Extract vs AG (Savings)

[Arcs]

I usually get about 6 or 7 brews out of a sack of 25kg pale malt. So I buy enough crystal, adjuncts, hops and yeast to cover 7 brews.
Usually including delivery it comes to about £60.
For brewing i bought a £50 tea urn for BiaB and now i've done 60 AG brews, thats less than a pound per brew for equipment!

Thats approx £10 per brew and i usually get 30-35 bottles of beer from each brew (15-17l). Making it about 25p per pint. Add in some leccy and cleaning materials, maybe 30p per pint.

Its been a long time since i brewed anything that was less than equal to something you'd buy from the commercial breweries in a bottle at tescos. As an example, bought a couple of hobgoblin yesterday to sup whilst watching the rugby. I was horribly dissapointed. Watery and weak in flavour, with a harsh aftertaste. Certainly not how i remember it. But it has been nearly a year since i bought an ale from the shop or a pub!

Yea, this is the way I was thinking of doing it. I am spending sometimes £60 a month at b2b but not getting as much for it. I buy only their expensive extract brews now as I have managed to drink my way through almost all of their beers that I wanted to try over the past 18 months hehe.

Dunno about you, but I badly want the pub to open if not for a change of scenery =)

 

[dwhite60]

Most everyone here I'd venture to say started out brewing extract. At some point we made the transition to all grain and realized it isn't that difficult. It's certainly more time but well worth the effort.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

I think that the debate about how much it costs and which is cheapest is missing the point

Hb is a hobby. It's stimulating, interesting and rewarding and much less expensive than most other hobbies

If you didn't brew your own you would be buying commercial stuff, much more expensive and not as tasty

 

[Tim Wilkes]

I've got an Electrim and it's bob on! Cost aside, it allows me to do so much more (but doesn't stop me doing the occasional kit to top up stocks when necessary). AG is more craft or artisan in that you can copy recipes or invent your own. I find it quite therapeutic in many ways. It is a longer process but it's also something that can be done alongside other things. Give it a go - you won't be disappointed.

 

[Manners]

I think that the debate about how much it costs and which is cheapest is missing the point

Hb is a hobby. It's stimulating, interesting and rewarding and much less expensive than most other hobbies

If you didn't brew your own you would be buying commercial stuff, much more expensive and not as tasty

In my opinion you’re bang on - I’m less concerned about the cost/saving, but more than happy that I can experiment with and drink brews of the taste/strength I prefer that I struggle to find in supermarket (or that Id be ashamed of looking like a wino buying!). Plus Ive found another way to wind up SWMBO! It’s win-win!

 

[Burtsbeets]

I have to agree with alot of people here on the topic of the finished beer being more worth it than looking for a cheaper pint.

The way I explain it to people is like baking bread. Is it cheaper than buying it? Alot of the time no, but it is so good when its freshly baked from your own oven. And this is much akin to AG for me along with being able to tailor each recipe to what you like.

One downside to AG, that i have found and it sounds like others have too, is supermarket and smaller shop craft beers will never be the same and tend to miss something.

But on the cost of the beer i make. It varies from 27 p/L for a light lager to £1.95/L for a tropical stout with all the specialty malts and hops. Truth be told, I have an excel spreadsheet so i can track the cost of each batch and include most things.

 

[yrhendystu]

How about comparing the savings between your extract brews and shop bought beer? Then put those savings towards an AG set up?

I worked out that a kit gets me around 52 cans worth (440ml). At around £1.20 a can (we have minimum pricing here) that means every kit saves me around £40-50.

I'm happy enough with kits but if I wanted to justify moving to AG that's how I'd work it.

 

[MrRook]

What's your time worth? Grains are cheaper than extract but your brew day will be longer.

 

[Nicks90]

What's your time worth? Grains are cheaper than extract but your brew day will be longer.

But is it really?
I usually brew whilst working.

5mins to put the water in the tea urn, set the temp and weigh out my ingredients. Start work
5mins to put my grain bag in and give it a good stir and check/adjust temperature. Go back to work
1min to give it a stir after half an hour
5mins to put the grain bag in a colander and turn the heat up. Pour a few liters of water over the grain or dunk sparge. Back work knowing it takes 25min to go from mash temp to boil.
5min to weigh out my hops, spray my fv with sanitiser and put my bittering hops in. Back to work knowing I now have timer for aroma hops, Irish moss etc
5mins to turn the heat hop and start my cooler going. Water outlet gets put in the fv in a big Belfast sink to rinse in the hot water from the cooler. Back to work
20min to give the fv a final rinse and pour my cooled wort in, empty the spent grains in to a bag for my farmer neighbours chickens and clean down the tea urn and wash everything.
DONE!
If it takes more than an hour of my day in total I would be extremely surprised. And as I time most of it to fit round the kettle boiling for a coffee break or lunch , it's not really time out of my working day.

 

[Burtsbeets]

How about comparing the savings between your extract brews and shop bought beer? Then put those savings towards an AG set up?

I worked out that a kit gets me around 52 cans worth (440ml). At around £1.20 a can (we have minimum pricing here) that means every kit saves me around £40-50.

I'm happy enough with kits but if I wanted to justify moving to AG that's how I'd work it.

This is exactly how I go about it I say around £2.50 /L and put the "profit" after ingredients and other stuff to upgrading and buying equipment

 

[dad_of_jon]

I've never gone full AG - I've done quite a few partial, but adding mash/sparge time to the process invariably means mrs DOJ turns up and I get grief about the state of the kitchen. With extract its all tidyed up before her return.

 

[Manners]

I've never gone full AG - I've done quite a few partial, but adding mash/sparge time to the process invariably means mrs DOJ turns up and I get grief about the state of the kitchen. With extract its all tidyed up before her return.

Try having the mrs messing around the kitchen and a three year old ‘helping’! AG is a little way off!

 

[Mavroz]

Never really worked out the price of a pint i make but I don't think it is that expensive inclusive of gas used for mashing and brewing. I started using kits with tins if extract but in my opinion, 4 out of 5 were foul and not worth the price or hassle.
Moved on to AG and partial and even if it was as much as £1 to £1.50 it again, in my opinion , is well worth it as it is better than most commercial ales sold in bottles and some from pubs themselves.

 

[Sandimas]

I usually brew whilst working.

I did this yesterday, it was a bit more stressful than my usual brewday due to needing to get the boil up to temp before my first Teams meeting, but it worked out OK. You can usually fit things round an AG brewing session, you just need to be "there" rather than say in the garden or popping out.

 

[feemackenzie]

Playing catch up: I about to lose my mojo after a few brews came out poorly. BIAB AG 10 litres is how I'm brewing. But I'm seriously thinking of switching to an extra-brew so the flavour quality is more consistent.

Or stop over thinking it, and buy a water heater so I can do decent size brews without having to recalculate quantities/etc,

Someone please reassure me!!!!

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Playing catch up: I about to lose my mojo after a few brews came out poorly. BIAB AG 10 litres is how I'm brewing. But I'm seriously thinking of switching to an extra-brew so the flavour quality is more consistent.

Or stop over thinking it, and buy a water heater so I can do decent size brews without having to recalculate quantities/etc,

Someone please reassure me!!!!

Is this your mojo - it might just be in your fridge - just have a look there

Remember we humans have been brewing beer for thousands of year - so it is easy to overthink it

Have you looked at brewing software to do the recalcs for you e.g. Brewfather?

https://brewfather.app/
You can use it for free

 

[Burtsbeets]

Playing catch up: I about to lose my mojo after a few brews came out poorly. BIAB AG 10 litres is how I'm brewing. But I'm seriously thinking of switching to an extra-brew so the flavour quality is more consistent.

Or stop over thinking it, and buy a water heater so I can do decent size brews without having to recalculate quantities/etc,

Someone please reassure me!!!!

Thats a shame, was there anything in particular wrong with them? Or just disappointing in general? What @Obadiah Boondoggle suggested of brewing software is a great idea for not having to worry about adjusting recipes.

 

[feemackenzie]

So one brew smells off and tastes sour (it was a smash with Citra) so suspect some infection arrived somehow or I haven't let it settle for long enough.
The other, Timmy Taylor equivalent, has an odd aftertaste, like malt. Used 05 yeast both times.

Recipe website, no haven used. Will have a look especially if it can scale

 

[Arcs]

Ok, I am sold. Might take a few weeks to buy the kit I want though - including the xfer to cornies which I have been wanting to do for a while. As much as I loves my pressure barrels, they don't quite cut it for me =)

 

[feemackenzie]

Thats a shame, was there anything in particular wrong with them? Or just disappointing in general? What @Obadiah Boondoggle suggested of brewing software is a great idea for not having to worry about adjusting recipes.

Ahhh - update
I was being too quick - the beers are settling and the taste coming.

MOJO is back

Plus, now thinking about it, when I brewed the SmasH I deliberately used LOTS of Citra. Hence the taste is full on. But now after 2 weeks (oh yes, I remember this two week rule), the beers are getting very dfrinkable