How much does home brewing cost?

[BadWolfBrewing]

I started with a 75 dollar kit, and did the standard progression. Carboy, ferm temp control, all grain, and then took a giant jump to a single tier electric herms. Between that, the kegerator and that stuff, and all the other costs including ingredients... maybe 5k? I don't mind, I'm pretty comfortable financially, and it keeps me busy.

I've also brewed a fair amount beer, maybe 300 gallons. So, that puts me at a little over 4 bucks a pint. The costs have slowed down and production has increased, so that number will continue to fall. Not that I care too much.

Now woodworking... there is an endless money pit. Cocaine would be cheaper.

 

[GHBWNY]

Initially, was given a complete brew equip. kit. ($150.) Bought a cheap WalMart SS kettle, hydrometer, thermometer, syphon, thief, chiller, funnels, strainer, misc. ($150.) A CL bargain on a lifetime supply of bottles ($35.) + freebies. Per/mo ingredients, crowns, sanitizer ($25.-35.) Helps getting a couple of LHBS gift cards during the year, plus the occasional brewing gift item. The rest is water and time. Have a perpetual rotation of at least 4-5 styles. Always enough on hand for me, guests and giveaways.

 

[xben]

I spent around 1000 $ for equipment & ingredients since I started 18 months ago. The only thing I did not count is the electricity. I have a spreadsheet that calculated bills and volumes produced and which show trendings/averages/ etc on graphs.

 

[Blue_State]

A loaf of bread is under $5. To bake a loaf of bread you need a $500 oven. Why buy the oven?

Because I can make a damn good loaf of bread.

 

[smccarter]

Funnily enough I have a spreadsheet just for this:

Start-up stove-top extract kit: $100
10G BIAB upgrade: $700
3-batch brew-day upgrade: $1200
Keezer & kegs: $1500
Fermentation chamber: $400
Miscellaneous: $400
Redundant equipment sales: -$600
TOTAL: $3700

But I've brewed 250 gallons (and, thanks to the keezer, bought half a dozen 5G kegs at times when the pipeline has run dry) at a savings of at least $10/gallon compared to the 6-packs I would otherwise have been buying, so my effective cost is more like $1000 and falling.

I haven't added any of my costs up. I usually buy when I want to upgrade. I have a freezer with a cheap temp controller that I use as a fermentation chamber and sometimes as a keezer. I have a mini-fridge keezer, and 9 cornie kegs. 2 Bayou Classic 8.5 gallon brew kettles, I believe 10 carboys, a couple of buckets, a 7 gallon igloo cooler, and a whole bunch of miscellaneous items. I'd say 3-4 thousand sounds about right. I've been brewing for about 12 years though, and have eased into the hobbie - from a simple extract setup (which I used for many years), to a simple all grain setup. I brew on the stove top, so I don't have a rig or any burners, etc. That saved me money.

The reality though is that I have saved money. I currently buy grain in bulk, and my per beer cost is anywhere from 30 cents to 70 cents depending on the beer that I'm brewing. The savings are very good. To purchase beer at a craft brew shop, of the same quality, I'd be spending in the neighborhood of $2 per beer. Even with all of the beer that I give away - and it's quite a bit - I still believe I'm saving a good bit of money, which goes against the cost of my equipment.

The great thing about all of this, is that it is a hobbie. I'm not looking to earn a living, or generate any type of captial. I just want to enjoy the occasional Saturday brewing beer, and the fruit of my labor is the sweet, carbonated nectar that I dispense from my chrome plated friends.

 

[gruffudd]

I'm trying not to think that much on what I've spent. Tho if I had to hazard a guess It would be around the $1,200 range. Thankfully I'm at the point were I don't really need anything more, other then building a kegorator.

 

[vincentAlpha]

Hmmm, all in probably about 500-600 for my kegging and brewing equipment. More than half of that being the kegging equipment, probably only 150-200 on my actual brew day stuff.

 

[bbohanon]

If I told you, my wife would have to kill me.

+1 with me. Started with a white elephant gift of a Mr Beer Kit. 3 years later and well over 6k later(over 10k if you factor in the cost of the shed), I am almost done with my 12x24 shed with a full Kal E-brew setup(Ventilation hood, electric panel and all).

Its a hobby that can be as expensive and shiny/complicated or as cheap and redneck rigged as you want it to be. Honestly I think the beer quality stays the same no matter what your equipment setup is as long as you follow the standard dos and dont with sanitation, keep your ferm temps right and use fresh ingredients, etc.

For me, I am targeting a few standard recipes and being able to replicate the recipes exactly the same batch to batch along with wanting to brew larger batches indoors with a bit more consistency instead of using propane/gas outdoors.

I also work in IT so I tend to go overboard with any hobby. Its a disease.

:fro:

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Fermenters and kettles is all I really have purchased besides a few small things like hydrometer and capper, funnel ect. Already had burners and an 8 gallon pot to start. So probably around 200 or so. My batch's run 15 to 20 dollars depending on the style. That is pretty cheap beer.

 

[kpr121]

The great thing about all of this, is that it is a hobbie. .

Amen to that!

I'm not looking to earn a living, or generate any type of captial. I just want to enjoy the occasional Saturday brewing beer, and the fruit of my labor is the sweet, carbonated nectar that I dispense from my chrome plated friends.

This is where I lost you. Sounds like you need to upgrade to SS faucets

 

[kpr121]

I would estimate I have spent ~5k in brewing equipment in the past 2 years (this is including the electric setup I just put in my basement, which is most of that cost).

How much of that is sunk in equipment I will never use, and how much of that was wasted is different numbers. I can tell you for sure I would not have built an electric brewery capable of producing 15 gallon batches right away, so the standard starter kit was the way to go. All of the other upgrades seemed to have happened naturally, with keezers and fermentation chambers and electric brewing. In the beginning, there was no way to know brewing would become an obsession (in retrospect, that was stupid) and no one wants to drop 2k on a brewing setup and not like to brew!

Theres a good message in here for new brewers (and echoed by most responses in this thread)…. Don’t go dropping a ton of money into brewing until you’re sure that you’re going to be obsessed (you know it when it happens). Sure, if you end up not liking homebrewing you can sell off all/most of your stuff (email me, I’m always looking for a good deal!).

I went through about an 8 month hiatus where I couldn’t brew due to my living arrangements last year. Keep in mind this is after I spent the $2K (not to mention the DIY bar that I built in the old house that I found out got torn down for a ‘photography studio’ – ugh). I had serious thoughts that I would never brew again. Didn’t miss it. Had other hobbies that kept me busy. Drank a lot of yuengling and PBR. We got into the new house last fall and I’m back to the brewing-obsession with a vengeance.

Many people would agree that the best approach at throwing money into this hobby is to understand what purchases will either a. make your beer better, b. make your brewing experience easier, or c. make your setup cool/blingy/awesome/show-worthy. In. That. Order.

Everyone knows how they would address c. but you gotta have some experience under your belt (with some help/tips from friends here at HBT and other resources) before you know how to address a. and b.

 

[smccarter]

Amen to that!



This is where I lost you. Sounds like you need to upgrade to SS faucets

Oh no... another upgrade... It's always something.

 

[Happywanderer]

Unlike others, I don't count the cost of equipment into the cost of homebrewing a beer.

Because I consider it money well spent.

I only look at the cost per bottle per recipe.

Right now I average about ... $.75-$1.00 per bottle. And that ain't shabby when I'm cranking out brew that would sell for dubble or tripel that (see what I did there).

As I perfect my technique and harvest more yeast, I'll drive that down a bit. I am also toying with buying hops in bulk for the stuff I use a lot (EKG, Cascade, Fuggles, Nugget). And once I get a grain mill I'll be buying base malts in bulk... another cost saver. I'd like to see $.65-$.75 average costs....

 

[Peruvian802]

Because I can make a damn good loaf of bread.

Precisely!

 

[EuBrew]

I wouldn't be surprised if I was above the $4k mark. That puts my per batch cost in the several hundred dollar range at this point but I have pretty much everything I need to really work on consistency and banging out killer beers when I find time.

 

[Culinarytracker]

Easy, $200 per month.

That is the budget I can afford, and I am having no problem keeping up with it.

Actually though, I had a couple months that came close to the $500 mark, but that got my entire kegging setup, and chest freezer. There is quite a bit of money left to spend. I plan on getting:
Another chest freezer/temp controller for fermentation chamber,
Stainless shanks and perlick flow control faucets once I build my collar,
a 10 gallon 3 vessel system (got a good lead on craigs list for under a thousand)
More kegs
Portable keg system (keg coat, ice blanket, tiny regulator and paintball co2)
Waterproof handheld thermometer with a couple k probes.

After that I'm sure there will be more, but as has been said many times, this is a hobby and it makes me (and my friends) happy.

 

[Clonefan94]

I have all of my receipts somewhere, but last count I was in around $700. That included retrofitting my kegerator to 3 taps and ball locks, 5 - 5 gallon kegs, 2 - 2.5 gallon kegs and the equipment I use to brew.

I've thought multiple times of really diving in and building an automated brewing rig, but I always talk myself out of it after I brew because what I have does the job so well now.

 

[Calder]

I've kept detail costs. One of the aims of this hobby for me is to make excellent beer that will stand against some of the best craft beers for low cost.

I'm currently around $3600 for everything, and produced about 8000 bottes, and probably have everything I need for another 1000. Less than 50 cents a bottle.

For ingredients only, I'm probably about 30 cents a bottle, for my average 1.060 beer.

 

[glick]

Along my journey to e-brewing I have spent entirely too much money!!!

 

[Onkel_Udo]

It only costs you most of your soul.

 

[BeefsBeer]

Im pumping out 3 gallon BIAB with maybe $400 in equipmment including 2 3 gallon corneys

 

[paperairplane]

It costs all the money.

 

[uncleleon]

Hobbies cost more than consumption. Always. Just factor in your wage per hour. There have been many articles on this that were very uninformative to me.

Just to be an ass../ mix a Pliny with a pbr. Do you not get the same craft hop sensory as you would from each on its own?

IMHO brewing is frugal by nature, not to say you are trying to make the cheapest beer, but that you are trying to get the most out of the ingredients you have.

That being said, what price can you place on the knowledge?

 

[BigFloyd]

If I told you, my wife would have to kill me.

Same here. I make a lot of my own gear and on the cheap as much as possible, but it does add up.

 

[lilbova3]

I ordered a homebrewing starter kit from Midwest Supplies which was around $99. I've added a few other things for brewing along the way that might total $100. Obviously need a kettle, found a 7.5 gallon stainless steel one for $60 (I brew in a bag and only make 3 gallon batches or smaller). Use to do my boil on the kitchen stove until a bought a turkey fryer for Thanksgiving, so now I use that for my boils. That was $60 plus propane costs. I order ingredients from Midwest as well and usually spend around $100 worth of ingredients plus shipping can be anywhere from $30-$40. So after initial cost brews usually average between $1-$1.50. Wash your yeast and reuse it for 10 batches or so. That's one cost saver. Enjoy homebrewing. You'll love it!

 

[BigFloyd]

The truth is that, unless you make lots of beer and buy your ingredients in bulk, you're not really saving money by homebrewing. I do it because it's a cool, creative hobby that allows me to make stuff that's better tasting than much of what's available commercially and then share it with friends.

 

[Grossy]

I would say that the moment you stop buying equipment is when you start to save huge dollars when brewing.

My beers cost about $3.00 a six pack.

 

[Kharnynb]

About 100 euro's for a basic set and a 25l kettle for another 50.

Christmas handled most of the raw ingredients so far.

 

[kpr121]

The truth is that, unless you make lots of beer and buy your ingredients in bulk, you're not really saving money by homebrewing.

I don't agree with this. If your diligent about not buying the bling you can make 2 cases worth of excellent beer that's comparable to what people pay 50 or more a case for. As mentioned multiple times on here Equipment costs can be as low as 100 bucks. Meaning you can recoup your costs in as little as two batches.


If your five gallon batches cost more than 50 bucks your just doing it wrong.

 

[1977Brewer]

I don't agree with this. If your diligent about not buying the bling you can make 2 cases worth of excellent beer that's comparable to what people pay 50 or more a case for. As mentioned multiple times on here Equipment costs can be as low as 100 bucks. Meaning you can recoup your costs in as little as two batches.


If your five gallon batches cost more than 50 bucks your just doing it wrong.

Truths. I'm about $100 in equipment and I have a stout shopped out for my next batch at $27.00. Making beer is a much cheaper hobby than drinking it.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

If you can stick to extract kits and bottling, your wife will never complain

 

[BHebert]

Bought the ingredients for two five gallon all grain batches today, along with a gross of caps and a hydrometer. Spent $52.

 

[1977Brewer]

If you can stick to extract kits and bottling, your wife will never complain

Extract costs twice what you can make with all grain.

BIAB single vessel, and bottle in old soda bottles. Temp control with a swamp cooler and a light bulb run by your kids with a forehead thermometer. Now your recouping some cash. Basically free beer.

 

[HawleyFarms]

Probably can say I have spent less than $500 so far. That is with equipment, ingredients etc.

And I have a 7 gallon pail, 6.5 gallon carboy, 3 gallon carboy, and 2- 1 gallon test batch carboys. Turned an old dresser/wardrobe into a fermenting/bottling/storage station. Use the wardrobe part for storing cases of bottles and bottling equipment like siphons. Top drawer has all sorts of stuff: oak chips, specialty grains, dme, corks and corker, caps and capper, cleaning supplies, etc.

Bottom three drawers I am using for wine bottle storage right now.
I keep all my hops vacuumed in the freezer.

It sure helps having your own farm for fruits for wine, a good connection for free 5 gallon buckets of honey, we boil our own maple syrup, I saved probably eight cases of woodchuck and sam adams bottles, and a local hop grower trades me a pound of hops for a gallon of beer.

So all in all, I probably would have spent about $2000 but with good connections $500 sure helps convince my wife that its a cheaper hobby than expected.

 

[Hamaki]

Seems like some take an unusual approach when answering this question. I estimate I've spent about $1,000 - $1,200 to date for gear. I could continue brewing with the equipment I have for a long time but projects I have in mind will run probably another $2,500 or so. If I assume a 5 year life span for the gear I have at 200 gallons per year that comes out to $5 - $6 per batch.

Considering ingredients & power I spend roughly $20 - $25 per 5 gal batch.

The state says the bottles I saved from beer I bought are worth a nickel each. I think I can easily get an average of five uses per bottle before breakage, non-return or dried on gunk take their toll. This adds about 50 cents per five gallon batch.

I've seen some argue that my time has value and that I'll never come out ahead making my own beer. I'm salaried so I get paid the same no matter how many hours I work. If I spread my salary evenly over 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and assume that all my time has equal value, a five gallon batch costs me about $86 for 8 hours. It's a good thing I don't brew every day or I'd never be able to afford it.

 

[xcnxgh]

I got extremely lucky... my Dad gave up brewing/drinking, so I got everything I needed for free, carboys, kettles, bottles, hoses, campden tabs, hop bags, caps, bench capper, etc. etc.

 

[Reisende]

WOW... this is a can of worms!

I have been brewing for all of 13-14 months, and I have spent close to $1,500. I am also about to drop and additional $1000 to finish building my new AG system. So yeah, put me in the "wife commits homicide" group.

 

[Grossy]

WOW... this is a can of worms!

I have been brewing for all of 13-14 months, and I have spent close to $1,500. I am also about to drop and additional $1000 to finish building my new AG system. So yeah, put me in the "wife commits homicide" group.

Reisende has been infected with the obsession. Welcome.

 

[Rotor_Head]

About 600$ for the first purchase. That bought me a starter kit that came with everything you need to start brewing except a kettler, an ~8 gallon kettle with ball valve and good thermometer, a good copper wert cooler, 2 boxes of 22oz bottles, and a red ale LME kit. After that, I inherited a CO2 tank and regulator and a spare carboy. 100$ later I got some sampling equipment and carboy handles. Then a horse feeder to make an ice bath to speed cooling. Admittedly, it ain't cheap.

 

[Blue_State]

WOW... this is a can of worms!

I have been brewing for all of 13-14 months, and I have spent close to $1,500. I am also about to drop and additional $1000 to finish building my new AG system. So yeah, put me in the "wife commits homicide" group.

My wife found the new kegs I ordered this weekend. One was brand new. I explained that the new one was for her soda because she would hate using a used keg. She is pumped about the new keg and is wondering if we are going to need a bigger kreezer than planned.

This may turn out well.