I figure brewing does save me money... here BMC costs about $22 for 12 beer...
My first LHBS purchase included 2 buckets, a carboy, a bench capper, siphon hose, hydrometer, thermometer, spoon, sticker thermometer for my fermenter, 1kg of caps, 2 pre-hopped kits and 2.2 kg of dextrose. Ran me $240 and made 11 dozen beer. That was breaking even.
Since then I have also done 3 wine kits, at an average cost of $90, making wine I might have paid $10 a bottle for. Money saved there. Additional LHBS trips have cost me about $100 each time, but also meant making about 15 dozen beer (read more savings.)
I figure it will take me a few more batches to recoup the cost I am spending on moving to AG (using DeathBrewers stovetop method) but overall I am still going to be saving money and making way better beer that what I can buy in the stores.
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I feel like doing the whole mastercard commercial thing...
Basic Brew Set-up - $200
One batch of ingredients - $35
Pot and burner for full boils - $70
The first taste of the beer you made... Priceless...
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Sure I could have bought the quilt that I made for way less then the cost of the materials that went into it, not even mentioning the time... but then I wouldn't have the same feeling every time I looked at it. I feel the same whenever my father-in-law says "I had one of the beer you made the other night, I could get used to drinking that" (He is an extreme Light BMC drinker), or my dad (who homebrewed for years) calls me just to tell me he tried my beer for the first time and that I have a real knack for homebrewing.
Do what makes you happy... in my case that is brewing...