Brewing Cheap vs Expensive IPA Recipes with Clawhammer Supply

We brew two IPAs - one with cheap ingredients ($25 for a 3 gallon batch) and a second IPA that costs double the ingredient cost. Other than that the beers have the same ABV and IBU. Was the expensive recipe worth it?
A huge thanks to Kyle and Emmet from Clawhammer Supply for coming down to my place to brew with me.
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CHEAP IPA (3 GALLONS):
6 lbs 8.0 oz 2-row American Pale Malt
8.0 oz Caramunich I
1.00 oz Mosaic Pellets [12.70 %] - Boil 30.0 min
1.00 oz Mosaic Pellets [12.70 %] - Boil 0.0 min
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)
1.00 oz Mosaic Pellets [12.70 %] - Dry Hop
EXPENSIVE IPA (3 GALLONS):
4 lbs 8.0 oz Golden Promise
1 lbs Caramel 10
1 lbs EPIPHANY MUNICH MALT
1 lbs EPIPHANY VIENNA MALT
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min
1.00 oz Mosaic Pellets [12.70 %] - Boil 0.0 min
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)
2.00 oz Mosaic Pellets [12.70 %] - Dry Hop
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop
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Created by: Martin Keen
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[@ClawhammerSupply]

Thanks again for having us, Martin! We had a blast brewing in your killer home brew studio. Also, the brewery scene in Raleigh is awesome. We’ll definitely have to do this again!

[@EtherealPrelude]

Martin, thanks for the video. I love watching these comparison experiments.

[@SafferBrew]

On the bitterness front, wait a couple weeks and it will be something else! Amazing to see 2 of my favourite channels collaborating ❤️

[@fabriziodifazio8439]

Cool experiment! I always go the cheap route with my IPA grain bills. It seems like a waste of money going with a complex grain bill when you're planning to bomb the heck out of it with hops. Also, I'm all about US-05 in pale ales. Tried and true.

[@tomknight2366]

Super fun comparison and collab!

[@SteveBenson]

Love these collabs!

[@HOMEBREW4LIFE]

Great video all you guys!

[@timwood8733]

very interesting and amusing video -thanks

[@N3ss3s]

Interesting experiment and fun to see kind of an apples to apples comparison! What I'm taking away here is that maybe keeping it simple and doing a more complex dry hop addition could be the thing for me in IPAs to get the balance between the fancy and cheap beer. Cheers!

[@TheBrulosophyShow]

Excellent video, as always!

[@matthewkaiser310]

Nice comparison video Martin, and its fun seeing Kyle and Emmet join in on the fun. I've always had a fondness for the "cheaper" style beers myself, for I like to try and keep my malt and hops bill to a minimum. Heck, I think we have all made a SMASH beer that tastes great! Keep up the great content Martin! Cheers!!

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

So true. The most telling fact is the cheap IPA keg kicked before the expensive one (although not by much!)

[@waslijn1]

Great colab guys!

[@cooperberkley9089]

The thing that I have to think about with homebrewing as well is that I have a large quantity. I do 5 gallon batches but even 3 gallon batches would be a lot of beer. Crushable pale ales really shine here and I know any decent cheap pale ale will disappear quicker than beers I might consider higher quality but are less sessionable, epecially during the summer.

[@Putrid_Filth]

3 gallons a lot? Damn my batches last 2 weeks TOPS once finished and I do 5.5. Only have space for 2 at a time tho so they get hit regularly

[@cooperberkley9089]

@@Putrid_Filth haha yeah I have 4 in the keezer with 2 taps so what I get into is I get brews that are preferred and brews that aren't(usually experimental, meant for a friend to try, or just too high alcohol/heavy to drink a bunch). They stay full for a month or so and eventually I want to keep brewing and just wish I had the empty keg. Good thing is I can generally fill a growler or some bottles, open the keg and let the heavier beers age longer.

[@TheMortgageBrewer]

awesome video. great comparison.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Good stuff! This is an awesome collab and I've never seen them do a side by side brew!! Two very different brews but they both sound delicious!

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

I got lucky here. I really didn't fancy brewing two beers at once and in the end I didn't have to brew any!

[@JusBrewing]

Love these! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with next time 🍻

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

The Martin Lean Keen lives on.. oh, wait....

[@JusBrewing]

@@TheHomebrewChallenge 😂 bout time to get it on a T shirt 👀

[@lekcom62]

Great video cheers i through the same when i have brewed i now don`t dry hop

[@Gonorrheagorgonzola]

So for for cost effectiveness I guess it would probably be a good idea to safe money on the bittering hops, small amount of something cheap and high alpha acid like Magnum early on, something good but not too exotic or rare like cascade for later flavor and aroma charge and pull out the secret stash for hop stand, whirlpool and especially dry hops. Pretty basic grain bill, maybe taking into account what the homebrew store has on discount, and a reliable dry yeast.

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

That sounds like a cracking brew!

[@tomekwiraszka7312]

Here is my position : Whatever you spent on your fanch system stops to matter when you oxidize the daylights out of your brew on the cold side. Spare yourself the expensive system, and case quality where it matters.

[@badpughomebrewing9031]

Cool side by side experiment, the expensive grain bill sounds delish, I'd be running with that grain bill at least!! cheers!!

[@slowpaddlebrewnbbq]

Great challenge, really enjoyed this video

[@melloman8210]

Great vid again! 🤘🏻 Loooooove Epiphany Malts 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@SM-zk7jz]

Brewed a Pliny clone and dropped a chunk of change on hops only to have a stuck fermentation that could not be fixed no matter how much repitching we did. Needless to say, made me a bit jaded about using complex grain bills and expensive hop schedules.

[@nhender]

I love this guys!

[@77transamguy]

Man I love you guys!!

[@JosVanTongeren]

Nice one again Martin! Fun to see the Kyle and Emmet from Clawhammer again. Nice experiment to do in the future. You sparked some ideas.

[@MrPGFH]

Any comments on malt between the two in significance on end beer?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

To me the craft malt brewed beer had a fuller mouthfeel.

[@AZTCuRe]

I brew my cheap pale ale with similar grain bill as the cheap IPA, but Mosaic is not cheap, so I go with Columbus and Chinook and Ill say Im getting pretty old school delicious beer!

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Sounds like a winner.

[@ForgetU]

Well, was it worth the price difference ? And what was the price diff grains vs hops. Yes I read the description section above. Thanks in advance.

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

It's subjective so hard to say if it was worth the difference. The more expensive IPA was a much danker and hoppier beer. The cheap was a pleasant easy drinker. The biggest price difference was by far the hops - the craft malt only added a few bucks.

[@mrow7598]

I would have done this with the same hops and yeast but one has golden promise malt and another with basic 2 row. Then again with the same hops and malt and then a premium yeast and a dry yeast. Then you could do an IPA where you use something like warrior hops to get up to the IBUs at the start of the boil but then the same hops for the dry hop and then the other the regular hop schedule. This is something larger breweries do. They'll use a neutral hop, like warrior to build up the IBUs and then pack in the other hops for flavor and aroma. I keeps them from using maybe double the amount of flavor and aroma hops just to build up the IBUs.

[@jackhandy7237]

Nice comparison! When the dry hops were added to the fermenter, did you use a hop bag or just pour them right into the fermenter?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

I poured them right in. Bad idea for the expensive IPA as I had a bit of trouble with blockages.

[@jackhandy7237]

@@TheHomebrewChallenge - Okay. That’s what I did too, dumped them right in. I brewed your Citra Pale Ale recipe and just added the dry hops today. I had to open the lid on my brew bucket though so hopefully I did not get too much oxygen in there. Wish me luck!

[@DanABA]

You should do your dissertation on confirmation bias. XD

[@jumpjasper5276]

I went back to dry hopping-3days., and then chico strain. Ive been having way better results.

[@zzing]

Sometimes simpler is better.

[@xisleprez]

Really enjoyed this video . Nice episode Y'all. New sub from Texas, USA. 💪🇵🇷🇺🇸❤️🔥💯

[@serokbaloch9301]

Which psi better for canning

[@7paintboy]

Bitterness from dry-hop is likely more hop burn than true bittering.

[@DougieFresh13]

I'm enjoying my 20ish four pack of heady topper thinking how da f is 25 cheap??? lol

[@xisleprez]

How many beers can I get from the $50 one?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

It was a 3 gallon batch.. so maybe 25-30 beers.

[@xisleprez]

@@TheHomebrewChallenge excellent! I'm gonna to invest in your brew gear this year.

[@watt_the_border_collie]

So if you drop a ton of hops into your beer, it will turn out to be better. Big surprise But it's interesting, that the differences between the malts being used are not mentioned, which is kind of expected from a beer that's supposed to be hoppy. Awesome video all around, just made me want to brew some beer, but all my buckets are being used atm

[@nstofberg98]

Still waiting for a clear verdict? What made the expensive beer better. The Malt or the malt and hops?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

I'm not sure we established the expensive beer as "better". But they were certainly more different than I had expected. The huge difference in hop charge seemed to make the biggest difference.

[@Johnathann54]

I love making shine

[@EricVandenAkker]

Did you answer the question? Was the expensive beer twice as good?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Twice as... different?

[@HOMEBREW4LIFE]

How come I can't donate?

[@will5430]

are those the 10 or 20 gallon systems?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Those are the 10 gallon

[@richardwilkinson77]

Anyone know where I can get one of those giant balloon whisks in the UK? I've admired Martin's for a while now. They look much better for smashing dough balls than a mash paddle

[@MichaelNolen]

IPAs are a brewery's way of covering up the taste of crappy beer.

[@cabinvibeetsystore9094]

New sub! Liked ❤️✌️👍🐸

[@Putrid_Filth]

In canada the cheap ipa is probably over 50 lol

[@mediocrestu8238]

Wow double the hops made a hoppier beer, great breakthrough guys keep it up

[@probegt75]

I like the hop aroma of an ipa but hate the bitterness. Wish someone could brew a smooth hoppy non bitter ipa

[@earlsimon8474]

IPA, the most overrated beer style on the planet