How much per pint?

R-9 · Jun 27, 2012

Hi all
I see people talking about their brews costing XXp a pint etc usually when they're talking about kits.

My first purchase of a kit would have worked out about 60p a pint (Woodfordes Wherry) but after losing my order and making me wait about two weeks for it to arrive Wilkinsons reshipped successfully then the first one miraculously turned up, bringing my pintprice down to a very respectable (and slightly guilty) 30p

I was just interested in how much an average AG brew costs (equipment and time aside!) - I suppose there must be grains and hops that cost much more than others but what would be cheapest and the most expensive pint you could brew out of interest? :hmm:

BigYin · Jun 27, 2012

Mine work out between 16p and 20p a pint at the last reckoning (partly thanks to the generosity of a forum member here who sent me a load of hops that I'm only just reaching the end of)- now that grain is getting a bit dearer, and hops are pricey too, it might go up a bit - but I tend to steer away from very hoppy beers anyway.

hairybiker · Jun 27, 2012

It vairies dramatically. It can be as little as 20p/pint or upto 50p/pint dependant on strenth and amount of hops used.
I picked up some very cheap Target hops last time I was in my local HBS (only make it about 2 times a year :x ) so have been using them as bittering hops nicely (12.53% AA) this dropped the cost of the brew by about Â£2 which is a significant amount.
But AG is more about total control rather than just cost, other wise why would be spend Â£Â£Â£'s on equiptment to do it when 3Kg kits are good.

BigYin · Jun 27, 2012

Control, and CHOICE!! - the sheer number of recipes out there is amazing!! Next brew will be an Orkney Dark Island - bet there's no kit out there for that :mrgreen:

kebabman · Jun 27, 2012

AG is roughly half the price of quality kits. Over the last few days there has been a lot of talk about the quality beer kits at tesco being reduced to the prices you can get two AG brews worth brews of grain and hops for. I appreciate that a lot people don't have the time for AG but if you do then don't be so lazy!

zgoda · Jun 27, 2012

Mine is ~Â£5 for 40 pints but I'm living in Poland, we have sack of local malt for Â£15 (no matter pilsner, pale or munchener) and local hops Â£1.00 per 100 grams of T90 pellets. Only yeast is equally expensive as in UK.

It's all about local prices. If you have lhbs nearby you can save much on shipping cost, so it's not readily comparable. If you befriend your local micro you could even get free yeast.

As others said, ag is about freedom. It's you who combine all variables into final product.

Dronfieldbrewer · Jun 27, 2012

My Dronfield Pale is the cheapest of the lot.....

I buy Bairds pale malt at cost from my mate at a brewery....Â£12 for a 25kg sack
If using cascade I get this for Â£3.50 from my mate or Nelson for Â£4.50/ 100gms.
and N Brewer or Northdown for Â£3.00 for 100gms
so

5 gallon brewlength...

5 Kg of Pale Malt.....Â£2.40
250gms of flaked maize...16p (1/2 packet of cheapo cornflakes)
8 shredded wheat biccys....Â£1.10 (unless on offer at Azda 2for1)
1 campden tablet......10p
tablespoon of gypsum....10p
protofloc tablet......15p

Then hops...

Northern Brewer or nortdown 30 gms at start of boil ...Â£1
Then 100gms of either Cascade or Nelson. (Â£4 at most)

so 5 gallons is about Â£8 plus a couple of pence for thin bleach. I reuse yeast after capturing from bottles so no real cost for this as I drink the beer, using some frozen wort for starters
so about 20p per pint...

critty · Jun 27, 2012

I worked out te brewferms were costing about 90p-Â£1 per 500ml bottle. But thats because I had used candied sugar. If I had used dextrose it would have been cheaper.

Andyhull · Jun 28, 2012

I've only done a few kits, all premium Woodfordes ones though and they average out at around 55p to 65p a pint.

You can't get anything anywhere that tastes that good at anywhere near that price, your looking at around Â£1.50 for anything near.
Im going all grain very soon and have worked out that it will cost me around 35p a pint for something far superior (hopefully) to anything you can purchase "anywhere" :pray:

Andy

R-9 · Jun 28, 2012

Interesting answers. Amazingly cheap compared to the pub however you look at it. I do really love pubs so I don't think I'm going to find myself much better off brewing my own. I'll just have to aim for a pub in my garden :thumb:

I'm up for trying a brewferm kit as I'm a big fan of belgian beer. Wouldn't resent pound a bottle if it was delicious (and strong!)

RobWalker · Jun 28, 2012

Not All Grain, but here's how my extract works out with a 10L pot...

I've got loads of hops (bought about 8 120g packs,) and using them intelligently keeps costs down - reusing them often, high bittering hops at 60 min, go easy on them generally and don't open new packs unless neccessary. I'd estimate I use half a pack of hops per recipe overall, so count that as 1.12p from worcester hop shop.

recycle my yeast, so all I gotta buy is malt extract now...that comes to about 11.25 - 13.50 per 40 pint brew (2.5kg - 3kg.)

So between 12.37 and 14.62 for a full extract brew, usually. there are a few extra costs here and there, but that's quite good, and 8 packs of hops have lasted me the year so far!

36p per pint :)

graysalchemy · Jun 28, 2012

About 20 - 30p a pint depending on hops and ABV but add my time well that adds at least Â£50 an hour which I could have earned not making beer. :lol: :lol:

ArmChair · Jun 28, 2012

graysalchemy said:
About 20 - 30p a pint depending on hops and ABV but add my time well that adds at least Â£50 an hour which I could have earned not making beer. :lol: :lol:

Â£50 an hour?
What are you doing for that? I guess working part time

Dronfieldbrewer · Jun 28, 2012

graysalchemy said:
About 20 - 30p a pint depending on hops and ABV but add my time well that adds at least Â£50 an hour which I could have earned not making beer. :lol: :lol:

I brew mine when "working from home" doing stuff like admin or keying in cases lenders etc. Brewing breaks up a very monotonous job.

graysalchemy · Jun 28, 2012

I try and do some framing in the mean time but I never get much done. :lol: :lol:

mickyfinn · Jun 28, 2012

Heres one i did recently after bulk buying some malt and hops
14.75kg various grain
500g hops (bought 5kg for 26.65)
Â£16.27 ex a protafloc tab gas and eleccy
140 500ml bottles 11.62p per bottle @5.1%

artyb · Jun 28, 2012

our local is charging Â£3.90 a pint for fosters aussie ****

R-9 · Jun 29, 2012

our local is charging Â£3.90 a pint for fosters aussie ****

Mine too. It's a Harveys pub and the ale is slightly cheaper but still pricey!

ArmChair · Jun 29, 2012

artyb said:
our local is charging Â£3.90 a pint for fosters aussie ****

I would rather drink from the drop trays that pay the money for fosters!

I was in Australia for a month over Christmas last year. Not in one bar/bottle shop did I see any fosters!

fbsf · Jun 29, 2012

Likewise - I was out in Sydney in May, and the general pump stuff was Coopers and maybe Tooheys, but there were lots of decent local brewers as well. James Squire was a consistently good one. It wasn't cheap though - $9 a schooner (375ml) on average!

How much per pint?

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

Active Member

Regular.

Landlord.

Regular.

Active Member

Landlord.

Landlord.

Regular.

Landlord.

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Landlord.

Landlord.

Active Member

Active Member

Landlord.

Active Member

Landlord.

Landlord.

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!