Adding up the costs of brewing

[MartinOC]

Accountant and brewer here.

I brew to save money on excellent beer.

It's probably why I ended up going ghetto ans cheap. Amortising the cost of my two pots and the lauter over one batch of beer is cheaper than mainstream craft, let alone over the life of the items' use.

Excise is the big killer for commercial beers.

My god!! An accountant with a personality! I always thought they had that surgically removed once you qualify..?

Any bloke that can use the word "amortised" in a sentence & still remain interesting is revelatory!!

 

[malt and barley blues]

Well you could have developed a taste for expensive ****** beers without brewing your own, then you would be worse off.

 

[TimT]

Home brewing has caused me to develop a taste for really expensive ****** beers.. so no cost savings there either... to the point where selecting a wedding venue came down to the beer list.

Hey, that **** is important! Agree though.

 

[TimT]

There's ****** beers and then there's -
http://www.amazon.com/Semenology-The-Semen-Bartenders-Handbook/dp/1482605228/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y/178-9212232-1476247

And no, it's not a typo and they're not referring to bartending by jolly nautical types.

 

[fletcher]

oh i'm not meaning to take anything away from people who've genuinely or otherwise, given a good crack at figuring out the costs involved. i'm just saying that different things are costs to different people. perhaps it'd be easier to give a cost if someone gave a template haha.

i used the excuse with my wife to say i'd save money on beers and in a way it's right. i never buy any for home anymore - but still buy them when i'm out so it evened out. she realised early on though that it's a hobby, and there is always a shiny new addition i need to my brewery!

 

[Liam_snorkel]

There's ****** beers and then there's -
http://www.amazon.com/Semenology-The-Semen-Bartenders-Handbook/dp/1482605228/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y/178-9212232-1476247

And no, it's not a typo and they're not referring to bartending by jolly nautical types.

HAHAH wtf?

 

[MartinOC]

Who would honestly buy a book called "Semenology" & not think it's some sort of follow-up to 50 shades of gray???

 

[Liam_snorkel]

the reviews are gold

 

[bluedoors]

I originally thought homebrewing was saving me money until i realised i actually bought more craft beer now than before, as i wanted to try different flavours and styles

 

[MartinOC]

I originally thought homebrewing was saving me money until i realised i actually bought more craft beer now than before, as i wanted to try different flavours and styles

Welcome to the vortex, BlueDoors :super:

 

[zappa]

There's ****** beers and then there's -
http://www.amazon.com/Semenology-The-Semen-Bartenders-Handbook/dp/1482605228/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y/178-9212232-1476247

And no, it's not a typo and they're not referring to bartending by jolly nautical types.

I'm not sure what's more bizarre, this or the Frequently Bought Together/ Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought lists. A Practical Guide to Racism???

 

[TSMill]

You need to factor in the increase in your beer consumption (in particular, post kegging), plus all of your mates who like to drink for free, father in law reminding you he is out of beer etc......

That said, I figure I come out around $500 a year in front financially based on consumables cost vs. cheap commercial beer cost, further ahead if I'm just drinking craft beers. Brewery setup plus keg fridge would have set me back in the order of $2500, so the payback time to have awesome beer on tap at home is pretty good, and any hobby that has a payback period is a bonus.

 

[Sully]

I have a mate cursing me for the last few years it's costing him more for beer since I introduced home to Craft beers. He was happy with his xxxx gold.

 

[Aydos]

I have the same kind of friend who blames me from taking him from drinking VB to producing his own homebrew and now doesn't like drinking anything but craft beer. The way that I look at it, I'm saving him.

 

[superstock]

I think that what has been forgotten here, are the thousands of K&K brewers who ARE doing it to save money, with a minimum of equipement and outlay, who aren't interested in making a better brew. Without these people the homebrew industry would be more expensive for the rest of us.

 

[TimT]

It's true, brewing my own has lifted my standards when I go and have a drink in pubs. Craft beer all the way. It's a fickle market though - one's favourite brew of two weeks ago can vanish quickly. For instance when I mentioned Killer Sprocket's lovely amber ale to the guys behind the bar at the pub last Saturday they agreed it was lovely and informed me it was only a once-in-a-lifetime brew. Dang it!

I read a while back that the Australian scientists in Antarctica have a brewer - can kits - because it's easy and it saves them heaps of money. (Otherwise it would be expended on slabs of VBs). Brewing on the South Pole - how's that for extreme brewing?

 

[QldKev]

yeah but then what about the cost of buying your equipment, maintaining this equipment and using it - gas, electricity etc, the petrol cost of driving to the store if so to get your grains/hops etc. there are many factors included. i suppose it gets down to where you draw the line at 'cost'

My household drinking is up to 2 cartons a week. This includes me and what my mates/sons drink. If I was buying FatYak my personal budget would not buy this amount of beer. But thanks to brewing I can keep in supply of grog, and have a hobby where I keep upgrading/building stuff. I have two full beer brewing systems that I'm constantly playing with and have money for other hobbies. If you are spending more than the commercial beer cost you are doing it wrong. If you are spending a lot of money in ingredients or fuel you are doing it all wrong.

 

[fletcher]

My household drinking is up to 2 cartons a week. This includes me and what my mates/sons drink. If I was buying FatYak my personal budget would not buy this amount of beer. But thanks to brewing I can keep in supply of grog, and have a hobby where I keep upgrading/building stuff. I have two full beer brewing systems that I'm constantly playing with and have money for other hobbies. If you are spending more than the commercial beer cost you are doing it wrong.

definitely. when it all adds up i'm sure i've spent less per beer than i ever would have if i was drinking the same amount commercially. no doubt.

 

[brewtas]

I think that what has been forgotten here, are the thousands of K&K brewers who ARE doing it to save money, with a minimum of equipement and outlay, who aren't interested in making a better brew. Without these people the homebrew industry would be more expensive for the rest of us.

Would it though? All grain brewers generally use completely different ingredients so why would it be more expensive?

 

[TimT]

What exactly do they put in can kits? I wouldn't be surprised if big beer brewers view it as a handy way to offload excess products. I only did a few can brews in the end - four, I think - and the ingredients list were rather, um, unforthcoming. 'Malt' and 'hops'. And, for the ginger beer, the mysterious 'additives' followed by a three or four digit number.