Brew big batches, buy in bulk (just split out $12,000 of grain, chemicals, and hops this morning with our bulk buy club), and harvest yeast and you can brew APA for about $5 per case.
You are never, ever, allowed to talk to my wife :lol:
:cheers:
We actually have an agreement that she doesn’t worry about how much tackle I have and I don’t get concerned with the growing shoe population in her closet. 
So if i want a new conical fermentor I would just need to buy a new pair of prada shoes and leave them on the table 
+1 have fun and enjoy and if anyone asks at least you get something out of this hobby you could be racing r/c cars
Cheers
You are never, ever, allowed to talk to my wife :lol:
:cheers:
We actually have an agreement that she doesn’t worry about how much tackle I have and I don’t get concerned with the growing shoe population in her closet. [/quote]
I rarely keep anything I catch. The beer, I drink…
My previous hobbies included golf, hunting & fishing; those are expensive hobbies. No one ever figured their time as an expense because it’s enjoyable. That’s the way I feel about home brewing; I never track my costs of ingredients or equipment. Also; I have never heard a fisherman complain that it would be cheaper to buy fish at the local fish market. 
I’m very new to this myself, and do not see the cost savings to be there for the most part. (Of course screwing up two batches and dumping them hurts a bit) By my calculations it may be cheap to just get a very basic kit and do all extract jug brewing, or alternately to do the full on grain mashing with the simplest of equipment possible and never experiment. Then you could keep the costs where the savings is the primary vessel.
I brew to drink more and to learn.
It is so similar to another hobby of mine, shooting and hunting. I spent a few hundred dollars on equipment for reloading. I can shoot cheaper in the long run, but what happens Is I really end up shooting more than I did when I bought everything ready made. Again, much like brewing I can take recipes (I don’t experiment with new uncharted things however in reloading) and really customize out what I shoot. I know exactly what is in there, how much it will cost and enjoy doing it.
Much like taking that first sip of whatever you brewed, looking at the target down range that is impressive due to both your skill and your ammunition you “Brewed” yourself is a great feeling.
I do drink more with my brewing and plan to continue to do so.
If I wanted to drink cheap as possible I would go with the 12 packs of Hamms…
Just pulled and sampled a German pils straight from primary. Taste like Berlin.
Cost: priceless!!!
True that!
I have way more money in golf stuff than I do in brewing equipment, and I still suck at golf. I have a lot of guns that I rarely shoot, I have a couple hundred bucks in fishing gear, got a camper too. Brewing is my most rewarding endeavor though.
I have way more money in golf stuff than I do in brewing equipment, and I still suck at golf. I have a lot of guns that I rarely shoot, I have a couple hundred bucks in fishing gear, got a camper too. Brewing is my most rewarding endeavor though.
Mont
Wish my golf score would be as low as my OG! I stink at golf and brewing! But the fun is in learning and doing better. I’ll trade ya a set of Ping G15’s for that nice new conical! Just kidding. That wouldn’t be fair, my clubs don’t work too good.
I have been brewing for about 10 months and it has been all extract. When I have the space, I would like to get into all grain but that will be some time. I have definitely laid about $500 on equipment and multiple use supplies (Star San, etc.), and I am starting to invest more in kegging equipment.
I have considered the $40 I am spending on a kit is saving me about $20 for the same amount of bottles that I would buy at the store. I am also not going to the bar as much as a use to which is a big savings too!
I am interested in learning mroe about reusing yeast and other tactics to save money, but I think that just comes with time. I agree with the hobby factor, we wouldn’t be doing this is we didn’t enjoy it. That is priceless.
I enjoy the entire process from designing the recipe to bottling, well maybe not bottling, but i count my time as free. That being said, for me i think brewing my own is cost effective at any level. Before I started brewing I would drink a case or so of craft beer a week at around ten dollars a six pack thats 40 dollars a week. Even when i was doing extract it was half the cost, but now that im doing some all grain, buying bulk hops, harvesting yeast the costs are cut in half again. So in my head if i’d be wasting money if i ever ran out of homebrew
I started brewing during my college years because I was curious (and thirsty), and I continued brewing because I liked the results.
It became massively cost effective as soon as I went all grain…and even more cost effective when I had enough batches under my belt (or rather, under a successively larger series of belts), that buying beer became unnecessary, un-satisfying, and usually a disappointing ripoff (especially nowadays).
As far as equipment goes, I probably spent less than $350 over the course of the entire 42 years I’ve been brewing so I can’t even say that setting up (or even switching to all grain) was a major investment, not by any stretch. You can make beer on a simple system that is just as good as any high-end setup.
It’s a never ending learning process, and aside from the end result of each batch, the constant learning & tweaking is definitely one of the main things that has kept me interested and engaged all these years.
It’s the best and longest running hobby I’ve ever had.
Last year I got asked this same question from some of my coworkers (home brewing is not common over here), so I figured it out in detail. NOT including my time, but factoring in everything else, I came out to $0.60 per bottle for a typical beer I brew IF I buy a fresh smack pack of yeast, and $0.30 if I used harvested yeast. Amazing that the YEAST at 14 Euros per smack pack costs as much as everything else combined.
Going AG and buying grain & hops in bulk are the only way to get close to these prices though.
I agree with the above posts mentioning buying in bulk and reusing yeast to save as much as possible. As far as equipment goes, most brewers make quite a few equipment upgrades. Best to find a creative way to pay for the upgrades and buy quality equipment. IME skimping on equipment has always led to more expense down the road.
On certain things, I agree with you 100%. I have a DRAWER full of thermometers that absolutely do not work. Then for our wedding, we got a Thermapen. I should have spent the $80 upfront (you can also use it on MEATS!!!).
My meaning though is that you don’t need stainless steel glycol-jacketed conical fermenters to make great beer. I switched to BIAB from mashing with a bazooka screen in my BK and have not looked back. Temp control is also a must if you want to make ‘beer’ as opposed to ‘homebrew’!
I brew with my dad and brother, so we track expenses some know who’s turn it is to buy the next round of ingredients.
Our biggest costs were the kettle and temp controller. We built our own mash tun and happened to stumble across an excellent burner and spare kettle for free.
Since switching to all grain, our cost per batch is about half what it was before.
But, at the end of the brew day, it’s about having a good time and making good beer.
i figured out what i had into my system and what grain costs are and such… at 100 batches the beers i make cost less than i can buy them for uptown. i buy grains in bulk and grow my own hops and produce my own water.
Great thread!
On a side note, for those of you who buy hops by the pound, how do you store them? I have some open packages doubled bagged in ziplocks in the freezer, but they get that weird freezer smell before too long…
It’s awesome buying grain in bulk and shoveling it into the grinder out back on the patio :cheers:
[quote=“ickyfoot”]Great thread!
On a side note, for those of you who buy hops by the pound, how do you store them? I have some open packages doubled bagged in ziplocks in the freezer, but they get that weird freezer smell before too long…
It’s awesome buying grain in bulk and shoveling it into the grinder out back on the patio :cheers: [/quote]
Foodsaver bags vacuum sealed in the freezer. I’ve had them last a couple of years that way (though it seems you do lose some of the Alpha/Beta acids after a while).
OK, thanks.
