Gas and Water Usage Costs?

[alukaiser]

I'm kind of obsessed with calculating my exact costs per homebrew (that and I've been asked to commission a beer and want to know what to charge). One thing I've noticed is that my gas bills have gone way up since I've been brewing. I have a typical gas range stove- does anyone know what the average BTUs (I think that's the measurement) per hour a burner uses on full blast? Then I can use the local cost of gas (SoCal) per BTU to get a better measurement. I personally don't have to pay for water for sanitation/cleaning (although I buy purified water for the boil- again, SoCal), so I don't have to worry about that, but for the curious it'd be cool to know.

 

[drathbone]

I'd check the specs on your stove/refer to manufacturer to get a more exact BTU measurement. They can have a fairly broad range if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Airborneguy]

My water bill is much higher than my friends pay, thats for sure, but it would be hard figure out how much comes from the beer. Keep track of how much water you use per batch, then find out how much you pay per gallon of water. I guess that's the easiest way to do it.

 

[Bobby_M]

A typical home stove has burners at 8 to 12kBTU/hr as long as they aren't commercial-like stoves. Natural gas is pretty cheap compared to propane.

I wouldn't even factor water in if your area is like mine. A penny a gallon.