How cheap can homebrew be!

[bracconiere]

So sitting here wondering how much i saved back in 2016 on drinking by making my own...Bored and looked it up, just goes to show you, how cheap a person can be, if so inclined!

One of those txt is html, prettyer that way, and that was all real food, i included that here for fun!

I am the cheapest m'fkr i've ever met!

yes i drank ~222.8 grams of alcohol a day on avg, so figure the standard beer has 13.9g

 

[Gnomebrewer]

The cheapest beer I make is Australian lager:
For 5 gallons it can be as cheap as - 5lbs of grain (all base malt), 1lb of sugar, 6g of Super Pride hops. I reuse yeast. Cost of ingredients (not including sanitiser/salts/acid/CO2/electricity etc.) is about 6.20AUD (about 4.10USD), or about 10 cents US per pint!

 

[bracconiere]

The cheapest beer I make is Australian lager:
For 5 gallons it can be as cheap as - 5lbs of grain (all base malt), 1lb of sugar, 6g of Super Pride hops. I reuse yeast. Cost of ingredients (not including sanitiser/salts/acid/CO2/electricity etc.) is about 6.20AUD (about 4.10USD), or about 10 cents US per pint!

What's your OG, and FG? or ABV? I've actually gone back to 'buying' malt after 3.5 years, so i'm going to have to start spending 1k a year...still not bad...20lb's pale gets me a 10 gal batch of 8+% with 50 cents of gluco-amylase....

i've never thought about how much i spend on co2, $27 a year...but i do write it down as an alcohol expenditure.

(this is in 'drunken rambling', right? lol)

 

[day_trippr]

Do you factor in all the dumpers?

 

[bleme]

If you spund you can save a bit of CO2, but there is a guy on YouTube (CodysLab) that has some videos on how to capture and compress your own CO2. Capture all your gas from fermenting and you'd never have to buy CO2 again...

 

[bracconiere]

Do you factor in all the dumpers?

hey now, i never had any 'dumpers' before i started talking stupid here! and no, i make whiskey out of them! and they go into the liquor cabinet...

 

[bracconiere]

If you spund you can save a bit of CO2, but there is a guy on YouTube (CodysLab) that has some videos on how to capture and compress your own CO2. Capture all your gas from fermenting and you'd never have to buy CO2 again...

damn, and seriously i was just trying to figure out a way to post a NileRed video on making alcohol....


(and on a more serious note, i have been thinking of naturally carb'ing my kegs. but for $27 a year, not important. making my own and saving 4k is more then 27)

 

[Gnomebrewer]

What's your OG, and FG? or ABV?

Typically about 1.039 to 1.003 for 4.6%ABV, which is in the normal range for an Aussie lager.

 

[govner1]

I don’t brew to save money but to make the best beers I can. Otherwise I’d just buy some ABINBEV crap.

 

[bracconiere]

Typically about 1.039 to 1.003 for 4.6%ABV, which is in the normal range for an Aussie lager.

i brew 8% Brüt APA, just so i don't have to brew more then once a week....

I don’t brew to save money but to make the best beers I can. Otherwise I’d just buy some ABINBEV crap.

LOL, i know this, that's the reason i made the thread!

most people are obsessed with how good it is, presumably to charge more. and i brew to save the $4,000 a year on drinking....

(and also, i do my best not to support cartels. seems like from when i started making my own InBev(AmBev) has acquired everyone, for a 'seat' on the board, Budweiser, Laugunitas, Miller, Coors....EVERYONE!)

I just sip my drink and thank the 'god in heaven', he made alcohol so easy to make, poor, rich, (stupid people, like me), or even a Muslim buying suspicious amounts of apple juice in saudi arabia....

edit 4k would be like 30% of my income....to save 30% of my income i'll force feed a super model AB/InBev and drink her urine....(which is like unicorn piss right? my brand! )

edit 2: not to be a run on, but i just brewed a porter(sorta), got enough dark malt, anyone could make it 'good', 9.6% alcohol $23, 10 gallons!

 

[Jayjay1976]

....to save 30% of my income i'll force feed a super model AB/InBev and drink her urine....(which is like unicorn piss right? my brand! )

Um, what now?

 

[itsnotrequired]

across 50 or so batches, i'm averaging about $0.61 a pint. that's just ingredients but includes little stuff like brewing salts. i make a lot of high gravity and hoppy beers so that drives the price up. what's not included is co2, that is a bit tricky as i make a decent amount of club soda so not all the co2 is for beer. i've spent $95 on co2 over those 50 batches and even if all of it made its way into the beer, it is only an extra $0.02/pint or $0.63/pint.

factor in equipment and it is a bit different, more like $4.25 a pint. i went 'all in' about four years ago so that equipment costs includes a new electric brew system, kettles, kegs, six-tap keezer, conical, glycol chiller, ro/di water system, etc. and that is EVERYTHING, including consumables like pbw/starsan, screws for the brew table, sandpaper for prepping the brew panel for paint, you name it. of course, much of that equipment cost is up-front and will last for years so that average cost per pint will keep dropping. for example, i was averaging $5.50 per pint at this time last year and almost $7.50 per pint in august 2017.

 

[bracconiere]

Um, what now?

LOL

 

[DVCNick]

You guys have to tell me where I'm doing this wrong. I do track costs as close as reasonably possible, just because there's no reason to spend money where I don't have to. So I always hear people talking about how super-cheap their brews are, but rarely do they provide details.

I don't count equipment, just consumables. I guess I could go back and try to amortize a piece of equipment over the number of batches once a wear a hole in the kettle or something, but for now, no. Here is how my most recent 5gal batch of my most often-brewed beer breaks down. It is a Two Hearted style beer:

Grain: 13.5 lb total, $14.37 (and this was with base malt on sale)
Hops: 6 oz centennial, $8.22
Yeast: $1.80 in DME for the starter, recycled yeast
Propane: $5.00
Misc: $5.00 (assigned for stuff that is almost impossible to track accurately: Star San, PBW, water, electricity, salts, campden, water filters, whatever)

Total: $35.14 for the batch. Per "6 pack": $4.22 (less than half the cost of Two Hearted). Per Pint: $0.94.

I don't see an easy place to pull out cost without getting grain or hops super cheap somewhere, or plumbing an extra natural gas line out to my burner.... but those who are brewing 10 cent pints, show me the way! (yes, I do have cheaper recipes that use less hops)

 

[bracconiere]

You guys have to tell me where I'm doing this wrong. I do track costs as close as reasonably possible, just because there's no reason to spend money where I don't have to. So I always hear people talking about how super-cheap their brews are, but rarely do they provide details.

I don't count equipment, just consumables. I guess I could go back and try to amortize a piece of equipment over the number of batches once a wear a hole in the kettle or something, but for now, no. Here is how my most recent 5gal batch of my most often-brewed beer breaks down. It is a Two Hearted style beer:

Grain: 13.5 lb total, $14.37 (and this was with base malt on sale)
Hops: 6 oz centennial, $8.22
Yeast: $1.80 in DME for the starter, recycled yeast
Propane: $5.00
Misc: $5.00 (assigned for stuff that is almost impossible to track accurately: Star San, PBW, water, electricity, salts, campden, water filters, whatever)

Total: $35.14 for the batch. Per "6 pack": $4.22 (less than half the cost of Two Hearted). Per Pint: $0.94.

I don't see an easy place to pull out cost without getting grain or hops super cheap somewhere, or plumbing an extra natural gas line out to my burner.... but those who are brewing 10 cent pints, show me the way! (yes, I do have cheaper recipes that use less hops)

i don't brew IPA's, buy year old, sometimes two, from YVH. But as @day_trippr said, my standards are low...to me my bar is milwaukee's best 'ice'....And i can honestly say, my homebrew is better AND cheaper! (i've been slacking and buying store bought, still this is a pic of my last batch....

so 23.07 for 10 gals, works out to (corrected for alcohol content), well hell there's 13.9g's in a standard beer...my brain hurts, lol


edit: and honestly, don't they want $10 for a six pack these days! you're still winning....

 

[itsnotrequired]

it will be pretty tough to get down to $0.10 a pint with any decent amount of hopping or higher alcohol. bulk hops is a huge cost saver, it isn't uncommon for a pound package to cost half the equivalent of eight 2 oz pouches. i'm on electric which is significantly cheaper than propane. if on propane, try to find a bulk fill place, cheaper than buying individual cylinders.

 

[bleme]

Grain: 13.5 lb total, $14.37 (and this was with base malt on sale)
Hops: 6 oz centennial, $8.22
Yeast: $1.80 in DME for the starter, recycled yeast
Propane: $5.00
Misc: $5.00 (assigned for stuff that is almost impossible to track accurately: Star San, PBW, water, electricity, salts, campden, water filters, whatever)

I get my base malt in whole sacks, 50 lbs for $35. Also HopsDirect has Centennial on sale right now for $2/lb! You can really save a lot by shopping sales and buying in bulk.

https://hopsdirect.com/collections/hop-sale

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I don't see an easy place to pull out cost without getting grain or hops super cheap somewhere, or plumbing an extra natural gas line out to my burner.... but those who are brewing 10 cent pints, show me the way! (yes, I do have cheaper recipes that use less hops)

My 10c pints definitely aren't for IPA - it's gold old Aussie lager, which would have to be about the cheapest beer in the world to produce. Base malt only and a hefty dose of table sugar (1.039OG), a small sprinkling of bittering hops only and recycled yeast. And I did say I wasn't including all those extras, which would roughly double the cost to an exorbitant 20c per pint.

As per others, making beer 'cheap' isn't my primary goal. I happen to like Aussie lager so I normally keep one on tap. I also enjoy the challenge of making a pale, low gravity lager where off flavours have nowhere to hide - being cheap is a bonus. I don't like IPA, so I don't brew them.

It looks to me like your biggest opportunities for saving are buying bulk grain (I get all my base malts in full sacks - they're about 50AUD/35USD per sack) and going electric rather than using bottled gas. It's only worth it if you brew a lot though. I also think you're overestimating your miscellaneous costs (unless you're using a lot of stuff).

 

[bracconiere]

As per others, making beer 'cheap' isn't my primary goal.(...) being cheap is a bonus. I don't like IPA, so I don't brew them.

and i've never really met too many other homebrewers....and have always obsessed with the cheapest possible brew! the beauty of DIY, is you get to do it the way YOU want. If i want GOOD beer, AND cheap...i'll throw a couple pounds of black patent in it....


(the opposite of a light beer! lol, one where ever off-flavor is drowned out )



been obsessing with cheap beer, since ~2005, telling myself another 5 cents saved, having a great time doing it!

 

[Jayjay1976]

I never used to keep track of what I spent on beer before I started brewing, and I've lost track of my spending on ingredients, gear, etc. So it's pretty hard to say if I've actually saved any money, but even if I assume the costs were equal I'm having a LOT more fun now than I was then and the beer is for the most part better than the crap I used to buy. TBH, I've been having a hard time finding commercial beers I like at a price I'm willing to pay.

 

[bracconiere]

I'm having a LOT more fun now than I was then and the beer is for the most part better than the crap I used to buy.

+1, and not having to feel less then someone else is GREAT! (free-thinking, and all that other good stuff!)

 

[Transamguy77]

You guys have to tell me where I'm doing this wrong. I do track costs as close as reasonably possible, just because there's no reason to spend money where I don't have to. So I always hear people talking about how super-cheap their brews are, but rarely do they provide details.

I don't count equipment, just consumables. I guess I could go back and try to amortize a piece of equipment over the number of batches once a wear a hole in the kettle or something, but for now, no. Here is how my most recent 5gal batch of my most often-brewed beer breaks down. It is a Two Hearted style beer:

Grain: 13.5 lb total, $14.37 (and this was with base malt on sale)
Hops: 6 oz centennial, $8.22
Yeast: $1.80 in DME for the starter, recycled yeast
Propane: $5.00
Misc: $5.00 (assigned for stuff that is almost impossible to track accurately: Star San, PBW, water, electricity, salts, campden, water filters, whatever)

Total: $35.14 for the batch. Per "6 pack": $4.22 (less than half the cost of Two Hearted). Per Pint: $0.94.

I don't see an easy place to pull out cost without getting grain or hops super cheap somewhere, or plumbing an extra natural gas line out to my burner.... but those who are brewing 10 cent pints, show me the way! (yes, I do have cheaper recipes that use less hops)

Bulk, bulk and more bulk! Buy all your grains in bulk even if you only need a pound buy 10 (most places it’s cheaper to buy 10 and unmilled) you’ll eventually use it. Hops same just buy by the pound, and whole leaf can be cheaper especially at the end of the year. Reuse and wash yeast whenever possible or if you make a starter make a really big one and save some of that.

Doing that most of my 10 gallon batches I could make for $38-45 including propane. Usually make pales and IPA’s with some Ambers and Stouts.

I am also at the point (and have been for 5 or 6 years now) that I haven’t had to buy any equipment so I don’t have those costs to include anymore.

 

[bracconiere]

and whole leaf can be cheaper especially at the end of the year.

i'll have to check this tip out next time i'm buying a few pounds, thanks! (but i would have to spend on a bigger hop bag though, lol )

 

[DVCNick]

Good thoughts guys, thanks. Bracon, your grain prices are actually quite similar to what I've been paying so far.

Looks like I'll need to be on the lookout for hop sales.

I agree $5.00 for "misc" is probably on the upper end of reality, but that was intentional.

Propane is probably the thing I can look to eventually. I brew out in my garage with a gas water heater right there; I understand it is possible to tap off that line with a soft hose and that would be far cheaper than bottled propane. Or go electric eventually. For now Costco is the cheapest propane I've found. Home depot: $20 for a swap and you get about 15lb in the 20lb tank. Costco fills your tank by weight, puts a full 20lb in, and costs about 15$ if I recall. I'm getting about 4 batches off a FULL tank I think, so $5.00 might be a bit on the high side as well.

 

[DVCNick]

I hadn't thought of this until right now, but I wonder if it would be possible to get some kind of filter to put right on the water heater and draw strike and sparge water directly off the water heater. It should be coming out of there at near strike temp already; that would save like half the propane I normally use heating it up from room temp.

 

[bleme]

I hadn't thought of this until right now, but I wonder if it would be possible to get some kind of filter to put right on the water heater and draw strike and sparge water directly off the water heater. It should be coming out of there at near strike temp already; that would save like half the propane I normally use heating it up from room temp.

Hot water shortens the lifespan of water filters considerably for some reason.

 

[itsnotrequired]

carbon filter efficiency drops with increasing temp. some of the cheaper filters have issues where binding agents (glue) and other materials used to hold the carbon in place start to break down at higher temps. the membranes in ro filters can be damaged with higher temps.

 

[bracconiere]

I hadn't thought of this until right now, but I wonder if it would be possible to get some kind of filter to put right on the water heater and draw strike and sparge water directly off the water heater. It should be coming out of there at near strike temp already; that would save like half the propane I normally use heating it up from room temp.

most hot water heaters have a hose connection...and i use this hose filter for my water...

https://www.ebay.com/i/331878213607...9Rowp4qfKcF_2ppiS4LoTm8bXoB_kj3BoCG8EQAvD_BwE

not sure about using with hot water though.....

 

[bleme]

most hot water heaters have a hose connection...not sure about using with hot water though.....

I use the hose connection all the time to wash bottles but you can only use sediment filters on hot water, nothing that would remove chlorine.

 

[bracconiere]

I use the hose connection all the time to wash bottles but you can only use sediment filters on hot water, nothing that would remove chlorine.

ahhh, good to know....

Bracon, your grain prices are actually quite similar to what I've been paying so far.

to be fair, this is what i was drinking in 2016. i only recently went back to buying malt, instead of malting my own....

and actually, i got the cost of my homemalt lower then that eventually, like .30 or so.....(but i started buying a lot of fun toys for brewing so i actually spent more on drinking....lol) all in all though it depends on your priorities, you can make a $10 6 pack that wins competitions, or you can make 8.888888 twelve packs for $10, that only you will love!