The true £ cost of home brewing

My "brewery" has been collected gradually over the years and can brew 23l batches using a 32l stockpot which cost £50. 2FVs, a thermometer, a hydrometer and trial jar, a long plastic spoon, a syphon tube, 2 sheets of nylon curtain and a piece of nylon string could all be bought for another £50 so by my second brew I would be in profit compared to buying bottled beer.
An AG brewery for £100 which all fits into the stockpot for storage suits me very well.

midnight rider said:

I would like to thank everyone for the responses, but no-one actually answered the question!

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To be honest I don't really care how much it costs. I like beer!

(and I really DON'T want to know how much it costs, if she finds out...........)

:drink:

prolix said:

break down for 80 pints

electricity 15kwh
£2

Grain 7kg
£8

hops grown in garden free otherwise
£3

water 200l
£0.40

yeast if not reusing then free
£3

sundries max (water treatment, etc.)
£1

total under £16

20p a pint (can be as little as 15p) no labour costs or equipment factored in

That said my brewery had cost me the better part of 2 and a half grand over the years and I have brewed about 400 gallon so

75p a pint set up cost this will obviously reduce the more beer I brew

so every beer I brewed so far is about

95p a pint

so saved £6500 compared with going to the pub

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:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I am certain that over time it is definitely cheaper, but what is more satisfying than drinking a pint of something you have created. Trying to create a pint of your favourite brew, which is on parr or better than the stuff you can buy, what more can you ask for. Like every hobby/interest initial set up costs can be high depending on YOU! Some spend time making and building their equipment to save money, whilst others will go out and buy the best kit they can afford.
Also as long as you don't turn into an alcoholic then this is a terrific hobby. Coming back into brewing I have found via the forums and YouTube that brewers are inventive, thrifty, and more importantly happy!

Cheers:drunk:

The greatest danger is contagious "Shiny Fever" the beer doesn't change but the cost.........

Aamcle

Orval62 said:

...as long as you don't turn into an alcoholic...

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Aye, there's the rub! :lol:

Having just gotten back into it after a 20+ year break, thanks to the missus buying me a starter kit and me buying her a Wine starter kit, I can honestly say that the cost is nothing compared to how much we were spending 12 months ago on cigarettes. :clap:

I am completely new to this so I thought I'd chime in on my costs for getting everything from scratch. My second brew is fermenting now and I have to say I am already anticipating the next... I'm not getting addicted to the alcohol itself but I am addicted to the brewing even though I am only using kits! I'll eventually go all-grain when I buy more stuff and have more experience.

Fermentation Bucket
Pressure Barrel with a pin valve (two 8g co2 cans included for one batch)
Sythoning tube with a filter on it to stop sediment getting in my beer so I can get every last drop out of the fermentation bucket
Hydrometer
Airlock
Plastic thing used to stir
Sanitiser (enough to last 4 or 5 brewa)
I think that was everything. All of it was in one kit which cost £55

Bitter kit = £14
1kg Dextrose Sugar = £2
500g Organic, unrefined cane sugar (used for secondary fermentation in the pressure barrel. Will obviously last a few brews) = £1.10

£72.10 in total for 40 pints so £1.80 a pint. Initial cost makes it that high but it is going to get cheaper and cheaper every brew. If I take out the equipment cost I will be brewing at around 40p a pint which is a lot cheaper then buying it!

Orval62 said:

I am certain that over time it is definitely cheaper, but what is more satisfying than drinking a pint of something you have created. Trying to create a pint of your favourite brew, which is on parr or better than the stuff you can buy, what more can you ask for. Like every hobby/interest initial set up costs can be high depending on YOU! Some spend time making and building their equipment to save money, whilst others will go out and buy the best kit they can afford.
Also as long as you don't turn into an alcoholic then this is a terrific hobby. Coming back into brewing I have found via the forums and YouTube that brewers are inventive, thrifty, and more importantly happy!

Cheers:drunk:

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:thumb:
I've done about 30 kits now with 2 plastic fermenters, 1 bottling bucket, 2 barrels, hydrometer, syphon, little bottler, starsan, capper so around £100 of equipment (most bought in 50% sales or starter kit, all the bottles have beeen free).
My average kit cost including extra hops, brew enhancer or being a premium kit is £18, no water meter, being a kit not much energy costs & I use a cellar for storage (no brew fridge).
So each kit is costing me about £22 and I usually get 38 pints of beer so thats 58p per pint and very good it is too!

I'm about to do my first ever batch and my breakdown is as follows

Starter brewers kit from "the range" (FV,paddle,steriliser,syphon) £20
tin of treacle £1.20
Hydrometer, trial jar, brew sugar, bottle brush, coopers stout kit £18 (Wilkos at 25% off)
32 flip top Grolsch bottles in crates from car boot £10

Lets call that £50. That comes out at £1.25 a pint for my first batch ! Not bad as it inculdes all my basic gear

Im not really worried about what it costs, its a hobby and I enjoy making it... tasting a nice beer that you made, and trying to improve it.

Agreed midlife. Any hobby costs you money right? But not every hobby gives you delicious beer to drink at the end of it ^_^

Horses for courses at the end of the day, it will be cheaper in the long run, but if you don't enjoy brewing then why bother? It is certainly cheaper than the pub and cheaper then buying bottles from the supermarket at around £1.25 a shot. I get satisfaction out of brewing and drinking my own even though I only do kits, also getting a thumbs up from friends and family that have tried it is very rewarding and gives you something to talk about. I tend to buy my kits a few at a time when on offer, the current offers in Wilkos are very good IMO.

Water meter doesn't cost much for home brewing. I dont drink tea or coffee and I shower every day for a good half an hour. The cost of 40 litres of water is nominal. We pay 12 a month. Admittedly there are just 2 of us but still...

One important way to save money if boiling is to ditch the kitch - a 19kg gas cylinder for £25 lasts around 18 brews, this would cost much more via British Gas.

On the fridge debate - we have a fridge freezer in the garage which stores food in the freezer - my use of the fridge for fermentation purposes is completely coincidental :-P

I restarted brewing just over a year ago after a 20 odd year gap. You can do things very cheaply and produce very drinkable beer. I made my first kit (second time around) without spending much at all. FV free large plastic bucket free, plastic bottles free (just what we'd normally recycle), Wherry £14.40, sugar 10p, sterilising solution 59p (didn't even nearly use it all), water negligible, poly tube free (found it lying about at work). That was about the lot, for around £15.50ish I got 38 500ml bottles of quite drinkable beer about 40p a bottle.
The more I tweak the brews and my methods increases my expenditure. 500ml brown glass bottles free as my old fella emptied them and the local bottle bank was full of them if you're cheeky enough to take them out. FV's £7, air locks £2, crown caps £1, bench capper £30, little bottler £10, aquarium heaters £8, spray malts £3.30, hops £2, glycerol 5p, yeasts £1.75, hydrometer £3. Thats about all I can think of so no massive investment. In fact the most expensive just make life easier and don't improve your beers in any way.
Even given that I can't be spending 60p per bottle of what usually turns out to be a bostin pint, much better than any low end comercial brew and comparable to any premium ales. I'd definitely not describe myself as being hard up and needing to brew to be able to afford a drink. I'm interested in beers, I'm interested in brewing and I enjoy trying to improve my beers to my own taste. Its a great hobby for a beer enthusiast.

I have only just started brewing so have bought some equipment. Having to complain about a cider kit and faulty barrel at wilko I got 2 free kegs and a beer kit and 100 compensation for the damage to my dining room floor. I used it all on home brew equipment but I reckon my initial outlay is about 300 including the voucher spend. Admitedly I took great advantage of the wilko sale ;-)

But I have 160 pints and 36 bottles of wine to show for it and I now dont have to buy the equipment. Even for what I have to show for I have spent no more than I would in a supermarket. And I have enjoyed every second of the process too.

Dont think you can put a price on the pride n satisfaction of supping a fine brew that you have nurtured yourself.
But i would say that

I am about to start the process of BIAB because I like the idea of having more control over the beer-making process. Kits are expensive (relatively) but if you have brewed a backlog of good beer then who cares?!

I occasionally treat myself to decent beers in the interest of broadening my horizons (thank you Mr Protz) and love labelling my bottles to give as presents to people.

My other half recently said to me: "Will you be doing much brewing in our new house?"

Me (expecting the worst): Maybe?

Her: Oh ok, I just wondered if you'd fancy trying to brew some wine with me?

She's a keeper! :grin:

a good quality all malt kit plus water , electric etc and taking into account that you don't actually get 40 pints out of a kit , I reckon runs out to a bout 70p a pint , you can certainly buy some supermarket beer in that price range. But it's a good hobby non brewers think your clever and I enjoy it and will always do it.

When I started the rule of thumb was that a cheap kit plus brewing sugar would give you 9 pints for the price of 1 pint in he pub. I don't think that's changed much all these years later.