Home Brewing = Saving Money?

[Dave Sarber]

I have a friend who reloads ammo. He says he'll never break even on the cost of his gear, though the box to box costs are much less than commercial ammo. He does it for fun.

I reload my own ammo. If you count your time and the components, it costs much more to reload your own, but you can have MUCH BETTER ammo than what you can buy.

Similarly, the beers I enjoy the most ( RIS, Barleywines, Scotch ales, Belgian tripels and quads, etc ( all high ABV)), are very hard to find locally, or extravagantly priced, or somewhat less quality than what I'd like to drink.

So, bottom line, I brew my own not to save money, but so I can drink BETTER BEER!

 

[TGFV]

Most of my gear is second hand, which has huge savings attached to it. And let me pay it all off in savings in less than a year.

5 gal pot, 60 bombers, siphon, 3 buckets with airlocks, full bottle of starsan, brushes, spoon, 300 caps, pump bottle sanitizer (can't remember the name): $100
6 better bottles: $30
7 gal kettle: $50 (can with a siphon, 15kg of barley, 6oz Galaxy, 12oz El Dorado thrown in)
Corona mill + drill: 45
60 bombers: $20
66 bombers + 24 swing top 1L: free


So my total gear cost was 245, plus expendable items (caps, starsan, brew bags etc) per batch.

For the beer in the other hand, it costs roughly $6.50 average for a bomber here, and my set up gets me 30 of them, which is $195 if I bought them, plus tax and bottle deposit.

But for brewing it costs me $12 grain, $4 hops, plus whatever fruit or other adjuncts/spices I use (say average of $10 because I like my fruit beers), so roughly $26 a batch since I buy my grain and hops bulk, and reuse the hell out of my yeast. Which gives me a saving of $169 a batch, which if I am regularly drinking is a monthly saving, so $2,028.

Factor in gas, which my two year credit ran out on 4 months ago (got to love when a utility company royally screws up and compensates you), I easily break even making delicious beer.

All the above being said though, I would probably only be having a beer or two a week if I didn't brew, which would be about the same amount lol.

 

[Dancy]

All the above being said though, I would probably only be having a beer or two a week if I didn't brew, which would be about the same amount lol.

Exactly! I definitely drink more beer as a home brewer. Something about having 2-4 cases around AND it being beer I brewed myself makes it enticing to have a couple after work every day.

 

[Saunassa]

Exactly! I definitely drink more beer as a home brewer. Something about having 2-4 cases around AND it being beer I brewed myself makes it enticing to have a couple after work every day.

I had forgotten about the going from a six pack every two weeks or so to a beer in the evening each day. My buddy has provided about 8 cases of bottles that he made the sacrifice of buying and drinking so the bottles are free. Of course in exchange for this he tends to get a case of beer from me from each batch - he says for quality control testing Now if only I can get him to buy some of the grains like he did all the brass for reloading ammo when prices were sky high.