Is there actually a cost effective way to home brew beer?
I have all the very basic equipment such as carboy, food-grade buckets, airlock, etc.. I started just collecting stuff that people were giving away. So I went to the home brew store and bought the malt extract, hops, barley, yeast that I needed but in the end spent probably about $45 for a 5 gallon batch. I brewed a really tasty pale ale but it ended up that each beer cost about a dollar and plus the time involved in the whole brewing process. It was fun and all but I thought that you were supposed to be able to brew some good beer for dirt cheep!.. Which would of course make it all the more enjoyable. At that price I might as well just buy a case of Henry Weinhard’s which may not taste the same but sure would be time and cost effective. Does anyone have advice on how to beat the system in this regard?
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Most home brewers do it out of hobby with a slightly unrealistic dream of one day being a craft brewer that actually opens a beer pub or distributes their craft. It’s likely never going to be cost effective unless 1.) you start brewing batches of more expensive styles, like Imperial IPA’s or Russian Imperial Stouts or 2.) get a buddy or two to go in with you on larger quantities of material and just brew more at one time.. Even then, it may not be anything more than a break even. IMO, if you enjoy brewing and love to drink what you make, than the cost effectiveness of it may just come through in the fact that you have obtained a hobby that is far cheaper than going to a beer bar once or twice a week. Keep brewing and good luck making tasty beer – the world needs more home brewers!
The cost does go down in time because you have supplies left over from previous brewings. However, you don’t brew to save money. You do it to make better beer at the same price. There is also the pride factor when you can serve friends your own brew. Much nicer than having them open a can.
A few ways to lower costs are to buy LME (liquid malt extract) from the home-brew store in buckets (poured from large containers in the store), you can get like $2.5 per pound. You can also try all grain brewing which involves buying less processed materials.
All in all, you will never save money brewing lower level beer. Higher quality beer which costs like $3 per bottle can be cloned to save money, but bud/miller/coors light will always be cheaper than anything you can make.
Wine on the other hand is another story. You can get the cost to make 5 gallons under $10. Although the $10 recipee I have is low quality… Higher quality will again cost $30-50 for a 5 gallon batch.
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