How Much!

[dropbear85]

Hey its my first post whooo!!!

I am in the process of building a bar and have just bought my kegs and gear to go with it. (guys where is the bar build thread???)

Up till now I have only brewed coopers kits and have had some good results for the amount of effort involved but I've been looking for a nice brew to christen the new bar when its done.

I though I would try my hand at Boonies LCPA clone that everyone seems to love so I started pricing everything to get at my LHBS and was gob smacked when I looked at the total, I thought this was supposed to be a cheap hobby? you could almost fly to WA and for that sort of cash these days.

　

1 tin Morgans Stockmans Draught $19.50
1.5 kg of Morgans Extra Pale Malt Extract (Liquid) $13.50
15g of Cascade pellets - 15min $12 (100g pack)
10g Cluster pellets - 15 min $3.20 (12g tea bag)
US56 Yeast. $6.00 (Safale US-05)
12g of Chinook Pellets (dry hopped at rack). $13 (100g pack)

Total $67.00

　

I realise I will have some Cascade and Chinook left over but I just wanted to know if my Local is way over priced? I'm all up for supporting the locals but I didn't think it would be costing me $70 a batch to do so.

Should I just go for one of the kits from ESB like this these


http://www.esbrewing.com.au/lc-style-recipe-pack.html

http://www.esbrewing.com.au/ezybrew-little-creatures-pale-ale.html

Cheers in advance. :icon_chickcheers:

 

[manticle]

Of all the methods, I always found extract brewing to be the priciest.

Just did a quick check with the place I normally shop at (I don't brew kits) and your prices aren't crazy. My LHBS is a touch cheaper but there's not a lot between them.

If you can make 2 cartons of good quality LCPA for 67 instead of just under $130 (price taken from Dan Murphy's website) you're still doing OK but there are ways of making it cheaper.

 

[stux]

1 tin Morgans Stockmans Draught $19.50
1.5 kg of Morgans Extra Pale Malt Extract (Liquid) $13.50
15g of Cascade pellets - 15min $12 (100g pack)
10g Cluster pellets - 15 min $3.20 (12g tea bag)
US56 Yeast. $6.00 (Safale US-05)
12g of Chinook Pellets (dry hopped at rack). $13 (100g pack)
Total $67.00

A much fairer approach is to buy your hops in 100g packets, and work out your price/g and use that as you brew cost. Throw your remaining hops in the freezer and they'll keep for years.

So,

12$ for 100g = 12c/ gram, and your other hops are 13c per gram. So lets call it 13c/g

you need 37g of hops... so 4.80$ in hops.

19.50 + 13.50 + 4.80 + 6 = 43.80$

Which is much more realistic, working out at under 2$/L

If you want to brew great beer at 1$/L then you will want to look at all-grain and buying hops and grain in larger quantities. I buy my grain by the 25KG sack, and hops by the pound (450g)

PS: prices seem like Absolute Homebrews

 

[yum beer]

I see you are aware you will have some hops left over, so doesnt hurt to be 'batch' accurate,
your brew will cost closer to $48 to make, your hops will spread over another 4 or 5 batches....this is about the mark you are looking at
for extract brews, still less than 1 carton of any craft beer you can buy.
You can probably save another $5 a batch be dropping the hopped kit can for pure extract and factoring in some bitering hops.....aahhh its getting slippery isnt it.. :icon_cheers:

 

[Dave70]

I thought this was supposed to be a cheap hobby? you could almost fly to WA and for that sort of cash these days.[/font]

[/font]

Cheap??
What ever gave you that idea?

Still, if you're doing 23L batches, three bucks or so a litre isn't bad going.
Plus, your friends will be enamoured with your skills as a brewer, and you cant put a price on that.

 

[warra48]

By way of comparison, my latest APA, brewed AG, costs:

5 kg grains @ say $3.50 kg = $17.50
90 gr hops, say $10.00
Yeast, and because I harvest and split packs so get multiple uses from one purchase, say $2.00
Odds and sods such as whirlfloc, brewing salts etc $0.50
Gas to fire HLT and Kettle say $4.00

All up $34.00, but that's not allowing for amortisation of the brewery set up.
I haven't included priming sugar, cleaner, or sanitiser etc, as they are the same pretty much, regarless of how you brew.

You are really not that far off the mark at $48.00 a batch, given that in my experience kit and extract brewing is the most expensive. It's still cheaper than the discounted crap you can buy by the slab at the bottlos. Of course, your brew will be better, just because you brewed it. There's no price on that.

 

[dropbear85]

Thanks for the replies chaps I didn't expect so many so quick.

I guess the reason I thought it was expensive was coming from coopers kits where a batch would cost me $18 and then thinking how much could a few hops cost I was just a little shocked.

PS: prices seem like Absolute Homebrews

I tip my hat to you sir. :drinks:

 

[tiprya]

Fresh hops will make the brew taste a lot better/ more interesting than your standard coopers kits.

Might as well give it a try and see how you like it, as has been said, it's a slippery slope to all-grain, but I've never heard of anyone going back.

Absolute Homebrew has reasonable prices - and should be quite helpful if you have any questions.

 

[Maheel]

if you have bought kegs

nows the time to go all grain

or fresh wort kits FTW !!

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/default.asp?CID=88

 

[dropbear85]

Fresh hops will make the brew taste a lot better/ more interesting than your standard coopers kits.

Might as well give it a try and see how you like it, as has been said, it's a slippery slope to all-grain, but I've never heard of anyone going back.

Absolute Homebrew has reasonable prices - and should be quite helpful if you have any questions.

Yeah I have always found them very helpful when I've visited for spirits but just looking around his hops seem a bit more expensive than shops like esb.

I think I might go with a couple of recipe kits from esb to start with. I bought a 2 tap font so I want to do 2 batches at the same time to kick everything off and I think it might get a little expensive.

Has anyone tried the ezybrew kits or other wort kits theay have? I might go with one of them and a recipe kit

 

[dropbear85]

Might as well give it a try and see how you like it, as has been said, it's a slippery slope to all-grain, but I've never heard of anyone going back.

don't worry the brain is already ticking.

I spent all last nigh researching BIAB but I really need to slow down on the hobbies and fix a few things on the house before I get divorced.

My Mrs has been at me for the past few years to repaint our eaves and gables but I keep putting it off with my hobbies. I've built a saltwater aquarium restored a motorbike and I'm halfway through building the bar so I've promised as soon as the bar is finished im on it. Then comes the AG setup and new still

 

[DU99]

Get a ESB kit.bit cheaper than what you where going to do.Later down the track you can get into BIAB.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

BIAB or ghetto 3V (I just realised that I'm running a ghetto 3V system - without realising it).

Cost me around $50, plus the use of existing equipment.

But yep - manticle and Warra are right- extract plus bits is way more expensive than any other brewing method.

The only real way to cut that back is buy your hops at a reasonable price (90/100g or bulk buy), rather than rip off unfresh 15g packets.

Just helping a work collegue, and swapping hops with him (my freezer is full of different varieties from bulk buy) to help out.

Goomba

 

[stux]

ESB's hop prices are certainly pretty keen for the 100 and 500g packs

 

[jimmythehuman]

My Mrs has been at me for the past few years to repaint our eaves and gables but I keep putting it off with my hobbies. I've built a saltwater aquarium restored a motorbike and I'm halfway through building the bar so I've promised as soon as the bar is finished im on it. Then comes the AG setup and new still

I am just about to turn 40 too :icon_cheers: