Beer Kit Pint Cost?

[Andy O'Leary]

Anyone worked out what the average cost per pint on a home brew is?

 

[GhostShip]

If I buy a decent kit (say £25), the only other thing I need (other than my time!) is four large bottles of water which is about £4.

I normally get 40 bottles out of a kit (42 is my norm), so that makes it 72.5p a pint.

 

[GerritT]

Depends on the brew: 50 p a pint is doable, but the time spent would add a lot, but it's a hobby.

 

[terrym]

If quality of finished product is of no real interest, cheapest you will probably do a kit for is about 30p a pint (Wilko 1.5kg one can on offer @£10 and a bag of Tate and Lyle all to 23 litres).
Grain brewing is usually cheaper than kit brewing but takes more time.

 

[Drunkula]

I do beer for about 20 to 30p a pint but I'm a wily one. But I know somebody that does a Pedigree clone that comes out at 12p a pint for them. Pedigree uses a bit of sugar and you can cheat the system a bit doing that.

Lots of people say they don't save money homebrewing but you really can, if you don't count the time you put in. So I can make a lovely wheat for 20p a pint and that's 6 hours less on the xbox telling American 11 year olds I'm farting on their virtual graves and teaching them foreign swears they then have the audacity to trend.

 

[Drunkula]

A 500g of spraymalt costs £4.50 in Wilko - the equivalent base grain mashed (really, really easy) to give the same amount of fermentables is about 80p. I started along the all grain path with a mash to boost a kit and next day did an all grain wheat beer and I've got no cooler, no mash tun, no bloody sense, but it's still worked pretty bloody well.

( american voice) Don't be scared to learn #BeatTheWheat

 

[Graz]

As above really, tend to buy kits in the ~£25 price range, 40 pints so around 63p per pint.

What this doesn't factor in is buying equipment, running my brew fridge while it's fermenting, or boiling the kettle. No water meter so I'm paying the same for that regardless of how much I use.

 

[terrym]

What this doesn't factor in is buying equipment,

That's an interesting point. Although grain brewers can get by with minimal extra stuff compared to a kit or extract brewer (as in e.g. stove top brewing) when you start factoring in the cost of Grainfathers and other expensive add-ons which attracts some folks that puts the cost up.
At the end of the day, for most people, homebrewing is a hobby and although there will always be some folks who brew to save money, I'm sure most homebrewers do it because they enjoy it and if they save a a bit of money along the way thats a bonus.

 

[stephen1546]

Ive made a few beer batches, around 23 quid for 36 points. I have never managed to get 40 pints out a kit. Have made a few wine kits that come out at say £33 quid for 28 bottles, which does make a lot of savings. Live in Scotland and we have a minimum unit for alcohol cost which is 50p. Stuff that.

 

[MyQul]

If youre brewing to save money it can be easily done. Firstly you need to go all grain as that is far cheaper than kits or extract brewing.
Secondly I would say you need to brew smaller batches that you're kitchen hob can handle. Large amounts of wort take more kit to boil which of course increases the expense. Unless you have something like a wok burner then you're normal stove top wont be able handle boiling a full 30 odd litres of wort. You then only really need a 15L or so stock pot and a BIAB bag. Most of the rest of the kit you'll have from kit brewingor around you're kitchen.
Ingredient wise you'll want to buy in bulk as it works out cheaper. Hops are the most expensive ingredient so you'll want to be looking at low hopping rate reciepe's. No double IPA hop bombs. If you really tried you could probably make a beer for 7p-10p a pint

 

[-Bezza-]

Cost per pint is as follows:

Ingredients - 75p
Shiny equipment - £18.63

 

[Kenneth Harvey]

A 500g of spraymalt costs £4.50 in Wilko - the equivalent base grain mashed (really, really easy) to give the same amount of fermentables is about 80p. I started along the all grain path with a mash to boost a kit and next day did an all grain wheat beer and I've got no cooler, no mash tun, no bloody sense, but it's still worked pretty bloody well.

( american voice) Don't be scared to learn #BeatTheWheat

If you are lucky like me, your LHBS still sells spraymalt cheaper than wilko. Mine sells Muntens @3.95 a bag. If you have a LHBS give them a look before Wilkos. Support your LHBS so it doesn't have to shut down. Unless of course they are ripping you off.

 

[ACBEV]

Very few home brewers save money, they just drink more beer...

 

[Slid]

I estimate the fully costed AG beer I make at ~ 6% ABV @ £1 per 1L of beer. That's with a GF and other kit, much of it picked up to do kits, then small mashes in a 15L pot. So, not a huge amount of difference, to kits, price-wise. You can do AG cheaper and that is what clibit's thread is all about, essentially. Home Brew is my hobby and I really enjoy making beer, even though I end up doing a sort of BIAB effort on every other brew.

Mashing some grains (up to 2.5 - 2.72kg in a 15L pot) and adding them to a kit is the biggest step up, quality wise, that can be made, without a big investment in kit. Did 30 of these before splashing out on the GF and was very happy with the outcomes.

 

[The Baron]

Mine vary from 35p a pint for a basic bitter pale ale to 60p for a standard IPA. Obviously double and highly hopped ales are dependant on hops. A smash can be done for the lower end even with american hops say 100g. I tend to be leaning back to english and golden ales after the saturation of IPA's which I still enjoy but they are all blending into one another