this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
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Used to homebrew. At first I thought it'd be cheaper than buying my own beer but it quickly ratcheted-up with grain mills, larger and larger pots and burners, finding places to store the fermenting/aging beer, finding time to brew, finding time to bottle/keg, the clean-up and mess...and, in certain cases, you go through the whole process to find an entire batch has been ruined.
As an alternative view, I homebrew and while the cost to get in can be a bit steep, the long term costs are actually pretty good. I looked at the cost to get equipment as a loss and just wrote it off. Electronic kettle and automation was pricey, but luckily I was able to have some costs offset with work benefits. Realistically though, in actual ingredients, between $30-50 USD for 5 gallons of beer and about 8 hours total of time for cleaning, brewing, fermenting and packaging, it's not too bad.
I tend to be very meticulous though with my brew process, so I haven't lost a batch, at least not due to contamination. I've had some beers that weren't great, but when you put it in perspective, a 12 ounce serving probably cost me about $0.50 - 1.00. Comparatively, while not great, it was still drinkable and as good as anything I could get for that price.
Being able to make decent sized quantities of good beer to take to parties, give as gifts, and just have on hand really diminishes the hit of the cost of equipment. I feel like it's been worth it.
See if there's a homebrew club in your area that runs bulk buys, you can drop your per-batch price by a fair amount with buying ingredients in bulk. Un-milled grains last a long time if stored properly, hops can be stored in the freezer and I've used them up to a year after opening without a significant drop in quality. Same goes for yeast if you get dry. I have a 500g bag of US-04 that is over a year old and still ferments just fine, I transferred it to a mason jar and keep it in the coldest part of my fridge. I was able to drop my per-batch cost to around $20 CAD or less for most beers that I brew, and having the ingredients on-hand means I can brew whenever I feel like it.
$20 CAD for a brew!!! That's really impressive and an amazing value. We do have a great local homebrew scene here and our local suppliers offer pretty good value for equipment and supplies. I probably could get similar costs as well. Unfortunately like the OP in the thread I don't have the kind of space for bulk grain and milling machines or other bulk storage. Being in an apartment has it's limits and Ive pretty much hit them. I'm satisfied with my cost efficiency even knowing it could be better under different circumstances.
Cool to hear that you have great cost efficiency! That's awesome to see. Thanks for sharing!
Yup. Finally cleared out my homebrewing setup.
It was just too damn time consuming.