What is cheaper? Beer kits or extract brewing?

[Canadian_Brewer]

Because I found that at my LHBS it $7 for 1 kg of LME, and about the same for 500 G of DME. I need at east 2 of each for my recipe, and with hops and all that buying a easy beer kit seems so much cheaper. This seems as a surprise to me though!

Is this really how it is?

 

[whoaru99]

Not sure what you mean by a beer kit vs. extract brewing, since generally speaking beer kits contain extract of some sort either dry or liquid.

If you mean buying the kit vs. the ingredients separately then read on.

I just bought a beer (extract) kit for 5 gallon batch and if I tried to buy all the ingredients necessary to duplicate the kit in a one-time, one-batch buy, the cost would be roughtly equal or slightly more since I'd have to buy more hops than provided in the kit.

If you're willing to try to find sales or perhaps buy in larger quantities/bulk then you might end up with meaningful savings buying separately over pre-packaged extract kits.

OTOH, if you want to do your own special brew then you have to buy the ingredients or at least a kit then some additional or different ingredients to doctor it.

 

[mattd2]

I going to guess that by kit you mean a hooped wort can, like Coopers, where to brew it you empty the can into your fermenter, add 1kg of sugar top up with water to 23 litres and ferment. Am I right? If so you are comparing apples with oranges. Yes those kit and kilos will make beer, a fair amount of the time alright beer, but using all malt extracts and boiling in your hops will add much more dimensions to the beer you are brewing. I agree that it is a big jump from probably less tahn $20 for 20+ litres of beer to what you would pay for an extract batch, but it is also a jump in the beer you are brewing. I guess you need to ask yourself "am I brewing to get cheap beer, or am I brewing to get awesome beer?"
Cheers and good luck

 

[unionrdr]

With extract beers,buying seperately can quite often cost about the same as a kit. The total price of the beer will be roughly equal. But you do,on the other hand,have the joy of brewing something more uniquly your own.
The way I started saving money was when I moved to partial mash,partial boil biab. With washed yeast,I cut the price of 5 gallons down to about $15.50. If I buy yeast,it can go up to as much as $20.

 

[allsnows72]

I agree buy in bulk and store it away properly and most items will last at lest 6 months.

Wash yeast is a good idea to but i use the novel approach and just make a big stater and save it before it even gets used. I started to do this with the last yeast i bought Safale-04 and have used it for two ales and one batch of apple wine and still have two batches in the fridge.

So be that the pack of yeast is cheap i think 5 bucks my cost on yeast right now is down to a buck a batch.

 

[TriggerFingers]

Everything has a markup to it. Mostly I have found that the markup for a kit is a little higher. If you are piecing it out, I have found it usually comes out the same if you are buying in small quantities. Buying ingredients separately and in bulk will save money in the long run--that is if they are properly stored. You can buy a 50 lb sacks of DME for $135-$150 when single pounds can anywhere from $3.50-$6+ depending on location. Buying a lb of hop pellets for $15 comes out better than buying 1oz packs at $2.50-$3.00 each (but then you have to vacuum seal unused portions). If your ingredients go bad and you have to chuck them, how much have you really saved?

allsnows72 also presents a way to cut costs--get some mason jars, boil the lids and glass, make a starter, save slurry (even before you brew with it)--FYI, you can also add glycerin and then store in freezer.

 

[TriggerFingers]

Everything has a markup to it. Mostly I have found that the markup for a kit is a little higher. If you are piecing it out, I have found it usually comes out the same if you are buying in small quantities. Buying ingredients separately and in bulk will save money in the long run--that is if they are properly stored. You can buy a 50 lb sacks of DME for $135-$150 when single pounds can anywhere from $3.50-$6+ depending on location. Buying a lb of hop pellets for $15 comes out better than buying 1oz packs at $2.50-$3.00 each (but then you have to vacuum seal unused portions). If your ingredients go bad and you have to chuck them, how much have you really saved?

allsnows72 also presents a way to cut costs--get some mason jars, boil the lids and glass, make a starter, save slurry (even before you brew with it)--FYI, you can also add glycerin and then store in freezer.

 

[drainbamage]

I haven't brewed from a kit in a few years, but I remember they were maybe $5-10 cheaper than buying the ingredients separately for an equivalent recipe. I started moving away from the kits because it seemed like they rarely turned out how expected them to be. I made a kit ESB that was not bitter at all, a doppelbock that came off as too thin, etc. and I was never satisfied with them. Granted, if you've brewed from a certain kit before and know its shortfalls, you can always pick up more hops or specialty grains on the side and make a little tweak while still possibly staying at or under the cost of buying everything separately, but that won't help when trying a new kit.

I like the ability to tweak and personalize my beers. When I brewed from a kit, I felt like I was just heating up a frozen meal for dinner and passing it off as my own.

 

[unionrdr]

I don't know why they call them bitters,they're quite malty to me. Good with pit bbq & makes a good mop sauce though.

 

[logan3825]

I agree buy in bulk and store it away properly and most items will last at lest 6 months.

Wash yeast is a good idea to but i use the novel approach and just make a big stater and save it before it even gets used. I started to do this with the last yeast i bought Safale-04 and have used it for two ales and one batch of apple wine and still have two batches in the fridge.

So be that the pack of yeast is cheap i think 5 bucks my cost on yeast right now is down to a buck a batch.

I am not sure how you got your cost down if you have to make a starter for each batch. I don't think it it possible(or advisable) to make starters for dry yeast for less cost than a pack of dry yeast.