1977Brewer
Free Dan Hess.
My go to ipa is based on a beer that sells for $11/6 pack. I brew it for a quarter of that. Just drank them side by side and I don't prefer one over the other, except maybe that mine is 2% less ABV.
how do you save money... and what's your per bottle price?
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My go to ipa is based on a beer that sells for $11/6 pack. I brew it for a quarter of that. Just drank them side by side and I don't prefer one over the other, except maybe that mine is 2% less ABV.
justenoughforme
Well-Known Member
and mine is typically 2% more ABV than what i buy on the shelf.
moreb33rplz
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If you don't count the first 12 batches I did that tasted terrible, I guess I'm coming out ahead.
Since it's my hobby & not my vocation, I do t really count all the costs. I brew what I like or friends would enjoy.
TastyAdventure
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quote I once read here went something like, "Homebrewing to save money on beer is like buying a boat to save money on fish."[/QUOTE]
I completely disagree with this quote. How much fish do even good fishermen actually catch? How much fish were they actually eating before starting fishing? And a boat costs waay more than your standard brew setup. The analogy is just way off when you crunch the numbers
I completely disagree with this quote. How much fish do even good fishermen actually catch? How much fish were they actually eating before starting fishing? And a boat costs waay more than your standard brew setup. The analogy is just way off when you crunch the numbers
If you ate fish every night, and your preferred fish was chilean sea bass, and the only thing standing between you and a school of sea bass was some deep water, the analogy would be close.
I drink beer every day, and my preferred beer is a good IPA, and the only thing standing between me and gallons and gallons of good IPA is a little equipment.
On the other hand, if your fishing for catfish or Budweiser, just go to the grocery store.
kombat
Well-Known Member
Dude. It's a joke.
justenoughforme
Well-Known Member
it was a good joke.
Firewalker11
Brewer
I didn't buy a lot of beer at the liquor store, mostly wine and spirits. I drank all of my beer in restaurants at $5-8 a pint. The cost of eating out was getting out of control so we eat at home now but but higher quality ingredients. Good beer is expensive at the store so home brewing looked to be affordable and a good hobby.
I do EBIAB only, bulk grain, 05 yeast, medium grain bills and keg my beer.
I think I am at break even at the end of summer if I use the restaurant prices pet pint and another six months of I use liquor store prices.
Being a hobby, I don't care about the price, it's still cheaper than any other hobby I have done (and still do from time to time).
I do EBIAB only, bulk grain, 05 yeast, medium grain bills and keg my beer.
I think I am at break even at the end of summer if I use the restaurant prices pet pint and another six months of I use liquor store prices.
Being a hobby, I don't care about the price, it's still cheaper than any other hobby I have done (and still do from time to time).
jaydlaw
Well-Known Member
go all grain, reuse yeast. I just went all grain, and while have an initial buy in, the price of grain is less than half of extract.
justenoughforme
Well-Known Member
how does hops account for 40 cents a bottle?
it doesn't. even citra hops are 38$ a lb.
justenoughforme
Well-Known Member
38 / 16 = 2.37 an ounce.
50 bottles in a batch, you'd need 20$ worth of hops in a 5 gallon batch,
i guess if you used nine ounces of citra in a dry hop or something.
50 bottles in a batch, you'd need 20$ worth of hops in a 5 gallon batch,
i guess if you used nine ounces of citra in a dry hop or something.
Holy crap! they are only $25/lb at my LHBS.
For a standard pale ale with approximately 85% quality base malt, 15% specialty, and moderate hopping, I average around $0.70 - 0.75 a bottle. This includes extras such as bottled RO water and utilities.
To save money I reuse yeast, with one smack pack or sachet yielding 10 or more batches. I also sourced cheap RO water at $1 per 5 gallons. Waste water from the chiller goes into the washing machine for a batch of laundry. Doesn't save much there in terms of dollars, but it just seems wasteful to send all that water down the drain. I buy base malt and about half of my hops in bulk, and place online bulk orders for specialty malt about once or twice a year. I support the LHBS too for a lot of smaller purchases throughout the year.
As a side note, I'm in Canada and commercial beer is very expensive. A single bottle of something like Rogue costs upwards of $9 - $10. That's ONE bottle. Last time I checked, a 6-pack of craft beer averages $15. Nuts!
To save money I reuse yeast, with one smack pack or sachet yielding 10 or more batches. I also sourced cheap RO water at $1 per 5 gallons. Waste water from the chiller goes into the washing machine for a batch of laundry. Doesn't save much there in terms of dollars, but it just seems wasteful to send all that water down the drain. I buy base malt and about half of my hops in bulk, and place online bulk orders for specialty malt about once or twice a year. I support the LHBS too for a lot of smaller purchases throughout the year.
As a side note, I'm in Canada and commercial beer is very expensive. A single bottle of something like Rogue costs upwards of $9 - $10. That's ONE bottle. Last time I checked, a 6-pack of craft beer averages $15. Nuts!
MagicMatt
Brewmathemagician
I haven't read this entire thread yet so this may have been mentioned already, but here's a couple of ways I save additional money (besides the obvious "reuse yeast", "buy in bulk", etc):
- I add an extra gallon of water to my sparge volume, so that I can collect it, freeze it, and reuse it as starter wort. I let that last gallon sit in the MLT for about 30-40 minutes once I'm done lautering, and it surprisingly almost always comes out at 1.037, which is perfect for starters. This saves DME, which probably equates to ~$100/year.
- I repurpose my spent grain. I reserve about 6 cups of it to use for making breads/pizza dough for the next week or two, and I trade the rest of the grain to a friend who uses it as chicken feed, in exchange for a dozen yard eggs. These combined save me several bucks a week at the grocery (not having to buy bread or eggs), which equates to anywhere from $200-$400 per year.
- I add an extra gallon of water to my sparge volume, so that I can collect it, freeze it, and reuse it as starter wort. I let that last gallon sit in the MLT for about 30-40 minutes once I'm done lautering, and it surprisingly almost always comes out at 1.037, which is perfect for starters. This saves DME, which probably equates to ~$100/year.
- I repurpose my spent grain. I reserve about 6 cups of it to use for making breads/pizza dough for the next week or two, and I trade the rest of the grain to a friend who uses it as chicken feed, in exchange for a dozen yard eggs. These combined save me several bucks a week at the grocery (not having to buy bread or eggs), which equates to anywhere from $200-$400 per year.
justenoughforme
Well-Known Member
i have enjoy this thread so much, and gotten so many great ideas. while i may not actusally do your ideas, they are some of my favorite. i love connected systems like that
and rhys333, i'm from winnipeg, but i live in rural USA now. i live like a king compared to the peg and make less money.
All-grain KITS when bought online are not much less expensive than their extract counterparts, but yeah - washing yeast and obviously if you do buy online - buy a lot at once to cash on flat rate shipping, if applicable.
justenoughforme
Well-Known Member
the real reason i started this thread was to determine when All Grain becomes cheaper than extract.
obviously when you start out, extract is cheaper, you don't need a kettle, dont need a propane burner.
all you need is the biggest houshold pot you already have, a hydrometer, and a bucket.
so i haven't moved to all grain because i always assumed it was hundreds of gallons before you pay off the actual kettle, and god forbid immersion chillers and the like.
how do people determine when to switch from extract to grain? i assume it's not financial 90% of the time.
obviously when you start out, extract is cheaper, you don't need a kettle, dont need a propane burner.
all you need is the biggest houshold pot you already have, a hydrometer, and a bucket.
so i haven't moved to all grain because i always assumed it was hundreds of gallons before you pay off the actual kettle, and god forbid immersion chillers and the like.
how do people determine when to switch from extract to grain? i assume it's not financial 90% of the time.
I switched because I could taste that 'extract twang' or whatever it is I perceve as extract twang in every extract beer I have had. Have never tasted it in an AG brew.
Also, I accidentally ordered an AG kit once when buying PM kits. That ended up being a S-show but it was fun and not much more work than PM. Plus I had the space to go AG.
Dont feel pressured to go to AG. Do what works for you. You can make some stellar beer with extract if it is fresh. I just didnt like messing with all of the extracts. Plus I like the process of brewing a batch from grains to glass. Do what works for you.
douglasbarbin
Well-Known Member
If it's financial, then it's a poor decision. Really the best reason to go to all-grain is to gain better control over the brew.
I would agree when people go into all-grain territory it becomes more of an obsession, less about cost cutting and more about control and perfection. But, from my partial mash setup, without the need for a proper mash tun, propane burner, kegging equipment (I bottle with bottles sourced from local bar etc) it's really only costing me for the ingredients and water.
I can brew for about 80c a pint tops, usually less. Which is about a 3rd of the price of a craft beer where I'm at (of similar quality too). I see no need to go all grain at the moment, or dish out money on a kegging setup. Also I've seen experiments documented online where groups of experienced blind taste testers couldn't tell the difference between all-grain and partial mash beers. Even some extracts scored higher than the all-grain equivalents. This helps vindicate my reasons for refraining from upping the ante.
Try a half sized all grain sometime. With partial boil equipment you can do a simple brew in a bag all grain and all it will cost you extra is a couple bucks for a paint strainer bag for the grains. Decide what you think about all grain that way. Its all personal preference
I'd probably need to buy a second fermenter to warrant this. But yeah I get your way of thinking, makes sense. I'm not bothered with a paint strainer bag either, I just throw all the grains into the pot, mash under a duvet in the bed for an hour... doesn't lose a degree!... then strain through a hop bag wrapped around a colander. Sparge over the colander too.
Show me a hobby that is a money saving endeavor. I Fly Fish and tie flies, people always ask if they'll save money tying their own flies -Uh No. A hobby is not about saving money. It's more about the joy in the end product. If your going to worry about the costs of the hobby, then best not to get started.
For winter indoor brewing, I do 4 gallon BIAB batches on the stove using a 5 gallon pot. I boil 4.5 gallons down to 3.5, then top up in the fermentor with approximately 0.5 gallons water. Works great! This sort of thing might work for you as it takes zero additional investment (other than the bag, as Drunklejon mentions).
Interesting. What is your run of the mill grain bill (excuse the pun) for a 4 gallon batch? Doesn't it get messy doing 4.5 gallons in a 5 gallon pot?
Tbh I save money brewing beers as nice as I can buy them.. And I enjoy the process!
Not messy at all really. Just gotta be careful during the initial hot break, but after the foam settles its fine. Not sure I understand the first part of your question, but if you mean what recipe do I usually brew, it varies. I do a fair amount of pale ales, as posted above, to around 5% abv. My 5 gal pot is big enough to mash way more grain than I do for the 4 gal batches
I guess what I was asking is how much grain do you generally need to make a batch that size of average abv. I do forget there's a difference in US gallons and imperial gallons (what most of the world uses). 4 US gallons is over 3 imperial gallons or about 15 liters, which I'm guessing would require about 6.5lbs of grain? I guess it's just about doable with my setup. It's basically just a half sized all-grain batch as DrunkleJon mentioned earlier, as my normal batches are about 23 liters (6 us gallons).
I'm in Canada and use metric by default. I often reference US gallons on here as most people post recipes using that system. I hear you on the imperial/US volume thing. So I typically brew 23L / 5 Imp gal / 6 US gal batches. When I do indoor all-grain, its a 5 US gal pot, so after alls said and done I end up with 4 US gallons in the fermentor (equalling 15 L). My grain bill for a 5% abv batch this size is somewhere around 3.5kg (7.7lb) in weight.
jaydlaw
Well-Known Member
Disagree. Money is always a component in any decision making process. The buy in to move from extract to all grain was to the point where it made sense to make the move. Granted the beer send clearer and better, but my first concern is $ and the ability to continue to support my hobby.
Brulosopher
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The 2 best ways I've found to save money, and I brew quite a bit:
1. Stop worrying about having a big shiny system, some of the best beer I've tasted came from a BIAB brewer who boils in aluminum.
2. BULK (http://brulosophy.com/2014/10/27/the-beauty-of-bulk-how-i-brew-more-beer-more-often/)!! A 50 lbs sack of 2-row goes for ~$38 where the LHBS sells it for $1.60/lb. Same story with hops, while I harvest year from starters to save there.
1. Stop worrying about having a big shiny system, some of the best beer I've tasted came from a BIAB brewer who boils in aluminum.
2. BULK (http://brulosophy.com/2014/10/27/the-beauty-of-bulk-how-i-brew-more-beer-more-often/)!! A 50 lbs sack of 2-row goes for ~$38 where the LHBS sells it for $1.60/lb. Same story with hops, while I harvest year from starters to save there.
Some people seem to think throwing money at something = improvement or advancement in their hobby. I'd rather make great beer with minimal equipment than bad beer with a great setup. An old mate of mine used to play guitar, he would buy the best of gear, Gibson guitars, Marshall amps etc.. nothing could disguise the fact that he was a terrible guitarist.
On the other hand I know a golfer that plays off 2 with a set of clubs like something out of tin cup: grips worn to bits, dirty rusty old things, mold on his bag lol.
Having said all that, yes for someone who has nailed their methods and has the time, space and cash to pimp up their setup, why not, go for it! I'd love to have a kegging system, just don't have the room. But my point in the above is that more money spent does not equate to better beer. Neither are really related.
On the other hand I know a golfer that plays off 2 with a set of clubs like something out of tin cup: grips worn to bits, dirty rusty old things, mold on his bag lol.
Having said all that, yes for someone who has nailed their methods and has the time, space and cash to pimp up their setup, why not, go for it! I'd love to have a kegging system, just don't have the room. But my point in the above is that more money spent does not equate to better beer. Neither are really related.
douglasbarbin
Well-Known Member
Then we can agree to disagree. I can definitely say that I have spent much more on my current all-grain setup than I will ever recoup in savings from not having to buy extract any more. Can you move to all-grain cheaply and save money doing so? Absolutely. But that was not the path I took. In fact, I will probably never recoup the money I invested in equipment. But for me, the control it gives me over my process and the fun I have had taking this journey is completely worth the added cost.
DaNewf
Well-Known Member
I just brewed a batch of BarleyWater's Dark Chocolate Stout. I subbed hops I found growing locally for the Crystal hops in the recipe and I racked the wort onto the yeast cake (Danstar Nottingham) of a modified version of BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde (used the same hops for this batch as well).
Over these two batches I've saved over $10.00CDN (vs LHBS prices for hops and yeast). Will the beer be any good? I'll have to get back to you on that.
Over these two batches I've saved over $10.00CDN (vs LHBS prices for hops and yeast). Will the beer be any good? I'll have to get back to you on that.
DaNewf:
I definitely hear you. Us Canadians have to take a mortgage to buy beer.
Anything more than a 6 pack a week and your are better brewing your own.
I thought the micro brewers might drop the price a bit, but all they have done is develop the premium price point.
Going to all grain was a no brainer as BIAB meant only a bag and a grain mill and I would bed 1/4 the cost of base malt. I have thought that someone should write a book that helps the beginner with the the next step.
Tom
I definitely hear you. Us Canadians have to take a mortgage to buy beer.
Anything more than a 6 pack a week and your are better brewing your own.
I thought the micro brewers might drop the price a bit, but all they have done is develop the premium price point.
Going to all grain was a no brainer as BIAB meant only a bag and a grain mill and I would bed 1/4 the cost of base malt. I have thought that someone should write a book that helps the beginner with the the next step.
Tom
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