Cost of Home Brewing

[Agentgonzo]

I can see where the OP is coming from if brewing an 8% IPA with something like Centennial, Citra, and Mosaic Hops. That can run up to whereabouts he is talking about. Otherwise a normal 5-6% brew shouldn't cost that much especially if you buy your grain in bulk.

Agreed. I just looked at the American pale ale kit mentioned. It didn't say how much hops are provided, but the OG is 1.056 and that includes adding sugar, so probably far less than 8kg of malt. And far less hops too. It's easy to see why it would be half the price

 

[Big_Eight]

Agreed. I just looked at the American pale ale kit mentioned. It didn't say how much hops are provided, but the OG is 1.056 and that includes adding sugar, so probably far less than 8kg of malt. And far less hops too. It's easy to see why it would be half the price

One other thing if you were brewing big IPA's with exotic hops they are and were expensive anyway lol so the discussion is kind of a moot point.

 

[Leon103]

It's all about shopping around. Everything as gone up in price up the price you quoted seems a bit steep.

Try
GEB
TMM
HBC.

For hops and yeast try CML.

 

[Brewnaldo]

In the end of the day, the OP is right to say you can maybe get 38 pints from the supermarket for the price of this particular recipe. But its ignoring the fact that you are then comparing the cost of 38 pints of cooking lager against a high strength, highly hopped IPA. You won't get 38 pints of any sort of IPA for the money.

For the most part, assuming no brewing or recipe mistakes, buying a more expensive recipe will result in a better beer. Quality needs to factor here.

Theres no way £ for £ I can get an equivalent volume of something I like as much as beer I have made myself.

 

[klaus]

Just heard a guy from a craft brewery in Southampton(?) on Radio 4 news saying all their supplies have gone up and still going up at a fast rate....

 

[Druncan]

Who are CML?

Cross my loof brew; Home Brew Store | United Kingdom | Crossmyloof Brew Top weegie fellas

 

[Festival Man]

So 40 - 50 quid for 20L say 38 pints, how much would it cost in the pub at 4 pound a pint it is 152 pounds

It's not a matter of comparing with a pub price, they are way off the scale anyway.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

As has been said before on this forum, try to get in touch with a local brewery. Some of them are happy to sell ingredients to home brewers. I still get mine from my local Leigh on Sea brewery at £1 per kilo for grain and £5 per 100g for hops. They are super helpful. I email giving a few days notice and they get it all ready for me to collect and pay for at their taproom.

 

[gyurmaember]

It's not a matter of comparing with a pub price, they are way off the scale anyway.

I compare mine to a 20l keykeg craftbeer.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

You could look at the AG kits that are available...CML do some very good ones at a reasonable price. I notice you are in Leicestershire, there is a very reasonable company in Nottingham where you can buy a sack of grain from (would have do dig out their name if you're interested). I haven't managed to get one yet but it's on my new years jobs list (which is never ending).

Is this the company you are thinking of?

https://www.murphyandson.co.uk/
This was the last price list I have seen from them

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

I have not made a brew for nearly 12 months and have just been online to order some all grain ingredients, hops and yeast etc and was astonished at the price increases since I last bought anything. To make 20 litres of an IPA it would have cost me between £40.00 and £50.00 for everything. I bit the bullet and emptied my basket and bought a Beerworks Craft Series Kit and a Festival Premium Beer Kit for the same price which will make a total of 46 litres. I have not tried these before but if they are any good I think the 20L Braumeister will be up for sale. From what I have read the all grain ingredient prices are only set to get even higher.

I need a beer now to calm down.

Agree grain prices are bound to go higher next year, we guestimate at least 33% higher

However, as kits are made from these same grains, the price of kits can only be expected to rise as well. One of the biggest cost pressures is energy costs, as it takes more energy to produce a kit than just the malted grain it wouldn't surprise me if the percentage price increase on kits is higher than that on grain

 

[tutshiveandspile]

Now figure in the energy cost. I have both all electric or electric hlt × calor boiler Calor has risen from about £40 for 13kg to £59 .electric risen according to my smart meter from £5.59 on brew day to £7.95 .
.

 

[phildo79]

£40+ for AG ingredients sounds massively overpriced. I ordered malt, hops and yeast for a Beamish clone from CML and it came to somewhere between £15 and £20. After it was made, my pints cost about 50p each.

Certain hops, lots of malt and liquid yeast will obviously drive the price up.

 

[An Ankoù]

I have not made a brew for nearly 12 months and have just been online to order some all grain ingredients, hops and yeast etc and was astonished at the price increases since I last bought anything. To make 20 litres of an IPA it would have cost me between £40.00 and £50.00 for everything. I bit the bullet and emptied my basket and bought a Beerworks Craft Series Kit and a Festival Premium Beer Kit for the same price which will make a total of 46 litres. I have not tried these before but if they are any good I think the 20L Braumeister will be up for sale. From what I have read the all grain ingredient prices are only set to get even higher.

I need a beer now to calm down.

Are you kidding? Made recipes are always a bit dearer, but £22.95 for Jaipur IPA (I chose an IPA at random ). CML presumes a very low mash efficiency so their 19L kit should be good for 23 litres in your GF.
https://www.crossmyloofbrew.co.uk/online-store/All-Grain-Recipe-Kits-p382239625

 

[sifty]

Here in NZ I just bought enough ingredients for 2 brews, of 25 litres each, for ~ $100 delivered. I am using some of my own hops though which offsets it a little.

It's around $13 a pint down the pub. Taking into account energy costs and starsan, bottle caps etc, I can brew at around $2.10 per pint...

Or, I can choose between buying 8 pints, or having 50 litres for the same cost.

Shame I do both...

 

[Nicks90]

This tweaked my interest and as I only tend to buy my ingredients from the HBC I looked back at my orders for this year.
Most are about £75 Inc postage and they generally do 6 brews of between 15-19l each depending on style and strength. Mix of English ales, saisons and big ipas in every bulk order means it averages out to approx 100l of beer per order.
Excluding energy costs, bottle caps and priming sugar, that's a respectable 75p per pint.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@sifty

Of course that NZ " pint " is 400 to 450ml in most cases.

Paid 4 pounds 20 for a real pint of cask ale in the pub here today so by my estimates that's half the price of a scaled up NZ pint.

I've just checked my costings in brewfather and my juicy bits clone with 400 g of hops in a 25 litre batch was $2.50 a litre including salts and factors for sterilising / cleaning etc.
The Thomas Hardy clone was $3.08 a litre but I did Parti gyle 25 litres of best bitter with the grain as well and that only needed a bit of invert sugar and hops so was a paltry 40 cents a litre.

Sacks of grain have gone up from $45 dollars to over $60 though.

I haven't factored in my capital costs which would make the beer a fari bit more expensive. A project for next year perhaps.

 

[sifty]

I'll measure one of the pub pint glasses I have at home and report back...

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I'll measure one of the pub pint glasses I have at home and report back...

Fork and Brewer does do beer in proper pint glasses although they are with handles which I'm less keen on, reminds me of old men drinking pints when I was young. I prefer the imperial nonic as opposed to the shaker style " pint " glass, US pint glass size is 473ml.

 

[sifty]

Disappointed. A normal beer measure (with some head space) comes to 500mls...

The glass absolutely full (brimming over) is just under 600mls. I know a 'pint' is subjective here rather than a proper measurement but always thought it was around 600mls...