and going all-grain saves a lot of money in the long run. You can make a simple batch for less than $10.