Home Brewing = Saving Money?

[normonster]

I most certainly do not save any money brewing beer. I sure do love my little pile of stainless and my never ending array of gadgetry though!

 

[BeardedBrews]

How funny to see this thread pop up. I picked up brewing as a hobby, not a cost savings, but at the end of the first year I figured I would add everything up and see what it actually cost me.

I think if I add everything from my first 3 gallon pot up through my most recent chest freezer, I spent right around $9/6-pack. Part of that is because the Seattle area has killer deals on Craigslist if you're patient, and part of it is because my family and friends enjoy drinking beer (save on volume).

Even if I didn't make a drop of beer, I still spent less than I would have in a year of classic car repair, range fees at a decent country club, Nicaraguan robustos, RC airplanes, or any of a hundred other hobbies.

Our prices locally:
$40 - IPA Ingredients
$65 - Filling a Corny with IPA at the Brewery
$80 - Buying IPA by the 6-Pack

 

[beergolf]

Even if I didn't make a drop of beer, I still spent less than I would have in a year of classic car repair, range fees at a decent country club, Nicaraguan robustos, RC airplanes, or any of a hundred other hobbies.

And you get BEER....seems like a win to me.

 

[twidget]

I'm realitively new to brewing. I figure my costs about $20 US for 5 gallon batch, all grain. Found that normal american beers just don't have the tastes that I like any more. If I do buy beer it is Sam Adams and runs about $33 a case here. The beer I am brewing has much better taste to me than SA. So even with my equipment costs figure it won't be to long till break even, and I'm drinking a better beer too. So I see it as a definite WIN!

Just my $0.02

 

[Kent88]

Saving money? I wish.

Since I started this hobby I bought 2 kits with the LBK, then a Northern Brewer small batch kit, then some kettles, then a couple more 1 gallon fermenters, then a small lager fridge, then a couple of 3 gallon fermenters and the siphon and tubing to go with it, then a 3 gallon beverage cooler and the parts to go with it to make it a mash tun. Plus all the strainer bags and things I've forgotten about in-between.

That is why the advice I'll give to new brewers is that if after they have made a batch or two and fine they like it, think about what size batches they might want to settle on after that discovery is made, and go straight to that. And even then, don't get heavily invested until you've brewed a few batches.

 

[RevA]

Keeping in mind I prefer Belgian and scottish ales and they are very expensive. I save a lot of money by brewing rather than buying. But I didn't drink as much beer before I started brewing. My main goal is having a good hobby, in that sense it's cheaper than a lot of other options.

 

[Zepth]

These are my 2 biggest savers. Yeast can be 5 to 8 bucks per batch if puchased individually. Hops can also be 5 to 15 dollars per batch, depending on the recipe and amount. My one time cost on yeast was last may, of a batch of scottish 1728 and us05. I cultured a WLP002 over 2 years time. Since, I haven't used much else. I've used lager yeasts in the past, but lost most cultures two years ago.

I fear I may have lost an entire culture. I know I've still got a batch in the keezer that used it, I'm seriously considering harvesting the dregs to make sure I still have it and avoid another smack pack.

Beer prices vary even in Canada... I live in Ottawa and will drive to Quebec (10 min drive) to buy beer a few times a year. Probably 25% cheaper there. If you buy a few 24s it adds up.

It really depends. Some imports and almost all craft are cheaper. Others are possibly even more. What a lot of people don't realize is that in Quebec the prices are listed pre-tax, Ontario is the tax in price listed. Adding the 15% sales tax (5% GST, 9.975% HST IIRC) quickly cuts into the difference. Add the time and fuel cost (as some from Kanata and Stittsville have) and the savings quickly disappear. I work in Gatineau so it is not out of my way at all. Not that I buy beer anymore.

 

[Magnus314]

My other hobby is offshore fishing...

Homebrewing is free by comparison and you get beer when you're done.

 

[beergolf]

My other hobby is offshore fishing...

Homebrewing is free by comparison and you get beer when you're done.

So you pay $500 a pound for fish.....

 

[BeardedBrews]

So you pay $500 a pound for fish.....

Math error, it's $150/hour to be out on the water and away from whatever. Worth it, IMO.

The fish is free.

-B

 

[mattdee1]

Whether or not homebrewing saves money depends largely on what factors you arbitrarily choose to include in the calculation.

My own arbitrary calculation does not include equipment costs on the liability side because most hobbies need equipment and I’m going to indulge in hobbies no matter what, as a simple matter of personal happiness. Whatever money I spend on homebrewing, if I never got into it, would go to something else—guitars and amps, camera lenses, fast cars, old arcade machines. Therefore, to me, equipment costs fall under my entertainment/hobby budget, not my beer budget.

As for the time and effort associated with homebrewing, a similar concept applies. Between planning and record keeping, shopping for ingredients, brew day, doing gravity samples and monitoring fermentation, organizing bottles, bottling day, and storage I figure a single batch requires 7-8 hours of my time. If I had to jog on a treadmill for that same 7-8 hours in order to yield a batch of homebrewed beer, then I promise you my math would change in a big hurry. But, as it is, I rather enjoy the activities of those hours so it’s not a cost.

The fact that dollar-for-dollar and beer-for-beer my homebrew costs a fair bit less than a comparable commercially available craft beer is definitely a nice cherry on top, but it’s not something I spend much time thinking about.

 

[PlexVector]

This six pack of research cost me $25...:smack: and I can't even deduct it as a cost of doing business.

 

[lolcats]

I do save money when making my 3 gallon batches:
After the initial equipment of about 150$ (which will last a long time)

I buy all my stuff from Bell's Brewery

6 lbs of grains --> 8 $
10 oz of hops --> 12 $
1/2 pack of dry yeast --> 2 $
water --> free
electricity + corn sugar + irish moss + starsan + caps --> hardly anything

I get about 30 beers out of this so roughly 5 $ a six pack. Here in NY they cost about 12 to 15 $ a six pack.

But drinking your own beer = priceless

 

[Magnus314]

So you pay $500 a pound for fish.....

Oh, so you fish too?

 

[andy6026]

Whether or not homebrewing saves money depends largely on what factors you arbitrarily choose to include in the calculation.

^^^This^^^

If you want to calculate absolutely everything into the mix, you'd need to include (and I may still have inadvertently left something out):

1. Equipment Cost (Kettle, Wort Chiller, Bottles, Kegs, etc)
2. Ingredients Cost (Grain, Hops, Yeast, etc)
3. Miscellaneous Costs (Propane, Electricity, Water, Starsan, Transportation costs to go and buy all of the above, etc).
4. Your Time (which you may or may not be able to put a monetary value on)
5. How much of it do you and your family actually drink. (I.e. many of us end up giving a higher portion away than we otherwise would with commercial beer).

If you want to calculate this 'real cost', then consider your homebrewing hobby like a business instead and keep tally of the actual costs. If this were indeed a business then the cost of the 'free samples' you give away isn't paid for by the Gods but rather out of the business. Neither does the water or the cost of transporting the ingredients to your brewery. Labour costs would be involved too.

I would venture to guess that unless you have a very simple set-up, then it will take many batches over a good number of years before the actual costs of your homebrewing per bottle becomes cheaper than commercial beer (but of course it depends on what you drink). If you include your time in the calculation, even at minimum wage, then chances are you'd never be able to do it more cheaply than what you were paying the big boys to do it for you. Their primary goal is to produce desirable beer efficiently in terms of cost and most of them have it down to a science. Their large-scale processes work significantly in their favor.

The good news is that the vast majority of us brew because we enjoy the process as well as the end product. If that wern't the case then you'd find our equipment listed on craigslist pretty darned fast.

 

[zippyclown]

People brew beer because people like to make stuff. Tinker. Have a hobby. See if they can impress their friends. See if they can make a beer they like. Challenge themselves. All of that stuff. I make beer but I also make my own pasta from time to time. Grill my own steaks. Make my own hot sauce. Roast my own coffee beans. Feels good to create. Ultimately maybe it's because I'm bored and dead inside.

You'd have to be pretty desperate and/or broke to invest all that time into brewing just to save a few bucks. You'd probably also be keeping the heat at 50 degrees in the dead of winter... Taking cold showers... Reusing spent coffee grains for 3 days in a row... Covering your couch with plastic... Turning your underwear inside-out to get another day out of them... Eating squirrels for dinner...

zc

 

[Roland_deschain]

I started brewing because, like so many others, I had always wanted to. I am VERY fortunate in that my wife shares my love of craft beer and we enjoy trying new ones. Our local hangout has 32 tap which change out quite regularly so there was always something worth trying. Depending on our moods, there were times where we may go 2-3 times in a week to try what was new. Granted, this was not 3-4 hour sessions each and many times it would be a 5 beer flight. My wife tends to gravitate toward DIPA, high-test beer. I did the math based on cost per glass at our pub vs. my homebrewing. Assuming a 5 gal batch(1/6th bbl) there should be 53 12oz pours (anything over 7abv pours in a snifter). At a cost of $6/ glass its costing $318/5 gal. My homebrewed Heady clone cost $64 with yeast. Without factoring in cost of gas and electricity im at $1.20/ 12oz glass. Not to mention that in not going to the bar regularly we save on the incidentals like bar food and the like. We go to our hangout once every 3 weeks or so to sample.
As long as I keep making beer she likes then it DOES save me money The savings is a welcome by-product of the brewing......which allows me to invest in equipment and gadgets and........

 

[Roland_deschain]

This six pack of research cost me $25...:smack: and I can't even deduct it as a cost of doing business.

But if you harvest any yeast from the bottles, couldn't you write it off as supplies? LOL

 

[zippyclown]

I started brewing because, like so many others, I had always wanted to. I am VERY fortunate in that my wife shares my love of craft beer and we enjoy trying new ones. Our local hangout has 32 tap which change out quite regularly so there was always something worth trying. Depending on our moods, there were times where we may go 2-3 times in a week to try what was new. Granted, this was not 3-4 hour sessions each and many times it would be a 5 beer flight. My wife tends to gravitate toward DIPA, high-test beer. I did the math based on cost per glass at our pub vs. my homebrewing. Assuming a 5 gal batch(1/6th bbl) there should be 53 12oz pours (anything over 7abv pours in a snifter). At a cost of $6/ glass its costing $318/5 gal. My homebrewed Heady clone cost $64 with yeast. Without factoring in cost of gas and electricity im at $1.20/ 12oz glass. Not to mention that in not going to the bar regularly we save on the incidentals like bar food and the like. We go to our hangout once every 3 weeks or so to sample.
As long as I keep making beer she likes then it DOES save me money The savings is a welcome by-product of the brewing......which allows me to invest in equipment and gadgets and........

You just changed my mind. Maybe you CAN brew to save money, if it keeps you out of the bars and restaurants, because of the incidentals. Good point you just made here.

 

[ryanryates]

If you are brewing to save time and money, you may think about finding a new hobby. Brewing is a lifestyle decision - one that will provide you with years of personal enjoyment, happy friends/family/neighbors, and recurring opportunities for continuing education. You can make it what you want to make it. Some keep it simple - others love to geek out on chemistry, microbiology, electrical engineering, computer science, agriculture, mechanical engineering, and other sciences that are rolled into the wonderful world of brewing.

 

[PlexVector]

You just changed my mind. Maybe you CAN brew to save money, if it keeps you out of the bars and restaurants, because of the incidentals. Good point you just made here.

I started brewing because, like so many others, I had always wanted to. I am VERY fortunate in that my wife shares my love of craft beer and we enjoy trying new ones. Our local hangout has 32 tap which change out quite regularly so there was always something worth trying. Depending on our moods, there were times where we may go 2-3 times in a week to try what was new. Granted, this was not 3-4 hour sessions each and many times it would be a 5 beer flight. My wife tends to gravitate toward DIPA, high-test beer. I did the math based on cost per glass at our pub vs. my homebrewing. Assuming a 5 gal batch(1/6th bbl) there should be 53 12oz pours (anything over 7abv pours in a snifter). At a cost of $6/ glass its costing $318/5 gal. My homebrewed Heady clone cost $64 with yeast. Without factoring in cost of gas and electricity im at $1.20/ 12oz glass. Not to mention that in not going to the bar regularly we save on the incidentals like bar food and the like. We go to our hangout once every 3 weeks or so to sample.
As long as I keep making beer she likes then it DOES save me money The savings is a welcome by-product of the brewing......which allows me to invest in equipment and gadgets and........

And if you also factor in the full cost of a DUI, then homebrew asymptotically approaches free.

 

[Roland_deschain]

And if you also factor in the full cost of a DUI, then homebrew asymptotically approaches free.

Id rather not.....

 

[moreb33rplz]

Bulk grain, bulk hops, reuse yeast, don't keg.

You will save money without even trying. You will also price out kegging equipment for 2 hours a night, every two weeks, for 2 years. And counting.

 

[brewprint]

I just priced out 11 Gallons of American Lager and 11 Gallons of Zombie dust clone at "Build Your Own" pricing...

It was WAYYY cheap.

Craft Brews run ~ $10+/6 pack here (South Florida). Even "cheap" Am. Lagers run ~ $1/12oz.

I can make those for around 1/4 the price, including electric and propane, and excluding equipment cost - which for me is nominal on a per-batch basis.

I agree here. At 1/4 of the cost coming in at $2.50/6 pack...a 5 gallon batch is coming in a roughly $20 with a savings of about $60. That's for solid IPAs.

Let's even call it a $50 savings per 5 gallons (2 cases). With 10 batches of beer I've now saved $500. I know that even with my mill I don't have that much cash wrapped up in brewing but I do BIAB.

Now a kegerator is a different story. I've got a lot more money in that. Probably around $900. Of course if I bought kegged beer I would still spend a LOT more. Kegging is just a luxury because buying kegged beer or kegging your own could be considered a wash. That's when we put the kegs into consideration when buying brewed beer doesn't have a cost of keg; yet the beer is more.

So is it saving me money? Without a doubt.

 

[m00ps]

Are you people that actually believe you are truly saving money from homebrewing just not giving ANY value to the huge amount of your own time, labor, and space that this hoppy entails? Im not sure I get it....planning weekly brewdays alone takes up hours

equipment, malt, hops, and yeast are maybe half of what this hobby costs. It also costs your soul

IMO, if you are only in this thing as a way to save money, there are A LOT of better options out there. Find something less awesome

 

[brewprint]

I agree to some point but I actually enjoy doing it. If I could fish I would do that over brewing.

By calculating how much time I have involved would be like calculating how much I pay per pound for the fish I eat/catch.

It's a hobby and it's fun.

If someone is doing it strictly for cost savings then I suppose they would calculate their time.

 

[djt17]

I do it for entertainment; I pay myself to be entertained. I'm actually making money.

 

[brewprint]

I do it for entertainment; I pay myself to be entertained. I'm actually making money.

Haha!

 

[DevilNuts]

I do it for entertainment; I pay myself to be entertained. I'm actually making money.

 

[HomebrewSupply]

If you are brewing to save time and money, you may think about finding a new hobby. Brewing is a lifestyle decision - one that will provide you with years of personal enjoyment, happy friends/family/neighbors, and recurring opportunities for continuing education. You can make it what you want to make it. Some keep it simple - others love to geek out on chemistry, microbiology, electrical engineering, computer science, agriculture, mechanical engineering, and other sciences that are rolled into the wonderful world of brewing.

I know that I don't save time brewing, that's for sure. As for saving money... I kinda thought I would when getting into it (oh, it's only $30 for my 5 gallon batch, that's two cases!) but there's always something else to buy, something to upgrade.

I think you *can* save money doing it, but I'm on the same page as you, I don't think it's necessarily the best reason to get into brewing.