Home brewing startup cost

Pots can be had relatively cheap. However, your questions aren't easy to answer. I think you'll have a difficult time doing full boils on an old electric.

Extract at full-boil would be best to budget around $200, with a cheap burner.

All-Grain full-boil would be closer to $300.

That wouldn't be taking into account fermentation control or yeast starter equipment.

 

I started up with a kit like this http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brewing-basics-equipment-kit.html and still brew with the same type of equipment 9 years later, although I have replaced a the bucket fermenters once or twice. I brewed on a small efficiency apartment electric stove, splitting a full batch on two cheap kettles, for 3 of those years. At this point, I was about 100 bucks into the hobby. However, after a few batches were under my belt, I added a wort chiller, and oxygen stone/aeration setup, and a homemade cooler mash tun with manifold. This probably put me in for another $100-150. Eventually, I came across a turkey fryer setup for $30-40, although in retrospect, it wasn't a great deal as I almost never use the burner. I continued to brew indoors instead.

My point is that you can start small, gradually build on it, and do well.

 

You can get a basic extract startup kit for $200, like I did, but I really should have bought a few things right off the bat to go with it. Probably equating to $50 for the extras, so I put $250

 

And then trust me, after about 5-10 batches, you'll want to spend another $75 to go to all grain

 

Almost exactly my story.

xx

 

I got started with a Mr. Beer kit and I still use those kegs (3 of them now) to brew 2.5 gallon batches. I have a kettle big enough to do 3 gallon boils on an electric stove, but I have kind of settled on partial mash/partial boil recipes. Adding sanitized cold water to the worth speeds the cooling process. I don't have a lot of space to dedicate to home brewing, so I have what I call "Brewery in a Box." Under $150 to get started for sure. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18780077/AboutRod/FoodBeverage.html#Home_Brewing

 

The starter kit posted above: 69.99
5 gallon Kettle+paddle: $40
wort chiller: ~70 (not technically required but it might as well be for the time it saves)
3 gallon igloo cooler: free around the house

this is enough to do 5 gal extract or small batch all grain

 

You should try to figure out what size batches you will want to do and plan from there. Not everybody wants five gallons of the same beer sitting around so there are simple and cheap kitchen set ups that use your stove as a heating element. OTOH some people think five gallons is too little for the effort and jump up to 10-15 gallon batches.

At the outset your biggest expense will be the boil. You might be able to get five gallons to boil on your stove but if you have the typical electric coil stove you might find that a serious challenge if it's possible at all. A turkey fryer is a cheap way to get yourself the equipment necessary for a full five gallon boil. However, you may want to brew larger or smaller batches. What you do not want to do is buy a $30 kettle for extract on the stove, then a bigger $50 kettle for the stove, then a $50 turkey fryer and try to figure out what to do with the two kettles you don't use anymore. Plus, if you decide brewing isn't something you want to do then at least a turkey fryer is easy to repurpose for cooking or you can sell it off on craigslist.

Like most hobbies there is a compulsive acquisitional disorder that comes along with it. Once you start extract then you'll want to buy in to all grain. You'll want equipment to temperature control, keg, etc. It's easy to dump a lot of money into the hobby, especially if you go at it buying what you want/need today and not thinking about whether you'll want to upgrade it tomorrow. That's exactly how you end up with a closet full of kettles you don't use because they aren't big enough.

 

I try not to think about how much I have invested in brewing thus far.

As noted above, start up cost is entirely dependent on what you'd like to do and it's very smart to be thinking about where you'd like to be in 6 months. I followed that advice and it has ended up working well for me. I don't have a single piece of obsolete equipment so all the money I have spent was definitely spent wisely.

 

Answer depends on 1) how much beer you want to brew...2) how often you want to brew...3) your brewing method...and 4) where you buy the equipment.

Brewing more beer > Brewing less beer
Brewing more often > Brewing less often
Extract > Mashing
Paying retail from LHBS | o-LHBS > Buying from Craigslist

 

Biggest cost is the loss of a waistline.

 

A Coleman cooler and trip to the hardware store will get you damn near everything you need for $150. A turkey fryer setup with an 8 gallon pot would seal the deal.


Such as: http://www.southernturkeycookers.co...Gas-Stainless-Steel-Turkey-Fryer-Kit-w/Spigot

Extract is always about 40% more expensive.

 

Check out foodservicewarehouse.com for a kettle if you don't have one. I got a 10gal aluminum kettle for $45 or so including shipping. Very thick and sturdy, yes you have to season it but that's not a big deal to me. Im taking the extract route to begin with and got my kit for about $90 including shipping and a recipe kit (6.5 fermenter, 6.5 bottle bucket, auto siphon, lines, caps, capper, PBW, StarSan, brush and DVD. Then I added an upgrade measurement kit.

That put me at just under $200. But, since then, ive bought another 6.5 primary fermenter and a 5 carboy and the Dark star Burner and a bunch of other stuff. I felt the need to get most of this after my fist batch and also wanted to be able to do 2 batches at a time.

Personally my advice would be to just start getting the shit you need and build up as you go, I have ADD with just about everything I do and have trouble saving money and not spending it on something else so I just started getting what was needed, made sure i liked brewing and then started getting things to make brewing easier and improve the quality.

For instance, i just left my local homebrew store with that other primary ferment, yeast starter supplies (forgot the damn stopper), and a carboy handle.

Good Luck!

 

Another piece of advice, which was thankfully given to me, even if you plan on just doing 5 gal batches for now I would still recommend getting the biggest pot you can afford. That way you don't grow out of it (too quick at least) and can do full boils and don't have to worry about boil over.

 

Starter kit $200 for 5G batches, (4) years later $3000+ and doing 1BBL batches.
Watch out!

 

I think my start up was even cheaper. What has happened may be more expensive when you include all of the fermentation fridge/freezer, bar in the basement, and on and on. It has become our lifestyle.

 

I spent $140 total on equipment and ingredients for my first 5 gallon batch. I used my existing stove, and a 3(ish) gallon pot I already had (which was really not big enough to even do a 1/2 boil). So it can be done for that. That said I plan to get a wort chiller (probably homemade, but copper ain't cheap so it will probably still be $50) and an induction plate (~$200 for a 3000-3500 watt plate which requires 240v) before my next beer and got an 8 gallon pot (induction ready) for Christmas (unknown$ the price can vary). There is also the turkey fryer route which is probably cheaper.