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Reuse your yeast. If you're making multiple batches of the same beer, or even two different beers that require a similar yeast strain, you can pitch your (chilled) wort directly onto the yeast cake from the previous batch. If you're not planning to use the yeast again right away, you can wash the yeast and store it for later. This topic on HomebrewTalk ...

I like your interest in efficiency. I've always added maple syrup after primary. It creates a second fermentation, but if you add it during the boil, you lose much of the aromatics and get a harsher, woodier flavor. This is true to a lesser effect if you add the syrup before primary, so to avoid flavor and aroma being carried away with CO2, you should add ...

Really, selling your homebrew is not worth the hassle of licensing requirements and so on. The 2003 Licensing Act states that the sale by retail of alcohol requires a license. And you will certainly come under food standards trading requirements too. Give your beer away to friends, and ask if they can return the bottles. Same outcome as your suggestion ...

Looks like you'll need an "off-license" and specifics vary from country to country, even within the UK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_licensing_laws_of_the_United_Kingdom Realistically, if you're just selling to friends, you can slide under the radar. In the end, it's only 50 pints, which obviously doesn't merit the trouble of getting a license. ...

You may want to consider using fenugreek instead of maple syrup. That would definitely fall in the realm of experimentation since I haven't used it personally and can't offer ammounts to use or when. But, it may be able to give you the maple you want at a lower cost, and lower impact on your OG/FG.

Don't sell alcohol, sell raffle tickets in an “everyone is a winner” scenario, and trade them in for the beer. It is an absolute loop hole. I know of a few establishments around London that use this technique and have been getting away with it for years (due to refusal of license), also, think of the amount of booze on offer at any raffle table (it’s almost ...

When you include the high price of extract, liquid yeast and hops if you use a lot of them, $40 is about average - it's not high if you are starting from a recipe and not buying a kit. You can get down cheaper with a kit, but I think you'll find the kit will probably have less in it than the recipe and you'll learn more from using a recipe vs a kit. It's ...

Personally I've been looking into the exact same thing, my preferred store is morebeer because they have free shipping and pretty good prices. Look at sites like homebrewtalk and see if you can find a local group organizing a bulk grain buy.. and instead of getting bulk grain, get bulk DME which if you spend the time breaking it out into freezer bags or ...

I could recommend a place to shop, but you're in Montana and it's in Vancouver BC, so I don't think it would be very helpful. But if you have access to a store like it which sells bulk liquid malt extract, that stuff can be pretty cheap. Even though you said you didn't want to go all-grain, I'd suggest you at least look into it. It might be cheaper than ...