Home Brewing = Saving Money?

It seems 50/50. I see a lot of books and guides talking about how much money you save home brewing but then, on forums like this, I see people talking about how expensive it is and an addiction to always upgrade equipment.

Even while buying GREAT equipment like those fancy 3-burner stands and brewing kettles, don't you eventually start saving money or is it kind of like working on cars? It's cheaper to work on your own car but you don't really come out even when you're always improving the engine?

Can my "kit" with 2 carboys really get me most of what I need to brew? It's not fancy but if I don't upgrade, I feel eventually I will start to save money.

It all depends on your desires. You can brew to save money, or you can brew as a hobby. The people that look at this as a hobby aren't doing it to save money. Therefore, it will take a LOT of beer brewing to catch up and save from the money I have put in for equipment and kegging. You can brew basic kits and get drinkable beer and save money. Or, you can brew all types and get as involved in the hobby as you want where you break even it seems on the cost of the beer to what you could buy in the store...so you're not saving anything. It really depends on what the individual is brewing for.

it has cot me WAY WAY more than just buying beer... I was a rare occasion drinker. MAYBE a 6 pack a month...sometimes 6 months between beers. I am addicted to the gadgets and gizmos as much as the brewing now so yeah I AM WAY BEHIND on saving any money... For the average person who drinks busch light or keystone I don't think there is a financial advantage.. for a craft beer or big beer drinker ( meaning things like barley wines and reaslly hoppy beers) then there can be a significant savings I think.

It's a hobby, not a money saving technique. It's something fun to do, makes good beer and it interests me, so I brew my own beer. With a basic kit and doing all grain you may break even on most batches with a decent ABV. You don't have to get a bunch of fancy equipment to make good beer, but the equipment can make it easier...

I don't think you can ever save money, unless you live in Canada were beer is expensive or you are doing large batches and reusing yeast and maybe growing your own hops.

It's all about the gadgets! It's a lot of fun to brew, and since it's my hobby, I don't look at it as costing more or less than what I can buy, I just see it as an investment in something that I love. Everyone has their limits, and even the simplest setups make award winning beer.

Welcome to the site by the way, 12 posts and a Premium Member= Instant Respect. Happy Brewing!

A good post with tips, and one of the first ones is "no it won't save you money":

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/stone-cold-lead-pipe-lockd-n00b-advice-54362/

I can imagine a scenario where if one had iron will and determination to always stay with exactly the same inexpensive equipment and never upgrade anything, and always bought in bulk, and always washed/reused yeast, then yes in that imaginary scenario money is saved especially if the comparison is $9/six craft beer and consumption rate is >= 3-4 beers a day.

dbrewski said:

A good post with tips, and one of the first ones is "no it won't save you money":

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/stone-cold-lead-pipe-lockd-n00b-advice-54362/

I can imagine a scenario where if one had iron will and determination to always stay with exactly the same inexpensive equipment and never upgrade anything, and always bought in bulk, and always washed/reused yeast, then yes in that imaginary scenario money is saved especially if the comparison is $9/six craft beer and consumption rate is >= 3-4 beers a day.

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Reading the thread and yeah, great way to put it. I was a very heavy beer trader so spending hundreds a month right into the pockets of UPS so, now I see it as a savings but I'm also a gadget nerd and some of the equipment is

REALLY FREAKING COOL.

GF is making me promise that I brew with just the $200 Starter Kit + $400 Kegerator + kegs investment for the summer before I buy more equipment.

I think that's a good start. I drink a bomber or two most nights but I also have way too many beers right now. If I could drink a dry Saison of the same type, I'd drink only that...and a DIPA and a Porter and an oatmeal stout...

I believe it depends on a few factors:

1. How much store bought beer did you drink before you started home brewing?

2. Are you content with low cost basic equipment or do you need the best of everything?

Personally I was drinking about 2 cases (48, 12oz beers) per month at a cost of $60 per month.

Now I'm still drinking about the same amount but on average I can make 48 beers for $24 including yeast and propane

My monthly savings is then $60-24 = $36 or $432 per year!

I am in my first year of brewing and have invested about $600 into equipment. I have all the equipment I need now and will only be buying little things here and there for the next several years so my beer savings will offset my initial equipment investment in only 1.4 years after which I will be saving $432 per year.

The big thing is we enjoy home brewing! It is a hobby! How many hobbies have the potential to actually save you money? I can't think of any other than Home Brewing. Sure doing your own home improvements and repairing your own car will save money but are not nearly as enjoyable and relaxing as homebrewing!

I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with everyone.
I honestly think I do save money, even without reusing yeast and using my homegrown hops. For AG it may cost what, 25-35$/ 5 gal? So roughly 12.50-17.50 a case? It's not an enormous save, but without upgrading and making the most extravagant beers over time I've
probably broken even by now.

Of course, I'm not one of the fancy guys with three burners and a kegging system...

Jealous

I have brewed 23 batches and have kept track of all my expenses. I am now bottling at just under $2 per bottle. I can now say that I can make my beer for less than buying it.

IMO you will need to go all grain to achieve this. The cost of extracts will keep the price higher.

I did 4 extract then 4 partial mash brews while collecting the equipment for an all grain gravity system.

That said, when I make my fermentation chamber and get into kegging the price per bottle will go up again.

So the answer is maybe. If you get your setup where you like it and stop buying new equipment and do all grain you will eventually be able to make beer for less than buying. Craft beers that is not BMC.

You can do some cheap, cheap, batches, especially if you're doing all grain. I seem to remember Yooper's cream of 3 crops ale being $12 a 5 gallon batch, and you can't get much cheaper than that.

For an extract brewer, you're usually not looking at much savings, especially when you factor in equipment. However, you can certainly make some beers that would be expensive in 4 or 6 packs from craft breweries by virtue of them being rare or sought after. Even with a basic kit, like the OP asked.

I'm definitely in the hole since I got into the hobby, but I'm very happy in it.

I think that you certainly could save money, if that was your goal. The trouble is that many people like to add/upgrade equipment constantly, and brewing is a hobby for them rather than a money-saving effort.
So far, I think I have everything I need. But then, it only took me a few weeks of brewing to invest in a kegerator! And I keep thinking that another Better Bottle would be put to good use.
I do partial boil, extract brewing right now, and I'm not hot on going all grain. So that's money I won't be spending. Yet.
I did just spend $26 on three bottles of different beer styles for research purposes. So I'm definitely in the hobby group.

kh54s10 said:

I have brewed 23 batches and have kept track of all my expenses. I am now bottling at just under $2 per bottle. I can now say that I can make my beer for less than buying it.

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that was a typo, right? $2 per bottle or $200 per 5 gallon batch? I have to assume you are weighing in the cost of your equipment. Since you should be able to brew for $15-$20 in ingredients per batch and you have made 23 batches my calculations indicate that you have spent over $1,700 in equipment. Thus my point that some people need to constantly be upgrading and buy the best possible pieces of equipment and for those people I do not believe homebrewing will save much. My $600 worth of equipment will allow me to brew 10 gallon AG batches and I don't feel that I am lacking anything I really need.

adamjackson said:

GF is making me promise that I brew with just the $200 Starter Kit + $400 Kegerator + kegs investment for the summer before I buy more equipment.

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That is a great start, kegging is a good step up towards enjoyment of both the beer and the process (bottling is so much work!). Good luck with that iron will thing! :cross:

It's less than 50/50. I'd guess 95% of people don't save money. And the other 5% probably don't either if they include all economic costs.*

Consumption goes up (so you can't compare marginal costs, because volume changes) and you will probably find yourself buying more commercial beer.

Yes, it's possible to save money, just not at all probable.

Better to think in terms of utility instead of cost. I get more “units of enjoyment” by brewing than the opportunity cost of time and money spent on brewing. Therefore I brew.

*For those of you in this category, I'm not looking for a detailed cost breakdown of how you're saving money. I'm not trying to say you don't. I'm trying to help inform the OP that it's not likely.

I'm doing extract kits right now due to lack of money and space for AG (New baby...so wife put a stop to my spending on equipment!). My average kit including hops and yeast runs about $35. That's not bad for 5 gallons. I can't buy 4 cases of craft brew for 35. I can usually only buy 2. So in that sense, I'm saving money. But with the cost of the equipment I have, plus kegging/kegerator costs of co2 etc, I'm probably breaking even. When I can finally go to AG, I'm sure I can start recovering some of the expense. But, as others have said, it's my hobby. It is cheaper than a lot of things I could do and I reap the benefits when I'm done. I don't spend $100+ a month getting my hair did like my wife...so that is my argument to allow me to keep brewing.

EDIT: Plus, nobody is counting in the Cool Points you get when you take your brew to parties and tell people after drinking it that you brewed it. Hello....that's worth something right?

Homebrewing saves me a LOT of money compared to my previous hobbies; snowmobiling & fishing.

TyTanium said:

It's less than 50/50. I'd guess 95% of people don't save money. And the other 5% probably don't either if they include all economic costs.*

Consumption goes up (so you can't compare marginal costs, because volume changes) and you will probably find yourself buying more commercial beer.

Yes, it's possible to save money, just not at all probable.

Better to think in terms of utility instead of cost. I get more “units of enjoyment” by brewing than the opportunity cost of time and money spent on brewing. Therefore I brew.

*For those of you in this category, I'm not looking for a detailed cost breakdown of how you're saving money. I'm not trying to say you don't. I'm trying to help inform the OP that it's not likely.

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What about the 10% of homebrewers that used to spend $500-$1,000 per month on bar tabs but now that they homebrew they find themselves brewing on Friday and Saturday night instead of blowing money at the bar and wasting gas driving to bars, possible DUI arrests, etc. You are not factoring in all benefits of homebrewing.

I don't' know, and I don't' want to know.

Jayhem said:

What about the 10% of homebrewers that used to spend $1,000 per month on bar tabs but now that they homebrew they find themselves brewing on Friday and Saturday night instead of blowing money at the bar and wasting gas driving to bars, possible DUI arrests, etc. You are not factoring in all benefits of homebrewing.

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$1k a month on bar tabs? Right. Highly unlikely.

"I don't spend $100+ a month getting my hair did like my wife...so that is my argument to allow me to keep brewing."
Amen!

Jayhem said:

that was a typo, right? $2 per bottle or $200 per 5 gallon batch? I have to assume you are weighing in the cost of your equipment. Since you should be able to brew for $15-$20 in ingredients per batch and you have made 23 batches my calculations indicate that you have spent over $1,700 in equipment. Thus my point that some people need to constantly be upgrading and buy the best possible pieces of equipment and for those people I do not believe homebrewing will save much.

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50 bottles X $2 = $100. But that is the total cost for everything. Equipment, ingredients, shipping costs, tax etc since I started brewing last July. The price per bottle will continue to come down as long as I don't buy more equipment.

Go buy a six of craft beer. About $10 to $20 per six pack. Or $1.67 - $3.33 per bottle so at $2 per bottle I am getting there.

I live in PA and craft beer is a little pricey depending on where you go but even with the cost of equipment I still save some dough. Not a great deal mind you but for me it's more about the hobby anyway.

Jayhem said:

What about the 10% of homebrewers that used to spend $500-$1,000 per month on bar tabs but now that they homebrew they find themselves brewing on Friday and Saturday night instead of blowing money at the bar and wasting gas driving to bars, possible DUI arrests, etc. You are not factoring in all benefits of homebrewing.

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This is a fair example. That's part of my evolution. I used to spend thousands at bars when I lived in San Francisco right downtown then I moved to a cabin in New Hampshire with no bars at all so

Step 1: invest in a home liquor bar. I spent $1200, got a great bar setup, hosted parties at home. No DUIs, lasted 6 months easily and more fun. Now I just replace botltes that are consumed even though I'm not a big liquor drinker myself.

Step 2: Get into beer and invest a bit on craft beer, have fun, make cool beer friends and also avoid the local BMC only bars that closed at 10PM.

Now on to Step 3, the final transformation is making my own beer because craft is getting expensive and the fight for release beers is getting harder and harder.

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Where I live though, it's not really about cost / DUIs..it's the fact we have 1 bar that only serves Bud that closes at 10PM..other bars are an hour away so I just don't go to them.

kh54s10 said:

50 bottles X $2 = $100. But that is the total cost for everything. Equipment, ingredients, shipping costs, tax etc since I started brewing last July. The price per bottle will continue to come down as long as I don't buy more equipment.

Go buy a six of craft beer. About $10 to $20 per six pack. Or $1.67 - $3.33 per bottle so at $2 per bottle I am getting there.

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Sorry, adding in my head too fast while typing. I see what you did there and that is a good reasoning and now that you have your equipment the savings increase.

TyTanium said:

$1k a month on bar tabs? Right. Highly unlikely.

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I know people who spend that kind of money partying. When you are a overpaid, dumb, horny dude buying all the hot girls drinks at $10 per pop in the hopes of taking one home with you...it happens. No that was never me. I have always avoided the bar scene.

Jayhem said:

I know people who spend that kind of money partying. When you are a overpaid, dumb, horny dude buying all the hot girls drinks at $10 per pop in the hopes of taking one home with you...it happens. No that was never me. I have always avoided the bar scene.

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Wow. That's crazy. I haven't even spent $1k on bars over my entire life...probably not even $100. So I guess I'm not a good proxy for estimating this, haha.

TyTanium said:

Wow. That's crazy. I haven't even spent $1k at a bar over my entire life...probably not even $100. So I guess I'm not a good proxy for estimating this, haha.

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That $1,000 figure I threw out was MONTHLY bar expenditures, not on one tab! I would have a heart attack if I had a $100 bar tab much less $1K.

I like craft craft beers and specifically bigger beers. It costs on average $5.99 for a 22oz of this variety. I can make 17 22oz's for $26 in ingredients and that's the cost of an imperial stout which is at the higher end of the ingredient cost. An average brown ale, porter, or stout that I also drink will cost around $20 in ingredients. At this time I should point out that I do 3 gallon batches. Anyway 17 22oz's from the beer store would cost me about $101.83. That's $75-$85 I'm saving on beer per batch. 4 batches more than pays for my setup.

Those are standard cocktail menus at places in big cities. I used to go out every other night, get 5 cocktails and I had a GF so wasn't buying for others.

Those expenses add up VERY fast. One month of drinking in a big city is equal to a year of drinking cocktails at home and if you take bartending lessons, you can almost make the same drinks.

I could see the 1K a month figure for some people as easily attainable but not sustainable. Besides, beer tastes better anyway

Great answers. Glad to get some clarity. Thanks guys! Happy to be here and doing my first brew on Saturday!!!!!!!

When I started home brewing it wasn't even an attempt to get into the hobby. I just happened to be in a wine store in Sandwich, MA and I saw some Brooklyn kits and picked one up..."for the hell of it". I brewed it but I needed something that the kit didn't have (Star San) so I went to my LHBS to get some. When I got in there I felt a kid in a candy store (or a drunk in a brewery may be more accurate) and bought a "proper" kit. Ever since then I've been hemorrhaging money. LOL. That has settled down now though as I have pretty much all I want for now. I'm not going AG any time soon, sticking with extracts and that's just fine by me.

I didn't get into this to save money but I was under the impression that I would anyway. That's not been the case. My costs will level out as time goes on but right now I've spent way more $$$$ than if I just bought my beer from the store. But where's the fun in that!

I think that one area you can make money is when you make bigger beers (because these require more time to condition and I *think* you probably pay breweries for that time, whereas it costs me very little to leave a case or two of beer sit in a closet for a few months).

There are lots of ways you can save money (baking your own bread rather than buying it) but from my experience, it's the process that gives me the most joy, not the savings.

money-saving has to be your goal if you want it to happen - and it simply isn't most homebrewer's goal. most brewers focus on quality, variety, the experience, the comraderie, the entertainment, impressing others, impressing themselves... none of these are very compatible with saving money.

in the long run i just might end up saving money by distributing my setup costs over many batches... or i might not. either way i'm not holding my breath to find out. and frankly, i know what/fear what the answer will be.

Well, what are ya brewing?

I find that one "expense" homebrewers rarely take into consideration (mainly because this is a hobby, and none of us see it as "work") is our time. As they say, time is money, and the amount of time it takes us to brew a batch of beer should certainly be a consideration when adding up the cost. That's part of the dichotomy though (doing it to save money/doing it for the love).

Personally, even with brewing partial mash and extract brews, I feel I've saved money (if I don't consider time as an expense, or the fact that I never drank very much before brewing).

I bought one case of DFH 60 Minute IPA the other day, and it cost $42. Meanwhile I just brewed two cases of a Speckled Heifer which cost $25 ($12.50 a case) at Northern Brewer.

My equipment expenditures have been very low so far, adding up to about no more than $250 (though that will go up!) I don't try to save money, and in the long run (when considering I used to drink no more than 4 cases a beer A YEAR, and the time it takes to brew) I probably don't. But it certainly seems cheaper than buying cases of craft beer, as long as you don't think about it too long.

I'm with Tytanium on this one. Don't go into brewing convincing yourself you'll save money. You're just lying to yourself, and to SWMBO. Neither practice is going to make life easier.

BTW, nobody who spends 1k/month in bars is going to stop all that crap cold turkey and apply all that money to brewing beer. Get real. People buy girls drinks in the bar to get laid. It's not like all those half drunk college girls are going to stop by your garage brewery on the way home for the bars. That's not beer cost, that's girl cost, and that will cost you more money in the long run then any brewery. Guaranteed.

onipar said:

I find that one "expense" homebrewers rarely take into consideration (mainly because this is a hobby, and none of us see it as "work") is our time. As they say, time is money, and the amount of time it takes us to brew a batch of beer should certainly be a consideration when adding up the cost. That's part of the dichotomy though (doing it to save money/doing it for the love).

Personally, even with brewing partial mash and extract brews, I feel I've saved money (if I don't consider time as an expense, or the fact that I never drank very much before brewing).

I bought one case of DFH 60 Minute IPA the other day, and it cost $42. Meanwhile I just brewed two cases of a Speckled Heifer which cost $25 ($12.50 a case) at Northern Brewer.

My equipment expenditures have been very low so far, adding up to about no more than $250 (though that will go up!) I don't try to save money, and in the long run (when considering I used to drink no more than 4 cases a beer A YEAR, and the time it takes to brew) I probably don't. But it certainly seems cheaper than buying cases of craft beer, as long as you don't think about it too long.

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+1

I don't know how much of a difference it makes to the cost of beer but I know how much of a difference it makes when doing car repairs, plumbing, etc. I am sure it depends on the industry and region but 75 to 100 bucks an hour is not absurd when talking about hourly rates. If you invest 4 hours into a batch of beer you could, in theory, say you have just saved 400 bucks (I am simplifying this greatly because I am not considering electricity, gas, etc.).

jbaysurfer said:

I'm with Tytanium on this one. Don't go into brewing convincing yourself you'll save money. You're just lying to yourself, and to SWMBO. Neither practice is going to make life easier.

BTW, nobody who spends 1k/month in bars is going to stop all that crap cold turkey and apply all that money to brewing beer. Get real. People buy girls drinks in the bar to get laid. It's not like all those half drunk college girls are going to stop by your garage brewery on the way home for the bars. That's not beer cost, that's girl cost, and that will cost you more money in the long run then any brewery. Guaranteed.

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Haha. Yes, so very true. I have a solution to that "bar expense". I'm 25 with three long term relationships each lasting 2-5 years with no "bar expenses" between. Stability is truly a cost savings..and my GF loves beer more than I do so my garage brewery already has a customer

I started to do it as a hobby and a way to save money. I like the fact that I can make really good beer, the style I want when I want it, for about half of what it costs at the supermarket. I made upgrades to my systems as I wanted to make my brew day easier and smoother but still being a fun experience. My set-up is pretty simple compared to a lot on this forum, but it works for me and I'm happy with what I got.
I guess to make things short, tinkering with the gadgets, tweaking the set-up, coming up with recipes; all these is what makes it a hobby for me. The actual brewing, fermenting, bottling, consumption; these are what I think are part of the cost savings.

Those of you who have a wife or other form of SWMBO living with you...if she likes your beer the cost savings might have just increased. Buying her fruity drinks or wine when you go out for dinner adds up and so do trips to the liquor store to buy Patron!

I have already noticed the savings and i have only been brewing for 3 months or so.