Money on beer

I'm probably around 50% homebrew as well. It's easy to save money brewing in Canada, as craft beer prices are $12-14 a six pack on average. Before I started my current job I was probably closer to 80% homebrew.

 

I wouldsay roughly 65-75% homebrew - I want it to be higher but when visiting family (depending on which side) or out at a bar I tend to buy.

 

The majority of the beer I consume at home is homebrew.

To sort of springboard off of carteravebrew’s post, where you really save money is by brewing ‘expensive’ beers. I tend to brew a fair amount of Belgian style beers. If I were to purchase Trappist ales that would cost a lot of money; a case of Chimay or Westmalle cost well over a hundred dollars per case. I can brew the equivalent of a Chimay Red for about $25 a case. That is a HUGE savings!

Cheers!

 

Now that I've built up a decent inventory of homebrew my store-bought craft brew purchases have dropped dramatically. This is also in conjunction with a reduction in consumption as I attempt to drop a few pounds...

 

90% of the hoppy stuff I consume is homebrew, as I've become tired playing the hoppy beer lottery, spending $7-10 on a bomber of what ends up being subpar or even worse, shitty, hoppy beer (Heres looking at you Knee Deep!). I'd say 60% of what I consume is homebrew, with the other 40% being barrel aged stuff that takes a long time to produce (Have my own barrel projects going, but am currently limited to two sour barrels and one bourbon).

 

Since it's a hobby, I don't try to amortize the equipment cost. That's simply the price of the hobby (much like the cost of your golf clubs). It's the marginal cost per batch that counts, IMO. If, for example, the ingredients for a particular 5 gallon batch of a session beer cost $20 (typical ballpark for me), then that batch will result in my wallet being lighter by exactly $20, not $20 plus some fraction of the equipment cost. In that case, it's like paying $2.40 for a six pack. It would cost at least three to four times that for a six pack of an equivalent quality craft beer ('equivalent quality' being a subjective term, here - it works for me). An 'equivalent' of a major kick ass craft beer typically costs me around $50 per batch, or about $6 for a six pack, compared with $15 to $20-ish for the commercial variety.

 

I probably range from 35% to 75% depending on the timeframe. The reason for this being that I typically drink almost exclusively from the beer I have on tap plus homebrew bottles during the week with the weekend often involving more commercial beer tastings, visits to breweries, etc. Right now I'm less than 50% homebrew as one of my two kegs is commercial (Goose Island Sofie), though that'll be back up over 50% once that keg kicks and I have 2 homebrew kegs on again.

 

I agree, I've been brewing AG for about 3 years. My equipment costs probably haven't exceeded $500 during that time. Biggest purchase was a $100 electric turkey fryer for heat source. I think I've amortized my equipment purchases long ago with the savings on home grown. The wife and I have about 2 beers each most nights with our popcorn, a movie, baseball or hockey game in season. That would work out to more than a case/week, with a case of even the low end craft beers being in the $25-$30 range. My homebrews run under $10/case for very drinkable, session type, beers. Some ballpark math would put the savings at around $800/year.

 

I see your point, but an avid golfer can spend many thousands on stuff, it's not very honest to say golf is affordable because he only spends $50 per week on green fees. Equipment costs can go as high or low as you want, but they should be considered as a cost of brewing whether it's a hobby or a job.

 

Generally 65-85% homebrew so long as I am brewing frequently enough, and I have kept equipment costs pretty low (all grain w/a 50 qt igloo cube), I brew more "expensive" styles - Belgians, sours, brett beers, along with some hoppy ales and British ales. All grain probably costs $20 / batch on average w/ reusing yeast, buying hops and grain in bulk. When I do partial mash/partial extract batches I pay a bit more to enjoy the time savings. When I brew all grain I like to make 10-15 gallons at a time and mix things up by using different hops or yeasts, or capping the mash, a/o doing a partigyle. I have 2 kids, I could afford to just buy craft but I like the hobby and appreciate the savings. Also while I could afford to keep myself in Sierra and Lagunitas I would have a harder time justifying keeping myself sated on Orval, Bruery, De Konninck, RRBC, and Cantillon. I have 2 young kids at home.

 

I decided this year not to buy any commercial beers (unless from a pub in the relatively rare case that I go out). Two months in, and sticking to my homebrew and what's in my cellar. Also, I cut down drinking on weekdays which helps. It's forcing me to use up what I have. This is saving me a lot! Weekly trips to pick up a few of the latest seasonals at $6-$10 a bomber adds up! I used to brew once every 4-6 weeks and consume most of it myself... however, now I've had the same two kegs for at least 2 months and probably will take me another 4-5 weeks to finish it all.

 

If you want to have great beer cheap: Grow your own hops. Reuse yeast. Buy grain in bulk. You will bend your cost curve well below craft.

 

My point is that if I decide to brew a batch today that will cost $20 for ingredients, gas, etc. I will spend exactly $20 more than if I don't brew it. Similarly, if it costs $50 to play a round of golf, you only need $50 to play. If you don't play, you only saved $50, not $150 because it was your 10th round with $1,000 worth of equipment. My cost to play a song on one of my guitars is zero. How would you amortize the price of the instrument? I suppose an argument can be made for wear and tear, but again, I simply consider that the cost of the hobby.

 

On the topic of saving money I have a question for you guys who buy your grains in bulk. How do you store your grains to keep them from getting stale? Do you just get giant plastic containers and dump it in or am I missing something else?

 

Yes.

Brew often enough, and the grains don't have a chance to go stale. You'd be surprised how quickly you brew through a 50 lb bag of base malt.

 

Thanks for the info, now I just have to get a mill.

 

I was in the exact same boat as you (kid wise). At first, my wife was not a very big supporter of my homebrewing (she was not much of a beer drinker either), so I was not able to find much time to brew. I found a little trick. I made a few beers that her gal pals enjoyed. Once they were discussing beer with me, she wanted to learn more. Then she started to drink more. Finally, I let her come up with names for my beer. I don't care much what the names are, but it gets her involved. The next thing I know she was coming up with names for beers I hadn't brewed yet, and she was urging me to brew them. A lot of the names are puns about our family or kids names.

To answer your question: Yes I do show up at parties with a growler or two of homebrew, but it is always shared. Therefore, it doesn't last very long.
This is the main problem with brewing to save money. You will give a lot more of you beer away. I didn't seem to have as much of a problem with that when I bought more craft beer. It's just something about the home-made factor of homebrew. People don't see a price tag when they give it or receive it.
That being said, I brew all grain and I have invested a lot of money in my equipment. I would say, around, $300. But I have repurposed and built much of what I use.
An average (5% ish ABV) beer costs me around $25 per 5 gal batch.

Just don't forget that you will have big beers that are subpar, you will experiment, etc... All of which might make you feel as though you lost money.
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.