Extract, generally not that cheap!

[WishboneBrewery]

Compare Extract to a Kit brew which would be around £16-£22 (depending on whether it was a 2-Can good quality kit or a 1-can kit with 1kg of Dry Spray Malt) making 40 pints of beer.

The Malt Extract alone for a 40 Pint brew would cost between £14-£21-ish for DSM or £16-£23 for LME, add to this a £1 for the yeast, a minimum of £3.30 for a 100g of hops(Lets say 1 type of hops), then there is the special malted grains (Crystal, Black & Chocolate Malts) which don't cost that much from £1.50/Kg...

So maybe the average 40 pint Extract brew comes in at the cheapest around £21 (DSM), and up to about £35 (LME) *I'm taking into account the cheapest and more average costing HBS's here, though I'm not including any postage costs, add £3-£5 for that*

At worst it could be a £1/pint, which isn't bad considering but its definitely the price range of the local supermarket.
As I've said in other threads, that I'm doing small length extract brews based around 1 can of Liquid Malt Extract... but this still seems expensive, the Coopers Light LME is a bit too dark though its the cheapest, Brupaks costs a bit more as does Muntons. So I'm stuck with about £6.50 for a 1Kg of Brewers Choice DSM or two bags or 500g Muntons light DSM for £3.50 a bag.

Depending on the recipe that could mean buying:
3KG of DSM @ £19.50
500g Crystal @ 75p (buying is small but sensible amounts)
500g Black malt @ 75p (buying is small but sensible amounts)
500g Chocolate malt @ 75p (buying is small but sensible amounts)
Yeast @ £1
Two varieties of hops @ £7
Grand Total of £29.75 for 40 pints of beer for about 75p/pint

I can see why AG is the way forward, but it would be nice if there was a slightly cheaper way to buy Malt Extract...
Ho hum!!!!

[arturobandini]

That's pretty much why I skipped it altogether back when I was getting my mind away from kits. Extract seemed the logical step at first glance but I changed my mind when weighing up costs etc and the price of a getting a mashtun up and running was very little.

That's not to belittle Extract brewing as I've sampled some very fine brews made from DME and LME and the autonomy it gives the Brewer is a lifetime away from kits. For some Extract brewing is a time saving device which allows them to produce something bespoke and unique as opposed to a 20 minute stir and store. If you're doing this as a "natural order of things" I'd say skip it and get to the grain, if you're doing this as time-wise it's a step you can afford to take then good luck and I hope you can get some cheaper extract!

[WishboneBrewery]

Well extract its a stepping stone for me...

I only started my first kit in January and having just done my second extract brew I'm planning some more and whatever money I'm spending on brewing I aren't spending in the supermarket and by the time I have the room to have a AG setup that doesn't have to be moved and packed away afterwards I'll have a fair bit of the kit

If my first mini brew is anything to go by I'm going to enjoy drinking extract beer much better than kits, it would just be nice if Spray Malt was half the price

[OldSpeckledBadger]

If you shop around you can get spraymalt for £3 per 500g so for say a session-strength bitter you'd use about 2kg (£12), maybe £1 tops of crystal/black malt, maybe £2 worth of hops plus another £1ish for the yeast and maybe 50p's worth of brewing sugar. So about £18 for a 40 pint brew which will be head and shoulders above any kit. With AG you can probably do it for less than a tenner. But some of us don't have the facilities for AG.

[WishboneBrewery]

I was using the starting costs, after the initial purchases of Hops and Malted grains it will be a little cheaper...
And where might I get DSM for £3?

[OldSpeckledBadger]

And where might I get DSM for £3?

BrewGenie. I'm sure there must be other too.

[WishboneBrewery]

Ahh...
I must have totally missed that last night when I looked! doh!! Cheers

[brewin_bear]

I have just bought 15kg of LME for £51. Works out at £3.4 per Kg so £11 - £15 per 40 pints.

My next recipe is this;

Recipe: Foxhunter Amarillo IPA
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: English IPA
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.00 L
Boil Size: 16.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 19.5 EBC
Estimated IBU: 55.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.00 kg Amber Liquid Extract - Brupacks (14.0 EBC)Extract 94.12 %
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 5.88 %
15.00 gm Amarillo Gold - Brupacks [9.50 %] (75 minHops 11.5 IBU
15.00 gm Centennial - Brupacks [11.70 %] (75 min) Hops 14.2 IBU
15.00 gm Northdown [7.60 %] (75 min) Hops 9.2 IBU
10.00 gm Northdown [7.60 %] (45 min) Hops 5.4 IBU
10.00 gm Centennial - Brupacks [11.70 %] (45 min) Hops 8.3 IBU
10.00 gm Amarillo Gold - Brupacks [9.50 %] (45 minHops 6.7 IBU
40.00 gm Centennial - Brupacks [11.70 %] (30 min) Hops -
30.00 gm Amarillo Gold - Brupacks [9.50 %] (30 minHops -
40.00 gm Northdown [7.60 %] (30 min) (Aroma Hop-StHops -
1.00 gm Protafloc Powder (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
2 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale

And will cost £23.71. So not too different to a good kit.

15 Kg of LE was the oly way Icoul find tt get the price down a bit though... and you do then have the hastle of using up lots of LME, so I have a series of brews lined up over the next few weeks.

[WishboneBrewery]

Thats Hardcore man!!! I can almost justify that but I'm not sure i want the fun and games of decanting a few Kg's of slime every brew and I'd be scared that it might get infected or something in between brews.

Thats looks an interesting brew, let us know how it goes

[floydmeddler]

I was feeling the pocket pinch too so I made the jump to all grain. Getting set up cost me a few quid: £50 for the mash tun, £20 for the boiler, £20 for the wort chiller. These days I buy my grain in bulk and can make cracking beer for around 25p-35p a pint! Have never looked back... obviously!

[WishboneBrewery]

I will, eventually....

[brewin_bear]

Thats Hardcore man!!! I can almost justify that but I'm not sure i want the fun and games of decanting a few Kg's of slime every brew and I'd be scared that it might get infected or something in between brews.

Thats looks an interesting brew, let us know how it goes

Can't get infected per se as you boil it (well it can get infected, but you'd then kill anything in the boil). I've heard that you can get mould growing on top (some pour a little vodka on top of the LME to prevent this) but if that happens people seem to have just scraped it off. I'm also not too sure about his large quantity liquid but we'll see... thought it might be worth a try. As decanting etc takes place before the boil, sanitisation isn't a problem. I'll post how the brew goes over the weekend

[brewin_bear]

I was feeling the pocket pinch too so I made the jump to all grain. Getting set up cost me a few quid: £50 for the mash tun, £20 for the boiler, £20 for the wort chiller. These days I buy my grain in bulk and can make cracking beer for around 25p-35p a pint! Have never looked back... obviously!

I've been really tempted with going the whole hog to AG (only need a mash tun) but don't really have the time. Extract takes me all afternoon (or longer ).

[WishboneBrewery]

Ahh, OK, so the 51 quid should last in good health until its empty, I suppose its a bit like Jam... you get a furry mouldy top but other than that its probably still OK!!!

[OldSpeckledBadger]

Ahh, OK, so the 51 quid should last in good health until its empty, I suppose its a bit like Jam... you get a furry mouldy top but other than that its probably still OK!!!

Not a good comparison IMHO as anything other than fresh LME will give you that home-brew tang. I certainly wouldn't want to drink anything made from mouldy LME but each to their own