Homebrew Talk

Help Support Homebrew Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Willy

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Apr 7, 2024
Messages
645
Reaction score
1,457
Location
Charlotte NC
So about a year ago I decided it was time to level and go with kegs in lieu of bottles. Of course, I had to justify the move with some "math". Haha.

If I drink about 6 beers a day (includes friends stopping by but not parties) that comes out to $84 per week (at $12 a six pack - I like the good stuff). Over a year - that works out to $4368 and on that I will add $950 for parties... So basically commercial beer is costly me over 5 grand a year!!!

So, of course - this becomes my budget for moving to kegs. Keezer, homebuilt at about $1400. Kegs, $40 a pop used, gas manifold - 6 taps, $130, co2 tanks and gas, faucets ... Etc etc. Homebrew math is slow to include all the knick knack stuff. It makes the numbers work out better. Hahaha.

For me to brew my own 5 g batch... I am looking at $30 for grains, $5 for yeast, etc etc ... (Again, don't really work at finding the true cost)... In the end, I am making my beers at about $1.11 per 12 oz serving size. Saving $0.89 per bottle.

Now, the Homebrewer moves to fantasy math... So... If I keep drinking at the same rate - I am saving about 25 grand over 10 years.

Is anyone else playing internal mind games with math that says - yeah!!! Making Homebrewer really saves me money. Hahahaha
 
i love that math.

in liquid terms i spend less than 50 per month in beer . i drink about 4 gallons a month and a 5 gallon batch at the very most costs me 50$. lots of very fresh hops and two smack packs and imported malt. still prolly less than 50.

in hardware i seem to always be spending too much money .
 
i love that math.

in liquid terms i spend less than 50 per month in beer . i drink about 4 gallons a month and a 5 gallon batch at the very most costs me 50$. lots of very fresh hops and two smack packs and imported malt. still prolly less than 50.

in hardware i seem to always be spending too much money .
Homebrew math allows you to spread the cost of any equipment over its expected life. So, a stainless steel fermenters cost less than 1¢ per year because they last forever. Ha.
 
Beer is expensive here. 30-odd years ago the taxes on beer led to mass-smuggling and the opening of my LHBS. BTW; I'm in Canada..specifically; Ontario, where the cost of beer was actually a provincial election issue many years ago. Granted I am very picky about what beers I find palatable. The cheapest beer I can buy costs greater than twice per volume than my closest (and still 'Better') homebrew equivalent. With my injury on the job in Canada in 2014 reducing me to near-poverty for life, I can't afford to buy good beer but I can afford to make it. I suppose I'm pulling a psychological twist on myself with equipment costs: I look upon the building of my own gear and the expense of it's parts as "therapy", both neurological to try and relearn what I lost to brain-injury, and physical in the relearning of my formerly wide skill set and lost dexterity. Technically; the only expense I regard as 'Brewing Cost' is the ingredients and the extra electical and water costs.
 
Beer is expensive here. 30-odd years ago the taxes on beer led to mass-smuggling and the opening of my LHBS. BTW; I'm in Canada..specifically; Ontario, where the cost of beer was actually a provincial election issue many years ago. Granted I am very picky about what beers I find palatable. The cheapest beer I can buy costs greater than twice per volume than my closest (and still 'Better') homebrew equivalent. With my injury on the job in Canada in 2014 reducing me to near-poverty for life, I can't afford to buy good beer but I can afford to make it. I suppose I'm pulling a psychological twist on myself with equipment costs: I look upon the building of my own gear and the expense of it's parts as "therapy", both neurological to try and relearn what I lost to brain-injury, and physical in the relearning of my formerly wide skill set and lost dexterity. Technically; the only expense I regard as 'Brewing Cost' is the ingredients and the extra electical and water costs.
I am gonna use the "therapy" benefits as part of my pricing models. Thanks!
 
I am gonna use the "therapy" benefits as part of my pricing models. Thanks!
None of us are getting any younger. Barring injury, one should always plan for the consequences of aging and adopt both physical and cognitive exercises to maintain mind and body to maximize enjoyment of faculties, thus: Quality of Life while we have them.
Every homebrewer, especially those approaching or past middle-age can justly use that as a plausible excuse for the hardware expense.
;)
 
None of us are getting any younger. Barring injury, one should always plan for the consequences of aging and adopt both physical and cognitive exercises to maintain mind and body to maximize enjoyment of faculties, thus: Quality of Life while we have them.
Every homebrewer, especially those approaching or past middle-age can justly use that as a plausible excuse for the hardware expense.
;)
very well said crow!
 
By using Beersmith, I can actually track all my ingredient expenditures. This past year was 200 gallons for $550 - less than the cost of Hamms.

Do I hand-wave my equipment costs? You bet I do! Mostly because the controller cost $25 11 years ago, the "new" keggle setup cost $120 6 years ago, and the new keezer setup was closer to $500 (excluding the 3x larger upright freezer I was replaced with) 5 years ago.

So I've taken all that money I've saved... and started trapshooting again. Easy come, easier go.
 
My math is always fuzzy, but my wife figures, me making/drinking beer in my own home is a hell of alot cheaper than me sitting in a bar and or getting tossed in the hoosegow for DWI, that being said, I'm closer to 70 than sixty, brewing is something I can do when I dont feel like climbing into.my boat- and in the spirit of thos thread,if I do the math, even my fuzzy math makes brewing a bargain compared to what I spend/ have spent on my fising gear and the related hobby
 
Now all we need is some links to some medical papers about hobbies keeping dementia away and we've got ourselves the first thread I can share with my wife...

"I know I don't NEED any more beer, that's not why I brew. I'm just trying to keep my brain healthy for as long as I can."

hobbies reduce the risk of dimentia:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10409527/

much closer to home, beer prevents Alzheimer's! :

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6682961/

"In summary, regular beer consumption could constitute a non-invasive preventive measure for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, since it is effective in reducing the aluminum body load, as well as in alleviating the mineral homeostasis imbalance in the brain and the pro-oxidant and pro-inflammatory effects induced by that metal."
 
hobbies reduce the risk of dimentia:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10409527/

much closer to home, beer prevents Alzheimer's! :

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6682961/

"In summary, regular beer consumption could constitute a non-invasive preventive measure for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, since it is effective in reducing the aluminum body load, as well as in alleviating the mineral homeostasis imbalance in the brain and the pro-oxidant and pro-inflammatory effects induced by that metal."
So if I follow I’m at genius level. 🤣🤣🤣
 
You can further reduce your cost per batch by buying grains in bulk, 50 or 55 lb sacks, and by re-using your yeast when possible.

I don’t drink beer every day. On the days I do it varies. And it depends on what I’m drinking. But usually not more than 3 or 4. Counting everything - homebrew and bought beer.

Cost per batch is also going to vary by what you’re brewing. Barleywine, Old Ale, Imperial stout is going to be more to brew. But you also “save” more, as some of those beers are $15-$19 for a 4 pack. I love barrel aged stuff and have been into those the last few years.
 
Last edited:
the hardware expense.
Yes, well, if I rolled all that (divided by years of service based on my life expectancy) into the cost of my beer, well... Not the math I want, so I can use creative accounting.

My kegging costs all get attributed to the real estate part of my money thoughts, cuz we moved to a one level home and lost the beer (and wine) cellar storage for bottles.

That helps, but then there's malt mill motorization ($till a failure), keggle-to-kettle upgrade, glass-to-Flex+ fermenter upgrade, (that's just the recent major items) not to mention various little $50+ bits that just seemed necessary. It's a f'in' hobby, okay?!

So, how does that compare to buying commercial beer? The math gets better as the prices rise for commercial beer I would drink.
 
I can make hop water, ~$8 for a 5-gallon batch. That’s 50 servings of 12 oz., so $0.16 each. Commercial prices can top $2/can.

And mine is better.

I go through a couple of gallons of hop water a week. If that were beer, then sure I’d save a ton of money at first, but not enough to cover the eventual $900k liver transplant.
 
I have pretty much all the brewing gear I need, at least all the major stuff.

That leaves me with the occasional gadgets I buy, and of course, brew ingredients.

I suppose I could keep a running tally of purchases from online brew suppliers and Amazon, but I really don't keep track. If I did it'd probably shock me.

So I do this mental flow-chart thing instead:
1. Do I get to brew whenever I want?
2. Do I enjoy my home brews?
3. Do I still have money in the bank to pay bills?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Then I'm good to go. Brew on.
 
It's an enjoyable hobby that requires an investment. I know people that hunt who spend a lot more on their hobby than I do brewing beer.
Yeah, no joke.

I stopped looking at "payback" period a few years back because, just like my mortgage, the term seems to just be getting farther and farther out.
 
Yeah, no joke.

I stopped looking at "payback" period a few years back because, just like my mortgage, the term seems to just be getting farther and farther out.
Its a hobby. Not a job. We do our hobbies because we enjoy them. We do our jobs for money to pay our bills and get by. When a hobby becomes a job it becomes work and stops being fun. If it was fun it would be called play, not work. Enjoy your hobby, spend what you want to or what you can on it. And enjoy it as a diversion from your work. Keep work and play seperate.
 
I really don't keep track. If I did it'd probably shock me.
I stopped looking at "payback" period
I do keep track. If I exclude equipment, my beer costs me about $1.05 per 12 ounce pour, lately. A decade ago, it was more like $0.75.

If I include equipment buys (except kegging, which I conveniently attribute to downsizing to a home that lacks a beer/wine cellar), that kinda doubles -- ouch!
 
I've never really looked at "payback". I started leveling up my brewery a few years ago in anticipation of retirement when I won't be able to afford the hardware. At that point, It'll be just be ingredient cost. So depending on how much the wife and I glurk, I'll probably be able to save over buying commercial.
 
Back
Top