Cheaper to buy or brew?

[petep1980]

It is waaaay cheaper for me to buy beer. Every time I do a cost analysis I think otherwise, then I buy a new piece of equipment.

I have completely stopped keeping track of what a batch costs me. Now I enjoy it a lot more.

 

[abbot555]

For me its not really about costs. Its more about making some great brew. I find when I walk down the beer isle I become more picky about getting beer. I just feel like I can make it better.

The fact that my brews run cheaper then the store is a plus too :rockin:

 

[pacebrew]

Well, you have to treat your equipment as assets, and not include them in the cost. They are fixed assets which produce your product. I have gotten my cost down throgh various methods (yeast bank, grow hops, cheaper supplies, etc) to about ~30 cent a pint for some styles that i do. Im not including the labor, becausein my opinion its fun and i enjoy it.

However, if you do want to include the cost of your assets in the cost of your brew, each batch it produces, adds to the numerator in the fraction, therefore, 2 batches would spread the cost equally, until it falls per batch to the curve shape of an x/1 function.

Also, should you ever decide to stop brewing, they have some salvage cost in a sale, which is the reason you should think of them as assests as opposed to including them as cost/batch.

 

[Teromous]

For me its not really about costs. Its more about making some great brew. I find when I walk down the beer isle I become more picky about getting beer. I just feel like I can make it better.

The fact that my brews run cheaper then the store is a plus too :rockin:

This. I went to the store today and figured I'd treat myself to some purchased beer, but after browsing the selection I just said screw it and walked out. Especially when breweries like Sam Adams are putting beer out like Coastal Wheat. I don't know WTF is up with that dishwater. Anyway, most of the beers that I make are way cheaper than buying their commercial counterpart. If I drank something like bud light, it'd be cheaper to buy than make I guess...

Seriously...WTF is up with coastal wheat? I know I'm not the only one, I've already asked.

 

[pacebrew]

coast wheat? probably tastes like ****. I had the noble pils, its the ONLY beer from SA that i even think is palatable. the others are terrible.

 

[esp]

In Mississippi, the state caps beer at 6% ABV. A lot of places just don't send to MS instead of dealing with our archaic beer laws (It's also illegal to homebrew beer, shhh) Tenn. can sell "big beer" in liquor stores and all kinds of craft beers elsewhere. AL just raised their cap to 13% (iirc), FL has no laws, but is now about 8 hours away. So the closest state to me is TN, so you figure an hour to the beer store, an hour back. For me that's about 15 or 20 dollars worth of gas. Add that to the cost of the beer, say I go with 9 dollar six packs, plus tax. I've been averaging about 50 bucks for 5 gallons (partial mash).

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I saw a quote once (could have been on HBT) that said "Brewing your own beer to save money on beer is a lot like buying a boat to save money on fish". Most of us, probably all of us, do it because we love it. Money has nothing to do with why I brew beer. There is nothing I like moree than hanging out in my brewery (garage) for a few hours on the weeknd, Ranger game on the radio, brewing a batch of beer. It's peaceful and relaxing. I try to brew 2 times a month, sometimes only 1 and I don't even think about the costs most of the time. I have recently finished building my MLT so my costs are only going to go down since I will not be buying extracts anymore. As far as equipment goes, I wouldn't figure the cost in. Do you figure your golf clubs in everytime you play a round of golf? Your boat everytime you go fishing? Your Harley everytime you go for a ride? It's the initial expense of getting into a hobby. After that, it's no different than green fees, fishing for a day or riding for a day.

 

[lostmind]

hmmm. Well I know beer in the US is cheaper than Canada... Up here it's $12-16 for 6 beer. 6 x 375ml = 2.25L. $12 / 2.25L = $5.33/L.

I'm only on batch #2 of homebrew. But I got nearly 23L out of my batches. That's the equivalent of $122.67 worth of the cheaper store bought beer. I paid ~$35 per batch for ingredients. I'm ahead $87.67 before including gear.

Sure I paid nearly $200 for equipment & bottles, caps, sanitiser, etc. to start. But even including that cost as an expense, I'll be ahead of the game in just 3 brews.

Not that I started it because of that, I started because I was shocked that beer was so easy to make at home. Now I am even more shocked because it actually tastes damned good. I love to cook, I love to experiment and I needed a new hobby... fit the bill in every way imaginable.

Oh and I like beer

 

[pacebrew]

once you go all grain, fuggedaabout it... grain is cheaper than extract, also, some deals on hops online can cut cost about 50% without sacrificing quality (you jus get a whole lotof the same hop), and yeast bank. those three things will save you a lot. Although the trade off from extract to all grain is the new equipment, which you will make up in cheaper unit costs of grain vs. extract.

just my .02$

 

[mmb]

If you include the cost of ingredients, equipment, propane, electricity and TIME into the cost of your beer it's always going to be cheaper to buy.(*) If you're only doing it for the "cheap" beer and not for the enjoyment of the hobby then go buy that case or keg.

(*) Of course, if your favorite beer is Westvleteren 12 then all bets are off.

 

[Newton]

hmmm. Well I know beer in the US is cheaper than Canada... Up here it's $12-16 for 6 beer. 6 x 375ml = 2.25L. $12 / 2.25L = $5.33/L.

I'm only on batch #2 of homebrew. But I got nearly 23L out of my batches. That's the equivalent of $122.67 worth of the cheaper store bought beer. I paid ~$35 per batch for ingredients. I'm ahead $87.67 before including gear.

Sure I paid nearly $200 for equipment & bottles, caps, sanitiser, etc. to start. But even including that cost as an expense, I'll be ahead of the game in just 3 brews.

Not that I started it because of that, I started because I was shocked that beer was so easy to make at home. Now I am even more shocked because it actually tastes damned good. I love to cook, I love to experiment and I needed a new hobby... fit the bill in every way imaginable.

Oh and I like beer

Well yeah I suppose up aboot in Canada, it would be much cheaper to brew than to buy. Thats why CraigTube does it :rockin:

 

[pacebrew]

one of the great things about brewing is the starvation of the mechanism called taxation.

 

[KYB]

Style for style, way cheaper, especially buying in bulk. Say a Barleywine is $10 for a 4-pack. It cost about $40 to make a hopped up BW. That's 16 beers to about 48.

If I reuse yeast my Kentucky Common is about $5 for 5gal, at ~5%abv, maybe a little less depending on attenuation. 6-row is cheap, and so is corn (not from the LHBS), which is about $6 for a 50lb sack here. Counting propane, water, and CO2 or sugar, it is probably about $10 for 5gal. I use a cheap, simple, effective AG setup, and have been for over a year since I started. I brew a lot. I've payed for my setup and then some. Good beer cheap.

Also, I don't understand the whole "time cost". I work during the week and have weekends off currently, which I sit around drinking and brewing, which is mostly waiting around.

 

[mitch171]

I think is also depends on if you are into the hobby for brewing beer or for building equipment...

 

[JNye]

for me its cheaper. my equipment is modest, I'm about $400 dollars in. I'm not sure I'll ever upgrade because I can't keep my current set-up maxed out cuz i can't drink as fast as i can brew. A six pack of my fave beer costs $11. i brewed a 5 gallon clone of it for $16. I don't factor time into it because I enjoy it and it is saving me money.

If I factored in time in cooking(vs my hourly wage) I should eat out every meal. But I don't. Mainly because I am not calling off work to cook. and for me cooking is more of a chore.

 

[jimmannering]

There are a couple of long fascinating threads on cloning Sam Adams Utopia, which is something like $250 for a 22 oz bottle if I recall correctly. So look up the recipe and brew yourself a batch. It's a ten gallon batch so you might need some new equipment, but that's ok. Maybe it will take you two or three tries to get it right. But when you're done you'll have about $14,000 worth of beer. That should get most of you past break even, I would think.

have fun,

Jim

 

[Conehead]

It costs me around $7.00 a 24 to brew. I don't factor in electricity. When a case of bland, boring and cheap lager is close to $40.00 in Canada, it doesn't take long for the savings to add up. Craft beer is getting costly too, some in the mid $40's for a case. Nothing better than sitting down with a nice and hoppy American IPA which is still rare to buy around here.

 

[mmb]

It costs me around $7.00 a 24 to brew. I don't factor in electricity.

So the cost is actually more that $7.00 a 24. Add the price of water, the cost of fuel for the boil, the usage of the space in your dwelling for fermenting and storage, the cost of your time and you'll find that price is exponentially more.

I don't try to justify that brewing beer is cheaper than buying beer because if you actually take into account for all the expendables and the process it's going to be very hard to brew cheaper than the big boys do it.

I do it because I like to. I need no other reason.

 

[Conehead]

I am on a well, I brew electric and I am retired. I see what you are saying though. But with the very high cost of beer in Ontario, I still say it is much cheaper to make your own.

 

[Thakog]

In theory, it could be cheaper. And if you want to drink hard to find styles that will cost 8+ dollars a bottle, then yes, it will be cheaper for that style. For example, I'm going to try brewing a flanders red soon. If it turns out (I'll get back to you next summer) then it will be a lot cheaper than trying to buy bottles of the stuff.

 

[Homercidal]

If you brew AG, and build your equipment, factoring in used, cheap parts, you can brew for much less than you can buy, depending on the beer you are brewing.

If you are not scrounging for your parts, then the cost to brew goes way up.

But, yes, if you use a basic kit, and buy bulk, you can save tons. Lots of people here don't brew with the basic kit though.

 

[BeerPressure]

Reminds me of the people that tell me "just buy the damn 30 pack of busch."

 

[oceanselv]

If you have to ask you simply do not understand the hobby. Compare the question to the hobby of fishing . You can catch a fish with a worm dug out of the ground placed on a hook attached to a string on a tree branch. You can also buy a more expensive rod and reel and stand on the shore or fish from a bridge or a pier. Or, you can buy a boat, trailer and a vehicle to haul everything to the lake or river and go fishing. With the exception of using the tree branch you can probably buy a fish at your local supermarket cheaper than you can catch one. However if you enjoy fishing you would rather catch one than buy one. The same for home brewers. You would rather make one the buy one. Why else would anyone spend between $50 and several thousand dollars on brewing equipment and then have to wait for weeks on end after you brew before you can even drink the beer? It will always be cheaper and easier to buy a beer than to brew one. But when you give a fiend a beer you bought there is no pride in saying "I bought that". However give a friend a beer you brewed and watch the expression when you say " I brewed this".

 

[Conehead]

Yup. I agree.

Good answer.

 

[rayg]

The point of making your own is so you can have fresh beer, which is
better than anything, made according to your own tastes. Even if
a brewery makes a beer exactly the way you like it, you still have to
be standing outside their fermenter when they put it into kegs to get
the fresh stuff. So cost isn't a consideration for me, but I don't
make huge gravity beers or try to have the shiniest equipment on
the block.

A lot of people go overboard with the equipment, but equipment
doesn't make the beer, the brewer makes the beer.

Ray

 

[brettwasbtd]

It can definitely be cheaper... but for most of us treating it as a hobby, that is not the case.

Like others have posted, since starting to brew my own beer, when it comes time to buy something at the store I am becoming so much more picky. I used to be a strictly natty lite drinker (graduated from college a year ago). Now I will still "treat" myself to a natty, but I want to try different beers (want to taste one from every BJCP category) so I can get a better Idea of what I want to brew. In my mind, I have now greatly increased my beer costs since I rarely buy natty, and spring for a microbrew at 2.5 x the cost. Also I live about 3 minutes away from a Total Wine & More which has an amazing selection!

I have probably dropped close to $550 on equipment, but I am pretty close to be setup for 10 Gallon all grain batches (just need another fermentation vessel). I dont plan to purchase much more equipment for a while, other than some carboys, kegs, freezer...oh wait there I go spending more again haha

When you put it in perspective, it is still one of my cheaper hobbies when you consider the time I spend vs. the cost, not to mention the results are consumed!

 

[Priemus]

The cheapest I can buy beer here is 26kr a leter, and thats crap beer keep in mind. About 3.80USD.

I can brew a good beer for 13kr a leter and if I skip out on DME and use more dextrose I can get that number even lower.

So to answer, for me it started as an idea to get beer cheaper, now its a hobby and as it turns out, saves me 50% on my beer bill.

Norway, expensive booze.

----edit----

oceanselv, what a great answer. I need to print that on the back of my lables.

 

[DKershner]

Matt and I were considering this the other day actually. We haven't really cared about costs since the beginning and treat it like a hobby, but we figured out the costs anyway.

We have dropped about $5000 on equipment. (2 keezers, brew stand, 10gal AG, probably 30ish kegs, yeast farm, much more)

We can brew 10gal for about $30-40 for a standard grav, mid hopped beer. Comparable to that in the store would be about $15/12pack or about $120/10gal.

At a savings of $80/batch, it would take 63 batches to pay for itself, or a little more than 2 years for us. I think we have about 20 or so down, so only 43 to go!

That is, of course, unless we buy more equipment between now and then.

 

[DKershner]

Fish analogy...

At least we don't have to catch and release our brew.

 

[Walker]

My whole set-up is probably worth $1500, but I'll use $2000 as the example.

For an example beer, I'm going with Bell's 2-Hearted because both my wife and I love it.

I can brew 2.5 cases of Bell's 2-hearted for around $25 (using [email protected] - centennial for $0.85/oz - and bulk grain sacks - about $1/lb). If I were to buy 2.5 cases at the grocery store, it would cost me over $100.

So, each batch of 2-hearted that I make saves me at least $75 vs buying it at the grocery store.

$2000 worth of equipment would be "paid for" after 27 batches of 2-hearted ale. I brew every other week, so it takes barely over a year to break even on $2000 worth of equipment.

Hell... now that I wrote that out, I think I should spent more on equipment!