Home Brewing = Saving Money?

[DevilNuts]

Maybe you can eventually "save money" if you buy your grains and hops in bulk, cultivate your own yeast, etc. But that really only applies if you constantly make the same beer, and make it in large quantities.

For me, each new batch is a new idea, which involves some strange new equipment or ingredients. And that's not even mentioning the R&D costs (drinking lots of beer to study a style).

 

[HomebrewSupply]

Maybe you can eventually "save money" if you buy your grains and hops in bulk, cultivate your own yeast, etc. But that really only applies if you constantly make the same beer, and make it in large quantities.

For me, each new batch is a new idea, which involves some strange new equipment or ingredients. And that's not even mentioning the R&D costs (drinking lots of beer to study a style).

True - and even if you don't, just on the ingredients, you can often save money if you're only looking at the raw ingredient cost compared to buying a similar commercial beer. Even if your ingredients cost $50, that's ~$1 a bottle, cheaper than most commercial craft options.

But then you've got the time... and the brewing equipment... and the fermentation temperature control... and the kegs... and the lawyer as you plan your microbrewery... that just gets expensive!

 

[DevilNuts]

I've decided that I like brewing too much to ever do it for a living.

 

[Rolsom]

It's not like all those half drunk college girls are going to stop by your garage brewery on the way home for the bars.

My milkstout brings all the girls to the yard.

 

[yono1986]

As an avid homebrewer, brewing does not save money. Let's say you can save 50 cents on the dollar on an ingredient by ingredient basis, that comes out to about $30-50 depending on the beer. Setting 8 hours for brew day and 2 for bottle day, that means that you're "working" for about half of minimum wage. From a pure time value perspective it's a lot cheaper to drive to the liquor store and buy beer than to make it yourself.

 

[bleme]

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

Woah! I am checking my house for hidden cameras when I get home!

 

[bleme]

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.

It took me 3 years. The final straw was when I won a keg in my clubs annual Christmas raffle.

 

[bleme]

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

Labor doesn't count. I don't charge myself to watch TV either.

 

[Clonefan94]

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

Yes, time is an issue, but is it really a cost? How much does it cost you to watch TV, or sleep? I have done plenty of things to save money. My own brake jobs, re-roofing my house. I didn't take time off of work and no money came out of my bank account for my time, so it didn't cost me money.

Time is valuable, but I also don't spend 24 hours a day making money. I look at it more as I'd rather brew than golf, watch TV or do any other leisure activity I might otherwise be doing.

In the end though, I 100% agree with your on your last statement. If saving money is your goal, there are plenty of better ways to do that. I personally would never brew beer strictly to save a buck. I brew because I enjoy brewing and I enjoy the different types of beer I can make. I would never want to get to a point where I wasn't willing to try a recipe because "Oh, those hops don't fit into my budget for this beer." Or "It's just not economical to brew a high gravity beer on this scale."

I'm not trying to tell anyone how they should treat their hobbies, but at least in the US, brewing for the fun of it should be the top priority.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Money saved is evident. Without boring you with all my math I scribbled down it's ~$1.30/12 oz commercial vs. ~$0.41/12 oz. for its clone. I'm no economist, but I'd say that's a drastic savings. That's not why I brew, but it's definitely a perk. With those numbers it's not hard to surmise the more homebrew you drink, the more money you save.

 

[brewcat]

Yes and that is without trying.

Here is some math:
6-packs of craft beer are $10+ Maybe a 12-pack is only $15. Buying two cases would be $60 - $80. I can brew two cases for $40 or so (including propane costs). That is without bulk buy, reusing yeast, etc. Labor doesn't count (view it as an entrepreneur/business owner; only paid when the company makes money). Let's average the brew day to $30 saved.

Part 2:
Let's say I brew 12 batches a year for $30 per average "savings." That would be $360 worth of "savings" for a year. Now put that towards equipment. Any equipment worth buying should get multiple years of use.

Anyways, as a hobby I'm not too concerned. Homebrewing is a relatively cheap hobby in comparison to most. You can buy the best of the best and it is still cheaper than a lot of hobbies.

 

[dpatrickv]

Brewing doesnt actually cut into much if any of my beer buying. If something new comes out, I'll buy it. I don't drink a ton of beer in the first place(Coming from somebody with ten taps....that sounds slightly ridiculous I know), but when i do, its probably split 50/50 commercial/Homebrew.

 

[normonster]

Brewing doesnt actually cut into much if any of my beer buying. If something new comes out, I'll buy it. I don't drink a ton of beer in the first place(Coming from somebody with ten taps....that sounds slightly ridiculous I know), but when i do, its probably split 50/50 commercial/Homebrew.

Well with a zillion taps I hope you're buying kegs and filling cornys...there's a savings that RELATES to your homebrewing....loosely. [emoji3]

 

[mattd2]

...I have kept track of what I have spent and it's just over $1700 for everything, now I DIY a lot of it but you can't DIY kegs, the single largest investment was kegging, about a third of that $1700...

My total setup costs have been on the order of $1000. Possibly as high as $1500. ..

It is funny how whenever one of these threads come up there a 2 points which always come up why you can't save money homebrewing:
1) With all the equipment costs you'll never break even, and
2) You need to factor in your time and how much that is worth.

Both of these are rubbish, because:
1) Equipment is a capital investment - if you take care of it you will likely be able to get most of your money back if you sell it, sometimes more depending (all those guys who bought a shed-load of cornies at $20 a keg would be making a tidy profit )
2) Unless someone is will to pay you for every waking hour you can't count your time as a cost. Humans need relaxation, if brewing is your relaxation time it doesn't count as a cost... if it isn't your relaxation time your doing it wrong

 

[hbhudy]

Brewing is cheaper than other hobbies that would still end with me having a beer.. So net net.. A good brew is cheaper than a new golf club and green fees. And I would still get a beer afterwards

 

[brewprint]

Indeed brewing is the cheapest hobby that I have. The next cheapest is fishing and the most expensive is snowmobiling.

Wow the amount of beer that I could brew in comparison to just one boat...or just one snowmobile.

It's seriously unbelievable how cheap this hobby is compared to others.

 

[brewprint]

Love what you do. Do what you love.

 

[normonster]

Love what you do. Do what you love.

That puts like half the population home spankin off and drinking beer all day [emoji13]

 

[Transamguy77]

It is funny how whenever one of these threads come up there a 2 points which always come up why you can't save money homebrewing:

1) With all the equipment costs you'll never break even, and

2) You need to factor in your time and how much that is worth.



Both of these are rubbish, because:

1) Equipment is a capital investment - if you take care of it you will likely be able to get most of your money back if you sell it, sometimes more depending (all those guys who bought a shed-load of cornies at $20 a keg would be making a tidy profit )

2) Unless someone is will to pay you for every waking hour you can't count your time as a cost. Humans need relaxation, if brewing is your relaxation time it doesn't count as a cost... if it isn't your relaxation time your doing it wrong

I'm confused as to the point you are trying to make here, you had quoted me on my equipment costs but in my post I did say that I DO save money home brewing. I haven't spent any real money on anything in almost 3 years so all I'm paying for are ingredients.

 

[normonster]

Trany77 - I don't think he was trying to pick on you....just observing the trend.

 

[andy6026]

The one thing I never see come up in these threads is how much homebrew you give away compared to what you'd do with commercial beer.

I probably give away around 25%+ of my homebrew, which in a strict sense increases the cost of every beer I drink.

 

[davidst]

I've only been brewing for 8 months and so far I've made about 13 batches. A couple of batches ago I sat down and figured out what I pay per 6 pack and it's around $12. Now with those calculations I did include equipment, so theoretically the cost should go down, but I find that any money that I save from bulk buying base grains and hops just goes into more equipment or better equipment. I'm hoping that one day the price per 6 pack goes down; but then again I've been eyeing replacing my aluminium pots with stainless steel.

 

[mattd2]

I'm confused as to the point you are trying to make here, you had quoted me on my equipment costs but in my post I did say that I DO save money home brewing. I haven't spent any real money on anything in almost 3 years so all I'm paying for are ingredients.

Yeah sorry - was really just pulling out your post as an example of talking about equipment costs.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Save money? No. most times I go to the LHBS or purchase on line its $50 or more... If I just bought a 12pk now and then expense would be around $15. I'm not a big drinker. Home brew is something to do/create and share... I wouldn't be sharing much of the commercial beers, not that I'm not hospitable I just don't have company very often, and they don't drink much either.

 

[max384]

Between moving and a new job, I haven't brewed in seven months. Prior to that, I exclusively drank what I brewed at home, and I had been for several years. Over these last several months, I've realized just how expensive craft beer is... and I've come to realize that I DEFINITELY save money home brewing.

 

[masskrug]

The reason I started was to save some money. I shoot for $20 per batch (19L). That does save some money.

 

[alexacuna]

I haven't bought a beer besides at dinner every once in a while. Spending around $20 a week yields me 50 beers, which goes towards building up the pipeline. I'll get to slow down a bit on brewing as I get busier this spring. Most weeks when buying craft beer, I'd spend around $40 a week in beer for myself and friends.

 

[Stillraining]

Yes I save money..<20.00 for 50+ bottles of beer. I cant include my time in the equation because Its just idle time anyway...I only brew when there is nothing pressing for me to do.
Beer is running $9.59 plus tax, so around $12.00 for a 6er of craft beer at the local store right now.. That's less then 12 beers for what I can make 50 for. Am I as good as some of the craft brewers offerings... maybe, maybe not but it works for me as I can brew what I want and not limited to the distributors draconian underhandedness.
You IPA brewers are spending a ton on hops so maybe its different for you...I'm at 1oz or less per batch so its definitely cheaper to brew then to buy.

Trying out my new Vanilla Porter tonight...cant get that down town..

 

[BusterKnott]

I buy all my ingredients in bulk including hops which I buy by the pound. When all is said and done 6 gallons of beer costs roughly $27.00. Compared to the price of any beer locally (Tulsa, OK) including mass produced generic horse pee I save a LOT of money!

Further I like my own beers much more than anything I can buy including most craft beers. Equipment costs aren't really an issue either since I use stainless posts and utensils I already own for cooking. Most of my hydrometers, thermometers, grain mills, airlocks, etc. I've owned for over thirty years.

Considering my wife and kids guzzle beer like its going out of style homebrewing is the only way to go for my family!

 

[Bosh]

Save a **** ton of money considering that I have to pay $5 a bottle and up for good commercial beer in Korea. Maybe things will change when the local craft scene gets going but even then the beer tax is really high.