How much do you pay for your HB?

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johnyooze

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my batches are costing me about $25.00-$30.00/5 gal. batch (which im not complaining about at all its just if this becomes a once a week habit it could get spendy). I buy from a local HB shop and im still a newb so im not re-propigating my yeast or anything like that. Im just curious what others are paying and if theres any tips to saving moolah. thanks!

edit: im talking about ingredients only. Equipment is a WHOLE other story!
 
AG here, and most of my bast malts cost between 35cents and 55cents per pound. Speciality grains are about 75cents a pound.

Yeast is averaging about $7 a smack pak, but I just ordered the rest of the equipment I need to start doing slants so hopefully here in the next month or so my yeast cost will drop to nil.

As far as hops go I placed my last order with Hops Direct and paid $34 for 3lbs of hops, and they sent me just a tad over 6lbs of hops. Which breaks down to 36cents an ounce including shipping.

As an example here is the break down of the cost of my upcoming Oktoberfest.

10gal batch
Base Malts - 17 lbs = $8.43

Adjunts/Special Grains - 3lbs = $1.74

Hops - 3oz = $1.08

Yeast - Wyeast 2633 = $6.15
Total: $17.40

I'm didn't add the cost of things like campden tablets, 5.2, or irish moss.

If you want to save money on grains, hops, Star San ($26/gal),etc join a local home brew club and meet some new friends and learn tons of info. Hopefully they will have a group grain buy and you can save tons of money that way. And if they don't organize one!
 
good ideas! im gonna get together with some local brewers later this week and hopefully brew up some more stuff! cant wait to learn more.
 
Grain: ~$6 - $7
Hops: ~$1.50
Yeast: between $1.50 and $6.00

So I am running $9.00 to $16.00 per 5.5 to 6.0 gallons without fuel cost, which tbh I never really noticed a change in my gas bill since I have been brewing.

I thought about the Hefe I made recently as I was running the Fransizkaner bottles through the dishwasher...it costs roughly $37 for a case of 20 .5 liter bottles. I'll have more than 2 cases worth of imho excellent Hefe for ~$8.00 a case.

I guess I should add a buck or so to cover priming sugar, caps and sanitizer cost. A buck is probably too much.

I should also add, it's AG, and all my raw materials (save yeast) I buy bulk.
 
zoebisch01 said:
I thought about the Hefe I made recently as I was running the Fransizkaner bottles through the dishwasher...it costs roughly $37 for a case of 20 .5 liter bottles. I'll have more than 2 cases worth of imho excellent Hefe for ~$8.00 a case.
Click to expand...

That's one of the great things about homebrew from my POV. One of my original motivations for homebrewing was to brew "premium" quality beer at BMC-esque prices. Brewing 2+ cases of fantastic beer for less than the cost of 1 case of decent commercial beer is good thing:rockin:
 
Wow, maybe I need to start looking at getting my grain elsewhere. My LHBS is great, but the base malt is over $1 per lb., does anyone know where I can get cheaper?
 
Per pound price for malt is usually around a dollar or so a pound (like $1.10 for 2-row). If you to make it cheaper you will probably have to buy in bulk (and probably crush it yourself).
 
Hrm, wow, you guys are getting way cheaper stuff than I am, I like johny, am paying around 25-30 per batch. That is also because I am using kits.


I assume when you guys are speaking of malt, you are not saying malt extract, since my local store a single can or dried of malt is 13+ dollars at least. The kits which include everythign cost about 25-30 dollars. The hops are about 1.50 per oz, which seems to be on par with what you guys are talking of.

I would be very happy if my batches started to only cost 10 dollars or so, how are you pulling that off!
Daum
 
I have only been buying kits since I am fairly new, I am going to try some extract clones comming up. The kits have been 20 to 35 depending on what you brew thats from MW, NB is always a little more expensive than MW by a couple bucks on kits.

Well see what it comes out to when I start buying the ingredients for clones and my own recipes
 
Buying malt (DME) and hops (pounds) in bulk certainly makes it cheaper.

Large purchases of corn sugar, Irish Moss, malto dextrin, etc., brings the per batch cost down into the penny range as well.

Washing a $7.00 vial of yeast from several batches allows you to use the same yeast about 30 times. That comes to less than $0.25 per batch.

Water is filtered tap water.

I don't know to the penny, but I estimate under $15 for the malt, maybe another $3 for everthing else pro-rated...about $18 tops (not including the water).

At $2 per bottle of HW that equals $74 (37 - 0,5 liter bottles) = $56 estimated savings.;)
 
daum said:
I would be very happy if my batches started to only cost 10 dollars or so, how are you pulling that off!
Daum
Click to expand...
All grain brewing. It takes longer, and there's a lot more that can go wrong, but your ingredient costs plummet (they are replaced by equipment and/or DIY costs). Do keep in mind that for AG you need a way to boil at least 6 gal of wort, a MLT, and (if using bulk grains) a grain mill of some kind. It costs more in the door, but the quality of brews increases, and the price per brew drops.
 
Hrm well right now it seems that for an all grain brew I will have to wait at least until I taste my first batch of beer. Also my equiptment is right now my limiting factor as it consists of a 16 quart wort pot and a hot plate for my wort. Any suggestions on how to brew the cheaper yet good tasting and preferably higher ABV(at least 5-6+) with that equipment? i have the standard primary fermenter and carboy.

Thanks,
Daum
 
daum said:
Hrm, wow, you guys are getting way cheaper stuff than I am, I like johny, am paying around 25-30 per batch. That is also because I am using kits.


I assume when you guys are speaking of malt, you are not saying malt extract, since my local store a single can or dried of malt is 13+ dollars at least. The kits which include everythign cost about 25-30 dollars. The hops are about 1.50 per oz, which seems to be on par with what you guys are talking of.

I would be very happy if my batches started to only cost 10 dollars or so, how are you pulling that off!
Daum
Click to expand...

It would be difficult if not impossible to get the cost an extract brew down to $10. Even in bulk the cheapest DME I've seen is just under $2/lb.

Here are some great books to check out if you want to move away from kits.

Clone Brews - $9.76

North American Clone Brews - $10.76

BYO's Book of 150 clone Brews - $5

Designing Great Beers - $15.81

Jamil & John Palmers new book, Brewing Classic Styles - $19.95

http://byo.com/recipe/

And if you have the time and know what style the beer you want to brew is in, listen to Jamil's show on the Brewing Network, click here

daum said:
Hrm well right now it seems that for an all grain brew I will have to wait at least until I taste my first batch of beer. Also my equiptment is right now my limiting factor as it consists of a 16 quart wort pot and a hot plate for my wort. Any suggestions on how to brew the cheaper yet good tasting and preferably higher ABV(at least 5-6+) with that equipment? i have the standard primary fermenter and carboy.

Thanks,
Daum
Click to expand...

You don't have to wait. I went all grain before my first three batches were ready to drink, and you can too! Hell I've only been brewing for a couple months.

The biggest limit you are going to have with your current equipment is the 16quart pot. If you can get a larger pot and do full boils with your extract beers you will get better hop utilization and overall a better beer.

There are a couple ways to increase your ABV, but they all cost money. The goal is to add more fermentables into the wort, and the best option would be to use LME/DME/, then Cane Sugar/Brown Sugar/Candi sugar, next you could use Dextrose and last you could use good 'ol sugar.

I'd recommened against the regular sugar though. That is unless you are trying to make hooch and not beer.

If you don't have the "How to brew" book by John Palmer, order it now! And until them read the older version for free on his website, www.howtobrew.com
 
Well I mean that is fine I don't need it to be that cheap but sub-20 dollars would be nice. What would the cheapest way be to go if I just want to make random brews? Right now it is seeming like the cheapest for me would be 3lbs dry malt extract($13), some hops($2ish), sugar($ depends on type I use), then was thinking maybe adding just different types of fruits or flavors like cinnamon. This would be a recipe for an ok beer right? The other day I bought my second batch(sadly a kit) and before i bought it, I was talking to the store guy and threw a similar recipe up, and he looked at me like I was crazy.

Daum
 
Yeah, I so need to go AG. Like most extract brewers here have said, I spend anywhere from $20-30 or even $40 in some cases on a 5 gallon batch of beer. I know I could probably save some money by buying in bulk online but I do like to support my LHBS and keep them in business.

However, I've been thinking about ordering my DME and hops in bulk online and just using the LHBS for grains, which I can't crush at home, and yeast, which is just as expensive online and I don't have to worry about shipping incidents.
 
All grain 5-gal batch, bulk base grains crushed myself:

Grain: $10-12
Hops: $2-3
Yeast: $1-2
Propane: $3-4

That's $16-21 total. My LHBS is expensive as hell for bulk grains ($40 Briess 2-row, $60 Maris Otter), but shipping is too much $$ to get them anywhere else. Hops are a mix of bulk buys and 1-off at the LHBS. I reuse yeast (pitch on cakes, or wash) but am not fanatical about it so I figured I average 3-4 batches per White Labs tube. And a $16 propane refill gets me 4-5 batches.

If I start figuring equipment...well, you can probably double that per-batch cost, at least. ;)

Not to mention the time investment.
 
I was spending about 40 bucks per kit when I was doing extract and PM brews. Now I spend about 20 bucks a batch. I do propagate yeast but I don't have much other than a Pacman and WLP001 saved. I do buy hops in bulk but sometimes still have to buy as I don't have all the hops I need for recipes I want to do. But I don't brew my own beer for the savings..because I've spent more money on brewing equipment than I care to mention. I do it because it's fun and I love creating.


Dan
 
I agree completely with the sentiment that I don't brew my own to save money. For me it's all about making better beer than what I can get in the store and just enjoying the process.

However, that doesn't mean I enjoy spending more money than I have to. Especially in this case where I could spend less on ingredients and probably make even better beer than I'm making now. I'd much rather invest the money necessary to get my AG setup and then watch as that cost is slowly eaten up by the lower costs per batch then keep spending what I am on extracts. Unforunately I don't have those startup funds available yet. One day soon though...
 
HarvnSTL- Other than my 16 quart pot being too small, wouldn't the problem also be that my hot plate won't really get the liquid going well enough? I can get it to boil pretty well, but not sure of the exact temperature. From what I read for a grain beer(just one source), said that you basically boil the entire 5 gallons instead of just a couple gallons. Also, I hear that grain beers do taste better over all.


In other news, what do you think about my recipe, does it look like it could taste good/be good potentially?


Thanks all,
Daum
 
daum said:
HarvnSTL- Other than my 16 quart pot being too small, wouldn't the problem also be that my hot plate won't really get the liquid going well enough? I can get it to boil pretty well, but not sure of the exact temperature. From what I read for a grain beer(just one source), said that you basically boil the entire 5 gallons instead of just a couple gallons. Also, I hear that grain beers do taste better over all.


In other news, what do you think about my recipe, does it look like it could taste good/be good potentially?


Thanks all,
Daum
Click to expand...
Rather than hijacking johnyooze's thread I'll post in yours.
 
I have bought bulk grain & hops, plus I propagate liquid yeast so I get at least 4 batches from a smack pack or vial.

My beers cost ranges from $6.50 to $7.85 per 5 gallon batch.
 
Roterdrache said:
I agree completely with the sentiment that I don't brew my own to save money. For me it's all about making better beer than what I can get in the store and just enjoying the process.

However, that doesn't mean I enjoy spending more money than I have to. Especially in this case where I could spend less on ingredients and probably make even better beer than I'm making now. I'd much rather invest the money necessary to get my AG setup and then watch as that cost is slowly eaten up by the lower costs per batch then keep spending what I am on extracts. Unforunately I don't have those startup funds available yet. One day soon though...
Click to expand...

but the homebrew is up on micro brew scale....yes you can go buy some lite beer or high life for like 12 to 18 bucks a case. But if you go buy a case of something like Bells or a nice microbrew your going to spend alot more so I see it as saving a little money. I am not worried about saving money but micro brews and imports are a little spendy compared to your normal dumbestics
 
Good point mot. If you figure that one 5 gallon batch nets 2 cases of beer (48 bottles at 12oz. per bottle) then you're looking at $20 per case on the high side. I know around here you can easily pay $16-18 for a case of Bud Light, I've never priced out what it would cost for something that's actually drinkable. In that sense homebrewing definitely saves money.

Plus, the cost per batch isn't the only reason I want to go AG. I want the experience of doing it, I like the control it lends and it's just one more dimension of a hobby that I love.
 
20-25. Or 40 for my barley wine thats about to be brewed.:drunk: I just now started saving my yeast. I think im going to do a pale ale before to long and it should only be 13 bucks or so. I just need a grain mill so I can buy in bulk and not have to order all the time.
 
It looks like a lot of you are paying much less for grain than I am.
I've doing mostly AG with some DME additions for bigger beers. My ingredients cost between $15 and $30. However my last batch was basically free as I used grains and hops leftover from previous batches.
Buying in bulk will save costs but you pretty much need a grain mill to be able to buy grain in bulk. Grain is of course much cheaper than DME but it requires more equipment and more time. Reusing the yeast cake not only saves money but also saves time and ensures a rapid start to the fermentation. The dry yeast currently available is quite good can make a number of beers. If you are doing a style that can use one of these yeasts then you can get considerable savings there.

I figure even if I was doing extract based recipes at $40 -$50 I would be saving money vs the $9+/6-pack micro brews cost me. But more importantly I get to try out my own recipes and make good beer.
Craig
 
I'm at $55-$75 per 2 batches. I'm doing all extract.....

Now, I just realized how to save $6/per [double] batch[es] by bringing back in my DME containers. I have to look into this yeast thing....I would love to save another $14 if possible....taking cost for two batches to $35-$55 just in ME kits.

....going to search
 
I do AG, and it costs about $ 28.00 for everything. Counting filtered water cost, ice (make my own), clarifiers in pot and brite tank, utilities, and base and specialty grains.
I lose 2.3 gallons per net 5 gallon batch in the kettle. Get 6 gallons to fermenter, and after racking to brite tank, then keg, I have a tad over 5 gallons net beer.
Paying about $ 1.00 per pound for base malt (Thomas Fawcett Maris Otter), but found out our club buys by the pallet every so often. That will reduce the cost to around $ .70 per pound, which will reduce overall cost by $ 4.20
New total cost will be around $ 24.00
 
Bike N Brew said:
Or just check out the HBT Wiki


No need to assume...many on this forum do it, with success ;)
Click to expand...


sweet, I forget now, but the last two things I looked at on the wiki weren't there :(
 
Although I have not made this batch yet, it will be my first batch and I have calculated the price. This is a batch where I will be steeping some specialty grains and using LME extract.

2 lb Wheat Whole Grain:
2lb Wheat Pilsner Grain:

Total: $5.40 on Morebeer.com

2lb Wheat LME
2lb Pilsner LME

Total: 12.40 on Morebeer.com (This includes the $3.00 for containers)

2 oz Hallertau Hops

Total: $3.00 at my LHBS

Whitelabs liquid hefeweizen yeast

Total: 7.95 at my LHBS


Overall total: 28.90 for ingredients alone. This of course does not include caps or sanitizer and such as I consider them initial cost of brewing equipment.

This should make a nice five gallon batch that will make 2 cases of beer. That's $14.38 a case or $3.60 a six pack. IMO not a bad deal at all if it turns out well, especially since I usually pay $5-7 for a nice 6 back of brew in my town.

I also agree that cost is all relative. It's nice to get cheap beer, but it would take lots of cheap beer (and an All Grain setup) to really outdo the initial cost of gear it takes to brew. You also have to consider the entertainment factor and whether the hobby is an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. If you don't enjoy the process I would say choose another hobby and start buying beer at Sam's club. ;)
 

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