Cost of homebrewing vs...other

[DBhomebrew]

Not in my original post. so this is irrelevant.

Someone please check the math

We did.

Some here seem to have a trigger on supporting capitalize yet so many I have seen are so left leaning, I'll leave it at that.

Surprise, surprise, even us self-identified socialists are realists and even capitalist. I for one have no problem at all with Mom & Pop earning an honest profit after all the other stakeholders earn theirs. Ideally even a little extra to buy uniforms for the Little League team.

 

[hottpeper13]

I thought this was a hobby! Hobbies cost money! You can't take your time into consideration because ALL hobbies take time. Buying in bulk and repitching yeast lets me make most of my beer for ~ 20$ a 5 gal keg for ingredients. I also garden, but lets not go there.

 

[mac_1103]

I also garden, but lets not go there.

Yeah, I used to feed the deer that way but now I just give them my spent grain instead.

 

[worlddivides]

I thought this was a hobby! Hobbies cost money! You can't take your time into consideration because ALL hobbies take time. Buying in bulk and repitching yeast lets me make most of my beer for ~ 20$ a 5 gal keg for ingredients. I also garden, but lets not go there.

It only really comes up when you specifically try to compare the products of your hobby with a commercial version. You can't say "It's so much cheaper to play basketball myself than to buy tickets to the NBA!" or "It's so much cheaper to write and record your own music than to buy albums!" since it's not an even remotely similar comparison (both of them are not similar comparisons, and the music one is just flat-out wrong since writing and recording your own music will cost WAY more in the long run, even with zero time factored in), but you do see people saying "It's cheaper to bake this cake than it is to buy one at the store!" or "It's cheaper to knit this sweater than it is to buy one off Etsy!" Whether those are genuine comparisons or not really depends on the individual case. I also cook and bake, but I look at it just like brewing. I don't cook or bake to save money, though I can potentially save more money that way than I can with brewing (depending specifically on what I'm baking/cooking, though).

I think the beer where if I didn't factor time into that I would have saved the most money on was a Lambic-style sour I made where the ingredients altogether were something like $120, whereas it would have cost WAY more than that to buy the same kind of beer at that bulk from an American wild ale/sour ale brewery or a Belgian Lambic brewery. But there's also the fact that it took almost a year from brew day before I bottled it. And it's also debatable of whether it was of the same quality, better, or worse, depending on which brewery's beer you compared it to. And I could buy a lot of vastly different Lambics and Lambic-inspired sours and wild ales with the money I spent on the ingredients. I really liked it, though, but it was, as others have said, more about the creativity and the act of creating it than it was about saving money.

 

[IAmPistolPete]

Speaking from the restaurant side of things as a 20yr veteran of the industry, it is extremely difficult to make money in a restaurant. My last restaurant I was paying just my BOH staff[cooks, dish, maint, etc] almost $160/hr, whether the place was full or empty. That includes the 3 hours before we opened the doors. That includes the Monday lunch when there's 15 ppl in the entire building. Has your electricity or gas bills gone up or down every year? Your taxes? Rent? Your grocery spending? Do you voluntarily ask your boss for no raise so the company can lower it's prices to it's customers?
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The 30/30/30/10 rule is a best case scenario, rarely achieved. Payroll was usually the biggest killer [which is why small shops the owner is there 80hrs/wk] but now the cost of everything goes up dramatically on a continual basis, especially since COVID. So yes, it's cheaper to make your own beer, your own pizza, your own burger. But guess what --- it's always been this way.

 

[sibelman]

"Beer is food, Lewis" -- Inspector Morse

 

[Agent]

I spend so much time brewing and enjoying my own beer, that I hardly have time to go out and spend extra on commercial beer.

And that's OK with me! The dollars saved are a sweet bonus.

 

[Broken Crow]

Co-pay on visit to physical therapist: $85
The same physical therapy at home brewing beer costs less than that and gets me 12 gallons in the fermenter. Cost of equipment is less than buying my own physical therapy gear, plus: I get neurological therapy in developing and recovering lost skills without having to go to a clinic that's geared for the lowest common denominator and gives me nothing but pain for the trip.....
We all have our own unique individual criteria and value we put on things we want and things we want to do and for that reason there'll never be a concensus on the "true cost of homebrewing"
I'll just add my +1 to @DBhomebrew ..Meat tastes much better when you were on a first-name basis and loved it or simply ate it for revenge for the bruises it gave you...A ram we called Ramstien bashed everyone he met and badly broke my dear friends arm, elbow and rib....he left a massive bruise on my GF's ass and another on my hip....he was delicious!....same goes for Malfoy the rooster who attacked everyone...yum!

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

I recently brewed a 25gallon batch of cream ale and felt the need to see what it cost per 12oz pour. I only calculated ingredient cost and it came out to 45 cents per 12oz glass. Obviously this is an extremely cheap beer to brew but still, I thought that was pretty good. Did I brew it to save money? Umm sure, have I brewed enough beer to save enough money to cover equipment costs?? Well that would take a lot more calculations but I bet I've hit my break even point. That said I still go out and support my local breweries, I love those guys. When I purchase beer I do tend to compare it with what I can brew it for vs what I'm paying at a brewery or wherever, kinda nuts, but they have a lot more overhead.

 

[madscientist451]

I can’t find ordinary bitter, dark mild, biere de garde or cider from local apples finished on bourbon barrel chips in any local stores, but I’ve got it on tap in the basement. Drinking what I want isn’t cheap but it is priceless.

 

[mashdar]

View attachment 879018
"Beer is food, Lewis" -- Inspector Morse

Ah 1930, the good ole days when food was cheap.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

I’m going to approach from a different angle. I am not crazy about going out. I like knowing who cooked my food and how they did it; meaning, I trust me snd the wife. (We won’t get into where the food came from, but that’s part of it.)
I also noted that the OP had a half gallon of beer and admitted to still being buzzed as he was writing his post. I don’t want to drink that much and have to drive home. I’m not saying he did, but I wouldn’t have any other option, and consider how much that might cost you.
It’s a different mindset; some enjoy being served; some enjoy the serenity of a decent meal and beverage at home. I am not judging; just decide what you want to do, (even if it’s a little of both), and enjoy yourself and stay out of trouble!

 

[madscientist451]

I’m with you man, I can have beef tenderloin and homebrew on the patio for way less than a smash burger and 2 pints at the brewery. And DUI is way expensive…

 

[sibelman]

Ah 1930, the good ole days when food was cheap.

Oh yeah, Prohibition days! And the Great Depression was just finding its legs. Fun times. I imagine homebrew was far cheaper than speakeasy beer.

have to drive home

A big benefit to homebrew for sure, vs. the cost/risk of drinking and driving. And, as good as Dead Guy is, I generally prefer my own DIPA. Counting ingredients, water, electricity, and a share of the big equipment cost (but not my labor), it's also about half the price.

If I were to add labor at the approximate hourly rate of my salaried IT management job when I retired, it would be well over ten bucks for a 12 ounce pour.

 

[Mark3885]

I never got into home brewing to save money. My thrill is the many compliments that I get from friends and family. Home brewing is a hobby of mine just like building my own custom log home , making my own biodiesel for truck and tractors, reloading my own rifle ammunition, doing my own repairs on anything I have , cutting, splitting my firewood to heat my home through our 6 months of spring, fall and winter. I save tremendous amounts of money doing it all myself, but what the cost is, my time, my time is valuable , but this is also my lifestyle. This is the way my parents raised me ,to be self sufficient, go after my desires and not wait for someone to give me a handout . “I ain’t got a dime , but what I’ve got is mine , ain’t rich but lord I’m free “ thanks George Strait

 

[seatazzz]

I make a few things at home rather than buying them commercially. I'm a smoker, and several years ago invested in an electric cigarette machine to 'roll' my own rather than spend $8-10 per pack, or about $90 for a carton. The machine was about $57 on amazon, and paid for itself within the first two months. Supplies cost me $38 for about 2 weeks' worth (about $10 less if I schlep out to the reservation). I also sew some of my own clothes, using remnants I get at walmart for about $4-8 for 2-4 yards, or waiting for big sales. If something around here needs repairing, I'll always look into doing it myself before paying to have someone else do it. House hasn't fallen down yet.

For brewing, I consider my equipment 'paid off' since I haven't bought anything new in about three years (been brewing for 9). Like many of us, a lot of my equipment (ferment fridge, brewstand, most of my kegs) are someone else's castoffs, except for the brewstand which was a gift. So my only costs there, barring small replacement parts on occasion, is ingredients. I re-use yeast, buy grain and hops in bulk. The last time I did the math, a 5 gallon batch costs me less than $30 without factoring in my time, since it's a hobby and I don't get paid for hobbies. Some batches cost more, of course, depending on what I'm brewing. Around here a pint of craft at a bar/restaurant/brewpub can cost as much as $9. Even domestic is at least $6. Not including my labor (which again I consider free since I love brewing), a pint costs me about $.50.

So, although the initial layout for equipment (as of this year I've spent about $1200 over nine years) is pricey, I think it's safe to say that I DO save money brewing my own. I would definitely drink a lot less if I had to buy beer commercially, but even factoring that in I think I still save money.

 

[Velnerj]

 

[Velnerj]

 

[Steveruch]

I also was at the LHBS and it was $3.55/lb of maris otter. I don't think they are gouging, it's the cost of a having a local so I am happy to support them.

Even if I had a LHBS I couldn't justify that much on my limited budget.
Not when I can get 55 lbs of Crisp #19 floor malted maris otter for $60 in a group buy with my homebrew club.

 

[Steveruch]

My cost for three gallons: 5 lbs of maris otter for $1.10 a pound, 2 ozs hops for $1.20 each, and one pack of dry yeast for $4 totals $11.90. Decided by 32 bottles is less than 40¢ a bottle.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

The price difference paid for a nice pint on someone else's taproom patio is worth the cost of admission for me. Sure I can make it at home for a heluva lot cheaper. Can't have the same experience though.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Can't say the same about steakhouses though. I can't bring myself to spend a steakhouse premium on what I can do at home for far less. I'll have the chicken.

 

[Skeeter686]

Can't say the same about steakhouses though. I can't bring myself to spend a steakhouse premium on what I can do at home for far less. I'll have the chicken.

Especially considering how much I'd have to spend to dine at a steakhouse that produces a steak at least a good as I can do at home.

There have been too many times that it sounded nice to just go out for a steak... only to be disappointed with what I received. Even after paying significantly more than it would have cost me to make a far better version at home.

 

[hilljack13]

I also noted that the OP had a half gallon of beer and admitted to still being buzzed as he was writing his post. I don’t want to drink that much and have to drive home. I’m not saying he did,

Noo nooo...Wife was with me. No way I was also eating two pizza's and a salad.

 

[mac_1103]

We figured you ate the two pizzas and she had the salad.

 

[hilljack13]

We figured you ate the two pizzas and she had the salad.

I mean, yes I need to lose some weight, but come on...it isn't that bad