All Grain: What is the advantage?

[BarryNL]

Any of my other hobbies would kill the cost of brewing. Scuba? Ha, after two thousand in gear, it's only about $100 per day. Snow skiing about half the cost, but still more than brewing.

Oh man, don't talk to me about scuba - try tec diving. Two thousand there doesn't even get you the drysuit.

Hence why I have little money left over for brewing :cross:

 

[zoebisch01]

Yeah, I have to agree with orfy on this one. It is indeed a hobby and all about having fun. To me part of that fun is seeing how little it costs me to make an excellent product that can literally trump a myriad of commercial examples. It's a blast knowing that you can doooo it!.

 

[abracadabra]

In the cost comparison some people mentioned gasoline and I think Zoe touched on LP and natural gas. But if you figure true costs then it takes a great deal more LP or natural gas to do AG. Plus if you are buying LP in the 20 lb tank you are probably paying double the amount of LP in bulk
($4 vs $2 / gal.) Plus the cost to go & get the LP if it's not purchased while doing other business & there is shipping cost if supplies aren't picked up locally. Maybe if I brew for the next 150 years I might recoup the cost of equipt. I tried to rationalize this on a cost basis and finally figured out that all I was doing was rationalizaton. Like Orfy sez it's a hobby I've got a buddy that spend $3700 on a bicycle.

 

[CBBaron]

I figure the equipment is the cost of the hobby and the ingredients are the cost of the beer. After all I would be buying beer any ways. Because I'm still buying one recipe at a time and I'm giving away much of what I make and I'm drinking more now that I'm brewing, I'm not saving any money by making my own but I am enjoying the hobby.
I just completed my third brew, my first partial mash. I have ingredients for my first AG. And I'm starting to plan out a parti-gyle stout.
Craig

 

[BierMuncher]

...I have ingredients for my first AG...
Craig

Welcome aboard. We expect to see some pics. :rockin:

 

[Rhoobarb]

...Cheapest I've found a 50lb bag of grain for is $40...

Ouch. I just got a 50 lb. bag of domestic 2-row yesterday from the LHBS and it was $34.00. I know grain has gone up a bit, but your's seems steep.

But Orfy is right; if I was looking to save money, I'd have no hobbies at all!

My other hobby is model railroading. A current modern locomotive with a digital decoder and equipped for sound can run $200-$300 alone. And rolling stock (boxcars, tank cars, etc.) $15-$40. And I have a lot of both. Plus, a train layout takes up a lot more space than my brewing equipment ever will. And you always want a bigger layout. My next home will have a huge basement with some sort of house on top of it! I once estimated that I've spent ~$10,000 over the last ten years on my train addiction. Brewing doesn't approach that!

I figure the equipment is the cost of the hobby and the ingredients are the cost of the beer.

Great way of looking at it!

 

[Cheesefood]

You REALLY want an expensive hobby? Try being a stoner. Not that I do that stuff anymore, but a bag of grass is now $60-$120 and will last you a week or two.

My old room-mate was into mountain biking. One of his bikes cost around $8,000.

But out of all hobbies, I think having a kid takes the cake. I think they figure that they cost about $1,000,000 to get out the door.

 

[debtman7]

I'm not really concerned about money, I'm just pointing out that getting into all grain brewing as a cost saving measure is not really the right reason to do it

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

But out of all hobbies, I think having a kid takes the cake. I think they figure that they cost about $1,000,000 to get out the door.

A million dollars, hell I just tossed mine out the front door, and it did not cost me a thing.




Just playing

 

[ill.literate]

Ouch. I just got a 50 lb. bag of domestic 2-row yesterday from the LHBS and it was $34.00. I know grain has gone up a bit, but your's seems steep.

Our LHBS has just started selling 50 pound bags of Rahr 2-row for $24.50, unmilled.

Thankfully, we have a friend in the hobby who lives nearby that has offered to allow us to use his mill.

We've not bought it yet, because we need to work our storage logistics, but we're going to. It's a helluva deal.

 

[SpecialEd]

Well here is my very fractional 2 cents. I did my first partial mash batch. I did a 2 step infusion, 2 lbs of grain, steeped specialty grains, worried the hell out of myself about everythng. 2.5 hours later I had 3 gallons of wort that I then added extract, hops...etc from a kit. IG 1.044. Same kit from LHBS bought last year IG=1.048, extract alone. Smelled good but honestly Im not too sure about this AG bussisness. Is the actual beer better? I hope so because 5 hours to brew is 3 more hours of time.... and it desnt sound like the beer is necessarily better

 

[Willie3]

You will notice a difference. Although all home brew is great beer, all grain is just that much better!!

IMHO anyway!

- WW

 

[Willie3]

You REALLY want an expensive hobby? Try being a stoner. Not that I do that stuff anymore, but a bag of grass is now $60-$120 and will last you a week or two.

My old room-mate was into mountain biking. One of his bikes cost around $8,000.

But out of all hobbies, I think having a kid takes the cake. I think they figure that they cost about $1,000,000 to get out the door.

hahahahaha! And that is just at age 10 (age 8 if its a girl).

- WW

 

[BierMuncher]

Well here is my very fractional 2 cents. I did my first partial mash batch. I did a 2 step infusion, 2 lbs of grain, steeped specialty grains, worried the hell out of myself about everythng. 2.5 hours later I had 3 gallons of wort that I then added extract, hops...etc from a kit. IG 1.044. Same kit from LHBS bought last year IG=1.048, extract alone. Smelled good but honestly Im not too sure about this AG bussisness. Is the actual beer better? I hope so because 5 hours to brew is 3 more hours of time.... and it desnt sound like the beer is necessarily better

3 hours more of something you enjoy is a good thing right?

Extract is good beer. I do extracts/steeped grains in the winter. Open a can, pour it in and boil.

All grain is better beer...from scratch...more time...from scratch.

Pace Picante is good salsa and I buy it in the winter when the weather is bad...but nothing will ever compare to my salsa made with tomatoes and peppers from my own garden.

More time? Yes. Is it worth it to do something I love to do...to create something I love to drink???

Yes.

 

[Glibbidy]

Any words of wisdom?

How does making beer at a cost of 20 cents a pint sound for wisdom?

 

[McCall St. Brewer]

It's a great hobby, but it does definitely have some advantages. If you, say, golf for a hobby you pay for gear and you pay greens fees and you get about 4-6 hours of enjoyment each time you go out. Brewing beer gives you 4-6 hours of enjoyment each time you do it and you also end up with an excellent product that you can use in place of buying commercial beer.

Plus, it's something that almost anyone can do well. That's not true of many hobbies I can think of. I could never be a really good golfer-- I simply don't have the talent. Another hobby of mine is photography, but I'm just not very artistic. Brewing I can do well.

Cost? Well, again, you probably buy less beer from the store if you brew at home, so that's a factor. One thing that someone did mention earlier, though, was that it seems like a lot of people forget about the cost of propane when they calculate. That stuff is getting pretty expensive and it takes a lot of it to do one full boil.

 

[Brewing Clamper]

Actually, I would imagine the liver transplant I'm gonna need in a few years is going to be pretty pricy...

 

[Orfy]

I think I am the only person I know that is actually well in front on the cost thing.

I have kept my equipment simple and it's paid for it's self within 2 years including my kegging equipment and I don't drink a massive amount.

I reckon that every 5 gallon (40 pints) I brew saves me £80 over commercial beer.

So the more I brew/drink the more I save.
Now to really keep things on the good side I say I should split that £80 ($160)
and bank £40 and spend the other £40 on me or my beer equipment.


Now if that is not a reason to go AG I don't know what is.

 

[Sean]

Yeah, but it's real nice to walk out of the HBS with all your ingredients and change from a $20, versus $40 - $50 for decent-sized, DME-based batches. It may take a year or two, but I'll get my money back.

Now. Do you really walk out of the HBL with change from a $20?