Cost of an AG?

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Do not use Kilner jars,

they are not a problem just run them through a pressure cooker if you havent got one ( from freecycle or freegle) just give them a good boil. Pressure cooker is by far the best though as it will fully sterilise the bottle and tops.


aamcle
 
Just depends what your brewing, I buy my grain in 25kg sacks from the Home Brew Company for £18.95 and then buy enough hops and other stuff to get free postage, but for arguments sake if you price grain at £1.00/Kg then :

my simple lawn mower beer

4.5 kg grain = £4.50
25g herkules 17%AA for 60 min = £0.59p
50 g hallert.. mitt.. for 2 min = 1.80
CML yeast either West coast or Kolsch = £0.80p

Brewed to 20l for under £8.00, its nice beer too, refreshing and ways in between 4% - 5% abv

gonna be buying my grain here next, cheap ....do the maths on this :

http://www.staffordshirebrewery.co.uk/113-crushed-lager-malt.html
 
I did a SMASH brew using maris otter (which I buy in bulk, 25kg) and Centennial hops and yeast from crossmyloof, did a 19 litre brew for around 40p a pint.
 
Do not use Kilner jars, way too many places for bacteria to hide.
When cultivating yeast all your equipment must be sterile not sanitised.
2li pickled onion jars work very well

The photos are not mine in this thread. However, I fail to see how a pickle jar is any different than a kilner jar. The seal between jar and lid is the same, the screw mechanism is different but external to the seal.

Sterile practices will always be better, however good sanitation is more than adequate with this method, providing your brew process is ok. The low ph and alcohol of the beer will inhibit bacterial growth, as it does with bottling. And we all know harvesting yeast from bottles does not lead to infections.
 
Out of interest, for the first 7 AGs, I calculated the exact cost per pint, using proportions of malt & hops used, plus yeast (dry pack). I didn't bother to factor in the likes of Irish moss, CO2, water, water treatment, sanitiser, electricity, etc. And I more or less followed clones of well known beers, not particularly high ABV or hoppy. Cheapest was a 4.7% with 67g hops (fuggles), @ 22p per pint. Most expensive, @ 32p per pint, was shared between 2 brews. First was 4.3% and 85g hops, second was 8.7% with 62g hops. The range of the 7 gave me a feeling for the general cost. I should mention that I was sourcing malt at about 85p per kilo, so pretty cheap.

One of the 32p per pint was a clone that costs 1.70 pounds for 33cl in the supermarket. So that's roughly 120 pounds worth of beer for about 13 pounds.

For the mentioned none factored in costs, most of the stuff is negligible when divided by 40 pints, but CO2 for cornies is not so cheap. I estimate about 5p per pint (on top of the earlier mentioned costs). So I decided I'm switching up to a 10kg bottle, as the cost of CO2 is almost the same for 5kg as it is for 10kg. Just got to swallow a one off charge for upping the bottle size.
 
£15 for a spunding valve and slightly shorten your dip tube, and CO2 becomes free, if you harness the byproduct of fermentation.
 
��£15 for a spunding valve and slightly shorten your dip tube, and CO2 becomes free, if you harness the byproduct of fermentation.

Oh... had thought about secondary fermentation, but just wanted to keep things simple, and yeast free. I can live with 2.5p per pint.
 
Think my cheapest has been my (back to back brews of a) pilgrim smash.
10kg of grain - about £8 when bought in bulk
100g of hops - £2.20
1 pack of yeast £2.35 (reused)

£12.55 for 80 bottles, just over 15p per bottle.

Most expensive has been where I have added extras like cacao nibs, maple syrup or bourbon.

I've started to bulk buy my staple hops and have tried substitutes from https://www.morebeer.com/articles/homebrew_beer_hops and always use something cheap (and with higher AA) to bitter with, especially ipas etc.
 
Lager, Kolsch and Stout are all under a tenner if you reuse the yeast. I would make more hoppy beers but they are too dear to drink all the time. If you are spending loads on bottled water get a reverse osmosis system. They are excellent.

I thought that was where you played Ozzy Osbourne's 1995 album backwards and heard subliminal messages?
 
42 500ml bottles costs about £18. So cheap compared to buying beer so I don't give the cost much thought.
 
I would appreciate it if you guys would tell me your average cost of a brew?
My last BIAB probably cost �£18 or so.
5kg of Golden Promise
200g of hops
Wee bit Carapils
Wee bit oats
Mangrove Jacks yeast
Maybe more like �£20 but I have scooped up a few jars of trub so hoping to save a bit there.
I'm thinking I can make a hoppy lager for around a tenner?

this is the one I buy a lot as I like the Amarillo hop taste

http://www.geterbrewed.com/single-hop-series-amarillo-23-litres-5.6/
 
Never really given it any thought and probably will not either:grin:
I do try and get whatever i need in one go from one supplier but it aint make or break!
 
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