this probably has been addressed at lengths in one of the Grain vs. Extract flamewars, and I am not trying to start a new.
But I was going through my old extract recipes and costs, and once you strip the cost of yeast, hops and specialty grains, it is remarkable to see a factor of 3-4 or so in cost savings for base grains from going to all-grain.
I wonder if it is just my LHBS, or if it is consistent across the country?
My LHBS has mostly DME, and it's $8 for 1-lb bag, and $18-20 for 3-lb bag (or $14 for 3.33 lb can of LME). I realize you can probably find cheaper LME online, but I want to compare apples to apples, using LHBS prices.
For base grain, I pay $1 per lb for US 2-row (or $40 for 50-lbs but let's leave bulk purchases out of it).
So for a typical brew calling for, say, 9 lbs of DME, would run me - at my LHBS, about 18*3= $54 just in "base" prices. Maybe $42 if I use LME.
My first imperial stout (~10% ABV, 14+ lbs of extract) and 8% ABV "robust" porter cost me over $70, each in "base extract" prices - never mind additions of roasted malts, or yeast, hops etc.
If substituted for all-grain, the 9-lb DME recipe will probably become more like 12-lb of US 2-row, which means $12 cost, compared to $42-54 for extract.
And that high-gravity RIS recipe would be around $18-$20, instead of $70+. So easily a factor of 3-4 savings - specialty malts, hops and yeast are of course extra and not affected by grain/extract considerations.
Even if you include all other costs of ingredients, it is remarkable that some of my first extract beers cost me about $1.2-1.6 or more per bottle ($88 for 5-gallon batch of RIS), while now, especially with harvesting yeast and buying hops in bulk, it can often be as low as $0.25-0.40 per bottle ($11-$18 for grains).
What do the numbers look like at your LHBS?
But I was going through my old extract recipes and costs, and once you strip the cost of yeast, hops and specialty grains, it is remarkable to see a factor of 3-4 or so in cost savings for base grains from going to all-grain.
I wonder if it is just my LHBS, or if it is consistent across the country?
My LHBS has mostly DME, and it's $8 for 1-lb bag, and $18-20 for 3-lb bag (or $14 for 3.33 lb can of LME). I realize you can probably find cheaper LME online, but I want to compare apples to apples, using LHBS prices.
For base grain, I pay $1 per lb for US 2-row (or $40 for 50-lbs but let's leave bulk purchases out of it).
So for a typical brew calling for, say, 9 lbs of DME, would run me - at my LHBS, about 18*3= $54 just in "base" prices. Maybe $42 if I use LME.
My first imperial stout (~10% ABV, 14+ lbs of extract) and 8% ABV "robust" porter cost me over $70, each in "base extract" prices - never mind additions of roasted malts, or yeast, hops etc.
If substituted for all-grain, the 9-lb DME recipe will probably become more like 12-lb of US 2-row, which means $12 cost, compared to $42-54 for extract.
And that high-gravity RIS recipe would be around $18-$20, instead of $70+. So easily a factor of 3-4 savings - specialty malts, hops and yeast are of course extra and not affected by grain/extract considerations.
Even if you include all other costs of ingredients, it is remarkable that some of my first extract beers cost me about $1.2-1.6 or more per bottle ($88 for 5-gallon batch of RIS), while now, especially with harvesting yeast and buying hops in bulk, it can often be as low as $0.25-0.40 per bottle ($11-$18 for grains).
What do the numbers look like at your LHBS?