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IanC

IanC

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The thing I like best about this hobby is the pride of ownership you get when you produce a damn good beer from your own efforts. However, a close second for me is the fact that I’m making my own damn good beer AND saving a boat load of money in the process.

Surprisingly though, I’m reading in some posts here that some people don’t experience the same cost savings when making their own beer. Where I live, 12 beers at the liquor store costs $22-25, plus bottle deposit and taxes. With my current meagre setup, I can make about 66 bottles for that price. What I’m wondering is, just how cheap/expensive is beer where you live?:tank:
 
I don't buy beer by the 12 pack anymore unless I'm going to a BBQ or something...then I'll pick up keystone. I buy almost everything by the bottle or by the six pack. I frequently spend $10-15 for a six pack. I'm making cheaper beer, but I'm not saving money. The money I have save drinking homebrew, I put back into more expensive, collectible type beers. I frequently spend $10-20 on a single bottle of beer, and I've even spent $120 for a 12oz. bottle before. Insane...I know.
 
I think if you get REALLY into home brewing which many of us do:D, it's pretty hard to argue that you're saving money. I brew because I love good beer and I love the creative aspects of it. If you go all grain and you were to add up all of the costs of water,electricity,propane,equipment,CO2,(you get the point)- at the end of the day, I think it's hard to argue that you're saving much money.

But hey, it's a hell of a fun hobby.:mug: My wife stopped buying the "honey I'm saving money" argument a long time ago.
 
Yeah im spending probably $10 a six pack for decent beer and also buy alot of single 16-24oz bottles that will be $5-20..I certainly dont buy as much beer as I used to but I just upgraded to 15 gallon batches so it will take alot of brewing before the low cost of homebrew out weights the few hundred I spent on converting to 15 gallon batchs.
 
if you factor in the type of beers that i'm brewing, then yes i do save some money. Craft beer has gone down in price and the selection has increased over the past year or two where i'm at. So, for an average of $12 per six pack, or $96 per batch. My homebrew batches (thanks to bulk grain and cheap hops) is around $15-25 for the same quantity.
 
I am spending about 1/3 for the beer I make compared to the craft beer that is comparable. But I do not factor in the cost of equipment. I like to build stuff and after mash tun, crusher, fridges, kegerator, kegging stuff, etc. It adds up.

Just bought a little freezer on CL to replace the upright for our frozen food. Upright is going to garage to ferment in...
 
Homercidal said:
I am spending about 1/3 for the beer I make compared to the craft beer that is comparable. But I do not factor in the cost of equipment. I like to build stuff and after mash tun, crusher, fridges, kegerator, kegging stuff, etc. It adds up.

Just bought a little freezer on CL to replace the upright for our frozen food. Upright is going to garage to ferment in...
Click to expand...

For sure the 'tinkering' factor can really add up, but I'd be spending that money on some other project to amuse myself if I wasn't brewing:)
 
It evens out for me. Buying beer, I usually go by the sixer and a single brand decent sixer runs me 8-12 dollars. There are a couple of liquor stores in the area that sell by the bottle and roll mixer sixers, those are usually 2-4 bucks a beer unless you're getting into the rare and high gravity types or 22oz bombers.

Overall, I feel its a very fair push money wise, but by brewing at home I gained a great hobby, an experience I share now with my wife and our friends, and that is priceless.

BUT....

The only exception I see to this "fair push" would be our 120min IPA clone. The grain bill on our 2.5ish gallon batch was a little over 70 bucks, this producing around 25 12oz beers at its end (22 may be more realistic, there is a TON of trub). Looking at the average price for this per 12oz beer in the store, 8-13 dollars a piece, we'll say 10 for a fair center, our 70 bucks brewed us 250 dollars worth if we were to buy it by the bottle when it's available.
 
If you compare the cost per batch, then I'm saving a lot of money compared to purchasing beer.

That doesn't include all the equipment I've bought for the hobby. But at a certain point, the savings will pay for all of the equipment. I don't feel like calculating when.
 
Just bought a case of Sam Adams Noble Pils at Costco for $22.95

Do I save money homebrewing? .......No.

Is it my only hobby that just about pays for itself? ......Yes.

When you figure in you time, it is a money loser for sure.
Pez.
 
Craft beers around here run $8-$13 per six,some only 4 for that price. So,I'm making some 2.5 cases for the price of 2-3 6 packs. Not too shabby,if I do say so myself.
But,when buying beer,like many of you,we started buying less volume & better quality. Paulaner Salvator doppel bock,their hefeweitzen,Bitburger Pils,Michelob Amber bock (really a dark lager,so it's more of a schwartzbeir),that sort of thing. The flavors of some of these sort of beers is such an interesting combination of flavors. Some good ideas there...
 
Depends on what you're buying here in Kansas. Leinenkugel's Octoberfest, which I thought was a decent Octoberfest beer for a mass-produced batch, was $12.99 for a 12-pack.

A 6-Pack of fullers ESP is $9.99. A big bottle of Yetti Oak Aged Oatmeal Stout is about $12. We are right next to KC thought so Boulevard 12-packs are usually under $10.

Considering my father-in-law keeps buying the the kits for me (and then drinking them) it's a lot cheaper then buying from the liquor store :)
 
I think I am able to put a better value on the beer I buy from the store. I have a better understanding of some of the production value of certain styles and the ingredients and techniques involved.

It's hard to put a price on how much I spend at the store, we have some really great beer stores here in Maryland. There is a place less then 3 miles from where I live that has a build your own 6 pack area that has what I would estimate shelving at 60 to 75 feet wide by 7 feet tall. They might have easily have over 2k varsities of beer/brands. I have no idea how they get it all there. I'd say I like to spend about $6-10 for a single beer 6 pack (like when I buy some Flying Dog from Frederick) or closer to $18-$24 when I make my own 6-pack or $3-4 dollars a bottle.
 
I wish we had a place around here where we could mix our own 6 pack. That sounds like great fun for an HB! It seems like it would make it easier to sample different styles one might want to emulate.
 
Try a Cost Plus World Market type of place, or Trader Joes. They both have that sort of per bottle situation.

Costwise yeah, it's the equipment that I keep buying that makes it more expensive than if I were buying it from the store, but as one of the gluten free brewers, it's already enabled me to have more than what few beers are available, and that's worth the cost to me.
 
I save money on two levels

Firstly I can brew a 12 gallon batch of A/G beer for $16-$26 depending on what I put in it. I buy my malt from the Maltster and hops online in bulk. 11 gallons finished beer = roughly 41 liters = roughly 120 beers. Here beer is crazy expensive also and a sixer of Big Rock Traditional Ale costs about $13. So for the price of 12 I get 120.

Secondly It's more cost effective for me to invite my friends over to my house and supply them with beer than it is to go out and spend money at the bar. Yes the CO2 and kegging set up cost money but so do taxis.
 
It's cheaper than going to the bar.

It's hard to put a price on the intangibles. Yes, I can go to the store and pick up some beer, plop down on the couch, and watch a game on TV. But I have a hobby that makes me happy. I get to be creative. I get off the couch. I read and research. My family and friends enjoy my product and they enjoy talking about it with me. I support my local LHBS's and the local economy.

I actually come in a little under on costs. But when you factor in time, it's probably a loss.
 
I concur with the break-even posts...just going to break even sometime in 2032, about the same time I spend the rest of my life-savings on my brew-pub. :)
 
You will save money making your own beer, there's no doubt about that. Where it gets confusing is buying equipment. There really isn't a way to factor equipment cost into beer cost unless you amortize the equipment over the useful life of said equipment. Even then, the cost increase aren't worth factoring. Say you spend $1,000 on an AG setup with the immersion chiller, measuring equipment, etc and you see fit that it will last 30 years.

Thirty year amortization of $1,000 is about $33.33 per year. Let's say you make 100 gallons each year, so you're looking at $0.33 per gallon, or $1.67 per 5 gallon batch. Less than $2 a batch.

Time is only factored when you make a living from it. It's a hobby. Enjoy the time, don't factor it.
 
As a Canadian, the cost of homebrewing is certainly cheaper than buying beer. As Shaker D mentioned, a 6-pack of Big Rock is about $13. Big Rock makes a decent beer, but nothing to write home about. In Canada, beer selection is often limited. I was recently in Cleveland, and went to a couple of pubs where they had over 20 taps worth of beer, with selections from Imperial Stouts to IPAs to Coffee Porters to Belgians. In Canada, the only Belgian you would see at a pub is Stella, the only IPA is Keith's and the only stout is Guinness. You can buy some bottles of specialty beer at the better liquor stores, but you pay through the nose.

The one additional cost that I've noticed since I started brewing, however, is that when I do buy beer I tend to buy more expensive ones. Instead of a $6 6-pack of Boxer, I'll spend $5 on a bottle of Saison (for instance).

To save money, I try to brew stuff that would be expensive to buy. I made a Belgian Strong Ale, which saved me about $3/bottle if buying Duvel. Of course, I wouldn't have bought 2 cases of Duvel in the time that I've been enjoying that batch...
 
Goebel Liquor here in Wichita does the "build your own 6-pack" thing. They have a pretty huge selection too. Plus I get 10% off for being an AHA member :)
 
i like to think the my beers are cheaper to make than i can buy beer for. but im still new so i'm still buying more and more equipment and crap. if i ever reach a point where i feel like i have everything i need then i will probably save money. but i doubt i'll ever have everything. so probably not :(
 
I haven't actually brewed yet since I am waiting on my new equipment to arrive. However, going by the set up I am buying, I figured that I'm looking at about 6 - 7 dollars a bottle on my very first brew (That's including all of the equipment and ingredients). Comparable beers in this area are around 4 to 5 dollars a bottle except at Wolf Hills Brewery, where I can get a growler of great beer filled for 10 - 15 dollars.

Any beer after this initial brew will run me somewhere in the vicinity of 1 dollar a bottle so I consider that to be saving money over time since I only have to buy the equipment once. A 5 gallon set up will be perfectly fine for me indefinitely so I won't be making any huge upgrades until I go all grain and even then I have made purchases early on to facilitate that so that I will need fewer new pieces of equipment in the future.

I'm sure I have lovingly flawed my logic in there somewhere, but it makes me feel better for dropping so much cash on a brewing set up.:D
 
Weizenwerks said:
You will save money making your own beer, there's no doubt about that. Where it gets confusing is buying equipment. There really isn't a way to factor equipment cost into beer cost unless you amortize the equipment over the useful life of said equipment. Even then, the cost increase aren't worth factoring. Say you spend $1,000 on an AG setup with the immersion chiller, measuring equipment, etc and you see fit that it will last 30 years.

Thirty year amortization of $1,000 is about $33.33 per year. Let's say you make 100 gallons each year, so you're looking at $0.33 per gallon, or $1.67 per 5 gallon batch. Less than $2 a batch.

Time is only factored when you make a living from it. It's a hobby. Enjoy the time, don't factor it.
Click to expand...

But does anyone really go 30 years on a one-time equipment expense? That seems unrealistic. I'd bet most brewers are buying new toys every year.
 
GreenDragon said:
Goebel Liquor here in Wichita does the "build your own 6-pack" thing. They have a pretty huge selection too. Plus I get 10% off for being an AHA member :)
Click to expand...

For those in select NE states, Wegmans supermarkets have a build-your-own-6-pack deal for $9.99. Not a tremendous selection of beers, but I made one of good IPAs: Stone, DFH 60, some local ones. Not a bad way to try some beers out.

That's the limitation of homebrewing. I might want to drink a bottle or two of pumpkin ale each fall, but I'll be damned if I'm brewing 1-2 cases of that stuff.
 
The cost question depends on the beer that you compare it to. For example Chimay Grand Reserve around here sells a little over $100/case if you can even find it. I can brew a very similar extract version for around $60 for 2 cases. So yes it can definitely save money. It all depends what we're comparing it to. It's all relevant.
 
so far, i've spent about $4-500 on all my equiptment, including my ag and kegging stuff. will it last 30 years? no, but most of the stuff should last a good ten.
 
McGarnigle said:
For those in select NE states, Wegmans supermarkets have a build-your-own-6-pack deal for $9.99. Not a tremendous selection of beers, but I made one of good IPAs: Stone, DFH 60, some local ones. Not a bad way to try some beers out.

That's the limitation of homebrewing. I might want to drink a bottle or two of pumpkin ale each fall, but I'll be damned if I'm brewing 1-2 cases of that stuff.
Click to expand...

1 gallon batches :mug:

and my lhbs has the build your own six pack as well. That is a great way to try new beers. especially with really expensive six packs like midas touch (i can choke down one, but's it)
 
I've kept records since I've started in the hobby about a year ago. Figuring what I've made and what I think I can make based on the ingredients I still have available, my variable cost per case is about $13.50 per. Dividing several hundred dollars of equipment (it's amazing how fast $8-$15 purchases will add up), my fixed cost per case is about $30. So my cost per case is about $43. If I buy no equipment for the next year (yeah, right) and only fresh ingredients, my cost per case will drop to about $28.

This doesn't include gas or bottled water, which I get from sources ranging from 33 cents to $1 per gallon and use for most batches. So my variable cost is more like $16/case.

Factor in that I make way more beer than I would ever drink if I was buying it from the store and give away a significant percentage of my production (so I don't drink a ridiculous amount myself), there is no way I'll ever save money by brewing beer. But I don't care about that much, it's fun.

My friends are the ones saving money. The other day a buddy came by to borrow my trailer and I gave him four 22oz beers. He borrows my trailer and I give him beer? How screwed up is that?
 
I think that even if you factor in the cost of equipment, you still CAN save money. It depends on your individual situation.

I brewed up a half batch of Arrogant Bastard the other day, a bomber of which costs me 5 dollars. I saved about 45-50 dollars just on that batch, and it was only half!

I think that the savings can really add up after a while, especially if you usually buy beers that are more expensive. You aren't going to be saving that much money if you're trying to clone Busch light, for instance.
 
McGarnigle said:
But does anyone really go 30 years on a one-time equipment expense? That seems unrealistic. I'd bet most brewers are buying new toys every year.
Click to expand...
It doesn't have to be a one time buy in. Some things will last that long and some things are consumables with a shorter lifespan, like Igloo coolers for example. The point is you spend what you want to spend. Some people like to throw thousands of dollars into an automated system with stainless everything. Some others will only brew on their kitchen range doing partial boils of extract recipes and I know a few that compete and medal with such equipment. For that, you're looking at $200-250 and you're set. Homebrewers, ammo reloaders, computer builders are all gear nuts and like to have top dollar equipment, which isn't necessary but is nice to have if you can afford it.

abrdnck said:
I think I have to replace my hydrometer about every 3 batches on average...
Click to expand...
Why so often?
 
mojo_wire said:
I've kept records since I've started in the hobby about a year ago. Figuring what I've made and what I think I can make based on the ingredients I still have available, my variable cost per case is about $13.50 per. Dividing several hundred dollars of equipment (it's amazing how fast $8-$15 purchases will add up), my fixed cost per case is about $30. So my cost per case is about $43. If I buy no equipment for the next year (yeah, right) and only fresh ingredients, my cost per case will drop to about $28.

This doesn't include gas or bottled water, which I get from sources ranging from 33 cents to $1 per gallon and use for most batches. So my variable cost is more like $16/case.

Factor in that I make way more beer than I would ever drink if I was buying it from the store and give away a significant percentage of my production (so I don't drink a ridiculous amount myself), there is no way I'll ever save money by brewing beer. But I don't care about that much, it's fun.

My friends are the ones saving money. The other day a buddy came by to borrow my trailer and I gave him four 22oz beers. He borrows my trailer and I give him beer? How screwed up is that?
Click to expand...

can i borrow a hammer?
 
IanC said:
For sure the 'tinkering' factor can really add up, but I'd be spending that money on some other project to amuse myself if I wasn't brewing:)
Click to expand...

No doubt. In my case I'm actually saving, because I'm brewing instead of working on my old mustang! And I'm spending on things that I don't really NEED to spend on, like a networkable temperature monitoring system so I can monitor the fermentation temps during the whole process and upload to a web server... Although TBH, that didn't cost that much.
 
I really don't care if I'm saving money yet. Between equipment, ingredients, and "research" into rarer beers, I have to be spending more. I'm sure if I count only the ingredients, I might be making out better, but there's not a chance in hell I've made back my initial investment in savings... and certainly not in beer quality yet.
 
I am not a big gift person, don't like to celebrate birthdays, especially my own. But when these days come up, people are gonna get you gifts. So I just ask for brewing equipment, books, kits, or whatever. Better then getting a new shirt I'll never wear, and saves me a few bucks. If my wife gets me a kit for Christmas and my birthday, that's two batches a year that ain't coming out of my beer budget. (I might have to give up a box cigars to do this)

Plus it's a lot easier to ask for a new pot or book, then a case of beer.
 
I've had some friends offer to pay me for sixers of some of my brews...I haven't sold any yet, but can you MAKE money homebrewing (although Unc. Sam may frown on it).
 
If you are brewing big beers or expensive beers like $10+/750mL singles, you will save a good deal of money, even considering time involved. (unless you value your time for $100/hr or so!)

Brewing beers that you can buy for $8/sixer? Probably breaking even or losing money.

It is a hobby though, not a financial exercise.
 

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