Kits Or Ag Cheaper? Pros/cons?

[Acasta]

Hi guys,
Just wondering what generally cheaper out of Kits or AG, because i was lookng at some recipe and some AGs have come out at about 50$, eg Little Creature Pale Ale recipe, but a Kit version would be about 30-35.
Just wondering if its always more expensive? or is it just more bang for the buck?

 

[Batz]

Hi guys,
Just wondering what generally cheaper out of Kits or AG, because i was lookng at some recipe and some AGs have come out at about 50$, eg Little Creature Pale Ale recipe, but a Kit version would be about 30-35.
Just wondering if its always more expensive? or is it just more bang for the buck?

Kits are cheaper Acasta, at one time you could get home brand kits cheaper still.

 

[Greg Lawrence]

How many litres was he LCPA AG recipe you were looking at?
Doesnt sound right to me.

 

[Acasta]

but will it make better beer?
Whats the reason to do it?

 

[Nick JD]

If you get your grain, hops in bulk and re-use yeast some recipes are about the same with AG than kits.

I make 23L of Aussie Lager (probably the cheapest beer to brew ... and why all the commercial breweries have convinced Aussies to drink them) for about the same as a K&K.

Cost adjusted to include flavour and taste, then AG is miles cheaper.

 

[Scruffy]

The one that's just sparging at the moment cost me 68 bucks.
8Kg Maris Otter ($30),
Three packs of hops (Amarillo, Cascade and Simcoe - $28)
and a pack of 1882 yeast ($10).
But that'll give me 30 litres of strong, fruit salady Double Hazy IPA (about 8.5%ABV)

The second runnings (note to self - to actually do it this time...!!! ) ...will give me a half decent quaffing bitter (about 4%ABV).

$1.36 per Litre.

Or $2.28/Litre IIPA & free breakfast beer...

 

[unrealeous]

If you get your grain, hops in bulk and re-use yeast some recipes are about the same with AG than kits.

I make 23L of Aussie Lager (probably the cheapest beer to brew ... and why all the commercial breweries have convinced Aussies to drink them) for about the same as a K&K.

Cost adjusted to include flavour and taste, then AG is miles cheaper.

That's assuming you don't take into account all the kit and kaboodle you'll need to collect to go All Grain. And unless you are going to brew in a bag, its a lot. A serious equipment sport. Pots, kegs, burners, hose, chillers, gas, valves, fittings, etc etc - the fun never ends... You don't go AG if you want to save money.

But cost adjusted to include flavour and taste, the AG is miles cheaper....

 

[the_yobbo]

Ah, interesting responses. I hadn't looked into AG and it's costs previously but I had assumed the above comments regarding AG's generally being more expensive but also has the potential for much better beer. I previously thought the more you do yourself, the cheaper it's going to be, but quickly learnt otherwise when doing my first extract brew (two tins of unhopped extract +hops rather than 1 hopped kit tin).

 

[manticle]

Once you're set up for AG which you can do cheaply, you can get your recipes to cost around the same amount as KK. To me extract was always the most expensive brewing process.

This may include re-using/harvesting yeast, buying in bulk etc. Depending on your set-up you can do this fairly cheaply (look at stovetop BIAB for starters). Obviously high malt/expensive malt/highlu hopped brews cost more.

Which makes better beer? Depends entirely on the brewer and their processes. A good KK will beat a shit AG. However all other things being equal, a good AG will beat a good KK.

 

[Scruffy]

It's like most things.

Analogies everywhere.

If you just want a car, you can buy a cheap car...

Granted, you can make the cheap car better, but you need to spend a bit extra. And blue neons and daft wheels won't necessarily a Ferrari make...

With AG you have full control of everything, but it is a little extra.

 

[manticle]

And don't forget with full control comes full possibility of stuffing things up.

To make good AG is not hard but you need an understanding of the fundamentals. Fermentation is at least as important though and to make good beer of any type you need to have a good understanding of that.

 

[Bribie G]

Home brew is a fairly cheap hobby compared to many others. If your hobby is breeding birds or restoring old Valiants then be prepared to shell out many thousands. Full Mash home brewing can be got into for hundreds. Mate was telling me that his old man just paid $2000 for a stud Canary. And you can't even eat the buggers if they don't work out

 

[boobiedazzler]

5kg base malt = $11 (if you are buying it in 25k lots)
Specialty malts = $0 (roast your own from a portion of the 5k above)
Yeast = $1 if you recycle it
Hops= $5 for a batch if you buy in bulk

So that's $16 for an AG brew if you want to play it tight. Though getting to that position assumes you brew often, have a variety of hops on hand and have already made the initial yeast purchase.

And does not factor in energy consumption, which is greater with AG

 

[haysie]

Mate was telling me that his old man just paid $2000 for a stud Canary. And you can't even eat the buggers if they don't work out

They do in Greece. Nothing to do with the terrible state of their economy either.

Homebrewing is fun,challenging,hard,emotional :lol: ,enjoyable and satisfying, thats just a few. I dont give a flying what it costs as long as I enjoy it. When it all gets too expensive and I have to compare my a/g liquid yeast ocktoberfest with a carton of stubbies from the local blue moon, I`ll probably do something else, hmmmm, breed birds and be reminisecent of all that liquid gold I brewed.

 

[mxd]

I think you'll find comments on the site about spending a lot of money to make cheap beer

 

[Acasta]

I guess if it does produce better beer i have no problem with it. And it does seem more fun/engaging then "1. open can 2. pour can in 3. add water 4. enjoy the same beer you had last time" haha

 

[matho]

You don't have to spend that much to get into ag
I spent less than $300 on my brewery. That's just 6 cases of good beer

cheers matho

 

[Brewme]

I have been making the K&K types for around 18 months now.

Was seriously thinking about going to AG.

Wanted to splurge a few dollars and get one of those HERMS systems and Millmaster and all the fancy gadgets.

After reading a few topics in this forum, I think I'll stick with my brews and enjoy them just as much as the person who spends hours of laborious tasks to achieve something he/she likes.

 

[Hatchy]

Where are you located Brewme? I'd recommend getting along to an AG brewday to see the process (& to taste some of the beer). I thought I'd be happy to stay with extracts until I got to a few brewdays.

 

[The Mad Hopper]

It doesn't have to be expensive to get into AG. I used a couple of eskys I found lying around (one for a mash tun, one to hold sparge water - cost: $0), made a manifold from some copper at bunnings and held it into place with silicone (about $30). The only expensive part was the boiler (~$100 on ebay for a 50L aluminium pot, plus whatever a tap goes for (~$50)) and the burner (maybe about $75). Adds up to about $250. Sort of expensive, but it was fun constructing it! You could probably do it cheaper if you wanted as well (eg. several smaller pots that are just lying around and use a good gas stove).

I think we'd all like every fancy piece of equipment out there, but you learn a lot brewing with basic equipment. And you can slowly improve your setup once you have the basics. For a batch, I can brew a simple AG for less than $30 (which is less than some of those kits with the bells and whistles go for). It wont be fancy, but it'll be good beer that my mates will drink and I have the satisfaction of knowing I controlled every step. Some people don't need that and that's fine, but I like doing it all myself.