I apologise up front for disparaging this topic, but for many brewers out there it's NOT about the cost.
This is especially true if you're brewing beer that you just can't purchase anywhere in the country.
Be it an unusual clone or a style that we don't see here (such as Dampfbier), I can't see how moeny comes in as a significant factor. Granted, if you can't afford to buy the ingredients and process them into beer, then you have a problem, but that's as far as it goes for me regarding cost.
It's about the beer, and cost is a secondary factor.
Having said that, I have bought a grain mill (yeah, I won't go on about it), and have been buying grain at the right price, when available. I bought some Barrett Burston ale malt for $2 per kilo, so that will help decrease the price of my ales, and I got some JW wheat malt for about the same price, due to an opportunity which arose at short notice.
I'm also a yeast farmer, but happy to buy new yeast as required, too.
The only thing I spend more money on is the hops and specialty grain. I trust my lhbs to maintain them in fresher condition than I ever could at home, especially if I bought a bulk lot of hops.
I made a batch of Arrogant ******* clone and the cost would have been under $40, considering the bulk grains and low amount of specialty grain, and recultured yeast. Even for a hoppy beer like this at a gravity of 1.060-ish, you have to admit that 24 litres of this beer is remarkable value.
And you can't buy this beer here, even if you wanted to...
my 2 cents worth
Les (now off to the lhbs to bottle some Baltic porter and drink some Old Speckled Hen)