Julez
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 9/10/07
- Messages
- 428
- Reaction score
- 2
I wonder if you have done the maths? I see no way you are going to make any sort of money making this worth the risk.
Lets say a 23L batch of beer costs $30 (pretty reasonable for a decent brew, unless you plan on feeding them K&K brews).
A 23L batch, which you will get about 22L into bottles. Thats about 65 stubbies and about $0.45 worth of beer in each, not bad, but then you add the $0.35 per bottle and you are at $0.80. Lets say you somehow manage to con your mates into paying $1 per bottle for your beer (you can get German imports for $1.25). You profit $13 for all that work... not to mention putting yourself at risk.
Assume a normal alc. vol of about 4.8% or so, the excise alone is about 60 cents per stubbie too. It's not economically viable to produce to a small scale unless you are very smart about it. By the time you factor everything in, distribution costs, storage facilities, refridgeration, security, equipment, licensing, calibration of equipment, bottles, labels, labour, energy costs, ingredients, capital equipment costs, etc., etc., etc. ~ it's just too hard to be profitable. Even if you get the full $10K excise rebate for producing under 30,000L/year, you'd be hard-pressed to make more than a low income earner's wage. ESPECIALLY if you are putting your finished product in bottles, due to the higher excise (excise rate is less for kegs) and packaging costs. And if you are thinking of boot-legging, the cost could be even more....