costs

[sponge_]

Buying grain in bulk (by the sack), re-using yeast, using rain water, using homegrown hops.. depending upon the recipe I can make a basic lager for all of 40-50p/L (including electricity for brewing and fermenting). If I'm making a triple hopped IIPA with fruit, oak and funky yeast, that could easily cost 5-10x more.

At the end of the day, if I can make nicer beer than what I can purchase for that price in the shop, I'm ahead. If I look at it from the point of view that my hobby costs me that much, then I drink for free.

 

[Covrich]

the dear ones! american/new world hops.

it's a shame I dont have a taste for the cheaper home grown ones :-(

I prefer dme but will give lme a go now and then and also pop in some grain as well.

Not getting paid commission for this I swear but give those Slovenian hops a try, you get a range of those cirtusy and fruity hops.

You can get like 100grams of them for about £3

 

[Cwrw666]

Not counting equipment or electricity, my beer works out at around 34p a pint. But there again I brew a lot of Brown Ale which uses tiny amounts of hops which saves a lot of money.
Can't see the point of pricing in equipment as the cost per pint declines over time. Electric can't be much either as it's only a 1.5kw heater and only on for a few hours.

 

[Halfacrem]

Costs I don't track. Though I reckon the pleasure of supping your own beer is priceless :thumb:

 

[dad_of_jon]

Not getting paid commission for this I swear but give those Slovenian hops a try, you get a range of those cirtusy and fruity hops.

You can get like 100grams of them for about �£3

will absolutely give them a go. mandarina bavaria were quite nice wherever they came from :whistle:

 

[duncans]

I used to keep a track of money spent vs beer produced. That is until I realised just how much I was really spending.

I'll say the same to you as I say to the missus, 50 p per bottle max. That's a saving of £1.something vs supermarket ales. :)

 

[cervezaporfavor]

From my records my latest brew, a 5 gallon BIAB 4% golden beer using crushed pale malt and USA hops cost 23p per pint (all ingredients and power usage).

If I include depreciation of equipment (costs minus their second hand value) then over my 45 x 5 gallon brews then the cost is 31p per pint.

The more you brew the less it costs (well per pint anyway!)

I estimated the power usage of my buffalo 40 litre boiler for a 5 gallon brew :
Power cost : 3.5 hours x 2.5 (the KW rating of the heater element) x 10p per unit = 85 pence per brew.

Ian

 

[MarkMayf]

I have equipment costs recorded and ingredient costs for each batch.

Divided by the total number of bottles produced.

I'm only on my second batch, and assuming I get 40 bottles, I will be at £3.10 per bottle.

Extract brewing. Not taking into account energy.

 

[lukehgriffiths]

I too am a maths teacher but haven't kept such a complete record...
My last ingredient shop cost £72 ish

No yeast cost as I reclaim from bottles that I buy and drink.

The total amount from here is probably had 220 pints from it and at that it is probably about 32p per pint but

I use camping gaz cylinder to power my main brew (probably £50 quids worth)

I have also had to use cleaners (pretty negligible £3 ish and star san basically nowt with reuse)

I am not water metered so water costs are no more than living water costs.

100W heater for about 12 weeks probably about £10

S that is more like £135 for 220 pints closer to 60p per pint (I do brew pretty weak usually 3.8 to 4.5% ABV)

Oh and CO2 in there too... doesn't cost much though.

 

[cheapbrew]

I'm sure like many others I have to keep stopping myself when I'm shopping for ingredients as I find myself going, "oh they have cheaper base malt but the yeast is dearer than the other place" and then I remember its less than a quid or two that I'm quibbling over, to buy enough stuff to make beer that is better than, and would cost many times more in the pub.

 

[Hops_and_Dreams]

I don't keep track as I also count it as a hobby/pastime (a tasty one). It's great being able to make really good beer that I would otherwise not have access too (**** North Norfolk pubs) - to me that makes it worthwhile and, like others, I enjoy the process.

 

[MyQul]

I don't keep track as I also count it as a hobby/pastime (a tasty one). It's great being able to make really good beer that I would otherwise not have access too (**** North Norfolk pubs) - to me that makes it worthwhile and, like others, I enjoy the process.

I don't keep track either. It's not **** north norfolk pubs either. I like pale ales but most (especially micro brewery/craft ales) are too bitter for my tastes. Plus it's not often you see darker beers around. If you do it's just the one. So it's nice to be albe to make beers exactly as I like them

 

[GHW]

it's nice to be albe to make beers exactly as I like them

Amen to that, brother

As Geoffrey boycott might say, were he a brewer;

I like what I brew and l brew what I bloody well like!

 

[stevie123]

Amen to that, brother

As Geoffrey boycott might say, were he a brewer;

I like what I brew and l brew what I bloody well like!

Well said that man, and i dont care about costs i would rather spend over the top and have great ale than a average ale

 

[wfr42]

And you still pay less than a pub pint...

 

[dad_of_jon]

I like pale ales but most (especially micro brewery/craft ales) are too bitter for my tastes. So it's nice to be albe to make beers exactly as I like them

+1

I'm toying with the idea of only a 5 min bitterness boil but still a shedful of hops to make a low bitterness ipa bursting with grapefruit flavour :-)

 

[ericmark]

I do brew to reduce cost, always use kits, it will vary per pint as I vary the sugar used and water added and it depends where I get the kit from to start with. At one point I got them from Morrisons then got a batch from Tesco because no postage from Tesco since Morrisons stopped stocking that is likely the cheapest. Not sure if special Christmas offer though but Geordie Scottish Export is much cheaper than Young's Harvest Scottish Heavy when got from Tesco but same price in local brew shop so if using local brew shop it is Young's Harvest Scottish Heavy which has 1.5 kg of sugar and makes 40 pints. Often add extra sugar just put in the two bags and over fill so more like 50 pints.
£12.45 kit
£1.18 Sugar (2kg)
£0.36 Electric that's average of 5W for 25 days.
Total £14 / 50 = 28p a pint.
Allow for cleaning etc and may be it could push to 30p a pint. I have not included price of equipment when I built up my STC-1000 I bought a box and glands to mount it all in so in real terms likely cost the same or more than a Inkbird ITC-308 so how many brews should on spread the £30 over? I never bought the fermentor but my daughter did, at I will guess at £15 each, same goes for the sanitizer don't use much but add the cost of demijohns, racks in the shed, syphon tube, tap even the car cleaning sponge I use to insulate the sensor on side of fermentor it must all add up to around £100 been brewing around 3 years at 12 brews a year average so that's! Oh only 7p per pint did not expect it to be so low. So in real terms must be costing 40p per pint including cost of equipment although of course the price has to be dropping with every batch made. Think I saw something on BBC web site about cask ale and 56p tax so the pub can't compete.

Pubs are cheap cost of making a cup of coffee is around 20p and sold for £1.75 clearly to cover over heads having the building so at 40p a pint with similar mark up £3.15 per pint but add tax and that is £3.70 per pint most pubs around here are well under that no wonder so many closing.

 

[Slid]

Amen to that, brother

As Geoffrey boycott might say, were he a brewer;

I like what I brew and l brew what I bloody well like!

Great man, our Geoff. 100 hundreds.

On the brewing commentary, I like the statement of former Admin Austin:

"American beer is unique, in the sense that it is ****. If we want anything (decent) to drink, we have to brew it ourselves,"

Not far from where we are here, I feel...

Once the initial desire to brew cheap beer has been passed, I think the focus of most HB's is pursuing quality at a reasonable cost in terms of time and financial outlay.

As "Reasonable" is totally a subjective notion, we get the approaches outlined so well on the forum.

Happy Brewing!

 

[Notlaw]

I quite like being able to say that it's only cost me £X.xx per bottle, but I'm really not bothered how much it costs; it'll be less than a "decent" pub pint or supermarket bottle of quality craft beer. I'm brewing because I want to do it. It's a hobby like any other, I'm not setting out to save money and get hammered for pennies.!

 

[Taximania]

I think cost is a very important attribute
I always try to exclude the time expended on a brew because it is first and foremost a hobby.
In the same light everything has to be relative and when we compare to shop(not pub)bought quality has to have some play