Cost of making home brew

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I searched and couldn't find an answer. If you were to add up the cost, of your hops, grains etc. how much does it cost you to make your brew? If you were to estimate cost per 12oz botttle, what would it be? Just curious, I just started getting into the idea of brewing my own beer, and as a cheap basterd I want to see how much less it is.

Here's a couple threads that discuss it.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/cost-brew-69709/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/cost-brew-3721/

You'll find good number breakdowns in there.

Well now that I've posted it I found the answer(-: Any way, what if I were to grow my own hops? Or some of the any way. My neighbor makes wine and wanted to get into beer making, after growing a ton of hops he decided he didn't want to make beer now. He doesn't care if I pick any, or, since the plants are asexual I could just clip them and grow on my grandpas 40 acre lot. Would this drive cost of a good home brew down. I don't expect this to be as cheap as the macrobrews ber 12oz, but maybe cheaper than a good Irish Red.

OK, I'm not really an a$$ so don't get me wrong...I'm not going to sugar coat this, OK?

Everyone of those questions have an answer of...depends.

It depends on which brewing method you want to use...all grain, DME, or LME kits.

It depends on how much up front money you want to spend on the equipment. All grain costs the most to get started equipment-wise from several hundreds of dollars to thousands; DME and LME are about the same, and there can be differences, but out the door with a batch of drinkable beer let's say $100-150 for 2 cases.

It depends on how much time are you willing to put forth n your new hobby. All grain takes longer, but is about the cheapest way to go for supplies. DME and LME do not require as much time, but you are paying for convenience.

If you are a lazy person who does not want to get involved in a lot of work then this hobby is not for you.

That about sums it up.

Still want to play? I hope so.

I still wanna play(-: It beats playing a couple hours of video games! Actually my neighbor is growing hops and decided the other day he doesn't want to make beer, so I've got an awful lot of plants to play with, he kind of went over board when he planted them.

Bildo said:

I still wanna play(-: It beats playing a couple hours of video games! Actually my neighbor is growing hops and decided the other day he doesn't want to make beer, so I've got an awful lot of plants to play with, he kind of went over board when he planted them.

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Pricewise, hops have suddenly become much less of an issue. They can be had much cheaper.

Many people here will say it's about better beer and cost is not an issue. Others want to brew as cheaply as possible.....I want to do both. I can make very good ale to my own tastes for $2.50 per gallon (All grain). Of course there is the set up to take into consideration...possible group buys etc.... I am also very cheap on my rig. Maybe $400 so far.

Point is. If you want to make GOOD beer at a cheaper price, you need to do one hell of a lot of research on this site and others. There is no easy way around that as we are all different in our attitudes and income.

It's all here. Seek, and you shall find. We are always here to help you, but we can't tell you how to find your own path.

If you brew all grain...

I can brew anything really for $12 for a 5 gallon batch. BUT, I get base malt for $.49/lb and hops for $.50-$1 per ounce. If you dont buy in bulk, and pay retail, you could easily spend $30 for the same beer that costs me $12.

Like they said, it REALLY depends.

Well hey thanks for the quick replies and good advice, I'd have to say I'm somewhere between wanting a cheap and good brew. I'm a fan of Irish Red and Marzen but would like to experiment with others too. Maybe getting involved in a local brewers club where I can share my brews and try others would benefit me a little.

Bildo said:

Well hey thanks for the quick replies and good advice, I'd have to say I'm somewhere between wanting a cheap and good brew. I'm a fan of Irish Red and Marzen but would like to experiment with others too. Maybe getting involved in a local brewers club where I can share my brews and try others would benefit me a little.

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No, it would benefit you A LOT!!!

Nice to see someone out there with all that enthusiasm!

Thumbs up for local clubs! DEFINITELY do it. Best $20 membership I've spent...

<---member of ALES club (Ales and Lager Enthusiasts of Saskatchewan), one of North America's largest (and most award-winning thank you very much). We have roughly 50 members and all very supportive.

Yes, costs are all "it depends." For me, a stock beer kit off the shelf runs about $40. That's a simple "all the work done for you" wort kit, dump, add yeast, go. Then around $20 for a canned 'syrup' kit which you boil up and mix with water, etc. Then all-grain brewing is the CHEAPEST based on raw supplies. 25lb bag of 2-row for $25.

Luckily, our club and members are very good with lending equipment and mentoring/supervising, etc.

So, if you're just starting off, my recommendation would be to go get a good full-wort kit in a style to your liking and give it a shot (even going to a local U-Brew store might be a good idea if you're unsure about 'homebrew'---but I only assume that you've been drinking homebrews for awhile and, thus, got the bug).

As for hops: I just planted my own Cascades this year and harvested...a whole ounce or so!!! Hey, that's good for a first year plant. Saved myself a whole $6 or so! Haha. But the guy I got them from has 4-5 year growth and got about a pound and a half. Hey whatever you can grow yourself that you're assured of quality on, fair game. You just don't want to be making a brew with questionable ingredients.

Good luck, have fun, and enjoy!

By the way, was just pricing out some DME for a friend of mine who was looking at recipes and thought about doing all-extract brewing. I don't know how people do it!!! His recipe called for 7lb of light DME (dry malt extract, in case you're not familiar yet). A local store has packages of 1lb for $11. His jaw dropped when I told him he'd be spending about $75 on a batch of beer... when he could go get a kit with all the work done for $40.

Anyone else finding DME overpriced?

Up here in the great NW, 2 cases of beer at the local supermarket will cost $60. Costco -$50. So equipment, etc. to get started not included,and if you save your empties, product cost for extract will save a few bucks, AG will save even more. Then there is the minor cost of the fuel and water...
I don't consider my time for this as a cost. If your SWMBO is like my exwife, well that is a cost that can never be paid...

Jfriah, your taking it in the ass for DME

There are a ton of sites were you can price ingredients. I am local to morebeer.com and have brewed some of their kits. If you want to start with extract brewing it's about $50 to $100 to get the basic equipment and the ingredient kits run from $25 to $50 depending on the beer you want to make.

HERE is a Red Ale recipe for $26 that will make 48 or so bottles. Which means you can get the beer for $3.25/6 pack. Morebeer (and I'm sure the other sites) even has a SECTION for beers under $.50 a bottle.

northernlad said:

Jfriah, your taking it in the ass for DME

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There are a lot of things I'll do to be able to homebrew butt I won't do that.

Jfriah said:

By the way, was just pricing out some DME for a friend of mine who was looking at recipes and thought about doing all-extract brewing. I don't know how people do it!!! His recipe called for 7lb of light DME (dry malt extract, in case you're not familiar yet). A local store has packages of 1lb for $11. His jaw dropped when I told him he'd be spending about $75 on a batch of beer... when he could go get a kit with all the work done for $40.

Anyone else finding DME overpriced?

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You sure about that price? I get 3 pound packages of DME for $10.25 at my LHBS. If it's really $11/lb that's just insane, but I suspect they were looking at a 3-lb package.

Well, let me say this. It will REALLY REALLY help if you can find someone at a local brew club and ask if you can watch him brew and see different stuff in action and PLAN AHEAD! Sometimes those kits are good deals if that's what you want, but I have put up about 20 gallon, with supplies for 30 more gallon and have spent over $1800. Most on equipment I decided didn't suit my needs and had to buy twice. Two examples: Started with one five gallon pot then went all grain and needed both a 7 1/2 and 10 gallon and now don't need the five. Went with the "winged capper", they are a pain in the neck as far as I am concerned. Went with the single lever type. Two More examples: Spent a boat load on 22 oz bottles because I thought it would save me time bottling, only to find out I don't drink them that fast and only have space in the fridge for one or two of those 22 oz bottles because I didn't know home brew had to stand upright due to yeast sediment. Spent $100 on a fly sparg set up only to decide it was too much trouble and switched to split batch.

See it in action, think what's down the road, talk to other brewers, and shop around and you'll come out ahead.

Jfriah said:

By the way, was just pricing out some DME for a friend of mine who was looking at recipes and thought about doing all-extract brewing. I don't know how people do it!!! His recipe called for 7lb of light DME (dry malt extract, in case you're not familiar yet). A local store has packages of 1lb for $11. His jaw dropped when I told him he'd be spending about $75 on a batch of beer... when he could go get a kit with all the work done for $40.

Anyone else finding DME overpriced?

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Buy in bulk...it's cheaper.

I NEVER buy anything under 55#... They're always overpriced.

homebrewer_99 said:

Buy in bulk...it's cheaper.

I NEVER buy anything under 55#... They're always overpriced.

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This is so true. If you cannot buy in bulk (not LHBS bulk) you are always going to pay double.

I actually have a spreadsheet with all of my costs so far. I can't post it on here without it becoming a jumbled mess. But here are some of the important numbers.

Total Equipment: $429
Total Batches so far: 13 (all 5 gallons)
Price per batch in ingredients: $333 or $5.12 per gallon or ~$.51 cents per bottle
Price per batch with Equip factored in: $762 or $11.72 per gallon or ~$1.17 per bottle
Difference compared to commercial (assume $10 six packs): $16.67 dollars per gallon or $1.67 per bottle
Thus so far I have saved $4.94 per gallon, or $.49 per bottle for a total of $321.33 in savings on 65 gallons of beer.

Something to also note, my first 8 batches were extract which was much more expensive. Switching to all grain I went from an average of $.61 per bottle to $.35 per bottle. Or, $6.13 per gallon to $3.52 per gallon.

Also note that I worked very hard to get my equipment as cheap as possible. I have 3 buckets, 3 carboys, 3 kegs, all necessary tubing (regulator, etc), a 7 gallon pot, 5 gallon pot, DIY 50 quart mash tun, wine thief, auto siphon, hydrometer, DIY copper IC, funnels, air locks, air stones, air pumps, 88 flip top bottles, 50+ normal bottles, brew paddle.. And I think thats it.

I haven't been brewing huge beers so far, just some APAs, an IPA, 2 Browns, a Cream, an American Stout, an Irish red, and two milds.

These are some exact numbers, but I don't really think it answers the question better than "it depends". Because although these are my numbers, I am sure others' will be much different. If I didn't build things myself my equipment costs would be higher. If I brewed larger beers my ingredient costs would be higher, etc...

Equipment can cost as low as $100 to start, and go as high as you'd like to spend. Ingredients can run a low as $10 or so a batch, to $100+. Everything can vary wildly.

I hope my numbers helped.

Chris

Even though it's not cheap , homebrewing is cost effective. The better (commercial) beer you drink, the more cost effective it becomes. I assume 2 cases out of a 5 gallon batch (bottles 49-52 are freebies)...two cases of 'premium' beer around here costs $50, two cases of craft beer cost $64+. With $400 in equipment, I'm brewing for less than $30 (less than $20 when I'm using washed yeast and few hops) for two cases buying retail ingredients.

Bulk purchases could get that waaaaaaay down but it's just not worth the hassle of finding somewhere to store it (to me). I brew ~a batch a month...I'll eat that extra $10 for now.

cford1 said:

I actually have a spreadsheet with all of my costs so far. I can't post it on here without it becoming a jumbled mess. But here are some of the important numbers.

Total Equipment: $429
Total Batches so far: 13 (all 5 gallons)
Price per batch in ingredients: $333 or $5.12 per gallon or ~$.51 cents per bottle
Price per batch with Equip factored in: $762 or $11.72 per gallon or ~$1.17 per bottle
Difference compared to commercial (assume $10 six packs): $16.67 dollars per gallon or $1.67 per bottle
Thus so far I have saved $4.94 per gallon, or $.49 per bottle for a total of $321.33 in savings on 65 gallons of beer.

Something to also note, my first 8 batches were extract which was much more expensive. Switching to all grain I went from an average of $.61 per bottle to $.35 per bottle. Or, $6.13 per gallon to $3.52 per gallon.

Also note that I worked very hard to get my equipment as cheap as possible. I have 3 buckets, 3 carboys, 3 kegs, all necessary tubing (regulator, etc), a 7 gallon pot, 5 gallon pot, DIY 50 quart mash tun, wine thief, auto siphon, hydrometer, DIY copper IC, funnels, air locks, air stones, air pumps, 88 flip top bottles, 50+ normal bottles, brew paddle.. And I think thats it.

I haven't been brewing huge beers so far, just some APAs, an IPA, 2 Browns, a Cream, an American Stout, an Irish red, and two milds.

These are some exact numbers, but I don't really think it answers the question better than "it depends". Because although these are my numbers, I am sure others' will be much different. If I didn't build things myself my equipment costs would be higher. If I brewed larger beers my ingredient costs would be higher, etc...

Equipment can cost as low as $100 to start, and go as high as you'd like to spend. Ingredients can run a low as $10 or so a batch, to $100+. Everything can vary wildly.

I hope my numbers helped.

Chris

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What about your time? There is a time cost as well.

My current cost is $9.32 per six-pack. It goes down when I do a lot of brewing and up when I do a lot of upgrading. I generally hover in between $6-10 per sixer. These numebrs are overall since starting brewing about 5 years ago. It would be way lower if I didn't like toys so much.

Soperbrew said:

What about your time? There is a time cost as well.

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It's a hobby. I consider my time spent as a duty of love without a price. Kinda like going shopping with the missus, except I actually enjoy brewing.

I'm glad my "it depends" answer is acceptable by most.

One of the last posters hit it on the head as far as affordablilty.

Since I drink a lot of German Hefe Weizens it drew me into learning how to make a great tasting one myself.

Since most of them cost at least $1.90 at the store and $4+ at the bar I can make them at home for less than $.50/bottle. For brewing purposes I spend about $20. At 2 cases (20 bottles to a case of German brew) comparing store prices would be closer to $80, and at the bar $160.

By brewing my own my potential savings is astronomical. :rockin:

Soperbrew said:

What about your time? There is a time cost as well.

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Since I really enjoy brewing I think time isn't a cost, but a benefit.

If I were to factor in time I would clearly lose out. Right now savings are $4.94 per gallon and 5 gallon batches, therefore $24.74. Even making minimum wage of $7.25 each batch would have to take me less than 3.41 hours to complete for me to net out ahead. So clearly if I was thinking of this in a pure economic sense I would lose out.

Good point, If having homebrew on hand prevents you from a trip to the local pub then there is no question it saves you money.

Personally I never did this to save money, but as a way to spend money on something productive. My rig cancels out any savings that I could have seen.

The Pol said:

Personally I never did this to save money, but as a way to spend money on something productive. My rig cancels out any savings that I could have seen.

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I think that very few people start this hobby to save money. When they start though, it soon becomes clear that money is a big factor. It becomes important to many of us to balance the brew/cost/obsession equation.

I try to save money at every corner, and that aspect has become a part of the hobby itself. It would never override the quality factor, but I do consider the financial aspect a fun part of the hobby.

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

but I do consider the financial aspect a fun part of the hobby.

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I agree entirely. Its kind of fun to see if you can snag a carboy for 5 bucks on craigslist, or build your own mash tun for 20 bucks. I like to hand my beer to someone who is drinking a Natural Light and when the remark that is good and 100x better than Nati Light, I tell them its also cheaper...

northernlad said:

Jfriah, your taking it in the ass for DME

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Doh! Haha, was that statement = "if one is buying DME at those prices, one is taking it...?"

I'm not buying DME personally, have only ever bought 1lb in the past 15 years and that was for bottle priming. I've done kits up until the past year and has been mainly all-grain and kits since then.

But, yes, those are for 500g (just over 1lb) packages of DME. The price is correct. Unfortunately.

The Pol said:

Personally I never did this to save money, but as a way to spend money on something productive. My rig cancels out any savings that I could have seen.

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I saw someone had a signature file here once something along the lines of:

"I got into homebrewing to SAVE money?!?!?!"

As for the time, factor. Very valuable advice. In any line of 'work', always ask:
"what is my time worth?"

If you have 6-8 hours to spend getting a batch of beer happening to the point of an 'all wort' kit, all the power to ya.

I am just going to mirror what everyone has said.

Supplies wise, I was actually surprised to find that when all was said and done, it was actually slightly cheaper than a GOOD pack of beer. Plus I get to actually have the fun of brewing, racking (and the not so fun bottling). I did not get into this to save money on beer. I went into this for the fun hobby of brewing!

Once you figure in equipment, its considerably more expensive and will take quite a few years to recoup your losses. But I dont think there are many (if any) who started home brewing to save money. I've actually gotten most of my equipment and books as gifts.

If I may, I'd like to also point out THIS cost factor:Home Brewing prevents the infinite cost savings from not being forced into consuming plain, boring, inferior tasting commercial product!

That said, of course, there are MANY, many fine commercial beers. But when you get to the point where you can tailor your own brewing to reflect what you like in a beer and perhaps clone a favourite, you've just become very valuable to yourself.

And: if one really wanted to: factor in energy and water costs in brewing. Not exactly a green industry. I truly feel bad about my use of water sometimes...



Then I have a couple 650ml hefeweizens and feel just fine.

:fro:

For me, time is not a measurable factor because it is a hobby. If it were a job that would be totally different.

Another plus is drinking at home...no D&D/cops to worry about.

I did a pretty crude calculation once of the actual cost of brewing my beer and came up with a pretty good ratio of ingredients:labor:equipment for extract batches. This is valuing my time at $10/hour, and assuming a standard gravity 5.5 gallon batch.

So you're looking at about $90 for 54 beers. Of course if you consider it's a hobby you can take out $30 for labor and now you're at $60 for for 54 hand-crafted homemade beers. You can't beat that.

I haven't done all grain costs yet, but I'm sure labor as a percentage of the final cost goes through the roof making it almost a couple black hole if you want to really get into the nitty gritty.


You're still getting beer VASTLY superior to anything considered BMC and I believe greatly superior to any crafts or imports.

One of the best things about brewing is the fact that I have up to 4 good beers on tap and I don't have to go to the pub. When I go to the pub, I usually spend $50 easily. I don't drink the cheap beers on special. I drink the high quality beers. With that being said, I can brew 5 gallons of beer for around $25. I do all grain but buy all my ingredients at the LHBS as I don't have a mill. That means I could brew 10 gallons for each trip to the pub. I am not in the hobby to save money, but when I look at it that way, it is great. Not to mention sitting in the garage drinking beer instead of driving after drinking $50 worth of beer. Way safer for everyone.

I started in the hobby back in '91...and honestly I wanted more than anything to disprove the accepted adage of the time "Forget about making Beer! It's too hard to do right...make Wine instead".

Charlie Papazians THEN NEW COMPLETE JOY OF HOMEBREWING, empowered me to believe I COULD make good beer. Of course, I crunched the numbers. It's always easy to RATIONALIZE a new hobby when you prove to yourself you can actually SAVE money!

I bought one of those white platic pail kits, Bottling Bucket, Lid with air lock hole, Hydrometer, Racking Cane, bottling wand, tubing, capper, caps, air lock, floating thermometer. I also bought a Canned "Kit" beer...and dry yeast packet. Long story short...I made some of the most god awful stuff I've ever tasted. I gave the hobby a good go...but if you try too hard to save money...you make bad beer. It wasn't unusual to make beer by mixing LME and a bunch of corn sugar (cheap) and pitch dry yeast... And you'd come up with some pretty rank tasting beer like substance. Suppliers today realize that quality is important...so most KITs include pure DME or LME for the base...and have steeping grains and quality hops...and usually direct you toward a quality liquid yeast. My son, who started brewing two years ago in Gainesville, FL...started with a Ginger Beer Kit from the LHBS. His first attempt was fantastic!

After 5 attempts at making extract brew...I finally approached an all-grain brewer in our club. He agreed to teach me all-grain brewing IF I would bring enough ingredients over to make 10 gals... He'd keep 5 gals as "tuition" for the course. It was the best investment in time and ingredients I've ever made. My results improved dramatically! My all-grain setup started out on the cheap. Cooler, false bottom made from drilling holes in a peice of plexiglass, a bottleing spigot in place of the normal drink cooler faucet. A converted keg. A cajun cooker. Glass Carboys.

Quaility Ingredients, Quaility Yeast, and fermenting at the proper temperature (which in South Florida means getting an extra fridge (room temp is 78 most of the year)...are probably the most important factors of making good beer.

You'll keep on adding things. Grain Mill, Keg System, Kegerator, Jockey Box, Chill coil, you might even go over the top completely and make a computer controlled HERMS system with multiple burner, elements, PID's, Pumps, heat exchangers, hopbacks...and wind up spending a fortune. But it's all done in the spirit of making quality hand crafted beer.

I love to drink Guinness. It's over $5 a pint in restaurants. So if I consume a KEG (50L, 13.2 US gal) that would be over $422 plus tips. If I buy my own Keg...it cost $160 plus tax...or about $1.88 per pint (IMP Pint 20oz) and I don't have to tip myself. If I homebrew my own clone of Guinness...it costs around .65 per pint...and I could go cheaper by repitching my yeast...or buying bulk grains/hops. But when you compare .65 for a Pint of Guinness...to $5 a pint...you reward yourself with every satisfying swig! by saving money.

You can spend almost any amount on equipment... Consumables are an expense...the rest of the stuff...you can probably sell for almost as much as you paid for it. Most of my brewing equipment is worth as much today, or more, as when I bought it. I handed down a bunch of it, when my son started brewing...and had to buy more for myself.

If you're like me...the only regret you'll have after starting to homebrew is... I don't have enough time to brew as much as I'd like to...and I can't possibly go to every party that I'm invited to attend...(If you homebrew...you're always invited to every party --- if you bring some homebrew)

Jfriah said:

Doh! Haha, was that statement = "if one is buying DME at those prices, one is taking it...?"

I'm not buying DME personally, have only ever bought 1lb in the past 15 years and that was for bottle priming. I've done kits up until the past year and has been mainly all-grain and kits since then.

But, yes, those are for 500g (just over 1lb) packages of DME. The price is correct. Unfortunately.

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Nevermind, I just realized you are in Canada. $11/lb is probably about right.

petep1980 said:

...valuing my time at $10/hour,...

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I make $40/hour now...but I wouldn't quadruple my cost for that reason...

One big money saver for me is that I never bought anything i don't still use. Even after expanding my operation to a small degree, everything i ever bought still has a place in the system somewhere. I like to think i plannned it that way, but in retrospect, it was still more luck than judgement. I dare say that things will change when I finally go electric, but even then I can still think of practical uses for the old propane burner.

I LOVE this hobby!