BBL_Brewer
Well-Known Member
For those of you who say it's impossible to save money home brewing beer, I'd like to show you that is indeed possible. I'm living proof.
First off, I would like to point out that if I would abstain from drinking beer, I would save a lot more money. If you look at it from that angle, it is impossible to save. After all, homebrewed beer is certainly not free. But, beer is good, and I intend to keep drinking it for quite some time whether I brew it or not. With that said, here is the breakdown.
The facts
- I have a total of $2500 invested in my brewery.
- On average, I drink (3) 12 oz beers per day.
- My average batch cost is $20 for (50) 12 oz beers. (actually my average batch cost is a little lower than that, but to keep things realisitic I bumped it up to what most people's average cost is likely to be). That comes out to $0.40 per 12 oz beer.
- When I'm not drinking homebrew, I prefer to drink SNPA. The cheapest I can get a case of SNPA around here is ~$28. That comes out to ~$1.17 per 12 oz beer.
Now let's crunch those numbers.
I'm going to drink 3 beers a day regardless. By brewing my own, I save $0.77 per 12 oz beer. $1.17 (SNPA) - $0.40 (HB). Over the course of a year, that saves me $843. ($0.77 x 3) x 365 days in a year. My epuipment cost me $2500 dollars. If I divide the total equipment cost by my savings per year I get 2500 / 843 = ~3 years. Well, it's been 3 years. So that means in 3 years, the money I saved vs. buying beer payed for all my euipment and all the ingredients I used to brew my own beer. So in essence, from this year forward, brewing my own beer will actually put money back into the bank and the only costs I need to consider are the costs of ingredients and consumables. Looking back at the example above, I will be saving ~$843 per year from here on out if my consumption rate remains the same. To put this into perspective, if I were to drink cheaper store bought beer like say Bush, I would still have another ~3.5 years until I hit the break even point. But even if that were the case, I would much rather wait that extra 3.5 years for the cost savings to kick in than to drink what I consider to be crappy beer.
So, you see, if you are going to drink beer regardless of whether you brew it or not, homebrewing will save you money in the long run if you play your cards right. Will it save everybody money? No. I've seen some ridiculously cool and very expensive brew rigs on this site. For some people the cost savings may never outwiegh the buy in, but for the average brewer, it should be easily achieveable.
With that said, I think I'll go pull a pint of cheap ale and enjoy.
First off, I would like to point out that if I would abstain from drinking beer, I would save a lot more money. If you look at it from that angle, it is impossible to save. After all, homebrewed beer is certainly not free. But, beer is good, and I intend to keep drinking it for quite some time whether I brew it or not. With that said, here is the breakdown.
The facts
- I have a total of $2500 invested in my brewery.
- On average, I drink (3) 12 oz beers per day.
- My average batch cost is $20 for (50) 12 oz beers. (actually my average batch cost is a little lower than that, but to keep things realisitic I bumped it up to what most people's average cost is likely to be). That comes out to $0.40 per 12 oz beer.
- When I'm not drinking homebrew, I prefer to drink SNPA. The cheapest I can get a case of SNPA around here is ~$28. That comes out to ~$1.17 per 12 oz beer.
Now let's crunch those numbers.
I'm going to drink 3 beers a day regardless. By brewing my own, I save $0.77 per 12 oz beer. $1.17 (SNPA) - $0.40 (HB). Over the course of a year, that saves me $843. ($0.77 x 3) x 365 days in a year. My epuipment cost me $2500 dollars. If I divide the total equipment cost by my savings per year I get 2500 / 843 = ~3 years. Well, it's been 3 years. So that means in 3 years, the money I saved vs. buying beer payed for all my euipment and all the ingredients I used to brew my own beer. So in essence, from this year forward, brewing my own beer will actually put money back into the bank and the only costs I need to consider are the costs of ingredients and consumables. Looking back at the example above, I will be saving ~$843 per year from here on out if my consumption rate remains the same. To put this into perspective, if I were to drink cheaper store bought beer like say Bush, I would still have another ~3.5 years until I hit the break even point. But even if that were the case, I would much rather wait that extra 3.5 years for the cost savings to kick in than to drink what I consider to be crappy beer.
So, you see, if you are going to drink beer regardless of whether you brew it or not, homebrewing will save you money in the long run if you play your cards right. Will it save everybody money? No. I've seen some ridiculously cool and very expensive brew rigs on this site. For some people the cost savings may never outwiegh the buy in, but for the average brewer, it should be easily achieveable.
With that said, I think I'll go pull a pint of cheap ale and enjoy.
). Good times.
