To make a quality batch of beer with top ingrediants its around $35 - $45.
This makes me 2.5 cases of beer.
A case of coopers or beer of equal to or even less quality of my homebrew will set me back $45 - 75 dollars. (eg. bohemian pilsner, sam adams etc).
In volume that works out to be $112 - $187 for 2.5 cases worth.
A saving of $67 - $112 or 59%
This works more so because a case of piss (eg. new, extra dry, vb) is about $30 and the ingrediants to make something of equal quality is about $18 - 60% saving.
Now although I love brewing and love beer I dont drink exesive amounts compared to most (im assuming here fellas) and get the majority of my plessure from simply making it or giving it away and seeing other people enjoy it. This includes brewing beer for mates.
I would say I drink 1.5 cases of beer a month. If I were to buy the beer I would get something decent which would probably sit around $50 a case or $75 for 1.5 cases. Thats $2 a bottle.
To make a HB equal to that quality with say a partial mash it would cost about $55-60.......WAIT.....
In that calculation I have purchaced some extract, steeping grains, white labs yeast and 450g of hops.
Well I wont need that many hops so next brew I will have them.
I will make a stater and culture some of the yeast in 3 test tubes 3 generations of each tube equates to 27 vials of liquid yeast, each vial working out to be about $0.60 or 3% of the origional cost.
So the next batch I make will cost me about $28. Even If I did buy hops and yeast every purchace i still come out ahead.
Not to mention the money I save from drink out less.
If I bought all my beer it would cost around $900 a year. Not including drinking out at pubs.
asuming I buy hops and yeast every second brew it still only costs me:
$316.80 a year for the same volume of beer. a 35.2% or $583.2 saving.
I probably at this stage spend about $400 a year on misc equipment for brewing max!
I try and source my stuff at top quality but as cheap as I can and usualy a few HB here and there can pay for the favors. Plus it increases my popularity by about 100%
After all that and the gear I still come out on top. I will buy some comercial beer here and there so its impossible to workout for sure. In the end i just call it even.
But lets not forget the main thing which is im participating in an enjoyable hobby, science and community which I really love. Best of all that ones free. :beer:
