bulk grain
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I approach brewing from exactly the opposite direction, price being the last thing I am concerned about, the quality of the beer being the first, second and third!
Let’s look at the real cost of home brewing; you can break it down into ingredients and process costs.
Your process cost won’t change much, the first and biggest is your time; realistically the total time committed to a brew is going to be around 6-8 hours by the time you add in all the actual brewing, planning, cleaning and packaging time – I don’t know about you but that time has a real value to me.
Energy and water both cost as does cleaning chemicals, bottle tops or CO2 if you keg, running a couple of extra fridges it all adds up and most brewers pretend it’s all free, it isn’t and it’s worth remembering.
I’ll leave it to you to assign a value to the process cost, I don’t want to drag this thread totally off topic which putting any number larger than the cost of the LPG burned or electricity used would do.
Ingredients, well to my mind you just buy what will do the job best.
In short if you wanted to make and ESB you would use English Base Malt and some UK Crustal and East Kent Golding’s and a top English yeast, and OK Australian water. The beer could be referred to as being made from local and imported ingredients.
If you sat down and worked out the cheapest possible recipe that hit the same specs and compared it to a recipe using the finest ingredients available I doubt there would be $10-$15 difference on a 23L batch.
In fact as an exercise I just went into my (now defunct) retail store and costed two versions of Fullers ESB using the same yeast, which really is the best choice, the difference was about $10, about $15 if you chose a dry yeast over a liquid.
For that $10 across 60 Schooners we are talking and extra 16 cents a schooner and I can absolutely guarantee that the one made from premium ingredients would taste a lot better, for me to worry about 16c/Schooner when you realise that the real cost of brewing is much higher than the ingredients is – well frankly it’s nuts.
As a starting out brewer, first up learn to brew, learn how to make quality beer you enjoy. Buy your ingredients from a reputable retailer who looks after their ingredients and offers a good range. Use a well tested recipe that is known to make a faithful example of the style of beer you are wanting.
If the cost is more important than the quality you probably need AA more than you need AHB
Mark
Let’s look at the real cost of home brewing; you can break it down into ingredients and process costs.
Your process cost won’t change much, the first and biggest is your time; realistically the total time committed to a brew is going to be around 6-8 hours by the time you add in all the actual brewing, planning, cleaning and packaging time – I don’t know about you but that time has a real value to me.
Energy and water both cost as does cleaning chemicals, bottle tops or CO2 if you keg, running a couple of extra fridges it all adds up and most brewers pretend it’s all free, it isn’t and it’s worth remembering.
I’ll leave it to you to assign a value to the process cost, I don’t want to drag this thread totally off topic which putting any number larger than the cost of the LPG burned or electricity used would do.
Ingredients, well to my mind you just buy what will do the job best.
In short if you wanted to make and ESB you would use English Base Malt and some UK Crustal and East Kent Golding’s and a top English yeast, and OK Australian water. The beer could be referred to as being made from local and imported ingredients.
If you sat down and worked out the cheapest possible recipe that hit the same specs and compared it to a recipe using the finest ingredients available I doubt there would be $10-$15 difference on a 23L batch.
In fact as an exercise I just went into my (now defunct) retail store and costed two versions of Fullers ESB using the same yeast, which really is the best choice, the difference was about $10, about $15 if you chose a dry yeast over a liquid.
For that $10 across 60 Schooners we are talking and extra 16 cents a schooner and I can absolutely guarantee that the one made from premium ingredients would taste a lot better, for me to worry about 16c/Schooner when you realise that the real cost of brewing is much higher than the ingredients is – well frankly it’s nuts.
As a starting out brewer, first up learn to brew, learn how to make quality beer you enjoy. Buy your ingredients from a reputable retailer who looks after their ingredients and offers a good range. Use a well tested recipe that is known to make a faithful example of the style of beer you are wanting.
If the cost is more important than the quality you probably need AA more than you need AHB
Mark
TheWiggman
Haters' gonna hate
Very well put Mark.
I recently went down the mill path and had a hard think about the beers I intend to brew. Some might find this offensive, but I prefer my Aussie style lagers as the 'house beer' and am experimenting with different hops, single hopping in an APA with base malt and and some carapils or crystal. I went with Joe White pilsner and pale, also because they're locally available.
I want to do a bohemian pils so I figure I'll spend the extra and mail in for those special brews. Once I've tried a few different ones and expanded my tastes, by that time I'll be ready for my next 25kg and I'll know what I want.
I recently went down the mill path and had a hard think about the beers I intend to brew. Some might find this offensive, but I prefer my Aussie style lagers as the 'house beer' and am experimenting with different hops, single hopping in an APA with base malt and and some carapils or crystal. I went with Joe White pilsner and pale, also because they're locally available.
I want to do a bohemian pils so I figure I'll spend the extra and mail in for those special brews. Once I've tried a few different ones and expanded my tastes, by that time I'll be ready for my next 25kg and I'll know what I want.
poggor
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Mark- my time is valuable to me. I'm a busy professional in real life. And slight differences in price are not significant I agree. However, finding the best deal and equivalent products etc. is just efficient, hence my questions! I have no idea if there is any "tasteable" difference between different brands of grain, so I asked! I don't believe I suggested anywhere that cost was more important than taste.
cheers
cheers
The main thing that draws most new brewers to the hobby is cheap beer. There are exceptions to the rule, but the $12 kit and a kilo of dex is what raises the person's awareness to homebrew. How many threads do we see people happy to use expired kits to save a few $. I even brewed an expired kit myself once, but never again. I know in my mind it took a while to get past the cheap cheap brew thoughts. Nowadays it's moved from a cheap beer, to a hobby so I am comfortable throwing some more $ at it. I look for the best malts to match the profile of the beer, for a nice bo pils I go straight to Wey Bo Pils and wouldn't touch the local offerings for it. I do use the local malts for a local style beer. My house MIDAPA is an American Pale Ale with an Aussie twist. I still do look at costs, so I mostly buy per bag and shop around for prices, although I've now got a supplier who looks after me there.
So to answer the OP question, IMHO yes there is a good difference between the malts and it is worth the money using them. But you can still save money by buying per bag etc. Store the bags well and they last a very long time. I use an old chest freezer, not switched on and with the drain plug open with some flywire over it to store my grain.
So to answer the OP question, IMHO yes there is a good difference between the malts and it is worth the money using them. But you can still save money by buying per bag etc. Store the bags well and they last a very long time. I use an old chest freezer, not switched on and with the drain plug open with some flywire over it to store my grain.
poggor
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 3/5/11
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- 216
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