Chia said:
thought i was doing good at 5 gallon for $20. what are you doing to get 10 for $15, and how can i do that?
Bulk ingredients, reusing and banking yeasts. I can make a hefe even a bit cheaper than that, but I wouldn't manage anywhere near that if I didn't belong to a homebrew club and participate in group buys - grain is dirt cheap when you're able to order 400 bags (50-55lbs each) at a time, and even the fact that the distributor sponsors us with free delivery helps!
That being said, I don't do this to save money. It's an obsession for me, and my goal is to brew the best beer I possibly can, regardless of the cost. Obviously I only have a certain amount of discretionary income though, and if I CAN save money and still get the exact same thing (eg buying in bulk vs buying grain by the pound, participating in group buys, doing - and learning to do - stuff on my own if it's cheaper, etc), then I will... but only because that lets me buy even more homebrew stuff with the same budget!
Heck, I've spent thousands on equipment just this year alone. The guy talking down at people for "confusing shiny equipment with mastery of process" can bite me, because they are nowhere near mutually exclusive. I love the art and creativity just as much as I live the science and engineering, and I feel equally geeked out when I get some shiny new equipment as I do when I'm able to control another part of the process on my own. I've been a gadget geek all my life and DO sink a lot of money into my brewing stuff, but I've always enjoyed doing and solving on my own, as well deliberately working to improve and perfect my methods and processes when it comes to anything I do. I love homebrewing so much largely BECAUSE it's has a strong mix of all of these things — nothing else comes even close, as far as I'm concerned. Ultimately, as I said, my aim IS to brew the best beer I can, and you can nail your process down as perfectly as humanly possible, but your beer can STILL improve with the right equipment, and anybody that suggests otherwise is clearly speaking out of some sort of jealousy.
I suppose that when it comes to the money I spend, I really don't have problems spending a ton of money on fixed costs. Not that I have much of a problem spending money on variable costs either, if I want it for my beer. But I'd RATHER spend on the former than on the latter - ie, putting together a yeast lab/yeast bank instead of buying yeast that I've already bought before, or buying a grain mill in order to save on grain.