Money on beer

Yes, ~90% of my consumption is made at home. Sometimes I do split batches to keep more variety on hand. While I always thought having 5 gallons of one beer would be constraining and I would want more variety, it turns out that if you brew often enough, it's not a problem.

Saving money while homebrewing? Debateable. Some say they do. Some day they don't. For me, I probably do save money, because homebrewing keeps me out of therapy.

If your crowd doesn't appreciate your showing up with homebrew, get a new crowd.

 

Clearbrew could be my Doppelganger!

My wife’s name is Kathleen. I brew some batches named for her:

· Kate’s PITA Oatmeal Stout
· Kate’s Kolsch (I bottled a batch of this last night)
· Etc.

Now, let’s discuss the topic of bringing homebrewed beers to social events. If your interest is to manage costs, the simple answer is: do not bring your beer to parties! A number of years ago I got in the habit of bringing my homebrewed beers to parties and it was a HUGE mistake (from a cost perspective). This past holiday season my wife and I got invited to a number of parties (plus visiting family) and I must have gone through at least 4 cases of homebrewed beer! Everybody is happy to drink the beer but man, that is a serious dent in my inventory!! My wife loves that I do this because she then gets off the hook to cook or bring food stuff.

Clearbrew states: “And, you will never totally stop buying craft beer. In my experience, the more you learn about beer through homebrewing, the more expensive you craft beer choices will be.” Truer words were never spoken! Even if you homebrew a lot you can’t make every style that you would like to drink. Just the other day I picked up a six-pack of Victory St. Victorious Doppelbock. I don’t homebrew Doppelbocks and this beer looked (and is) very tasty; a truly enjoyable beer that is made via decoction with a hint of beechwood smoked malt.

Cheers!

 

I hear you about the belgian style beers. Those make up 90% of what we brew. If my calculations are right, I think we have it down to about $12 a case.

 

“I think we have it down to about $12 a case.” That sounds about right for all grain. My Belgian Trappist style Ales are extract with specialty grains so my per case cost is a bit more.

Still $12/25 for a case of Belgian Ale is a GREAT deal!!

Cheers!

 

Yes indeed,,,,,,,,,,,,,,just brewed up 18 gallons of a La Chouffe clone on tuesday and can't wait to get my hands on it. cost for us = $90 Retail = $1080. I especially like filling up magnums. Those have $2 worth of beer in them and sometimes they retail for $49!!

p.s. I actually like our chouffe clone better than the real thing

 

Anybody gone the parti-gyle route to save money? Three batches from one mash tun sounds economical to me.

 

“I actually like our chouffe clone better than the real thing”. I hear you!

My house Belgian Ale is essentially a Dubbel. I like it better than any of the Trappist Dubbels that I have had (e.g., Chimay Red, La Trappe, Westmalle, etc.). I tell friends that I call this beer: Better than Chimay!

Cheers!

 

Nice!! any chance of getting a recipe?

 

+1. Belgian styles were represented in 6 of 13 batches of my homebrew in the last 12 months. If I were to buy the commericial equivalent, I would be poor indeed. Over Christmas, I bought 6 bottles of commercial Belgian ales and the cost was greater than two of the batches I brewed.

 

Really depends on what I have going on for home brew. I'll buy craft whenever I want something different and I like to keep my fridge stocked with variety. I'm looking to add a 2nd keg to my kegerator so I'll be able to have 2 different kinds of home brew on tap, which will be awesome. Since I'm usually the only one having homebrew on a regular basis, 5 gallons can last me for a bit.