Do You Keep Track Of Your Brewing Costs ?

[Pumpy]

With the impending recession ( three consecutive periods of negative growth)

My brewing costs have been coming under scrutiny frm SWMBO when checking her budget.

I have been accussed of significant 'Brewery Blowout costs to budget'

Some brews can be in excess of $80 per 40 litres whist some simple brews can be 50% less $40 per 40 litre batch so its worth keeping a track on these things .

In an attempt to monitor my costs per brew I have updated the prices on my Beersmith of my raw materials being more realistic about the costs for example. so Beersmith can give me a REALISTIC TOTAL COST PER BATCH

These are unseen cost incurred in brewing which OK one accept but I would like to account for adding to the Misc in Beersmith tpo pick up these costs :-

FREIGHT based on ( for 6Kg of speciality grain @ $ 9.00 per Post bag) eg 2kg of speciality grain in a recipe freight would be $3.00 (Ok sometimes I pick it up but then that incurs petrol cost .)

LPG/ENERGY in the recipe 2. KG of LPG @ $ 2.50 Kg to pick up energy costs

CLEANERS SANITISERS & WATER nominal cost per batch of $1.50

TIME 6 hours @ Zero $ per Hour ( just out of interest if you want to add a cost to it)

EQUIPMENT WEAR & TEAR & REPAIR broken thermometers , Hydrometers , Conical flasks $3.00 per brew (this cost could well be more based on breaking and replacing one a year )

SPOILT STOCK I have little which I dump .( however I did buy towo files of yeast at $20 out of date which failed to start ) that is about $1.00 per brew spoilt
stock

CO2 RENTAL /PLUS GAS (Edited thanks to Pollux suggestion) $ 120 per year divided by 19 X40 lite batches $6.31 per batch

This is an exercise of not being 'pedantic about costs' but just realising the true value of a batch of our beloved brew .

Are there any other unseen costs I am missing :unsure: to help me manage my brewing oncosts .?


Pumpy the Scrooge

 

[Pollux]

Do you keg? throw in CO2, or if you bottle throw in dex and bottle caps.....

I personally use the beersmith function to work out cost in terms of ingredients, more as a matter of interest than anything else....

 

[jimmybee]

electricity...? depending if you have an electirc HLT or not i guess, do you use a fridge to contol the temp of the ferment...

 

[tcraig20]

I sort of do something like this.

I have a MS money file that I record all my brewing-related purchases in - yeast, malts, sanitisers, fermenters, etc.

Every time I brew a batch of beer I 'pay' myself $50 into that file.

I started this for two reasons: first, when I was starting I wanted to make sure that I didnt go crazy buying stuff, so I set myself a $250 credit limit. By tracking everything I buy, I can see just how far into the red Ive crept. Second, by 'paying' myself $50 per batch, it lets me know when I can resonably justify buying more gear (and is a great way to stop any arguments about costs with the missus - each $50 'payed' is in fact $80-100 saved).

At the moment, Im about $100 in credit, with plenty of consumables in stock. Now I just need to figure out what to spend it on.

 

[Pumpy]

Do you keg? throw in CO2, or if you bottle throw in dex and bottle caps.....

I personally use the beersmith function to work out cost in terms of ingredients, more as a matter of interest than anything else....

Thats a really good One Pollux I have edited my post to include that as it was quite a high on cost if you rent a BOC cylinder like I do

Pumpy

 

[Pumpy]

electricity...? depending if you have an electirc HLT or not i guess, do you use a fridge to contol the temp of the ferment...

Jimmybee ,I wonder what the cost odf running a fermentation fridge and a keg fridge a year must be at least $20 ? there must be a calculation based on the kW hour ?

Pumpy :unsure:

 

[Pumpy]

I sort of do something like this.

I have a MS money file that I record all my brewing-related purchases in - yeast, malts, sanitisers, fermenters, etc.

Every time I brew a batch of beer I 'pay' myself $50 into that file.

I started this for two reasons: first, when I was starting I wanted to make sure that I didnt go crazy buying stuff, so I set myself a $250 credit limit. By tracking everything I buy, I can see just how far into the red Ive crept. Second, by 'paying' myself $50 per batch, it lets me know when I can resonably justify buying more gear (and is a great way to stop any arguments about costs with the missus - each $50 'payed' is in fact $80-100 saved).

At the moment, Im about $100 in credit, with plenty of consumables in stock. Now I just need to figure out what to spend it on.

you are organised JC

 

[jimmybee]

Jimmybee ,I wonder what the cost odf running a fermentation fridge and a keg fridge a year must be at least $20 ? there must be a calculation based on the kW hour ?

Pumpy :unsure:

i'm not sure on this one, i was considering this same problem when looking at buy a new front loader washing machine the other day. some vary a bit on power consumption. i was wondering if it was really worth spending almost twice as much to lower energy cost a bit per year.

i'm sure there must be a calc for this.... anyone?

jimmy

 

[Jazzafish]

Your right about the price Pumpy. Did a rough costing not long ago and find your $40 to $100 to be on par. But i'd give up drinking before returning to swill, as I couldn't afford the good stuff all the time.

Had a mate ask me to make a Hoegaarden type of beer. The cost of a yeast vial, fermentables, spices and hops was up around the $50-$60 for 25 Litres. Better that the $150 per case he was quoted...

I look at home brewing as a double advantage of a hobby and also saving money on a quality product.

FWIW, if things get that bad I'll move into blackmarket booze! Moonshiners still make good money... and less risk than making ice! Now I just need to think of an old school red neck gangster name... Maybe Not

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

You might consider this too pedantic.

There is the cost of not selling all your kit. Let's say you could get $1000 for all your beer-related stuff if you sold it right now. By not selling, you have cost yourself $1000.

Or, just put aside something for *cough* enhancements *cough* to the equipments...

 

[Pollux]

I look at home brewing as a double advantage of a hobby and also saving money on a quality product.

Same, everyone needs a hobby, ours just happens to have a by product which we can then enjoy.....Better than golf, cheaper too..


As for power used by a fermentation fridge, jaycar sells a meter into which you can program your cost per kW and it will tell you how much an item would cost to run per year...

 

[Jazzafish]

i'm not sure on this one, i was considering this same problem when looking at buy a new front loader washing machine the other day. some vary a bit on power consumption. i was wondering if it was really worth spending almost twice as much to lower energy cost a bit per year.

i'm sure there must be a calc for this.... anyone?

jimmy

I hear you, like the old energy saving light bulbs! The cinema I work at had repalced all of the standard bulbs with dimmable compact fluros. Big cost to do, but they recon they will pay for themselves over 2 years, considering they last longer (less labour to change them) and the big reduction in kilowatt hours. Looked at doing it at home but it didn't add up doing it in the one hit like at work... simply less lights and no labour cost. But doing it over a period of time seems the way to go.

The easiest way test your fermenter fridge is to turn it off and compare the bills to when you didn't use it. Worth it?

There are so many variables with running them. Like outside temperature and what the brew is. If you really want to do it though, most sparkys have a unit that will measure the draw of your fridge in operation.

 

[clean brewer]

Getting anal, but mortage/rent costs for the portion your brewery/fridge area takes up..

When I started brewing last march, I started an Excel spreadsheet and put in everything(everything) I bought to do with brewing.. I broke it down into cost per carton based on ingredients and equipment and also just based on Ingredients..

The cost per carton based on everything was about the Cost per carton of commercial beer, around $40-$45 and obviously cheaper just based on ingredients, this gave me alot of help in convincing SWMBO that I could spend more.. The calculations also showed how much I saved by not buying commercial beer, good backup to get kegs, it all worked..

 

[tcraig20]

Moonshiners still make good money... and less risk than making ice!

I dont know. I think I'd rather have the police come after me than the ATO!

 

[Bribie G]

I plan my upcoming brews constantly for maximum throughput balanced against reasonable time in cold conditioning and maturation in bottles. My financial plan consists of:

1. If it looks like I'm going to run out of ingredients within the next two weeks I put in an order from Ross. If I plan to do a series of ales such as UK bitters I save on freight by ordering six shrinks X 5kg at a time and pick up to save on freight.
2. If I worry about what all this is costing me I go to the drive through and get a tallie of Melbourne Bitter for $4.80. Then I go home and do a taste test against my equivalent Bribie Bitter product for 67 cents. At that point I realise how much money I am actually saving.

goto 1.

 

[white.grant]

I sort of do something like this.

I have a MS money file that I record all my brewing-related purchases in - yeast, malts, sanitisers, fermenters, etc.

Every time I brew a batch of beer I 'pay' myself $50 into that file.

I started this for two reasons: first, when I was starting I wanted to make sure that I didnt go crazy buying stuff, so I set myself a $250 credit limit. By tracking everything I buy, I can see just how far into the red Ive crept. Second, by 'paying' myself $50 per batch, it lets me know when I can resonably justify buying more gear (and is a great way to stop any arguments about costs with the missus - each $50 'payed' is in fact $80-100 saved).

At the moment, Im about $100 in credit, with plenty of consumables in stock. Now I just need to figure out what to spend it on.

Yes, JamesCraig has a really good point, any discussion about home brewing expenses needs to include the savings made from not purchasing commerical beer. As a rough guide I anticipate a saving of $45-$55 on my typical batch over the purchase of an equivalent, say two cases of Coopers Sparkling.

I also make use of both hobby and alcohol cost centres in the family budget to help amortise the brewing expenses. Hobby is 100% expenditure, but I pay the "saving" from alcohol into it.

Using this form of accounting, I have successfully convinced SWMBO that I can't afford not to brew. It pays for itself.

cheers

grant

 

[clean brewer]

Melbourne Bitter for $4.80.

Is that what it costs for a tallie these days?

6 Tallies = $30(4.5ltrs) 1 AG Brew = $30(19ltrs) :beerbang:

No comparison hey, 4 times more beer for the same price...

 

[bradsbrew]

I dont have to keep track on how much I spend on brew related stuff :chug: ...........................My wife does that for me <_<

 

[Bribie G]

Is that what it costs for a tallie these days?

6 Tallies = $30(4.5ltrs) 1 AG Brew = $30(19ltrs) :beerbang:

No comparison hey, 4 times more beer for the same price...

Probably more up your way. When tallies were about $3.40 down thisaway in 2003 we went on a drive to Cape York and as soon as we got out of SEQ tallies were cracking the $4 barrier even then

 

[Pumpy]

Same, everyone needs a hobby, ours just happens to have a by product which we can then enjoy.....Better than golf, cheaper too..


As for power used by a fermentation fridge, jaycar sells a meter into which you can program your cost per kW and it will tell you how much an item would cost to run per year...

Pollux thats a handy bit of kit , In addition to checing my brewery related electriacl items ,

I could check all the bits of Electrical kit in the house and put a small sign saying how muchh it costs to run per hour .

I suppose all Greenies have one of these .

Pumpy