Do you REALLY save any money by brewing your own beer?

McCall St. Brewer said:

You have to ask yourself:

1. Would I be buying and drinking a lot of beer even if I didn't brew it myself?

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BlindLemonLars said:

That's a big point to me. I wouldn't drink a tenth of the beer I consume now if I didn't brew it myself, and it wasn't available to serve 24/7. Normally having a beer wouldn't occur to me very often, but when those two Ventmatics in the kitchen are singing their siren song, it's hard to ignore! Plus, I give a LOT of beer away, which obviously wouldn't be happening if I were buying it at the store.

I'm surprised to learn that anybody spends $120-$200 a month on personal beer consumption...I've never spent that much on beer unless I was throwing a big party. In fact, my total monthly grocery bill is often less than $200.

OTOH, I've easily spent $200 on brewing supplies & gear every month this year. I've already spent $75 in December just on hops...and the month is only half over!

Anyhow, I hope you guys whose wallets are fat with brewing savings are investing the bounty wisely.

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Ó Flannagáin said:

It might be a problem, and I'll probably slow down as I get older, but I drink a lot of beer. Not all day, but pretty much every day. When I wasn't brewing and in college I was going through 4 to 6 beers a night and even more on the weekends, that's EXPENSIVE when you only drink quality beer. Nowadays it's 2 to 4 pints a night, even on weekends. But, I exercise and eat healthy and don't start drinking til after dinner, so I really don't think it's a health problem for me right now.

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BlindLemonLars said:

I used to drink that much beer, but I was extremely active; bicycling, skiing, basketball, etc. Now I get most of my exercise from fishing!! As we age and our lifestyles and metabolisms change, it becomes much harder to burn all those alcohol & maltose calories. Other than the caloric burden, I think beer is healthy stuff. Your body (and your belt!) will tell you if you start to push the limits, so until then...enjoy!

Here's another factor. It's VERY difficult to read this forum for more than a few minutes and not head over to the kegerator at least once! I'm sure I'm not the only one to notice that.

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