So,,,,,how much will I save

[Chia]

at $6 a glass you will save if that is all you make. i can tell a difference if i am drinking home brew vs going to the bar or buying beer. i dont buy a lot to taste, but know what i like and taste a lot from friends and LHBS. i have rolled the dice and been happy with recipes from here, and have been let down. in the end brew if you want to make your own beer and are not afraid to have a sh!ty batch once in a while. in the long run i think i am saving some and know i am drinking better beer....

 

[Kosch]

Well, I'm pretty new still, but this is the way I see it...

The actual homebrewing itself is a hobby. So far, I'm enjoying it greatly. It isn't a business venture meant to turn a profit, it's just something for fun. The result, however, is an added bonus, something that if I were to go buy myself would be dramatically more expensive.

To me, I'm saving money and additionally have a hobby I enjoy. Two separate things that just happen to coincide

I'm not trying to justify anything, (and my fiancee doesn't mind at all, as long as she gets to reap the benefits!), I just figure this is how it is. If I really did want to save money though, I could probably find a way to do so.

Wow, long diatribe for my first post. Guess I better post an introduction somewhere

Kosch

 

[Diaperload]

I'm pretty new also.

One tip I can give to the new brewer is buy a large bottle of StarSan. I must have bought 4 of those little 5oz. bottles before I got wise and bought a bigger bottle.

Similar thing for Oxyclean. I used to buy a small packet of that PBW stuff for every brew day. I probably bought 10 of those little packs for $1.95 each. Then after reading a topic here I bought 1 large container of Oxyclean (which works just as good if not better than PBW) for 12 bucks and I've hardly put a dent in the bucket.

 

[motleybrews]

Yea, believe me when I say you won't save anything.

Ingredient Kit: $30-40 each
Basic brewing kit: $115-130
Additional fermentors (cause who just has one?!?!): $10 each
Bottles: $0-15/case
Keg setup: 150-250
Bottle tree w vinator: 50-60
Misc (autosiphon, starsan, theif, airlocks, Irish moss, that little doodad you need, etc): $$$$$
Deep freezer: 50-500
Stuff to turn deep freeze into kegerator: 120ish
Decent big SS kettle: 100-300
Turkey Fryer w big aluminum pot: 50
10g mash tun: 40-60
Grains: 1.50/pound
Etc
Etc

However, you will certainly save some money, cause you won't be able to afford those $6 beers.

Good luck and welcome to the addiction

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

I'll go against the grain here.

I drink less beer than I used to. I now spend more time making it and tending to it, than drinking it. I used to go out every night and get 3-5 pints, that's dwindled down a good bit.

I've actually lost about 18 lbs since I started brewing.

My cost per pint is about $0.35. I have pretty much stopped buying new equipment and I stick with what I have. That's the idea there: Quit buying new sh*t!

M_C

 

[nate456789]

I didn't know much about beer before I started doing this. I went to a couple beer fests with some 'beer snob' friends and it started to open my eyes to more than Miller Lite.
I bought a simple pot, 2 Glass carboys, and extract kits and it slowly became an obsession. I am on my 3rd iteration on equipment in a year and a half of brewing.
I have learned so much from this hobby - sanitation, chemistry, TIG welding, soldering, fermentation, control systems, sewing(?!?), and patience.
I have spent a lot of money on tools and materials and software. I have 5 sankey kegs (future builds) and 6 Corny kegs, 6 tap Kegerator, pumps and chillers etc. - never ending.
But it is a very satisfying hobby if you like to work with your hands and building stuff.
Nothing more satisfying than coming home from work and pulling a pint from your tap of brew that you made. And it is fresh.
At some point I may need a support group.

If you are brewing your own to only save money on beer , it might be for the wrong reasons. Could turn out to be an expensive venture.

 

[Surly]

I probably have $1,500 into my homemade brewery and I don't know how many countless hours reading, planning, building and brewing much less drinking great beer.

It's a hobby. Just as bass fishing with a 30K boat and a 40K truck to haul it around.

 

[BrewThruYou]

It depends how tall that glass is.

 

[CountryRootsBrew]

For a short answer, I don't brew a whole lot. I've made 63 gallons this year. Price of those ingredients is $326.11. Average price per 12 oz bottle is $.49.

 

[xjmox14x]

If you start brewing because it's a hobby you'd like to get into, then no, you will not save money. Hobbies are activities we enjoy doing and enjoy being a part of... for many reasons, but a lot of the time for no other reason than "it's fun". Not too many hobbies out there that will actually help you save money or make money. (unless you're a rare coin collector and re-seller or something)

Brewing because you want to save money, however, can absolutely be done. Since it's not a hobby and you're not in it just for the fun of it, you don't need, nor want, all the expensive toys. You can absolutely save a ton of money while consuming the same amount of beer. Just depends on how crappy your ingredients are (Madagascar bourbon vanilla bean or Walmart's True Value imitation vanilla) and how ghetto your setup it (stainless steel conical fermenter or random 2 liter Coca-Cola bottles).

Think of it like this. Often times people see a sale and immediately think they're going to save money. "Buy 12 bottles of Pepsi, get 4 bottles free!!!". I only really wanted to buy one $3 bottle, which is more than enough for me. But... if I spend $36, I get 4 bottles for free!

Did I save money? Some will say yes, some will say no. Sure, if I were planning on buying 12 bottles to begin with, perfect. Or maybe in the long run, if I can manage to drink those 12 before they go bad. And buying those 12 will just entice me to drink more than what I was planning on drinking in the first place! But in my eyes, spending $33 more than what I was planning on spending is not saving money, REGARDLESS of what I get in return.

So, if you have that $6 beer once in a while, it may not be worth it to you to spend a couple hundred on a setup, plus $30 on ingredients for 5 gallons if you weren't really planning on drinking that amount anyway...

 

[Revvy]

If you start brewing because it's a hobby you'd like to get into, then no, you will not save money. Hobbies are activities we enjoy doing and enjoy being a part of...

One of the best answer to this oft repeated question, ever.

 

[ACbrewer]

It all depends on how you look at it.

If you only drink what you brew and don't drink more after you brew than before you brewed, that $6/glass will now be $.50/glass. (roughly).

If you make this your hobby, giving up the 30K bass boat (or 15K golf equipment?) and again only drink your own beer, your hobby cost will go down (or your bar bill, or both).

But if you are like me, you will be drinking more now than before (before I wouldn't buy any beer, now I buy a kit avg every 1.5 month, well more because I also do wine... and mead... 'Hello I'm ACbrewer and I have a fermenting addiction')

And then you could end up going all sorts of equipment and sampling other styles, etc and spend more than you do now.

Being discipled enough to limit your comercial beer purchases and such, this hobby can save you money, if not out right, atleast in comparison to whatever else you might do as a hobby instead. Still, don't expect to really save money doing this.

PS the midwestgroupon is good, and craigslist offten has used brewing equipment. All my equipment came off caigslist.

 

[motobrewer]

(or 15K golf equipment?)

holy expensive sticks!! gold-plated, or?

 

[Homercidal]

Let's see. If you have a hobby that costs x amount of dollars and you enjoy doing it, then you also go out and drink a few pints a week on top of that, you are spending a fair amount.

If brewing is your hobby, and you spend x amount on THAT and spend less on pints from the store or pub, then you are saving money.

What will get you is your sudden interest in all of those different beers you think you want to make and so you go and buy a few from different breweries for tastings. And then you keep thinking that you really ought to upgrade this or that to make your brewing better or easier.

I can tell the wife that I can make Two Hearted Ale for about 1/3 the price, and even show her the ingredients list, but I suspect she really knows how much my homebrewing is costing...

If you just go by the ingredients, then in general, I'd guess that most people could make a comparable beer for 1/3 to 1/2 the price of a commercial.

 

[unionrdr]

Well,as of now,we have all the brewing equipment we need for both of us to brew at the same time. That's a max of 12G of ale at once. Don't really see the need for more equipment at the moment. Price-wise,my 1st IPA (we just drank the last of wed),cost me only 57c per 12oz bottle. But it did use 6oz of hops & nearly 7lbs of malt extracts. The Burton Australian ale will be pushing about 70c or so per bottle. It'll have some 10.5lbs of malt extracts in a 6G batch. Maybe 8oz or so of hops.
So we're more at the point of spending on the brews end of the spectrum. Ha,"Brews Brothers"!! Wish I'd have thought of that one when I was looking for a brewery name...

 

[amingo]

Man, I didn't realize I needed a t-shirt, a plane ticket and a divorce to brew beer.

Neither did I. My wife is gonna be pissed.

 

[squirrelly]

I have to agree. As I stated in another thread I don't think anyone who entered this hobby, or any hobby for that matter with had the intention of saving money. All of the hobbies my wife and I share are sheer cash vampires, but they bring us joy, relaxation, and things to do together. Aside from brewing we both collect and smoke high grade briar pipes, and are model train enthusiast. Neither of these things save us any money whatsoever.

You will find that while extract brewing is a lot of fun, and makes pretty darn drinkable beer, you will one day wish to expand your brewing knowledge and move into all grain. Perhaps wine making and sake making will interest you. Before you know it you placing online orders weekly and spending more and more time at your local homebrew shop.

For example: we have 4k invested in just our brewing sculpture. I just spent another 3k to take it back up to more beer for a fully digital package. That should satisfy us for a couple years until we master the system, then I'm sure there will be other upgrades we can't live without.

For us brewing is fun; Can you really put a price tag on quality time and fun?

[email protected]. on tap: easy virtue blonde, fruity monk belgian wit. primary: American pale ale, American stout, blow your top steam, and heffewitzen

 

[mychalg9]

I just brewed my 4th batch, and it cost me about $0.60 per beer

 

[bigbeergeek]

I have almost completely stopped drinking commercial beer. Every other week or so I'll stop and buy a single bottle of something that I'm planning on brewing, a "calibrator". Verdict: NOT A MYTH

You probably could save money doing this, but only well after you stop upgrading the system. I'm at that point now. I'd say I save a lot of money compared to buying. VERDICT: MYTH IN THE SHORT TERM, TRUE FOR THE LONG RUN

I agree with this. Every brewer is different. I'll buy the occasional bottle, pint, or sixer but I keep my pipeline filled these days. I would say that I am more open to spending (good amounts) of money on high quality craft beer now than ever before, and brewing is to blame for this. However the beer I brew is fantastic (to me) and suits my changing tastes throughout the seasons. I'm not a gear junkie like many brewers. I have a humble, although entirely complete all grain rig capable of brewing 20 gallon sized batches of all grain beer.

In response to the OP's question of the cost to brew 20 oz (?) of wheat beer, my rig would run around .56 per "tall." I'm happy with that.

 

[CidahMastah]

+1 passedpawn

I rarely drink commercial beers unless they are given to me. I brew my beer.

System cost aside I have my cost at about 18-36 cents per pint for cost of grain and hops. 18 for the lwer abv hefes and 36 for hte higher abv hopped IPAs.

I have an electric system and participate in grain bulk buys and I wash yeast.

I would say you would have to brew for several years to pay off your system and start "saving money". You have to discount the time spent as a hobby too. From my perspective, if I wasn't doing this I would be spending money on something else. So part of my cost rationalization is.... this is entertainment. But seriously... I love brewing.


You will probably never save money brewing with extract though. You have to go all grain to really rack in savings.

 

[chrissomebody]

equipment excluded, about $0.50 per beer if you are brewing extract. much less than that if you're doing all grain. unless you go crazy overboard on your equipment, it will all pay for itself (including kegerator, kettle, fermentors, etc).in 10-15 batches if you're doing extract, less if ag.

 

[Wyrmwood]

i probably spend more on commercial micros of an expensive nature since i started homebrewing....it's called research.

+1

 

[ACbrewer]

holy expensive sticks!! gold-plated, or?

While clubs might be cheep, what aregreens fees? and then will you play just one game? or lots over the year? and soon instead of vacations to the Brew Festivals, it is vacations with famous golf courses involved.... it can add up...

 

[motobrewer]

While clubs might be cheep, what aregreens fees? and then will you play just one game? or lots over the year? and soon instead of vacations to the Brew Festivals, it is vacations with famous golf courses involved.... it can add up...

just like any hobby, it can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be.

 

[Bewbzout]

Depends on your set-up as many others have said. I get my beer for free as i tell everyone that comes over $3 to drink all you want. 12 people and you basically have enough money to buy another kit. Not sure about your friends but 12 of my friends (includes girls) will usually only drink 2 - 2 1/2 gallons in one night. Pretty easy on their wallet as well so they dont mind. Well now they are getting tired of drinking just 1 beer so i need to get going on getting multiple beers on tap.

 

[runningweird]

HAHAHAHAHA! save money! what a great joke

 

[vfinch]

Not sure about US, but here in Canada one will save considerable amount in long run because booze is so expensive here. How about $40 for 24 pack of Molson lager. I not even talking craft beer here, that stuff sells for $5-15 per bottle and its mostly come from US since craft brewing almost non-existent here.

Man, you need to move one province over... In BC we're chockabloc full of awesome craft breweries. On Vancouver Island there's at least 10 or 12 craft breweries and brew pubs that bottle. Craft beers start around $11 for a 6pack.

As for saving money on beer by brewing yourself, it is possible. However I do have to agree with everyone that we all tend to get carried away since we love the hobby so much.

 

[unionrdr]

Well,that's the key. Get just enough equipment (doesn't have to be high end) to reliably brew 2 batches up to 6G. That way,you have the capacity for any brew kit or recipe out there up to 6G. I did that,& we can brew up to 12G at the same time. Like Bill Cosby's "200 MPH",dual everything! We have what we need to do that now,so no more equipment is needed up to partial mash/BIAB.