Cost of making home brew

[sudbuster]

*puts away revenuer's axe*

olllllo,
Well, now that this all seems to be settled, I've only one thing to say, you can come to my house any time and pour out my beer. I'll even give you the 20. Be kinda fun to meet you.

 

[Vuarra]

My time is immeasurable, my reward (in beer) is incalculable. I make beer for the same reason I have sex -- I like doing it. I invested in my hardware, and compare my consumables in comparison to my favourite mass market brew, and I justify my abilities in accordance to my tastes.

BTW, one batch of home brew is about the same as one 2-4 of premium Canadian beer. I love making beer. Cases closed.

 

[Bildo]

I think you all have some good points, I thought about this last night and realised, I could spend 3-4 hours a day playing a video game I payed $40 for, just to be bored of it in a week and spend another $40. Or I could buy a big chemistry set and get something good out of it!

 

[dantodd]

That's not a very good analogy. There are some people that will brew all day every day if given the opportunity. I've done double batch days and I can tell you that a third batch would be out of the question. It's a sliding scale of enjoyment.

I'd say that fits in quite nicely with the analogy One or two batches a day is plenty. Do you remember the old saying about the young bull and the old bull?

 

[dantodd]

I would have said the same thing, but I no longer agree. Jeep Man was absolutely correct when he said some people check out homebrewing solely to save money.

See, I agree to some extent but, if they are completely disinterested in the process and just want an economic advantage through homebrewing then I'd place them in the latter category who are completely disinterested in the process but just have an economic interest in sex. Perhaps in this case they are more of a trophy wife type than an outright hooker but that's just a fancy name for the same thing.

 

[alexdagrate]

There's another aspect to it as well:

The first time I ever tasted a Cascadian Dark Ale was when I cracked open one I made. I had read about this style of beer online and in the newspaper and even seen videos of brewers talking about the style, but it wasn't available in bottles anywhere in my area (And I live in Western Washington State, so there's no shortage of decent beer stores here).

So, I looked up some recipe ideas, went down to my LHBS, created my own recipe, and it turned out great. Friends were impressed that I created a beer they had never tried before.

About a week later, I went on a road trip to Bend, OR and tried Deschutes' version of the style. It was fantastic, but I was still amazed and how well my own version held up.

 

[chuggs]

p.s. Mind telling which Guinness clone you are using? I'm still searching for 'the grail' as I go toward making my first batch this fall of the dark goodness.

-J

Not at all,

I had bought the book, "Clone Brews"... It's amazing how many recipes that are available today. They had a clone of Guinness Extra Stout. I wasn't able to get the exact ingredients from my LHBS...so I substituted some...and went without rice hull...just try to be careful to avoid a stuck mash when you go to sparge. I'm sure I've got it on my other computer stored away somewhere.

I can't say it's perfect...but it's pretty smooth and the acidulated malt gives it that twang. It's worth comparing to all the other recipes...to see what they have in common and where they diverge.

Charlie

 

[mparmer]

Fascinating thread, I probably have about $100 in my little extract brewery, I've made about 5 batches so far,and yes, there's no question that equipment cost, utilities, time, etc all count toward total cost per six. But, I have had so much fun learning about this and doing this, the only thing that really applies to my assessment is the ingredients. That whopping $100 equipment? Honestly, how many out there doesn't have a wife that goes shopping 2 or 3 or more times a month and spends more than that and you NEVER SEE A CRAPPING THING TO SHOW FOR THAT $. Who knows what the heck they spend all that $ on. I'm just gonna brew extract kits and keep my eye out for cheap stuff to adapt to AG over time and not worry about it. It's fun and I'm enjoying my beer. My calc's so far have me at about $3.25 a 6. Brew on!!!!

 

[Bildo]

Wow mparmer, $3.25 is still pretty good, hopefully I'll have completed my beer kit soon, after researching. I'm not ashamed to say that I use a mr. beer kit, it works for what I need it for. But it's time to move on now, I want to brew more beer!

 

[humann_brewing]

I did not get into this hobby to save money, in fact this comes out of my pocket where as if I buy it from the grocery store, it goes on the family account so basically I can get half priced beer at the store or pay for it all if I homebrew. I rarely buy beer at the store now so that says a lot.

 

[Noleafclover]

I keep telling my wife that someday my brewery will pay for itself in terms of cost savings... but at this point... ahh heck I just like to brew and love all the nerdy gadgets / dyi projects involved. And the end result being a superb beverage that I made... What a great hobby.