Am I spending too much money to brew beer?

[jonbomb]

Ok so I'm starting my second batch tomorrow (hefe). I have been buying the brewers best kits... I am just curious if I can save money not buying the kits and buying the products in them on my own...

 

[PinkyOFloyd]

Buying in bulk is almost always less expensive...

 

[DKershner]

Ok so I'm starting my second batch tomorrow (hefe). I have been buying the brewers best kits... I am just curious if I can save money not buying the kits and buying the products in them on my own...

Yes, you can.

Ask yourself if it is worth storing some ingredients or not.

 

[BuonAnno]

I see your in Philly. There is a guy on Craigslist in Doylestown who is selling 55# sacks of 2-row for $45. Pick up a few of them and start growing hops and you'll find you can brew quality 5 gallon batches for $10-$15.

Short of doing that I find that buying in bulk is the way to go and it almost always cheaper than kits.

 

[Homercidal]

The kits are nice to start with, but if you know what you are doing, you can just read a recipe and buy what you need. Maybe tweak the recipe if you like. I am pretty sure that buying grain from the buckets at the LHBS is going to be cheaper than buying a prepackaged kit. But, some people just want to grab a box and brew beer.

The cost of brewing is roughly like:

Extract Kit
Bulk Extract ingredients purchase
All Grain Kit
Bulk All Grain ingredients purchase
Group Buy Grain

From costs most to costs less. I cut my spending on ingredients in half by going AG and buying sacks of grain and hops by the pound (and growing some).

 

[jonbomb]

I see your in Philly. There is a guy on Craigslist in Doylestown who is selling 55# sacks of 2-row for $45. Pick up a few of them and start growing hops and you'll find you can brew quality 5 gallon batches for $10-$15.

Short of doing that I find that buying in bulk is the way to go and it almost always cheaper than kits.

I have gardening room out back of my house but I have dogs so I would have to keep close watch on it. I also have a nice garneing space out front of my house that flowers are being grown in right now. Just worried about the squirels and stuff grabbin ahold of the hobs and ruining my crop.

 

[michiganbob]

I have gardening room out back of my house but I have dogs so I would have to keep close watch on it. I also have a nice garneing space out front of my house that flowers are being grown in right now. Just worried about the squirels and stuff grabbin ahold of the hobs and ruining my crop.

Knock on wood, but I've never had a problem with the rabbits or squirrels in the area messing with my hops. The rabbits at least prefer to go after my peas and romaine.

 

[humann_brewing]

bulk is the way to go. I am at a point where I usually don't need to get anything from the homebrew shop to make just about any type of beer and most batches are between 10-15 bucks even an IPA, only my barleywine gets above that and I get 2 beers out of that batch

 

[jonbomb]

Actually... my room has a window that leads to a roof I can buy some planters and just plant some hops right outside my window so I can keep a nice close watch on them.

BTW how do the hops do in the winter... cause philadelphia can have some rough winters.

 

[Homercidal]

Hops are cut right to the ground before winter and they will enjoy being frozen completely!

 

[michiganbob]

Actually... my room has a window that leads to a roof I can buy some planters and just plant some hops right outside my window so I can keep a nice close watch on them.

BTW how do the hops do in the winter... cause philadelphia can have some rough winters.

I'm in the Philly burbs (disregard the username), and my hops have been coming back year after year. They just sit down there and hibernate.

 

[jonbomb]

Hops are cut right to the ground before winter and they will enjoy being frozen completely!

How long will it take me to grow them?? I have all summer and most of spring to grow ... is that enough time?

 

[carnevoodoo]

you start in early spring. They can grow into the summer, but that's about as far as it goes.

Hop vines can get to be over 20 feet long, so consider that. I buy hops in bulk and it is great. Lots of places have hope for under a dollar an ounce now, too, so they're much cheaper at the moment than they were a few years ago.

 

[DrawTap88]

I just planted mine two weeks ago and saw my first shoot last night. You're going to want to keep them on the ground level and give them something to climb, like a trellis, fence or hop growing set up. Check out the hop growing section of this board to get some ideas.

 

[Homercidal]

Lots of info in the hops grown section, and I think Freshhops website has more info.

I planted a 20' post into the ground and have 16' sticking up and the second year they climbed to the top and over. Plant them in early spring and give them LOTS of sunshine and lots of water.

Reminds me I need to get some twine up so they can start climbing. The frost damaged them this year, but they sprout like crazy, and even if I cut them to the ground now, they will come back and grow like mad.

 

[jonbomb]

thats cool growing hops sounds like a lot of fun!

 

[Homercidal]

Once you have the trellis up, and the bines trained, you just water everyday or so (I use a soaker hose to keep the moisture of the leaves) and let it do it's thing. Oh, and watch for bugs and fungus. Then cut the heavy vines down for harvest. Then build a drying rack and dry them. Then vacuum seal them and put them in the freezer...

 

[TheMan]

In the meantime, while you wait for the hops to grow (year or so)...order bulk hops from hopsdirect.com. That will save you quite a bit depending on the beers you make. I used to make a lot of IPA's when I started, and throwing $2.50 an ounce hops in my beer got crazy expensive. I bought them in bulk and it went down to $0.90 per ounce.

Since then I've gotten into bulk grain...I'm brewing five gallons of $9 Mild tonight.

 

[jonbomb]

thats cheap 1lb is like 10bucks?? thats it?

 

[Grinder12000]

One thing to remember - Hops are VERY aggressive and will take over - I've pulled ryhzones (sp?) out of my yard 20 feet away from the vine - you can't kill them once they are entrenched. So once they are there they are there for good.

I would never grow hops again unless you are a chemist and know the exact composition of your hops. just my opinion.

 

[david_42]

Although buying in bulk is cheaper per batch, don't forget the capital costs of storage, your grain mill, scales, etc. If you don't brew a lot, kits are cheaper overall.

 

[carnevoodoo]

Although buying in bulk is cheaper per batch, don't forget the capital costs of storage, your grain mill, scales, etc. If you don't brew a lot, kits are cheaper overall.

I buy hops in bulk because they are very easy to store in the freezer in vacuum seal bags. As for grain, I buy per batch because I don't want to deal with a mill and all that. This is what makes sense for me now. Plus, I can buy 2-row at 65 cents a pound and have the store hold on to it, so it is still cheap for me.

You just have to find the balance there. Kits through some vendors can be a good value, but they're not always cheaper.

 

[Yooper]

I buy hops in bulk because they are very easy to store in the freezer in vacuum seal bags. As for grain, I buy per batch because I don't want to deal with a mill and all that. This is what makes sense for me now. Plus, I can buy 2-row at 65 cents a pound and have the store hold on to it, so it is still cheap for me.

You just have to find the balance there. Kits through some vendors can be a good value, but they're not always cheaper.

If I could buy 2-row at 65 cents a pound, I would do the same thing as carnevoodoo. I live in "no man's land" which is great for kayaking and other outdoor activities, but not great for supplies. So, I buy grain and hops in bulk to help save on shipping. I also brew at least 3 times per month, so I use those items pretty quickly.

You have to do what makes sense for you.

 

[artyboy]

It depends on the shop. I've been into shops where the kits actually come in a bit cheaper than buying each ingredient individually. Other shops charge a pretty substantial premium. Buying in bulk is by far the cheapest way to brew but you need to be setup for all grain.

 

[Boondoggie]

Not counting equipment, even extract brewing is cheaper than buying beer, for me anyway.

Figure one batch, I usually spend about $40-50 or so at my LHBS... that gets me around 2 cases of beer.

2 cases of plain old Sam Adams, at $13.50 a 12pack around here, is $54.

 

[Justibone]

Not counting equipment, even extract brewing is cheaper than buying beer, for me anyway.

Figure one batch, I usually spend about $40-50 or so at my LHBS... that gets me around 2 cases of beer.

2 cases of plain old Sam Adams, at $13.50 a 12pack around here, is $54.

That assumes your time is free, i.e., what are your opportunity costs?

Of course, if you're like me, it's better than free b/c you get utils (amusement/enjoyment/pleasure/use) out of the time spent brewing... so it is an economic savings to homebrew even if the dollar cost were slightly higher than equivalent commercial brew.

 

[Paulgs3]

That assumes your time is free, i.e., what are your opportunity costs?

Of course, if you're like me, it's better than free b/c you get utils (amusement/enjoyment/pleasure/use) out of the time spent brewing... so it is an economic savings to homebrew even if the dollar cost were slightly higher than equivalent commercial brew.

I'm in with Boondoggie. A decent 6 pack of MB in Buffalo is $10. If I'm craving a Rogue or Stone.... $18-20 a six pack. I can get an extract kit without yeast for ~$25 on line and get 5 gals in 3 weeks forced carbed.

I'm on my deck most of the weekend grilling and drinking beer anyway. Boiling a kettle of wort on the deck is not really a change from my normal pace. Doing something I love for something I love to drink... there is no price tag for that

Opinion may change when the snow comes.

 

[Justibone]

Opinion may change when the snow comes.

Store it up for the winter, grasshopper!

 

[rcreveli]

I've actually been tracking my cost per bottle in a spreadsheet. This is something I don't recommend

My total cost for 4 batches is as follows
Total Cost $592.80
Capital Costs (Kit, Better bottle etc) $275.50
Misc Costs (Bottles, caps, airlocks, hops bags etc.) $164.50
Ingredient costs $152.18

Cost Per bottle (Based on 48 per batch) $3.09

I expect my per bottle cost to decrease as the only capital purchase I have left for a while is a wort chiller and I have about 5 cases of bottles + a case of bombers.

I look at this as a hobby and relatively speaking a cheap hobby for me. I've still spent less than 1/2 of what my last DSLR and lens cost me.

 

[OsbornBrewing]

I've actually been tracking my cost per bottle in a spreadsheet. This is something I don't recommend

My total cost for 4 batches is as follows
Total Cost $592.80
Capital Costs (Kit, Better bottle etc) $275.50
Misc Costs (Bottles, caps, airlocks, hops bags etc.) $164.50
Ingredient costs $152.18

...

I look at this as a hobby and relatively speaking a cheap hobby for me. I've still spent less than 1/2 of what my last DSLR and lens cost me.

Since it is a hobby, don't forget to subtract out your hobby costs, the money you would be spending regardless of whether you were brewing or not.

On the the flip side I highly recommend tracking expenses, we track brewery efficiency, financial efficiency is also a good indicator of good or poor methods. I am currently pursuing brewing a 10 cent/bottle batch. I brew 3-4 batches/month so I think that is achievable. I think I'll have to grow my barley to get there, so that will be a good lesson in farming . But then malting may not be a worthwhile investment, I have been tracking my finances though so I can figure that out. Without records I would have no way of knowing.

 

[Justibone]

Since it is a hobby, don't forget to subtract out your hobby costs, the money you would be spending regardless of whether you were brewing or not.

On the the flip side I highly recommend tracking expenses, we track brewery efficiency, financial efficiency is also a good indicator of good or poor methods. I am currently pursuing brewing a 10 cent/bottle batch. I brew 3-4 batches/month so I think that is achievable. I think I'll have to grow my barley to get there, so that will be a good lesson in farming . But then malting may not be a worthwhile investment, I have been tracking my finances though so I can figure that out. Without records I would have no way of knowing.

10 cents a bottle is easy to achieve... *good* beer at 10 cents a bottle is not.