Frugal Tips Archives - Page 2 of 2

I'm always trying to find interesting and unique ways to cut down on my homebrew costs. It's important in trying to save money from your budget. But another reason I like to do this is to prepare myself for brewing commercially. Homebrew ingredients costs on a per unit basis most expensive to least expensive: YeastHopsGrain and maltWater These costs are based on individual unit purchases of these items. The costs can differ depending on the style or recipe of beer you are brewing. The Most Expensive Ingredient While I previously listed yeast as being the most expensive ingredient on an per unit basis this can differ materially depending on your recipe. Grains and Malt Grain or hops can easily become the most expensive ingredient in your homebrew depending on how much you use. In a standard beer grains are typically the most expensive ingredient once you have purchased all the grains you will need for a recipe. Grains should cost you $1-$2 per pound. But if you are adding that to a recipe that calls for 5 pounds it could easily top out at $10 dollars worth of grains. Hops While grains could become the most expensive part of your recipe don't underestimate hops. Hops could quickly become incredibly expensive if you are brewing an IPA or any overly hoppy beer. Hops cost around $2-$3 dollars per ounce. While this is more expensive than your grain build you won't need as much if you are not focusing on hoppiness. For example if you are adding 2 oz worth of hops to your beer it could only cost you $6 dollars. This could quickly balloon if your are adding say 5 ounces of hops. Yeast Overall yeast will be a pretty important ingredient but won't fluctuate too rapidly. It could be your most expensive ingredient or on par with your other ingredients if you are making a light beer. Yeast will run you about $8-$10 per package. This could end up being a pretty expensive recurring cost. However, if you decide to reuse your yeast you could cut this cost significantly. Water Water comes in pretty low on the spectrum of costs. Typically you can use tap water and pay like 2 cents per gallon or something. Filtered water could become more expensive but will still be pretty cheap. You could probably just use a Brita filter. Bottled Water will cost you a ton in homebrew! If you decide to do something crazy and use bottled water your water cost will probably be the most expensive part of your brew. Just remember all bottled water is not created equal. In fact a lot of bottled water is just filtered tap water. Additional Homebrew Ingredients You could decide to get fancy with some of your ingredients. For example during the boiling process you might decide to add any of the following types of ingredients SugarFruit Spices, like coriander or anise. Peanut butter or chocolate. CoffeeMilk Powder These types of ingredients could cost you depending on the quality of the ingredients. Sugar for example might be more expensive if you are brewing a Belgian beer. Belgian beer uses Belgian candi sugar which homebrew supply stores will charge you a pretty penny for. It might be a quality ingredient but you could actually get by just using table sugar. Fruit is an interesting one since there are many ways you can buy it. You can get frozen fruit or fresh fruit. You can even get organic fruit. While these have varying amounts of costs, you might even grow your own for really cheap fruit. The difference with growing your own fruit is you need to think of the opportunity costs. You might actually make more money just selling the fruit you grow. But then again it may be difficult to sell. Various spices can increase your homebrew costs but they don't have to break the bank Spices can be fun to experiment with. Depending on the rarity of the spice you use this can be expensive or free. Just take a look at your spice cabinet, you probably have something like cumin or coriander in there go ahead and toss it in. In can be especially useful if you need to get rid of a spice that you rarely use, before it loses potency. Just make up a beer recipe and toss it in, problem solved. I'm sure your friends and family might have a ton of unused spices, ask around. Homebrewing is Cheap Homebrewing costs less than if you were to purchase the same beverage at the supermarket, or even your local brewery. Grocery stores often sell the beer cheaper than the brewpub even since they are getting bulk rates. Breweries will charge a bit more typically since they are basically selling you on the experience. Breweries could sell their beer cheaper but oftentimes will test to see what the market can bear. Because of market regulations and a multitude of other costs. TaxesFinancingLabor Homebrewing beer is typically an astronomical amount cheaper. You could be brewing your favorite six pack for a few dollars, whereas that same beer would cost you 10 or 12 dollars. That's a lot of savings! It can be intimidating to start homebrewing, but overall even if you are using kits it will still be cheaper than buying from the store. Homebrewing with Kits Homebrewing with kits is probably the most expensive way to get started. Depending on what you need these costs can be pretty high. While a lot of new homebrewers like to start by brewing with kits because it is so easy, it will also cost you a pretty penny as they could double the price of raw ingredients. If you are looking to get started much cheaper just take a look at what the kits include and search for those items on Facebook marketplace, or Craigslist. Then you can buy the ingredients from some of the same locations you can buy the kits from. Overall the homebrewing costs will really depend on your time and resolve. If you want the easiest no nonsense method of brewing it will cost you more than if you were to buy ingredients on an individual basis. Sort of a bit counter intuitive right? Shouldn't buying in bulk be cheaper? Homebrewing Equipment Homebrewing equipment will be a one time cost. So, the frequency of which you drink beer could be an important factor. But, to be honest if you are drinking a couple six packs a month you will make your money back easily over a years time. Even if were you to buy a homebrewing kit online it would cost you $200. Multiply 2 six packs a month for a year and you are already over $200. Mind you that is probably the most expensive route you can take. You could probably even buy a kit that is less expensive but missing the most expensive item. For example a carboy. Cut out the cost of a carboy and you could save upwards of 50 dollars! Maybe you have a friend who has given up homebrewing, just ask for their carboy and there you go! Carboy's are also sold all the time on the used market and you could find some pretty solid ones for much cheaper that 50 bucks. Remember all those beer bottles you drank out of before you started brewing? Make sure you save those, because they will also save you a pretty penny. You can clean those out and reuse them. The only cost will be the bottle caps that you will need to buy. Bonus Tip: Take off the labels of those used bottles so your friends are confused when they drink your home brew Just remember if you are intimidated by brewing your own beer at home, its incredibly easy and perfectly legal. It will be way cheaper than getting store bought beer no matter how you look at it. The True Cost of Cheep Beer You might be saying but all I like to drink is Bud Light or Tecate. Even these beers over time will be less expensive to homebrew than to buy at the store. Not only will it be less expensive to brew for yourself over time but the environmental costs should also be considered. Transportation is a big part of costs that go into cheap beer. The energy alone used to ship beer to remote locations can be greater than the actual price of the beer. So think about it next time homebrew beer not only are you saving money, but you are also potentially saving the planet.