Kit v All Grain Costs

[Geoffinthewilds]

Just took delivery of this lot from brew2bottle so it got me thinking of the cost per pint of All Grain v Kit brewing so roughly the cost of the kit and brewing sugar, works out at the folliwing:
Ritchie Brown Ale = 29p
Mj Rose Cider = 53p
MJ Irish Red Ale = 51p
MJ Gold Lager = 31p

The cost is assuming you get the 40 pints, great value, so how does All Grain compare as fancy a go at AG but like most need to justify cost to the wifey

 

[Alside101]

I think 40 pints of a Guinness clone is lie £12 and the quality is well noticeable

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

I think 40 pints of a Guinness clone is lie £12 and the quality is well noticeable

Thanks Alside101 I guessed the quality would be better so not bad at all then, was going to buy the Brewzilla and have a crack, then looked at the costs of a burner and mash tun etc so as a begginer think the Brewzilla would be easier but looking around it seems even all the pre orders have gone

 

[chuffer]

My MJ NZ Pale was £20ish but I needed to add 1kg of brew enhancer to it so say £5. That would be £25 for 40 pints or 63p per pint (so a bit more than your calcs above suggest)

I would say an AG brew would be £5 for malt, maybe £5 - 10 for hops, £3-5 for yeast so say £15 ish. That would be around 38p per pint. However, that does not take into account extra costs such as propane gas and water treatment additives that AG requires (that kits do not).

Edit - there's also the additional costs that AG kit comes along with so on balance you what you save on ingredients is prob off set by kit purchasing costs long term, that said, it's not all about cost savings!

Obvs none of the above takes into account delivery costs

 

[Cyberjip]

Usually costs me 35p - 60p depending on ingredients. This could be reduced down by reuseing yeast or compromising the ingredients.

Could probably do a reasonable ale for 20p pint. Just wouldn't be overly exiting for me to drink.

 

[marshbrewer]

You could do an AG Fake Lager - 5kg pale malt perhaps a little Vienna, 50g Saaz pellets, CML Kolsh yeast, a few pennies for water treatment for around £10, and it would be better than most kits I reckon. However, you would need to add into that your power and water usage.

 

[Lawrence22]

I have been calculating as I go. At the moment I'm down to £2.80 per pint. Sounds dear but this includes all equipment that I have bought as well ingredients approx £3k. However from now on this price should only down (as long as nothing expensive breaks) as I have all the equipment I need for the moment, or until I see something shiny I can't resist.

 

[Slid]

My reckoning is that AG costs around £1 per litre. Sample costing might be for a 25L batch:
Grain 5.5kg @1.50 £8.25
Hops 100g @ say £5
Yeast @ £2.50
Utilities (water and electricity) £3
Equipment cost £6
Total £24.75

Equipment cost is amortising a £600 GF (or cheaper alternative) over 100 brewdays. That works out at £6 a go.
Hops might be £1 to £10 depending on styles
Yeast can be re-used e.g. I would make 1 plus 4 brews from a US05 sachet - 4x250ml of residue from primary FV

A decent kit is about the same sort of cost. So you decide whether the quality, variety and fun you get from AG is worth spending up to 6 hours a batch on extra play-time.

 

[MickDundee]

In general, all grain is much cheaper than kits (ignoring the cost of your AG equipment etc obviously).

If you buy your stuff in bulk and do relatively lowly hopped styles you can easily do a batch for a tenner.

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

My MJ NZ Pale was £20ish but I needed to add 1kg of brew enhancer to it so say £5. That would be £25 for 40 pints or 63p per pint (so a bit more than your calcs above suggest)

I would say an AG brew would be £5 for malt, maybe £5 - 10 for hops, £3-5 for yeast so say £15 ish. That would be around 38p per pint. However, that does not take into account extra costs such as propane gas and water treatment additives that AG requires (that kits do not).

Edit - there's also the additional costs that AG kit comes along with so on balance you what you save on ingredients is prob off set by kit purchasing costs long term, that said, it's not all about cost savings!

Obvs none of the above takes into account delivery costs

Thanks for that, like most things in life quality costs so if you can really tell the difference , bet the machines are power hungry?

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

Usually costs me 35p - 60p depending on ingredients. This could be reduced down by reuseing yeast or compromising the ingredients.

Could probably do a reasonable ale for 20p pint. Just wouldn't be overly exiting for me to drink.

Like the Supermarket value brands lol, no good unless you enjoy it and bet the ingredient quality does really effect the outcome, thanks for your post
Cheers
Geoff

 

[MyQul]

If you want to make AG even cheaper you can use adjuncts to replace some of the grain such as sugar, porridge oats, rice or even breakfast cereals like corn flakes

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

You could do an AG Fake Lager - 5kg pale malt perhaps a little Vienna, 50g Saaz pellets, CML Kolsh yeast, a few pennies for water treatment for around £10, and it would be better than most kits I reckon. However, you would need to add into that your power and water usage.

My Mrs and me prefer lager for a session, but I do enjoy a decent real ale pint now and then, but really fancy a go at AG so will see what the waiting time works out for a Brewzilla if I dont go the propane route.
Cheers
Geoff

 

[MyQul]

My MJ NZ Pale was £20ish but I needed to add 1kg of brew enhancer to it so say £5. That would be £25 for 40 pints or 63p per pint (so a bit more than your calcs above suggest)

I would say an AG brew would be £5 for malt, maybe £5 - 10 for hops, £3-5 for yeast so say £15 ish. That would be around 38p per pint. However, that does not take into account extra costs such as propane gas and water treatment additives that AG requires (that kits do not).

Edit - there's also the additional costs that AG kit comes along with so on balance you what you save on ingredients is prob off set by kit purchasing costs long term, that said, it's not all about cost savings!

Obvs none of the above takes into account delivery costs

You can alleviate some of these costs if you want. If you brew on your hob BIAB you only really need a pot and a mash bag. Almost everything else you'll have from kit brewing.

For water treatment, my (London) water is perfect for dark beers. I dont even need to add campden tablets as it's no that chlorinated. So if I only ever brewed dark beers I'd never need to to have the cost of the acid to strip out alkalinity

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

I have been calculating as I go. At the moment I'm down to £2.80 per pint. Sounds dear but this includes all equipment that I have bought as well ingredients approx £3k. However from now on this price should only down (as long as nothing expensive breaks) as I have all the equipment I need for the moment, or until I see something shiny I can't resist.

I'm the same, like a Magpie love the shiny , I had the equipment from previuos kit attempts, but it stood gathering dust as was not happy with the results, but since coming back into the fold and joining this brilliant forum my skills have really improved and the biggest change was in building my Kegerator and going Cornies, amazing how that CO2 makes it more drinkable, just had to ramp up my brewing as made the ultimate sin and ran out of my own brew, dont judge me

 

[Nicks90]

I bought a cheap tea urn for mashing and boiling, a plastic fermenting bucket and collected glass bottles for free.
So far i am on AG number 40 - so splitting that outlay out over 40 brews is approximately £2 per brew to date. Then as others say about grain costs, i usually use about £5 in grain and £3-5 in hops. So call it a tenner. Add in yeast to that cost and I am looking at a total of £15 per brew at most, or roughly 40p a pint.

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

My reckoning is that AG costs around £1 per litre. Sample costing might be for a 25L batch:
Grain 5.5kg @1.50 £8.25
Hops 100g @ say £5
Yeast @ £2.50
Utilities (water and electricity) £3
Equipment cost £6
Total £24.75

Equipment cost is amortising a £600 GF (or cheaper alternative) over 100 brewdays. That works out at £6 a go.
Hops might be £1 to £10 depending on styles
Yeast can be re-used e.g. I would make 1 plus 4 brews from a US05 sachet - 4x250ml of residue from primary FV

A decent kit is about the same sort of cost. So you decide whether the quality, variety and fun you get from AG is worth spending up to 6 hours a batch on extra play-time.

Great cost breakdown Slid, thanks for that, to harvest yeast would I need a conical FV?, I'm amazed at the yeast price expected cheaper but think I have been thinking of bread yeast prices lol. I nearly pulled the trigger on the Fermzilla, but heard of horror stories of the PET container cracking, I know this would need changing eventually, but fancy similar if one is made in Stainless Steel that I can try pressure fermentation but not found anything suitable, plus would have to build a fermenting chamber so more cost but the builders rubble bucket and aquarium heater is working amazing on my cheapo Wilkos FV

 

[Drunkula]

Most of my beers are about 7 quid, so 18p a pint. I'm using yeast from overbuilt starters so my cost there is low. Loads of the beers are experimental so I'm not going crazy on the hops.

When the sun is out the solar panels generate enough electricity to cover the boil. I take readings and in the dark the usage is about £1.50, on a sunny day less than 60p as I'll have the induction way above the wattage for the boil.

Even so, British styles come in around those prices.

 

[obscure]

I brew 9.5L batches and tend to just buy what I need which is not a cost effective way of doing things. Including shipping my most recent batch works out at £10.15 electricity usage is about £1 going by the smart metre, and adding in another £1 for assorted sundries putting a conservative total of £12.15 for 18 pints or £0.675 a pint. This is at the upper end of things though, and produces a decent beer, on the stovetop. This was purchased as a recipe kit from Worcester Hop Shop scaled down at my request shipping was with three other kits.

As a full 23L kit including shipping it would come in at £15 including shipping, add a couple of pounds for electricity and sundries and you are looking at £17 for 40 pints or 42.5p a pint. You can bring down the cost significantly of course if you buy grain and hops in bulk with yeast reuse sub 20p should certainly be possible for a basic bitter or mild.

But and this is the important thing brewing from grain is at least for me fun, it’s a pleasant way to spend a Saturday morning and while my stovetop brewing is not the most cost effective it’s still coming in at less than £1 a pint, and I would say easily competes with the session bitters or milds I would otherwise be buying at £1.25 a bottle in Aldi. Given the time needed I would strongly argue that if you don’t enjoy it and brewing is a chore rather than a pleasure then the savings are not worth it but personally I would still be brewing if beer was retailing at 50-60p a pint rather than the £1 and up that it actually goes for.

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

I bought a cheap tea urn for mashing and boiling, a plastic fermenting bucket and collected glass bottles for free.
So far i am on AG number 40 - so splitting that outlay out over 40 brews is approximately £2 per brew to date. Then as others say about grain costs, i usually use about £5 in grain and £3-5 in hops. So call it a tenner. Add in yeast to that cost and I am looking at a total of £15 per brew at most, or roughly 40p a pint.

Thanks Nicks90, 99% sure I will go AG and will buy grain in 25kg sacks to see if that keeps costs down, but I would feel like an expectant father on my first few brews lol