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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> Brewing Forum --> Brewing Discussion --> Money Saving Brew Tips

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Mobius570
Bloomsburg, PA
5 Posts


I see a lot of questions from new brewers and just thought I would share some of my experiences and work arounds for saving a few bucks and some tips for home brewing. Please feel free add to your tips as well, I'm hoping to learn something new. 


1) I mentioned a few times in the past about going to your local grocery store's bakery and asking for their empty icing buckets. These food grade buckets are 2 to 3 gallons and have a rubber gasket in the lid for a tight seal. Just drill out the lid, add an airlock grommet and airlock and you have some near to nothing small batch fermenters.


2) To sanitize, I use Gentle Iodine Wound Spray from the Tractor Supply store. 1 gallon jug runs around $17 bucks and will last forever. Use just enough to get straw color to your sanitizing water. Approx 1.5-2tbs/5 gallons of water. Another way to sanitize bottles is place them in your dishwasher and run a light rinse cycle and heat dry them. Before I was kegging, I would run a batch of bottle through and then fill them right on the dishwasher lid. This way there was no mess on the floor and to clean it up I just had to close the lid and run it.


3) Use Oxiclean? Why not use Sun Oxygen Cleaner, 96 oz (6lbs) for $5.50. This stuff works just as well from what I can tell at a much cheaper cost than Oxiclean.


4) We all now yeast is pricey and can be almost half your cost in a batch. Make a 2L starter and break it down into smaller vials. Search online for what are called Baby Soda Bottles or Soda Bottle Preforms, these are the vials that White Labs use to package their yeast. Obviously the biggest one is building your own equipment. So far I have built a fermentation chamber and temp controller using the STC-1000 aquarium controller and a stir plate. The stir plate was constructed with a PC fan, a magnet from an old hard drive, a project box from radio shack, an on/off switch, a potentiometer and an old cell phone charger. Total build cost for the stir plate was less than $20.


5) Speaking DIY, want a false bottom. Find a pizza tray or colander that fits your kettle/mash tun. This has worked well for me in the past with slight modification.


6) Homegrown hops aren't feasible for everyone, but if you have the space why not? This past year I planted four plants and have been super happy with them. Hop rhizomes are inexpensive and super easy to plant. The hardest part is building a trellis.


7) Use a paint strainer bag from Lowes or Home Depot to do BIAB. They usually come in a 2 pack and fit 5 gallon pots easy.


Looking forward to what you guys have to add to this.





Posted 34 days ago.

dave
Fenton, MI
13 Posts


Good idea about the sun oxygen cleaner. I think that I've even seen that at the dollar stores.



Posted 34 days ago.

Mobius570
Bloomsburg, PA
5 Posts


That stuff is amazing and it seems to be everywhere. Walmart, big lots, to the dollar store as you mentioned. 



Posted 34 days ago.

rayfound
Charter Member
Riverside, CA
313 Posts


Single easiest way is buying base grains and hops in bulk. 



Posted 34 days ago.

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