Cheapest all grain recipe?

[Oneflewover]

One big advantage with Saison is the very high attenuation rate so you will likely hit your 5% ABV target with less grain throw in that you can use fairly small amounts of comparatively cheap hops like Styrian Golding and it makes for a great easy to make cheap beer.

Good shout. Also use circa 10% sugar for even better ABV / £ ratio

 

[Oneflewover]

Wheat beer is my suggestion, particularly for a quick turnaround and summer drinking. 5kg 50:50 wheat and lager malt, sachet of CML kristalweizen or Gretel yeast, cheap hops like magnum at start of boil to 20ibu. Job done (cheaply )

 

[Brewnaldo]

Wheat beer is my suggestion, particularly for a quick turnaround and summer drinking. 5kg 50:50 wheat and lager malt, sachet of CML kristalweizen or Gretel yeast, cheap hops like magnum at start of boil to 20ibu. Job done (cheaply )

Came on to post exactly that. Weissbier seems the obvious choice here due to the requirement for very little hops..

 

[Monkhouse]

Has anyone seen this one on MM? it’s called Tooheys old clone, dirt cheap, so cheap you could up the grain and hop bill by 50% and it’s still under £15.
Do you think this would make a decent beer?

 

[gyurmaember]

Did you consider to rack your wort on the previous brew's slurry?

 

[Monkhouse]

Came on to post exactly that. Weissbier seems the obvious choice here due to the requirement for very little hops..

How much hops would you suggest? I’m not yet familiar with ibu’s yet

 

[Brewnaldo]

How much hops would you suggest? I’m not yet familiar with ibu’s yet

I'm at work now so cant check the GH book, but the last one I made thats saved on my Brewfather has 15 IBU, which was about 13g of Herkules hops.

I have only ever used Wyeast liquid for these, not the cheapest, but I belive CML have a couple of choices for a banana-estery yeast to fit the style. Kristalweizen as mentioned and I think, Gretel.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Has anyone seen this one on MM? it’s called Tooheys old clone, dirt cheap, so cheap you could up the grain and hop bill by 50% and it’s still under £15.
Do you think this would make a decent beer?

I wouldn’t add any more crystal or chocolate, there’s quite a lot of those already - even if you doubled the Maris Otter.

The grain bill for my own best bitter (4.5%) is 3800g Maris Otter, 200g flaked barley, 120g crystal 225, and 40g roast barley. I don’t use chocolate in my bitter at all, in my Mild I only use 50g of chocolate.

 

[Monkhouse]

I wouldn’t add any more crystal or chocolate, there’s quite a lot of those already - even if you doubled the Maris Otter.

The grain bill for my own best bitter (4.5%) is 3800g Maris Otter, 200g flaked barley, 120g crystal 225, and 40g roast barley. I don’t use chocolate in my bitter at all, in my Mild I only use 50g of chocolate.

Good to know. Does adding 500g sugar thin the beer out to a noticeable level?

 

[Monkhouse]

Did you consider to rack your wort on the previous brew's slurry?

I’ve never done this, I’ve got a fermentasaurus with a yeast trap/bottle so it’s possible. Isn’t the risk of infection greater doing this method?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Good to know. Does adding 500g sugar thin the beer out to a noticeable level?

Maybe if you have a good palate and had a side-by-side comparison but for for most of us and with no side-by-side comparison? I don’t think so.

 

[Nicks90]

By far the cheapest brew you can do is using the saison yeast you already have. Super monster yeast that will easily make 5% with 5kg of malt in a 5 gallon batch.
You don't need many elaborate hops either, so buy something like saaz. I did a saison with Admiral not so long ago and that was super dooper.
Plus saisons quite like getting hot and bothered and stress kinda just makes them taste better, so an ideal brew to do in these warmer months if you don't have temp control.

Alternatively a summer ale Smash using good old Nottingham yeast courtesy of wilkinsons (about £1.25 a pack) and fuggles hops.

 

[tigertim]

Also remember if you want a bit more strength you can add a little sugar. 500g of table sugar will add around 1.5%.

This reminds me - my current Weiss has fermented out and finished at about 3.7% instead of the ~5% it was supposed to be. I knew it was going to happen from the OG when I pitched the yeast but thought it might work out as a good quaffing beer.

However, now it’s finished fermenting, it tastes great but does really need an extra percent or two of alcohol content - I’m interested to know if I can I just pour a few hundred grams of table sugar into the fermenter and let the yeast wake up and get on with it? Would there be an infection risk from doing so? And is this sacrilege and hackery?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

This reminds me - my current Weiss has fermented out and finished at about 3.7% instead of the ~5% it was supposed to be. I knew it was going to happen from the OG when I pitched the yeast but thought it might work out as a good quaffing beer.

However, now it’s finished fermenting, it tastes great but does really need an extra percent or two of alcohol content - I’m interested to know if I can I just pour a few hundred grams of table sugar into the fermenter and let the yeast wake up and get on with it? Would there be an infection risk from doing so? And is this sacrilege and hackery?

Do it

Dissolve the sugar in a little boiling water.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

good old Nottingham yeast courtesy of wilkinsons (about £1.25 a pack)

Hmmmm, more like £2.50 a pack now I’m afraid

 

[gyurmaember]

I’ve never done this, I’ve got a fermentasaurus with a yeast trap/bottle so it’s possible. Isn’t the risk of infection greater doing this method?

I've done once so far, I keg it on brewday, and keep it under co2 whilst brewing. So nothing touches the yeast. It's safer than collecting and washing yeast, can be used up to 3 generations. Obviously not for very hoppy styles.

 

[trueblue]

Personally, I would avoid SO-2 like the plague the cheaper Wilko will make a better beer.

 

[Monkhouse]

Personally, I would avoid SO-2 like the plague the cheaper Wilko will make a better beer.

Did u mean S-05? I don’t think there’s been a mention of S-02 on this thread?

 

[prog99]

Save money on hops and make an Elderflower saison. (Assumes you like the flavour of elderflower)

 

[chthon]

I’ve got nothing in stock at all, apart from 2x mangrove jacks dry saison yeast but tbh I’ll probably be just buying a sachet of s-05.
So 100g of hops to 5kg of malt? Would this be around 5%abv? A summer ale does sound perfect, something quick to ferment and drink is always a win!
I’ll be ordering from malt miller but didn’t fancy just going for one of their ready made kits this time.

The MJ saison yeast is ideal. No temperature control needed. Will ferment to 1.000-1.002 though. However, that way you could save on your grain bill. Add some more hops at the end of the boil. Definitely EKG. My first beers were made with this yeast, DME and EKG.

Extra: you can ferment with this yeast in a warm room (e.g. at the southside of the house). Fermentation can be completely finished in a week with this one, between 23° and 30°.