How many of you......

How many of you convinced your SWMBO that brewing was such a GREAT idea because of the money that you'd save by making your own beer. "Honey....one batch makes 2 cases of beer!!!" Knowing full well that between equipment and tinkering, there was no way that this was the case.


*Raises hand*

Nope, she convinced me to start brewing.

I've thrown that chestnut out there a few times. She knows I'm full of ****. I married brains.

Haha....sounds like we're the same person....

Mine could careless about the cost as long as the beer keeps coming, especially Black IPA's.

Yeah. That only works until the credit card statements start coming in. :cross:

She got it figured out pretty quick. Now she actually gets upset if I go an extended period of time without brewing because of the amount of money already invested.

No need to convince her that it's cheaper. She enjoys the end product and says I don't brew enough. Besides, Her misc. expenses cost way more per month than mine do.

"Honey, it's a lifelong hobby with long-term savings!" - that worked for me. ;-)

Skinner

Yeah, I started with the pitch "But honey, it'll be so much cheaper than buying beer from the store." She rubs that in whenever I buy a new piece of equipment. I don't think that I can buy much more without straining her good graces.

I used the "we will save money" argument at first and I actually believed it. It might even be true if I ever quit buying non-ingredient stuff. Unfortunately there is always one more $20 item that will make things easier. I will reuse that "saving money" stuff when I want to switch to all-grain. It's $10 less a batch honey. I think I got the eye roll on that one.

It really isn't cheaper if you think about it unless you place no value on your own time. If you factor in grain/extract, hops, fuel for the heating, gas for kegging, equiptment, cleaners, sanatizers and most importantly time you don't save much money.

With that said, to me it is a hobby meant to take time and I enjoy every aspect of it (even cleaning bottles and actually bottling). I look at it like this...without factoring time into the equation, I can brew 5 gallon batches of great beer for the price of PBR, feel productive and accomplished while doing it and most importantly have a ton of fun every step along the way

Germelli1 said:

It really isn't cheaper if you think about it unless you place no value on your own time. If you factor in grain/extract, hops, fuel for the heating, gas for kegging, equiptment, cleaners, sanatizers and most importantly time you don't save much money.

With that said, to me it is a hobby meant to take time and I enjoy every aspect of it (even cleaning bottles and actually bottling). I look at it like this...without factoring time into the equation, I can brew 5 gallon batches of great beer for the price of PBR, feel productive and accomplished while doing it and most importantly have a ton of fun every step along the way

Click to expand...

+1 to that.

Time has different value to different people. Outside of time I have figured almost everything I have spent so far within a couple dollars. Propane, distilled water for mixing sanitizer, oranges and lemons for zest, bankers boxes for storing bottles etc. It's a hobby and I wasn't doing this I would be doing something else. This has the added benefit of feeding a habit. Drinking good beer. I am going to drink good beer. Might as well get some for the price of Miller Lite. You can and do save money if you quit buying equipment and brew long enough. I am about 4 batches away from getting my cost down to the price of a 6 pack of nice craft beer. That is provided I don't buy any more equipment.

Of course what isn't figured in is giving away homebrew because you want to show off your beer. That is where you really lose.

logan3825 said:

Time has different value to different people. Outside of time I have figured almost everything I have spent so far within a couple dollars. Propane, distilled water for mixing sanitizer, oranges and lemons for zest, bankers boxes for storing bottles etc. It's a hobby and I wasn't doing this I would be doing something else. This has the added benefit of feeding a habit. Drinking good beer. I am going to drink good beer. Might as well get some for the price of Miller Lite. You can and do save money if you quit buying equipment and brew long enough. I am about 4 batches away from getting my cost down to the price of a 6 pack of nice craft beer. That is provided I don't buy any more equipment.

Of course what isn't figured in is giving away homebrew because you want to show off your beer. That is where you really lose.

Click to expand...

Haha I agree completely. Time is not an issue with me, I just think it does negate the cheaper arguement as a motivation to brew.

With equipment, the more batches you run through it, the more the cost is justified. The problem is how many time you use that justification to buy a new piece of equipment :rockin:haha

Skinner said:

"Honey, it's a lifelong hobby with long-term savings!" - that worked for me. ;-)

Skinner

Click to expand...

Ohhh, I like THAT. But, I don't need it.

Germelli1 said:

It really isn't cheaper if you think about it unless you place no value on your own time. If you factor in grain/extract, hops, fuel for the heating, gas for kegging, equiptment, cleaners, sanatizers and most importantly time you don't save much money.

With that said, to me it is a hobby meant to take time and I enjoy every aspect of it (even cleaning bottles and actually bottling). I look at it like this...without factoring time into the equation, I can brew 5 gallon batches of great beer for the price of PBR, feel productive and accomplished while doing it and most importantly have a ton of fun every step along the way

Click to expand...

At first, I thought I was the only one that didn't mind cleaning bottles. It can be a zen like experience if Led Zeppelin is blasting over the dog's snoring.

I didn't start brewing to save any money, but to actually get a style of beer for SWMBO. She used to drink quite a bit of beer way back when, when she worked at Heileman's in LaCrosse. I found an entire brew kit online for $10 the same day she told me the three beers she wanted. That just sounded to much like "fate" to me. So, I jumped right in. And yes, I do brew beer for me too. But, she's also getting another batch tomorrow.

yeah it's not much cheaper when you can't stop seeing something new and shiny that you must add to your brew setup

My wife's only comment was "Wouldn't it be easier to just go buy some beer?"! She would rather have me up and moving as opposed to spending hours on some "beer blog". She is also happy that she doesn't have to buy me beer any more.

I think I'm pretty close to breaking even at this point. I've tried to keep equipment purchases pretty simple. I spent about $100 for my extract kit, and two beers later switched to all grain. That upgrade was only about another 150 or so. I do everything I can now to save money while I brew. I try to do cheap beers like hef's every other beer. With reusing yeast, I can do a hef for about $25 including propane. That's still a $9 six pack at the store.

At $9 a six pack for average non macro beers I save about $40 a batch. I've probably done about 10 batches this year so I figure I'm ahead. You just have to resist the impulse to buy. I can make very decent beer with a rubbermaid cooler, a turkey fryer, and an immersion chiller. Also, I'm a stay at home dad, so my time is literally worth nothing in terms of money. When I brew I'm sort of making money and feeding my wife's hop addiction. Which believe it or not is much stronger than mine.

Me too. My wife works weekends so my hobbies have to revolve around things I can do with the kids in the house.(old enough not to need constant supervision) I have to cook and I like beer so grilling and brewing seem to fit perfectly.

I tell my SWMBO to shut up and do what she's told. It's my money and I'll spend it however I please. If she's got a problem with that, she can go get money from Obama or get a dam job. I'm tired of this crap.

Nice Ike Turner.

logan3825 said:

Me too. My wife works weekends so my hobbies have to revolve around things I can do with the kids in the house.(old enough not to need constant supervision) I have to cook and I like beer so grilling and brewing seem to fit perfectly.

Click to expand...

I do the same thing. There's nothing like a brew kettle on one side and a Weber on the other. Have any good BBQ recipes?

greaper007 said:

I do the same thing. There's nothing like a brew kettle on one side and a Weber on the other. Have any good BBQ recipes?

Click to expand...

Not really. I buy BBQ sauce. Stick to mostly basic stuff. Homemade pizza on the grill is probably the most complicated thing I make. Try lots of Bobby Flay stuff. I buy whatever meat is on sale and look up a recipe.

No homebrew in garage = 2 to 3 nights/week at the local pub with an average tab (including a meal or snack) of around $25. Also, at least a 12 pack of good beer at the local store per week for @ $20. If it's just 2 nights out that's 50 + 20 = $70 per week or $280/mo.

Homebrew in garage = stay home & drink the homebrewed beer at about $30-40 per 10g batch. I'd say a 5g keg will last me about 3-4 weeks here. Sure equipment purchases cost money, but for me not $280/mo.

I don't buy the time arguement. It's not like you'd be working & making money instead if you didn't brew. You'd probably be watching TV or doing honey do's.

logan3825 said:

Not really. I buy BBQ sauce. Stick to mostly basic stuff. Homemade pizza on the grill is probably the most complicated thing I make. Try lots of Bobby Flay stuff. I buy whatever meat is on sale and look up a recipe.

Click to expand...

I dig Bobby Flay too. You should try making your own bbq sauce, it's really pretty easy. I usually take a recipe from online and tweak it for whatever ingredients I have. I found a few recipes for Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce and it got such rave reviews that it's all I make now. I'll do a big batch and stick it in a couple of Mason Jars. Then you're good for a couple months. My son loves the sauce, but bbq wise all he really wants is a hot dog.

Don't knock pizza on the grill, I bbq pretty often and I still haven't been able to get it right. How do you do it? I've tried indirect and direct heating and I still can't get the temp right. I usually burn the bottom before I can get the middle cooked. At least I can use my pizza stone in the oven....

My honey complains when I am not brewing. She loves good home brew! Tough living with her...

Gary

At first I used the "honey, I'm saving money" approach. No longer. After all, it's pretty hard to hide an all-electric indoor HERMS system. HOWEVER, after the first couple of years when the brew kept tasting better and better, he quit even looking at the UPS guy and the new gear showing up.

He just told me that while I was at work today, he had a buddy over (Bob is retired) and they enjoyed "3" glasses of stout each. I bet it was more, but that's ok with me!

At first he was very concerned about any brewgear, but once I won the kegging gear playing in a football pool with these HBT guys, he's become a fan of every little bit of homebrewing. He even offers to crush the grain!

He realizes that it's my hobby, and it produces the beer he loves. He's become a huge beer snob, and critical of all the commercial beers he tries. He claims to like my homebrew better than most of the commercial beers- mainly because he puts his "order" in and gets perfect beer suited to his taste! (Honey, I like this SNPA but I would like it to be a bit more hops forward in the nose, but with a hint more sweetness, for example- and I deliver!)

Don't have a SWMBO and I don't seem to have that problem.

I brew with family around though and they seem to enjoy it.

greaper007 said:

Don't knock pizza on the grill, I bbq pretty often and I still haven't been able to get it right. How do you do it? I've tried indirect and direct heating and I still can't get the temp right. I usually burn the bottom before I can get the middle cooked. At least I can use my pizza stone in the oven....

Click to expand...

I replied here.

Yesterday, my brother-in-law and cousin's husband were brewing up an extract. I asked the better halves of us three if they wanted, while we were brewing up our beer, they could make wine. Seemed pretty enthused.

My two biggest money pits are HB equipment and my '69 Firebird I'm restoring. Now my HB'ing hobby is fine with her, the Firebird gets the 'how much money did you spend on that?'

My SWMBO made the mistake of telling me "Well, if you're going to do this new hobby, I want you to actually do it, not piddle around and forget about it three months from now." 300+lbs of grain in the garage later... ; )