EdWort
Well-Known Member
You bring up some good points. I did the calculations on the beers I make most.Bobby_M said:I figured out that it will take 23 five gallon batches using bulk purchased 2-row, to break even on my mill (only taking into account the pure per-pound cost.
You end up saving a lot more in gas saved not having to drive to the LHBS on a per-batch basis. If you mailorder, the same can be said for shipping savings I suppose.
Basically I have enough grain to do up to 8 batches and the cost is fixed.
My Haus Pale Ale (10.5# Grain, 2 oz. Cascade, Nottingham) costs $7.85 per batch and that's paying retail for the yeast and 1/2# of Crystal 10L. The same ingredients for a single batch purchased at the HBS would cost $17.17 (Saving of $9.32 per batch)
My Bavarian Hefeweizen (11# grain, 1 oz. Hallertau, Wyeast 3068) costs $7.01 per batch and that considers getting 4 batches from 1 Wyeast smack Pack. The same ingredients for a single batch purchased at the HBS would cost $26.17 (figuring 1 smack pack per batch). (Saving of $19.16 per batch)
I also calculated the cost to make one trip to the local HBS. $8.86 in gas, not to mention about 2 hours of my time (I can't just walk in, get what I want, and get out. Nah, just can't do it). So when you factor that, if I were to drive to the HBS for one batch, my Haus Pale would end up costing $26.03 and my Bavarian Hefe would cost $35.05. If it were DME based, it would be even more.
Factor those costs and going all grain and buying bulks starts to provide ROI pretty quick. Plus it's just plain cool to go out to the garage and decide I'm gonna brew tonight.