In June, my friend Garrett and I started brewing our own beer. In retrospect, I’m not sure why. I know it’s something we had been talking about for months, if not years. We both loved beer, to be sure. And we liked the idea that if we got good enough at brewing we could experiment with our own recipes and eventually come up with something original.
And then there was this post on Lifehacker, which certainly piqued my interest. The idea that brewing your own beer at home could actually save you money? That pretty much sealed the deal for me.
But is it true?
For those who’d rather not read the rest of this post, I’ll summarize my answer now: sort of, but not really.
Below, you’ll find a more detailed explanation. By the way, prices are as listed at Northern Brewer, the shop Garrett and I use.
Equipment and Supply Costs
First, let’s go through your basic equipment needs. I’m going to approach this post from the perspective of someone who’s interested in spending as little as possible — i.e. someone not interested in purchasing a $300 brew kettle, a conical fermenter or any other kind of advanced equipment.
Absolutely Necessary Brewing Equipment:
• “Basic” Homebrewing Starter Kit: $74.99
• Brew Kettle: $37.99
Not-Necessary-But-Incredibly-Helpful Brewing Equipment:
• “Better Basic” or “Deluxe” Homebrewing Starter Kit: $109.99 or $156.99, respectively
• Bottling Tree: $51.99
• Wort Chiller: $63.99
Basically, you can buy all the equipment you need for $121.60, after tax. If you’re willing to spend $334.67, however, you can get a much better setup that’s going to make brewing and bottling a lot easier — although it won’t necessarily produce better brews.
Now, let’s look at what you need to actually brew the beer.
Beer Ingredients and Bottling Supplies:
• Recipe kit (includes grains, malt extract and hops): $17.99 to $79.99, depending on type of beer
• Dry yeast packet: $1.10 to $6.75, depending on yeast variety
• Priming sugar or carbonation tablets: $1.15 to $4.50, depending on type
• Bottle caps: $3.25 (144-count bag, will get you through three-and-a-half batches)
• One Step sanitizer (5-lb. container, will get you through multiple batches): $23.99
• Beer bottles: $0 (?)
Cost Per Bottle
Now, let’s run through a scenario…
To keep the costs down as low as possible, let’s say we’re brewing a Dry Irish Stout. The kit costs $19.99 and the yeast $3.50. For priming sugar, let’s go with a packet of Munton’s Carb Tabs at a cost of $2.99. The bottle caps will cost $3.25, but let’s spread that out over three-and-a-half batches for a cost of 93 cents per batch. The cost-per-batch of the sanitizer is a little harder to calculate; I bought a 5-lb. container of the stuff several beers ago and Garrett and I have barely put a dent in it. To be conservative, let’s say we use brewing and bottling one batch of beer will cost us $3 in sanitizer.
After tax, ingredients and supplies for one batch of Dry Irish Stout are going to cost us around $35.23. From that, we get approximately 5 gallons of beer, which in my experience amounts to about 41 standard bottles (12 fl. oz. each). Your cost per beer, then, is going to be approximately 86 cents.
That’s not too shabby. Eighty-six cents per beer is equal to $10.32 per 12-pack. If you consider that a 12-pack of Fat Tire might run you $17.07 after tax at your local liquor store, you are saving as much as 56 cents per bottle. Of course, a 12-pack of Summit might only cost $12.90 (you’d save 22 cents per bottle), and a 12-pack of Miller Lite only $10.75 (you’d save less than 4 cents per bottle). Clearly, the amount of money you save by homebrewing depends on what kind of beer you would normally buy.
The Real Cost
Now we have to factor in the cost of the equipment. Even if you went with the cheap setup at a cost of $121.50, you can see that it’s going to take quite a while for you to break even. If you’re saving 56 cents per bottle (sticking with the Fat Tire comparison), it’s still going to take you until your sixth batch of beer before you start to see any actual savings compared to what you would have spent on the store-bought brew. Six batches is about 30 gallons of beer, or roughly 246 bottles. I hope you’re thirsty.
Of course, if you went with the more expensive setup at $334.67, you’re going to have to make 15 batches of beer before you break even — that’s 75 gallons of beer, or about 615 bottles.
This is basically the predicament in which Garrett and I find ourselves. The reality is, we’re not saving any money by homebrewing. I would venture a guess that nobody really does. Keep in mind, even the optimistic scenario laid out above assumes a number or things, i.e.: (1) that you’re sticking to the cheap recipe kits at the homebrew shop; (2) that you would normally buy an expensive craft beer like Fat Tire at a liquor store; (3) that you don’t end up with any spoiled batches of homebrew; and (4) that you’re not giving any of your precious homebrewed beer away as gifts to eager friends and family, which, let’s face it, you will be.
On top of all this, economically speaking, there is the opportunity cost associated with spending several hours every few weekends brewing and/or bottling beer. Of course, the brewing process is part of the fun — in fact, it’s pretty much the whole point of homebrewing — and that’s really the bottom line. Homebrewing is for those who have a genuine fascination with the brewing process. There are plenty of prepackaged options already waiting at the liquor store for those who just want to drink good beer.
10 Comments
November 18, 2009 at 8:35 am
[...] runs the numbers on homebrewing and demonstrates that it’s a foolish economic proposition — unless you happen to think [...]
November 18, 2009 at 10:08 am
[...] by admin on November 17, 2009 The idea that brewing your own beer at home could actually save you money? That pretty much sealed the deal for me. But is it true? More here: saintpaulitan » Blog Archive » The Economics of Homebrewing [...]
November 19, 2009 at 11:06 pm
A few points:
first off, if you’re getting into hombrewing to save money on beer, you’re doing it wrong. you’ll never make a product worth drinking if you’re penny-pinching and cheap-assing the whole way. homebrewing isn’t about cost or even about drinking good beer, it’s about drinking _the_ beer that _you_ want. Two Hearted has great flavor but it’s too sweet? clone that mother. really love Summit EPA but there’s not enough aroma? clone that mother.
“it’s still going to take you until your sixth batch of beer before you start to see any actual savings” – I did ten batches my first year, 14 so far this year.
why are you using so much sanitizer? I’ve had a bag of one step last me more than a year now. ~12 batches. just make a gallon and swish things around. you can also use the dishwasher to sanitize bottles.
a bottle tree. seriously? i know at least 10 homebrewers personally and i’ve never even seen one of these.
extract brewing will rarely be cost effective but make the switch to all-grain and your ingredient costs per batch will be < $20 for every batch.
citing "opportunity cost" is a bit ridiculous. the actual brewing process is remarkably hands off. sure it takes about three hours to do a batch but how much of that requires you to be touching things? go mow the lawn if you please. or the hour that it takes to bottle? it's just an hour hanging with some friends.
One more thing: Homebrewing ingredients are tax free.
November 20, 2009 at 7:25 am
Jesse,
All interesting points. I hadn’t realized that beer ingredients are tax-free. That seems incredible to me. I’ll have to pay closer attention next time I go to the store.
While I agree with most of what you said, I think my main point still stands. I completely agree with you that saving money is not the right reason to get into homebrewing. I do think it’s one of the things that people have in the back of their head as their considering whether to get into homebrewing, so I thought it was an idea worth exploring.
I agree too that you shouldn’t buy the cheap stuff just because it’s cheap — but I think that just proves my point further that homebrewing really isn’t going to save anybody any money. Right now, my friend and I are mostly sticking to the cheap recipe kits because we’re still just learning the process. We’re hoping to move beyond those pretty soon though.
I do appreciate the comments.
-Nick
November 20, 2009 at 2:22 pm
You’ll never be able to make a double cheeseburger for less than Burger King, but it doesn’t stop you from having cookouts, does it?
Amortizing the cost of that grill is going to make your BBQs a heck of a lot more expensive.
November 21, 2009 at 9:07 am
I agree with most of what you wrote, and some of what the commenters said. I think the truth lies somewhere in between. I look at it as cheaper than buying high quality beer. Your point about saving 4 cents per bottle over Miller Lite is a good one. I can drink a great, customized, high quality beer for almost exactly the same price as a low quality macro-brew. Plus, I get to hang out with my brewing buddies in the process. What’s not to like?
November 30, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Nice job running the numbers. It’s definitely more about enjoying the hobby than the potential savings.
December 20, 2009 at 6:00 pm
It’s like any other hobby, you do it because you enjoy it. Hunting is another good example. If you added up all the costs you have in your ammo, gun, license, gas money, food, beer, etc you see that you have some pretty expensive meat.
Nice blog, pretty informative.
March 21, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Nice article… I agree with a few of the commenters above. Don’t cite cost rather it’s the fun and joy of producing some interesting and very tasty beers.
I have my basic house pale ale at under 15 cents per serving. Most of my other brews except winter and holiday ales are a little more. The method to my saving is all-grain and having the ability to buy and store grain in bulk.
Additionally growing your own hops provides free hops to help offset the costs even further. Besides its another hobby that lends to the joy of self fulfillment.
July 11, 2010 at 11:01 pm
My brother, his brother-in-laws, and his Navy buddies have a blast brewing their own beer in his garage in Oakdale. They are constantly trying new recipes and refining the ones they have tried before.
His latest thing with the home brewing is he is growing his own hops in his backyard as a privacy fence between his yard and his neighbor’s yard. I’m thinking about growing my own hops for the same reason and just handing over the hops for them for their beer.
As with any hobby, few pay off when you run the numbers, just enjoy the process!
By the way, love the picture of the car in your blog.