As with probably 85% of new brewers, I’ve been reading and thinking of doing some AG batches.
I’ve read several posts on the AG process, but none have really touched on the cost of ingredients comparisions.
I know the cost will vary based on the grain bill etc, but just curious if the average cost to produce a 5 gallon batch of AG vs the same brew in extract form is slightly cheaper, alot cheaper, more expensive, etc…
Example, I just brewed an American Wheat and an English Brown (both extract kits) and the cost was roughly $50 each. (kits were approx $38-$40, spring water was about $6 and I ammended each kit with an added hop addition so about $3 per kit.)
I’ve got 2 big chest coolers in the basement just begging to be converted into a mash tun however, I also learned that the side burner on my BBQ is not up to the task of boiling water/wort.
The higher the OG the more cost effective all grain becomes because gains cost less than extract. Just look at the extract version of the kit your looking to do then look at the all grain version.
Going all grain is much cheaper, especially if you buy in bulk. Bulk grains can be bought for as low as 50¢/lb and bulk hops for as low as 50¢-$1 per ounce (if not lower). Another way to cut cost is reusing yeast. I rinse yeast and can get 2-3 second generation batches of yeast from a single yeast cake.
My average batch of beer will cost anywhere from $10-$25 for 5 gallons.
Moving from extract to all grain or even just partial mash, you can BIAB (brew in a bag) is very easy and pretty inexpensive. To go really cheap, check out a turkey frier setup. Home Depot sells a turkey frier and 30qrt pot combo very cheap.
[quote=“dobe12”]Going all grain is much cheaper, especially if you buy in bulk. Bulk grains can be bought for as low as 50¢/lb and bulk hops for as low as 50¢-$1 per ounce (if not lower). Another way to cut cost is reusing yeast. I rinse yeast and can get 2-3 second generation batches of yeast from a single yeast cake.
My average batch of beer will cost anywhere from $10-$25 for 5 gallons.
Moving from extract to all grain or even just partial mash, you can BIAB (brew in a bag) is very easy and pretty inexpensive. To go really cheap, check out a turkey frier setup. Home Depot sells a turkey frier and 30qrt pot combo very cheap.[/quote]
I picked up one of those Brinkmann burners from HD a couple of weeks ago, the one without the pot, which I didn’t need and seemed to tall and skinny. Well worth the ~ 50 bucks. It’s a 10 psi model, so it’s a good complement to my good burner - I can heat strike/sparge water with it using the dregs my bayou classsic won’t burn.
I did a little math on this last week, I was thinking about doing some extract brews to shorten the brew day. Even buying DME in bulk it still is about $80 more than the equivalent in base malt, that’s about 6 batches of beer for me.
