It's a good thing I don't brew to save money!

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Mustangfreak

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
576
Reaction score
5
Location
Tampa
All lot of the times when I tell people I brew, they ask me if I do it to save money. I just laugh and say no. And it's a good thing I don't, because I just added up all the receipts from Austin Homebrew, and I've spent $950 so far. Granted that it's worth every penny, I just can't believe I've spent that much so far. :drunk::D

I still havnt added up the cost of the keggorator or kegs, or the items I bought from Abilene's homebrew shop either.
 
I've said it before and I'll say it again- we don't do it to save money. Granted, we do try to cut costs (buying in bulk, reusing yeast, etc) but the money we spend buying and building equipment is incredible, and we could mor than likely buy commercial beer cheaper. But we do it for fun, not money. :)
 
Yep I think my last order from NB put me over the $1K mark in total spent actually probably closer to $1300. Lessee, that includes ingredients enough for 8 gallons of welch's wine, 3 gallons of apfelwein, 5 gallons of mrbeer, and 35 gallons of beer, so breaking that into 12 oz bottles is 544 bottles of beer and wine, so roughly $2.50 per bottle, that doesn't take into account time investment, just raw dollars. Granted I haven't gotten into kegging yet just bottles and a TAD. If I can resist the urge to blow another few hundred on a kegging setup and I simply make beer for a while I could see my average CPB (cost per bottle) drop with each batch.

Big IF right there.
 
Yep I think my last order from NB put me over the $1K mark in total spent actually probably closer to $1300. Lessee, that includes ingredients enough for 8 gallons of welch's wine, 3 gallons of apfelwein, 5 gallons of mrbeer, and 35 gallons of beer, so breaking that into 12 oz bottles is 544 bottles of beer and wine, so roughly $2.50 per bottle, that doesn't take into account time investment, just raw dollars. Granted I haven't gotten into kegging yet just bottles and a TAD. If I can resist the urge to blow another few hundred on a kegging setup and I simply make beer for a while I could see my average CPB (cost per bottle) drop with each batch.

Big IF right there.
Bah, go for kegging. :p

I started keeping a spread sheet of how much I'd spent on brewing. Then I looked at it one day, realized swmbo may someday see the "Total" field, and deleted the spreadsheet immediately.
 
I always think "the next batch" is going to be cheap. Never seems to come to fruition. Like free beer tomorrow I guess. Last order from Austin was $200. $25 was for actual ingredients.
 
You CAN save a ton of money making mead. Figured it out the other day, if you included the carboy and the bottles (which we're going to re-use) our costs for a simple honey only mead come to about $84 for 24 bottles, which works out to $3.50 per bottle. If you remove the carboy and bottles (which we will eventually re-use) the cost drops to ~$25 for 12 # of honey, which is about $1 per bottle.

Not sure where I'm coming in on the beer. I've got a pretty simple setup, and I try to keep it that way. I've bought a beginner's kit ($60), a burner ($100), a wort cooler ($100 includes converting from IC to CFC), converted a keggle ($60), tubing ($30), bottles ($60), 3 carboys ($120), 5 Ale Pails ($60), plus a ton of kits. So let's say $600 on equipment.

We've probably got close to our legal limit going right now in the basement, and then I'd say a conservative estimate of 10-15 batches last year (we had to stop to buy a house). Extract kits run about $35 on average, which puts them at ~$4 a sixer, instead of ~$8. So I've saved between $320 to $480 on beer, which puts me $120 in the hole, but I've learned a ton, had a lot of fun, and reached out to a great group of people.

Sounds full of Win to me.
 
Bah, go for kegging. :p

I started keeping a spread sheet of how much I'd spent on brewing. Then I looked at it one day, realized swmbo may someday see the "Total" field, and deleted the spreadsheet immediately.

hahaha Im with you! I just started brewing this year/January. I have to say Im glad I kept one private credit card to myself. IF she knew what I was spending on Ingredients, setups, and now the Keezer. Id probally be sleeping on the couch. I also made a cost list and once I saw the total, I never touched the "save as" button. :D
 
I like to word it this way:

Per batch, its not as cheap as a case of Natty Light, but its cheaper than buying somebody elses craft brew.

Of course the process and experience is priceless :D
 
There is always a capital cost ofc but if you brew for a long enough time I imagine you will make it up. Heck the self reliance is awesome not to mention having 100+ gallon of homebrew beer and wine in my room is totally badass!
 
Bah, go for kegging. :p

I started keeping a spread sheet of how much I'd spent on brewing. Then I looked at it one day, realized swmbo may someday see the "Total" field, and deleted the spreadsheet immediately.

My swmbo just started tracking all our spending in quicken. I got find a way to get rid of the Beer Supplies section that she made.
 
My swmbo just started tracking all our spending in quicken. I got find a way to get rid of the Beer Supplies section that she made.

Well if I BUY beer it's usually higher end stuff that runs $10-13 for a 4 or 6 pack, so 2.50 a bottle IS actually saving me money or "just about the same". I may never reach the level though where brewing is cheaper than say, buying Michelob Porter (that's about as low end as I'll drink before I say screw that and buy a bottle of coke and a fifth of Jim Beam).
 
I've got an excel spreadsheet with everything I've bought, broken down into ingredients, equipment, and consumables. I'm up to about $900, that's for 10 batches of beer, so ~50 beers per batch, that's about $1.80 a bottle, $10.80 a six pack, which isn't really to much more than a good craft sixer.

Plus, i'm good on equipment for a good while, so after another 6-8 batches, my price will drop down to $1 and change per beer, which is pretty competitive even for macro brew (six pack prices)
 
I still plan to drink commerical cause there are beers I like so I'll keep them around. Also I'm in to Higher ABV so I'm not that good at brewing to get into rasing the ABV. I buy a lot of wine and liquior. ---I think really I wanted to get into this to do spend more time with something I already loved which was beer and drinking....I spend 3 to 4 hours on brew day drinking and doing my thing....I also grill for the SWMBO in the process so it's a win win win.... I have not saved a dime in cost yet. I not sure if I ever will really well depends on if I start making Bailey's since I read about it last night. Cause we go thru that like water if I have it...........

Really it's the process and people you meet that make brewing amazing........

My beer is like my baby I wrap it up at night to make sure it doesn't get too cold and check it daily to make sure temp and fermenting is going well....I'm thinking about setting up a web cam cause I miss my fermenters while I'm at work.....Right now I have a small electric heater set on very low to keep it warm since temps are good to me at night in my man cave...........Yes if the SWMBO knew how I truely felt about my Beer, I'd have to get a divorce.......
 
Ok, I've always been curious as to how much my per 12oz costs are, but never really had the time to sit down and add it up.

I put together a very rough spreadsheet that is likely missing many items (clamps, tubing, fittings that I don't have a good track of), and doesn't include consumables related to the brewing process. Sometime I'll have to add together the per-brew-session cost of sanitizer, water, propane, electricity to the spreadsheet too.

...but until then, at my current estimate, I've spent approximately $3.49 per bottle of beer (or equivalent 12oz servings in kegs) for my homebrewing habit, before accounting for the actual cost of ingredients. IIRC, in my first few extract batches, it was higher since I was paying $5.00/lb DME and $3.00/oz for hops, and my yeast cost was high since I had nothing washed/built up yet, plus it was for smaller batches.

Anyway, surprise! :tank:I'm into this $1500+ already and I only own two pieces of stainless steel equipment: a racking cane and false bottom for the MLT. I guess I expected that I wouldn't hit this level of "investment" until I brought a Blichmann home. :cross:

My Brew-costs spreadsheet

I'll see if I can keep my spreadsheet updated and visible to all in case it helps them to justify their brewing costs to SWMBO (or your loan officer!). At this point I'm satisfied that I can brew good quality beer with my 2x carboys, so I don't think I'll be hitting the stainless conicals for a long while. I want this per/bottle cost to drop so I can take advantage of this "cheap all-grain brewing" thing I keep hearing about :cross:. My last AG batch with bulk hops and bulk 2-row came out around $.50 per 12oz serving, including new yeast that I've washed and saved for future brews to further reduce costs.
 
Then I would have to "fix" her computer and setup quicken all over again.

I think if she complains I will just ask her to lookup how much she spent on clothes and everything will be ok

I think you'd be better off manning up and telling her what you're spending.
 
All lot of the times when I tell people I brew, they ask me if I do it to save money. I just laugh and say no. And it's a good thing I don't, because I just added up all the receipts from Austin Homebrew, and I've spent $950 so far. Granted that it's worth every penny, I just can't believe I've spent that much so far. :drunk::D

I still havnt added up the cost of the keggorator or kegs, or the items I bought from Abilene's homebrew shop either.

I tell SWMBO that I am going to drink two or three beers a night. That makes for at least a 12 pack a week. If I was buying commercial then I would be spending $9 per sixer or $18 a week. Call it $20 for ease. That is $1,000 a year. So if instead I brew with that $1,000, then I am ahead because I can get five gallons for $20 when I keg. So technically, we are saving money...right...Bueller?
 
I have the disadvantage of being married to an accountant. $5,000 last year. I almost fell off my chair.

Copy that Ghostrider. I always have the problem with when I say that I am going to give beer and wine as a present that SWMBO thinks it is free and grows on trees and that we should really buy gifts. I tell her that it sure is free and that she better not complain then when she sees the bill for what it didn't "cost" to make it.
 
We aren't even talking about going out funds here either...don't get me started about how homebrewing costs a lot when a beer and a shot at a bar is going to run you $15.
 
I have to argue a bit. I got started on this adventure last July 2009 and have spent $2400 so far. For the 125 gallons I've made, I'm at $1.78 a bottle. I could make at least another 50 gallons with the ingredients I have in stock, bringing it down to $1.27 a bottle. I'll probably buy ingredients for and make another 100 gallons (on top of the 50) this year, and will be looking at a cost of $1 bottle. Plain old SNPA cost about the same by the keg, and I enjoy my beer much more than I do SNPA. The beer I would want to drink would cost more than that, up to $2 / bottle if buying it by the bottle.
Considering that the time spent brewing probably keeps me from spending time spending money, a creative cost accountant could probably show more savings :)
 
carp-
Much like me, you seem to think your "next batch" will be cheap. Let me know when you get there!
 
With equipment and grain I'm at $1.24 per bottle now. Since I plan no major equipment changes that should drop this year.
 
Everytime SWMBO mentions how much I spend on beer and brewing I just bring up her 2 packs a day smoking habit. That usually ends that conversation.
 
i like to tell myself i facilitate the manufacture of beverages of an alcoholic nature to save my internal organs from the wrath of swill. as to saving money: i will spend dollar "x" anyhow, so why not enjoy what it buys me? like my nitro r/c, firearms, cars, motorcycles do? or i can waste it on say the lotto.
 
I've spent $280 on all my equipment, including grain mill, since I've started brewing about a year ago. Style for style it's a hell of a lot cheaper. I'm satisfied with my equipment, however I have spent quite a bit on my keggerator. Not necessary, just something nice. I have plenty of people to give me bottles. I know I've saved a hell of a lot of money by brewing, rather than buying the same styles of beer at the store.

Do I brew my own beer to save money? No. I brew because I love good beer and love making it even more, from scratch, and my own recipes. I just end up saving money in the long run had I been buying craft beer instead.
 
Hey,

Brewing helps us to be in a position and had a good quality of beer.. (just when we started it ourselves).. if not it wont comes under money saving .. I guess. But the taste of it as you said would not that good at all..!!

Wallion.
 
Ha, I was a real estate agent in 2009 and my business expenses I can deduct. I was going through my statements throughout the year and soooo much money was spent at brewmaster's warehouse, AHB and LHBS it kind of made me sick. I would guess around $200/month.

My 2010 budget is $50/month on homebrew stuff. I spend WAY too much on this hobby. Not to mention "market research".
 
carp-
Much like me, you seem to think your "next batch" will be cheap. Let me know when you get there!

You're probably right! But the trend is going in the right direction at least.
 
I've been wondering at my costs and I put together a spreadsheet for myself.

Provided I've remembered everything, $546 on gear, $233 on ingredients, and a per-bottle cost of $1.64. That'll improve when I do more batches, since I'm only on my eighth batch and just finished my all-grain conversion.

As long as I can keep from getting too much other hardware this hobby starts to look affordable…
 
It costs me about 25-35$ a batch for 55 bottles. A sixer of anything good in my neck of the woods runs you about 10$. I'm not great at math, but it's hard for me to see how I'm not saving money....
 
Back
Top