How much does home brewing cost?

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darby_ross

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I currently have a 3rd room dedicated to my things which include a tv, 2 chairs, and my brewing equipment. I look around at all my stuff and I start to think did I really need this stuff. Example when I was bottling I decided to get a party keg for ease of use. After only using it once I purchased a kegging system. My question is how much money have you spent on equipment and looking back how much did you really need to spend given your current setup? I have easily spent a grand if not more on equipment from kettles, mash tuns, refrigeration, carboys and misc. items. What about you?
 
Thus far, as little as possible. 1 Gallon kit from NB for christmas - $50. Odds and ends to make the jump to 5 gallons - another $40. Ingredients for my first 2 5 gallon batches - $30. $120 all in, for 11 gallons so far. I've scavanged and borrowed everything else. I think I'm set until I build a ferm chamber, and build or buy a wort chiller. I'll probably never keg, because I really don't think having beer at a faucet would help my already sizeable appetite for beer.
 
I got extremely lucky... my Dad gave up brewing/drinking, so I got everything I needed for free, carboys, kettles, bottles, hoses, campden tabs, hop bags, caps, bench capper, etc. etc.

My brother-in-law has worked for Coke for years and scored me 3 corny kegs, CO2 tank, jockey box, beverage lines, faucets, etc.

I have spent ~$70 on misc equipment, mash paddle, auto-siphon, grain bucket, paint strainer bags and a thief.

The rest is ingredient costs. 5 gal batch Extract cost me about $40 - $50 for a moderately hoppy brew, AG costs me about $20.
 
I go the cheap route as often as I can. 8 gallon boil kettle from Craigslist - $15. Loose handle kegs from AIH - $35 each. DIY fermentation chamber off Craigslist $75. My next big investment is picking up a mash tun with false bottom and stainless fittings this evening - CL for $100, by far the biggest investment yet.

The place for me where I can save the most is ingredients - buying bulk grain, etc will be a windfall but need to invest in a grain mill first.

All in I have spent less than $500 to make 5 gallon batches, not including ingredients.
 
I tend to split my budget into 3 categories: 1) Capital expense, 2) Brewing costs, 3) General & Administrative
1) Capital - first kit free (Xmas gift), subsequent to date <$500
2) Brewing expense, prox $5 to $6 per gallon, or 65 to 85 cents per bottle*
3) G&A = water, natural gas, water additions, Star San .. best estimate $1 to $3 per batch

* I am slowly getting up to kegging by picking up a few things here and there on sale, but right now everything goes in bottles
 
Entry fee to the home brewing park is about $100. You can stay there for a good long time. Then you want to have a couple going at the same time. $50-$75 later, you have 2 extract/grain going at the same time. About that time you decide all grain would be much more fun. $250 dollars later, you want to 10 gallon batches and you would like to start kegging. Well, now you in for over a grand, looking at a box of ziti, and you need to replace your hydrometer and you think there is a better way to get temp readings. Bob's your uncle, you have the bug, you mortgage the house and buy a brewery. Your wife leaves you, but you got the dog and a brewery.

I think you win at the end of the day.
 
I'm not going to add up all my brewing equipment costs, just like I'm not adding up how much I spent on ski equipment, fishing gear, musical instruments, woodworking tools, cars I've owned over the years, cable tv bills, trips to the dentist, my ex wife.....
I enjoy having hobbies, I can brew a cheap beer for $3 a gallon or a pricey Belgian quad for closer to $10/gallon. I'm starting a sour program with barrels and won't even be able to drink the beer for 2 years. I'll keep the costs as low as possible, but I care more about the experience doing it compared to the dollars spent. I enjoy brewing and drinking, and if anyone is real worried how much it all costs, perhaps just drink water, stay home and do nothing but count all the money you haven't spent.
Having said all that, I do think some folks go overboard with expensive brewing rigs, My LHBS told me about a lawyer who spent $10,000 on a real nice Blichmann set up including Stainless Conicals and then put another $40 k into remodeling his basement into a home brewery and the guy never has time to brew. To each his own.
Cheers!
 
Okay in all seriousness I've always been scared to quantify my brewery costs before and all these numbers are extremely off-the-cuff.

I will say that I have done everything myself DIY that I could and am always looking for a bargain whether it be craiglist or flea markets or whatever is on clearance at whatever store I happen to be in at the time.

This is for a 220v 30A three vessel basement electric system and all ancillary equipment that I have.

Control panel and electric setup set me back about - $500 or so,
Keggles, cooler mash tun and all fittings - another $250 or so
Brewstand, exhaust system, pumps, silicone hoses &#8211; $500 sounds about right
Ferm chamber, temp controllers, fermenters &#8211; around $300
Kegging equipment &#8211; 10 kegs at $25 a pop (best purchase I made back when I didn&#8217;t even need that many), taps, faucets, portable trash can-erator, etc. &#8211; lets say $400
Misc equipment (hoses, bottle capper, vinator, DIY stirplate, etc. etc. etc.) &#8211; difficult to say but I&#8217;ll go with $150.

So somewhere in the ballpark of $2K for capital costs.

10 gallon batches run me around $35 to $40 for a normal gravity pale ale or lager, that&#8217;s including fermentables, hops, yeast, energy, and water to chill. That comes out to about $0.35 per 12 oz beer. I buy grain and hops in bulk which saves a ton. Also when I reuse yeast (often) that per beer cost comes down.

I&#8217;d say I&#8217;ve probably made around 50 batches of beer in my short brewing lifetime, which is around 500 gallons, or 5000 12 oz beers. So if I were to include capital costs in my &#8216;per beer&#8217; estimate ($2000/5000 beers = $0.40 per beer), I&#8217;m somewhere around $0.75 per beer. Each batch I make will get progressively cheaper per beer (without buying more equipment).

Actually after running through this exercise I don&#8217;t think my habit is nearly as bad as I thought it was (or that my wife thinks it is). Sure beats going to the bar every night, or worse - blowing it all on something stupid like golf.

Time to check out whats on sale at AHS, MoreBeer, NB, BargainFittings, etc.!
 
Well I went in piece at a time all listed below:

1. 5 Gallon kit from LHBS - $80
2. Glass Carboy with stopper and airlock and carrier - $50
3. Plastic crates for bottles (4) - $20
4. Brew Pot 5 gallon (aluminum) - $35
5. Brew Pot 10 gallon (stainless) - $90
6. 5# CO2 tank - $25
7. Pin lock corny kegs (2) - $90
8. Misc stuff (spoons, funnels, etc) - $50
9. Homemade Mash Paddle - $15 (cost of maple board)
10. Fermenter heating band - $35
11. Propane burner - $95

I also have a lot of homemade projects which I use for my supplies and also for storage.
 
I never kept track of how much I spent, but I'd estimate about a $1000, maybe less, excluding ingredient cost, of course.

My equipment is:
4 tap kegerator with 4 kegs and 15lb co2 tank
Scale
Electric grain mill
10 gallon igloo mash tun
15 gallon cooler hot liquor tank
Electric sparge arm
15 gallon brew kettle with sight glass
Miscellaneous measurement tools
8 6.5 gallon better bottles
10 7.8 gallon fermentation buckets
6 5-6 gallon fermentation buckets
Bottling and kegging accessories


I've built everything myself, whenever possible. I've brewed about 50 - 60 brews thus far. Considering that I save a minimum of $20 per case (and often far more savings) when I brew my own over microbrewery prices, I've saved at least $2000, likely far more. So, although I've spent a lot of money, I've saved far more than I've spent... And this doesn't even include my substantial cost savings with winemaking.
 
In all honesty, it is a hobby. Entry is low and you can take it where you want. You can make a very good beer using very little equipment. $100 is about the price to get your starting equipment.
 
I call my operation "Dumpster Budget Brewery" because my friends all want to know "What did you find in the dumpster this week?" I have a reputation for finding things I need or want at little or no cost.

I do this not because I can't afford brand new stuff so much as I know there are great deals acquiring equipment people no longer want or need. I hate waste; I love re-purposing and creative, ingenious solutions to everyday situations. Redeeming something for a renewed function or new use satisfies something hard-wired in me. I also happen to have a knack for this.

Because of the way I'm wired, my answer is: I will never really know. Many times I purchased an all-or-nothing brew equipment deal on CL only to sell on what I don't want or need and recoup most or all of my investment. Many other times I've found stuff free. I trade with other brewers as well. I've given gear away to new brewers to start them on their hobby. I found a turkey frying pot and burner at a garage sale for $5 (used only twice). The key is patience. Being in a hurry always costs more.

Looking through my brewing gear, I can confidently say that I am under $500 net for 5 gallon batch BIAB equipment that includes bottling gear, a small fermentation fridge & controller, 3 cornys, and a 7 gallon bourbon barrel (by far my most expensive single item purchased). In fact, I'm so well set with equipment I can't remember the last time I even looked for a "new" piece of gear.
 
Ive pretty much decided to stop spending any money unless it is on something that would be a permanent upgrade.
 
I was given a really complete brewing setup including ingredients as a gift. I literally paid nothing to brew my first batch, they even gave me bottles. Since then I've acquired a kegerator, a keg, a keggle, a propane burner... but I got all that stuff free or swapped stuff so I'm still not into it that much. Part of the fun for me is finding deals on stuff and "rolling my own" so to speak. I'm enjoying it, as well as sponging up all the knowledge I can.
 
Funnily enough I have a spreadsheet just for this:

Start-up stove-top extract kit: $100
10G BIAB upgrade: $700
3-batch brew-day upgrade: $1200
Keezer & kegs: $1500
Fermentation chamber: $400
Miscellaneous: $400
Redundant equipment sales: -$600
TOTAL: $3700

But I've brewed 250 gallons (and, thanks to the keezer, bought half a dozen 5G kegs at times when the pipeline has run dry) at a savings of at least $10/gallon compared to the 6-packs I would otherwise have been buying, so my effective cost is more like $1000 and falling.
 
Ugh.... a lot more than I would like to admit. And I'm about to drop another $1,500 or so on a Brew-Boss. Bottom line is that I better love beer or I'll be out a lot of unnecessary $$$$.
 
helibrewer said:
It starts out pretty cheap....but then....the obsession begins
Click to expand...


This.

It branches out to everything! I'm in the process of getting her to agree on a foodsaver.

I don't want to add it all but I'm sure I haven't reached 1k yet. I hope...
 
That sounds like it should have cost 2 maybe 3 times as much. So go ahead and order another 2-3k worth of stuff. You deserve it :)


kpr121 said:
Okay in all seriousness I've always been scared to quantify my brewery costs before and all these numbers are extremely off-the-cuff.

I will say that I have done everything myself DIY that I could and am always looking for a bargain whether it be craiglist or flea markets or whatever is on clearance at whatever store I happen to be in at the time.

This is for a 220v 30A three vessel basement electric system and all ancillary equipment that I have.

Control panel and electric setup set me back about - $500 or so,
Keggles, cooler mash tun and all fittings - another $250 or so
Brewstand, exhaust system, pumps, silicone hoses – $500 sounds about right
Ferm chamber, temp controllers, fermenters – around $300
Kegging equipment – 10 kegs at $25 a pop (best purchase I made back when I didn’t even need that many), taps, faucets, portable trash can-erator, etc. – lets say $400
Misc equipment (hoses, bottle capper, vinator, DIY stirplate, etc. etc. etc.) – difficult to say but I’ll go with $150.

So somewhere in the ballpark of $2K for capital costs.

10 gallon batches run me around $35 to $40 for a normal gravity pale ale or lager, that’s including fermentables, hops, yeast, energy, and water to chill. That comes out to about $0.35 per 12 oz beer. I buy grain and hops in bulk which saves a ton. Also when I reuse yeast (often) that per beer cost comes down.

I’d say I’ve probably made around 50 batches of beer in my short brewing lifetime, which is around 500 gallons, or 5000 12 oz beers. So if I were to include capital costs in my ‘per beer’ estimate ($2000/5000 beers = $0.40 per beer), I’m somewhere around $0.75 per beer. Each batch I make will get progressively cheaper per beer (without buying more equipment).

Actually after running through this exercise I don’t think my habit is nearly as bad as I thought it was (or that my wife thinks it is). Sure beats going to the bar every night, or worse - blowing it all on something stupid like golf.

Time to check out whats on sale at AHS, MoreBeer, NB, BargainFittings, etc.!
Click to expand...
 
I am not going to think about consumables.

I have buckets, carboy, a turkey fryer, 40qt kettle, 2 keggles(one waiting to be made), kegging equipment and no clue what I have spent on it.

This month I purchased a king kooker rig, chugger pump, and a DIY CFC.

I am guessing I have spent around 800-1000 on equipment
 
I started off with:
.
  • A 5 gallon extract setup, a $150 purchase off Craigs list.
    .
  • 5 gallons did not come close to demand, I made a keggle.
    .
  • 10 gallon extract brews were crazy expensive, I went all-grain Brew-In-A-Bag.
    .
  • I did not like Brewing-In-A-Bag. Squeezing the bag, burnt my fingers.
    .
  • I made a three keggle all grain set-up, started making really awesome beers.
    .
  • 10 gallons of awesome beer did not meet demand.
    .
  • I am now building a 20 gallon, $7,000 dollar home brewery in my garage made of red brick..

Eventually I will save money.
 
I have spent an outrageous amount. I won't list it as my wife may see.
However it is social and it is creative.
Apparently the average beer drinking man spends 1200$ a year on beer... in Canada
so I am ahead of the game. See? All you have to do is find the right comparison to weigh your costs
 
Blue_State said:
Entry fee to the home brewing park is about $100. You can stay there for a good long time. Then you want to have a couple going at the same time. $50-$75 later, you have 2 extract/grain going at the same time. About that time you decide all grain would be much more fun. $250 dollars later, you want to 10 gallon batches and you would like to start kegging. Well, now you in for over a grand, looking at a box of ziti, and you need to replace your hydrometer and you think there is a better way to get temp readings. Bob's your uncle, you have the bug, you mortgage the house and buy a brewery. Your wife leaves you, but you got the dog and a brewery.

I think you win at the end of the day.
Click to expand...


This right here is my favorite answer. I foresee a dog and a large sum of lost money in my future.
 
I would estimate I have spent ~5k in brewing equipment in the past 2 years (this is including the electric setup I just put in my basement, which is most of that cost).

How much of that is sunk in equipment I will never use, and how much of that was wasted is different numbers. I can tell you for sure I would not have built an electric brewery capable of producing 15 gallon batches right away, so the standard starter kit was the way to go. All of the other upgrades seemed to have happened naturally, with keezers and fermentation chambers and electric brewing. In the beginning, there was no way to know brewing would become an obsession (in retrospect, that was stupid) and no one wants to drop 2k on a brewing setup and not like to brew!
 
I probably have spent $700 on my gear (ferm chamber, etc. plus shipping it halfway across the world). If I ignore that I am averaging about $2.50/L or $0.82 a 12oz bottle. That is more than reasonable for me as I get plenty of variety that is not available here. The local beer costs $0.75/12 oz bottle. I have lots of friends that are cheap and will drink the local beer. None want to learn how to make what I am making but all of them love it if proffered.

Look at it as cooking from a different angle and you can't compare restaurant cooking to what you make at home (usually way much better)..
 

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