Cost and Commitment

I am a complete newb to homebrew. I would be starting from scratch, and I was wondering what the cost would be starting from having nothing to bottling beer. I am sure this is a complicated question to answer due to the many variables possible, so think of it from the "medium" or "average" perspective, as in a medium sized of average quality kit, and so on. Also think of it in terms of what you consider the best place to start for a begginer. I have read a lot about the different steps and ingredients in brewing but rarely is a price attached.

On top of that, what kind of commitment is it once you begin? I mean this in regards to Time, Space needed, Stress, Smells, Maintenance, and so on.

I understand that I may be asking a difficult question since there are a number of options and ways to do things, but any suggestions and answers will be helpful and appreaciated.

You need to do some more reading.

The first commitment is time and understanding.

Decide what level you'd like to take the brewing. This will decide the time involved. Then decide a budget.

Then you can choose the right equipment to suit you.

You can make a brew in 30 minutes or a brew in 8 hours.
You can spend $50 to $10000 on equipment.

Normal an example of progression is...


Mr Beer kit and ingredients.

5 gallon pail fermenters and extract and steep.

Glass carboys/ Better bottled mini mash......

Full blown AG.

Depending on how handy you are and whether you're the type who like to DIY or save the aggravation and buy it out right the costs will vary A LOT. But I figure everyone has to start with the basics. I'd guess about $200 would get you in the door with room to grow. That should get you a primary pail, secondary carboy or Better Bottle, Hydormeter, misc tubing, don't forget a brew pot, and a starting kit (or two!). I skipped the Mr. Beer and started off with kits containing extract and specialty grains. If you can follow a recpie to bake or cook then beer isn't any harder. Bottles are essentially free, I'd never pay for empty bottles when it's so much fun to empty them your self!

Also, ask around. I found out my father in law used to brew back in the 70's and was happy to unload a bunch of equipment on me! I'd guess there's a few guys out there looking to get someone into the hobby! If you can find someone close by lots of guys on the boards and in clubs do a "bring your friend to brewing day". You can see the process, drink some homebrew, and if you help probably be in on the finished beer.

I think you could assemble the most basic equipment needed to do 5 gallon batches for around $100 or less. Ingredient kits run around $30-35. (Ingredients will be a little less costly when you start assembling them yourself rather than using pre-made kits).

If you don't have a pot of at least 4 gallons (16 Qt), you'll need to buy one.

I spent 180 for my first kit and pot, with a few little extra things like extra airlocks, brushes, caps, stoppers. And that was with a kit of beer to. This was an intermediate kit. For the basic basic kit you could probably get away with about 70 or 80 bucks with the kit and a batch of beer

You can look on EBAY and CRAIGSLIST... run a search for Home Brewing, or All Grain Brewing... you will see alot of equipment, used and new... Id say $200 would give you a great starter system that will serve you for years as your skills grow. Be wary of investing too little, and then as you want to expand your skills, needing to replace equipment several times over, thus costing you more in the long run.

Here is a typical setup and this will also show you the ammount of space that is generally needed...

http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u189/PolTavern/

Pol

I spent around 160 for kit, with glass carboy, Turkey fryer with big stainless pot, and first beer. Also misc. stuff like spoon and sanitizer. I am already starting to get my stuff for All grain. Taking my time though so i can do it my self and save some money.

My first brew, all equipment/ingredients included, cost me just over $100. I got a starter kit with two plastic "Ale Pails," with some basic equipment for racking and bottling, and a hopped extract beer kit. If you're satisfied with extract brewing, that's really all you'll ever need as long as you take good care of it and keep it CLEAN. Those type of kits only take up enough space to store two five gallon buckets, so you don't need much room in a closet to store your brew equipment if you're looking to keep it somewhat minimal.

I've since spent a lot of time and effort (and money, I suppose) increasing my brewing capacity and ability (see the links in my signature block), but I did my last brew during an extended "vacation" using nothing more than bits and pieces from that initial starter kit.

As far as time goes, you'll spend the better part of a day brewing, then you'll wait several weeks for it to finish (doing nothing but hoping your techniques were successful). You may choose to transfer the beer to another fermenter partway through, but it doesn't take long to do that. On bottling day, you'll spend most of an afternoon preparing the bottles and filling them. So, you'll spend about two days out of any given month actually doing real work on your beer. If you choose to, you can also spend countless hours reading and researching recipes and techniques, but that may be a different discussion.

During the brewing process, you'll notice some strong smells coming from your pot. If you like beer, you'll like the smell, and it dissipates within a few hours of turning the heat off (i.e., it won't permanently make your house smell like a brewery). If you're lucky, your roommates/wife/significant other/etc will also like the smells associated with brew day. If not, you might consider using a propane burner (like a turkey fryer) and taking your brewing outside.

There is relatively little stress when brewing beer - after all, you're just making...beer! Some folks get all keyed up about little details...just learn to relax.

There's a common saying around here:
Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew! (RDWHAHB!)

As far as equipment goes, I spent $200 on my first equipment kit and ingredient kit. I got a fermenting bucket, grommeted lid, bottling bucket, 2 airlocks, bottle brush, hydrometer, stick on thermometer, autosiphon, siphon tube, cleaner/sanitizer, 2 cases of bottles, bottle filler, caps, bottle capper, brew kettle, steeping grains, extract, hops and dry yeast.

I very quickly added a floating thermometer, measuring cup, wine thief and strainer. Next I added a 5 gallon carboy for secondary and equipment to make starters for liquid yeast.

These got me through the first stages of my brewing quite well and I soon learned what items I wanted to add to make the process more efficient.

As far as time goes, I spend about 3 hours brewing on brew day using steeping grains/partial mash and extract, and another hour on clean-up (the wife wants everything spotless when I'm done). I spend another 30 minutes or so a week later racking to secondary. Bottling day usually takes another 2 hours when it rolls around.

For space, I took over a small closet in the house for fermenting and storing my equipment at first. I have since expanded from the closet to adding shelving and a beer fridge (soon to be kegerator) to my "office" (slowly the office furniture is moving out and the brewing stuff is moving in).

As Orfy pointed out however, research is critical. I did not invest a single dime in equipment until I had read John Palmer's How to Brew twice and the beginner sections of Papazian.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents (or 10 dollars). Good luck whatever you decide, just be careful, there is a slippery slope between hobby and obsession.

Based on your questions, you seem a little unsure as to whether you will be sticking with this hobby. I completely understand your thought process with regards to weighing out the costs (both equipment and time) to determine if its something you want to get into.

Basically all you need is a pot large enough to boil 2-3 gallons, a plastic bucket to ferment in, a plastic bucket to use for bottling, some tubing, an airlock, some bottles and caps, a capper, and an ingredient kit. Your biggest expense starting out will be your brew pot (if you don't already have a pot in your kitchen). When I started out I had the luxury of going to my local HBS and perusing their selection. I picked up two plastic buckets for $12 each, some tubing for a buck or so, and a racking cane for a few bucks more. Throw in an ingredient kit ($30) and I was at about $60-$65. I saved bottles from the beer I drank and had my friends save theirs. I was lucky enough to score a pot and a capper as a gift.

My first batch took me about 4 hours, partly due to my slowness as I didn't want to screw up my first batch.

As others have said, you could really spend as much as you want. Once you get sucked in like the rest of us you will quickly become poor from all your equipment purchases (trust me on this one).

The biggest piece of advice I can give is to scrape together enough to go this route (5 gallon batches and pails) and bypass the Mr. Beer stuff altogether. I have yet to meet anyone who has made a good beer from a Mr. Beer kit. On the other hand, I have met several folks who have made a good beer with their first 5 gallon batch. YMMV

I think the biggest commitment will come with bottling... or kegging. For me, spending 90 minutes once every couple weeks to brew was no big deal. Having 8 cases of bottles laying around my place was a huge deal. I dont drink like an alcoholic, but by the look of my kitchen you would absolutely think I did because of all of the bottled. Kegging nearly eliminated bottles... so now I just have a mini fridge with a tower.

Once you get a keggerator, you're pretty darn well committed to brew beer. A keggerator setup will most likely be your biggest single purchase, but it will also most likely be the point where you can casually brew a batch, not worrying about having to clean and store bottle after bottle. A cornie keg full of beer can age in any little temperature constant space in your house. I hide mine in my closet to age... out of sight out of mind.

As far as smells... that depends on where you brew, what you brew, and where you ferment it. Brewing will make your house smell like dog food if you brew inside for a day or two. If you ferment inside, you can get some strange smells in the area around the fermenter. A small fan going will dissipate the smell. Ed's Aplewein is the strongest stuff I've smelled and has been the only batch I actually needed to put up a fan for. Well... I did have 15 gallons of stuff in primary at the time, so that may have helped put my smell on edge

Others have given some good advice on cost. I will just add that it's something I think you have to do for fun and not to save money. It is unlikely that you will save any money. Although the cost of a six pack will be less (considering only ingredients), all the equipment you buy makes it hard to catch up in savings. So brew for fun!

cost may be an initial motive, but it becomes almost pointless after a few brews. I'm guessing most people here can afford a 6 pack... its not about saving 2 bucks as it is making that 6 pack as good as possible.

I just started brewing last Saturday and I went to my local Home Brew Store. I simply asked for a beginner's kit and it cost me $65. There was a primary (5 gallon bucket), a bottling bucket, siphon, hydrometer, bottle capper, bottle caps, bottle brush, stick on termometer and sanitizer.

I just started brewing almost a year ago. I can tell you this, if you like to drink a lot, I mean 6'er or more everyday, your going to be brewing your arshe off. It is time consuming to say the least. This is, as others have noted, has to be dedicated hobby that you LIKE to do. Kind of like a labor of love if your in it for the taste and quality standpoint. If your in it just to drink cheaper and with all things considered including costs and time, then this may not be something you want to get into. I, as well as many others, started off relatively cheap with a beginners kit. After the first two batches I bottled, I quickly went to kegging. Now I'm into quality recipes and thinking ten gallon batches once I get the style down that I really enjoy.

For me, Brewing is perfect. I started by spending roughly $200 (intermediate kit plus 40 swingtop bottles). I sold my PS2 with all my games to get my initial cost to about 60 dollars. I then began buying kits at AHS (30 - 50 a pop), but now have the confidence to walk into a LHBS and get my ingredients, ask questions, ect.

The perfect part for me comes with the ability to slowly upgrade my equipment. After the initial $200, I've been saving up for a a kegging system, an additional primary, 3 secondaries, and a AG system. I think it's great that you can just slowly tweak your own equipment to exactly what you want and at your own pace.

Just to reiterate ... This hobby isn't for those that are seeking to save money on getting . It's about crafting your own product, learning from likes, dislikes, and mistakes to make a great tasting product. Self-Satisfaction.