How would you go cheap?

[joshpooh]

I can think of so many ways to look at the economics of homebrewing, and some ways it seems like a bargain and some it seems like a ripoff. If you consider your time into the cost the price of your homebrew would be ridiculous. Think about it, you have the brew day, racking to secondary, bottling. I consider this an enjoyable hobby, other than bottling and even that isn't too bad so time is no consideration for me.

If you consider what you spend on equiptment, plus ingredients as compared to what you would spend on a comparable beer, it won't take you too long to be ahead of the game as long as your setup isn't too fancy. My problem looking at things this way is I give away so much beer because friends are interested in trying my beer. So I have to basically say I'm producing about 75% of what I really produce to account for the cost of what I give away.

The best way to look at it is as a hobby. This makes it dirt cheap. Think about it, you would spend so much more playing a round of golf and have nothing to show for it at the end of the day. Brewing an AG batch is a full day worth of entertainment, and eventually you get some great beer to drink. I don't think it gets much better than that.

 

[javedian]

I got into homebrewing in college - I couldn't stomach cheap macro frat swill, but couldn't afford too much premium beer. I didn't skimp on ingredients, but brewed to my taste and was able to have more beer for the $. Now, having gone all grain with minimal equip, I still brew for quality, but cash is still very tight.

One way to (slightly) reduce costs is to brew with sugar. I can get palm sugar and unrefined Mexican sugar locally for cheap. Cost per point of gravity is about 1/2 of grain, and significantly less than LME or DME. Using 10-20% adds some complexity (if the sugar has flavor, not white table sugar), and keeps the body a little lighter. I only use it for beers >1.050, as then you still have a good malt body.

You can also brew session beers. I just got my order from B3 for ingredients to make mild / ordinary bitter / southern English brown, etc. I am planning on doing 2-3 low gravity beers with one tube of liquid British yeast then a good IPA. Hard to beat a good flavorful beer using 6-8 lbs of grain and 3/4 oz of hops. I figure my cost per batch will be $12-15 total. I can't wait til I can afford a mill and buy grains in bulk. That would drop the cost to under $10/batch.

 

[|-|edghog]

A case of decent beer in Canada = $45.00

One 5 gallon batch = 2.5 cases = $112.50

One 5 gallon batch uses:
7.5# Malt extract = $20.00
1.5# Specialty Grains = $3.00
4oz Hops = $8.00
Yeast is free if you wash it.

For a total of $31.00 plus water and propane.

So I would say it's definitely cheaper up here in Canada.

As a matter of fact, being on welfare is what got me started into home-brewing.

Hedghog

 

[Finn]

Hoots mon, cheap is easy. A basic beer kit-in-a-can costs $25 and contains 3.3 pounds of bittered-up LME to which you're supposed to add what, 3 pounds of sugar? Well, that's $8 worth of extract. Four bucks for two ounces of high-IBU hops, a buck for dry yeast, $1.50 for three pounds of Pure Cane Sugar and brother, you are on your way.

 

[HiramAbiff]

As a matter of fact, being on welfare is what got me started into home-brewing.

Hedghog

I'm going to pretend you didn't say that...

 

[The Pol]

I cant buy the beer that I like at the store, so there are no economics involved it... I just cant BUY beer that I LIKE. I HAVE to make it... $$$ was never the issue.

 

[donaldson]

Somebody has already said it: buy in bulk! I am fortunate enough to live close to Gilbertson and Page - a malt distribution company. I dropped by last week and purchased two 25kg (55#) bags of Canadian 2-Row. Each bag cost me just $30 Canadian (about $24 USD). That's 0.54 cents a pound or $1.20 a kilo!

The two bags will last me into the spring. Then it'll be time to drive over to Fergus again!

 

[hcarter]

Try Deathbrewers AG on a stove top. No fancy equipment at all. That seems to save me a little money.

 

[BrewinJack]

I got to say this... home brewin is already cheeper ten buying beer already... but its not as satisfying nor as purely a way to pas the time for ones self... I spent 50 dallors on one batch of hard cider.... i am trying to perfect a way to brew high ABV.... it has cost me over 200 dalors so far... i got into distilling for awhile and it cost me well over 500 dallors, and i didnt even get a finnished prouct before i dismanteled my still and turned it into a water heater for my parents hot tub and gaveup completely... its not rotting your brain like reeality TV, or making you want to jump offa bridge like TV drama thse days... its good clean home brewin where you live an learn what it might be like to providefor yourself what you would only other wise have to get from others.... its a great feeling to know that if the world changed someday and you had to survive on skills you had that you could cound among anything else you could do that you could change simple ingredants into a wonderdful relaxing bevrage... its empowering, its taking a part of your life into your own hands.... but if your really serious about saving money because the ecomy is down the drain and maybe your poket bok is feling that strain more then usal... then shop around for your ingredants, look online, look atyour local walmart or organic health food store (saw a 3 pound bottle of barley malt at my local for about 7 bucks i am looking to see if thats a bargin)... go farmer direct. Brew with honey instead of sugar and get that honey from your local bee keeper.... my folks are getting a couple bee hives and i plan to on useing the honey to cut back on the sugar i buy... make bigger baches they last longer so you dont brew as much... brew shop prices tend to be much much higher then nessacry... i live a few towns away from Bells micro brewery( the jewl and only living pride of my home state)... they have brew shop and a vey positive aditude toward the homebrewer and thus very very reasonable prices... find your closest micro brewery and see if they have the same policy... thats all i can advise, other then that you will just hve to come to terms with brewin for between 3-7 dallors a sixer... if your paying more then 60 bucks for a batch of ingreedants and bottles etc then you defiantly need to shop around

cheers

 

[mkling]

If cost is all that is important, you can brew beer very, very cheaply. I just kegged a 5 gallon batch of beer that cost me $5.50!!! It was done as an experiment that I replicate every 4 or 5 years -- brew a light American style lager made all grain that tastes far better than mass produced beers. It also is my test of the "cleanness" of my brewing. If there's any funk going on, I'll be able to taste it in this beer.

The recipe was simple -- 5 lbs American 2 row ($4.25 from MidWest Supplies -- 1/2 of a 10lb bag) and 3/4 oz Cascade boil and 1/4 oz Cascade (finish) ($1.25 -- 1/8th of a $10 8oz purchase made on eBay). Yeast was harvested so it was basically free. Now, there was some shipping on the grain, so if I add $2 (just a guess for this portion of a larger order) it might be a $7.50 batch of highly drinkable beer.

1.032 OG, 1.006 F.G for 3.5% ABV (remarkable good 87% efficiency). It's light and crisp and tasty for a light lager -- which of course isn't my favorite style beer, but has turned out great!

If I really wanted to make a great session beer, I could do it with 7.5lbs grain ($6.50) and an extra oz of Columbus hops (also purchased on eBay, same price -- use Cascade for finishing & dry hopping) ($2.50). Again, harvest yeast, and I've got a beer that's sitting around 1.040 for $9. Add shipping on the grain and it's probably $12.

Mostly I don't do this, though. I brew for fun, enjoyment & challenge and don't worry about the cost a ton. But if you want to go cheap, it is very easy to do.

 

[jprobinson]

It really is cheaper and better. I did a wheat beer for my first batch and it only cost me $12 for 2.5 gallons and it turned out great. ABV around 4.5. I saved my yeast and will be buying the larger size malt extract for my next 5 beers all 3 gallon batches: (IPA, Pale Ale, American Brown, Duvel Green Clone, and Cream Ale). I'm buying a Belgian Strong Ale Yeast for my Duvel Green that I will use in my IPA. The rest will be the Nottington Yeast from my wheat batch. My cream ale is an everyday drinker that's gonna cost $2.31 a sixer.

Cheap and even with extract and some specialty grains I think they will come out great.

 

[HOPCousin]

I also save money. I brewed a Belgian Wit that I pay $12 a four pack around here for and brewed up 2.5 Gallons all grain for around $18 plus love and labor.
$78 - $18 = $60 savings.
Plus I tweaked it to taste even better IMHO

I have friends and family that pay for ingredients and come over to brew and go home with beer after it's bottled because they like what we brew, spend time together, and they save money on their personal beer stash.

 

[Homebrewtastic]

My LHBS sells 55lb. bags of weyermann grain (pils, pale, vienna, munich) for $38. So that helps a bunch. I also buy hops by the pound from hopsdirect.com. I just keep something high AA% on hand at all times and a pound of something noble(ish) and then just buy other hops an ounce or two at a time if and when I need them.

Washing and reusing yeast is a big money saver too. I also have a habit of brewing things that are pretty sessionable. I don't care much about how drunk a beer will get me, I just want it to taste great. And I can make beers that have tons of flavor with little in the way of ingredients. In fact I just finished a batch of Mild that only had six pounds of grain and 1oz. of hops.

 

[matpat]

Home brewing definitely saves money for us but I brew session beers. We have no problem polishing off a case of beer each week. While this may sound like to some people, two beers a night for each of us is a case in six days not including any "extra" beers on the weekends or friends/neighbors who might drop by for a beer

So, a couple of weeks ago the wife and I did some quick napkin math for the beers we usually have on hand. The prices listed for retail are for two cases and the others are for 5.5 gallon batches...this is what we came up with using Beer Smith:

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Retail - $72
Extract - $20
All Grain - $11

Flying Dog Doggy Style Pale Ale
Retail - $72
Extract - $24
All Grain - $14

Centennial Blonde (Bud Light Replacement)
Retail - $40? No idea on the cost of 2 cases of Bud Light
Extract - $20
All Grain - $11

When the wife saw how much cheaper it was to home brew she suggested I get the stuff I need to go "all grain" :rockin: I already had the turkey fryer, carboys and kegs from many years ago, I buy hops and grain in bulk from my LHBS which is very reasonably priced in comparison to online shipping and I wash my yeast.

I figure that with the money I have saved already this year, my recent purchases of a Penrose kettle and two 10g Rubbermaid coolers with stainless fittings are already paid for. A few more batches and I should have saved enough to buy a pump so I don't have lift my HLT onto my 3 tier stand

 

[Golddiggie]

Finding a good source for bulk grain is important... Group grain buys help a LOT there.

I'm about to brew a ESB in a few days, using washed (liquid) yeast, and the base malt I bought during the group buy... 5 gallon batch cost: <$12...

Find hops where you can buy them in more bulk size, to save. I've used Farmhouse Breing Supply to get 2# of hops for less than what I' spend for just 1# from the LHBS... Shop around for the ingredients you need. Check the different online vendors to see who can either get it to you at the better rate, or faster at the same rate. There's plenty of really solid vendors listed in the vendor section of the main page. Check them out and see what they have to offer.

I do still use the LHBS for some things, but if I don't need something right away, or they can't beat the end cost of the online sources, I don't get it from them.

But, going all grain, once you get the hardware (you can go with either very little, or a lot there, you're choice really) for going all grain, the batch prices go way down. A few other adjustments and you're looking at 5 gallons of brew for less than a 12 pack of micro brew... :rockin:

 

[MeatyPortion]

1. Go AG. It's amazing how much you can save this way

2. Try a SMaSH recipe. Conceivably cuts the cost down even more

3. Get a water filter. Saves me ~$9 per batch versus buying water at the store

4. Use the spent grain to make bread. Doesn't save money on the beer batches but saves money you would spend on bread, which you can then spend on more beer supplies

5. Harvest your yeast. I haven't done this yet but it's on my list

 

[antidentite]

Another thing I haven't seen mentioned here is to bottle instead of keg. While this may not be very popular due to the PITA it is to bottle, it can be cheaper if you're already drinking beers with pop tops that you can re-use when bottling. Or, I used to ask the bartender or waitress of the restaraunts I frequented to save these bottles for me, saving me even more money.

I also buy the generic version of OxiClean at Wal-Mart for less than $2, and will re-use StarSan (although only once) if I need to.

This may be going too far for some, but I keep a 4 gallon bucket in my shower and collect the cold water as I'm waiting for it to warm up before a shower (my bathroom is far away from my furnace). I'll then collect that water and use it as the first rinse in cleaning the trub and crap off my brew equipment on brew day (the second and third rinse will use water straight from the faucet).

This doesnt save much, but over time it can certainly add up.

 

[Golddiggie]

I do see bottling as a good way to at least start off, if you want to keep the costs lower. Most of the costs for kegging includes the keezer (and it's components) as well as the CO2 tank(s), corny kegs (they're starting to get more expensive) and all the fittings to go along with them. That can end up as a large chunk of change to shell out... Granted, once you have most of that, the cost to maintain is low. But, the same can be said for bottling.

I use Grolsch and Belgian style bottles. Which means that my cost to bottle each batch, once I've purchased the bottles, is rather low. You can typically go 5-6 fillings before you replace the gaskets on the Grolsch bottles (less than 10 cents each if you buy them in 100 packs, so cheaper than caps)... Belgian bottle corks are also pretty cheap (not as cheap as the gaskets though)... I use Belgians for my bigger brews, with Grolsch for pretty much everything else. I was destined to get a floor corker at some point (I have mead in process that will get bottled eventually) so I did that when I got my first round of Belgian bottles. For a full 5 gallon batch, I use less than 36 Grolsch bottles, and under 24 Belgian bottles.

Sure, it takes time to bottle, but having a bottle to pop open is part of the enjoyment of home brewing.

Eventually I do see myself kegging part of a batch. I plan to get 3 gallon corny kegs, and bottle the balance of most batches. I'm sure I'll eventually get some 5 gallon corny kegs to fill, if I'm NOT planning on sharing a brew with anyone else, or take it with me to anyplace. Not to mention, 3 gallon corny kegs are pretty damned portable. I know of one person that has a backpack setup with a CO2 cylinder in it, as well as a 3 gallon corny, and he dispenses from a picnic tap... The tap is the only thing visible of the entire assembly. Very cool...

So, basically, there are plenty of choices for keeping costs down. It's just a matter of what you're comfortable with... Brew partial mashes and your cost per batch will be lower than extract. All grain will be the cheapest of all there. For dispensing the brew, that's something you'll need to figure out on a more personal level. If you NEED to keep it as cheap as possible, then bottling will probably be your better choice. Unless you happen upon some of the kegging parts for really cheap money (or free)...

 

[jfr1111]

You guys know you are replying in a 3 year old thread right ?

 

[Golddiggie]

Blame jprobinson for bringing this one up from the bowels...

 

[NorthRiverS]

Austin Home Brew Supply is having a sale on their beer kits. They have 20 kits for $20 each. Seems like an awesome deal. I'm planning on ordering a few. Check it out.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php?cPath=178_452_638

NRS

 

[iijakii]

I wish I didn't live in an apt and had room to buy bulk grain and keep a mill. Might have to do it anyways..

I think most of my batches are in the $40s. Damn big beer addiction

 

[saint_iverson]

I'm glad I ran across this thread! Despite its age and adjusting for inflation its still valuable info for a $$ conscious novice like myself!

 

[LarMoeCur]

Buying from the home brew store I end up spending just about the same amount of money brewing my own beer as I would buying the same amount of good micro brew from the liquor store. What do you do to get your costs down? Once I get my all grain setup finished that'll help a bit. I might even try my hand at growing my own hops. I've thought about going to the feed store down the street and buying a 50 lb bag of wheat from them. Barley isn't a whole lot more expensive. I've got the basic equipment. Now I want to know how to buy the ingredients as cheaply as possible.

First thing go all grain. The cost of a cooler and some sort of manifold can be made up in just a few batches.

Second buy hops in bulk. There are a bunch of places where you can get hops for less than dollar an oz. I personnally have not been able to buy grain in bulk. Shipping kills the savings. Plus you need a mill and have to store 55# of grain. Which adds to the cost.

Lastly, reuse yeast. At 8 dollars its the biggest cost. If you can get 2-3 batches you lowering the cost a lot.

 

[richbrew99]

After the initial investment in equipment for me it is cheaper even buying from lhbs. I did manage some cost savings in equipment like homemade 52qt cooler mashtun for50 bucks. I just bought ingredients yesterday for an ag organic pale ale (organic ingredients are priced higher than regular) and my total cost with a Wyeast pack and 6 lbs of hops was about 37.50 (not bulk). Not bad for 2 cases of beer, my local stores sell decent pale ales at a min of 7.99 per sixer. Doesn't take long to recoup the investment and them upgrade some more. Plus we all know that our beer is way better than commercial beer. lol!

 

[shelly_belly]

Here's cheap...I drank it for years (college). It's currently $6.75 at Piggly Wiggly. This & some table sugar.

 

[bctdi]

Brewing belgians gets a lot of bang for the buck , considering a 22 oz bottle of chimay white is 10-12 bucks....and I can make it for about 45 bucks for 2 cases.Those Belgians are really simple ingredient bills and low on hops...so cheap to make at home vs the huge mark up you pay for them in the store.

 

[aajpnony]

Very true about the belgian beers....they are delicious, but when you are talking about cost of ingredients vs. retail price, it's all out of wack. price has actually prohibited me from buying and trying at the beer store. I was planning on brewing a belgian this spring and am looking for a good ag/high abv belgian intro recipe

 

[steppenwolph]

My local brewery will fill a cornie for $37, if you want cheap that can't be beat. Excellent beer for only $10 more than the ingredients!!!

Linc

Damn straight you can't beat that! I wonder how much I would brew if that deal was available near me. Equipment costs for me are killer. An all grain setup is getting expensive. Ingredient cost will help pay for the investment over time, but like I told SWMBO, if you want to drink good beer, you can brew it cheaper, but if you like to drink 'the champaign of beers' its hard to beat their price doing it yourself. People used to sew their own clothes to save money, now the cost of fabric exceeds the cost of the same garment in most cases. Doing things yourself used to be cheaper, but now, not so much. Don't buy retail, I guess.

 

[1ratdog]

if you're not doing it for fun you should be drinking a 40 of miller or bud.