Perfect way to keep price per pint down.

[OldSchoolSi]

After a year I think you should totally dismiss the cost of your reusable kit such as pots and fermentors..even bottles.

Absolutely agree. To be honest if I had half a dozen brews out of the kit I've got it would have been a bit of fun and good value.

 

[OldSchoolSi]

Cornys....I wonder...the "cost" if you bought bottles...19l ...38 X 500ml bottles...the absolute PITA... cleaning,sterilising,storing...38 bottles...how many bottles does the average bottler own?..I'm on a mission to fill all my empties as I never want to run out of HB again...today I've got 200 full....there must be at least 100 empty hiding in the shed...

That gives me bottle envy! I scrounge/saved about 85 and I'm ordering 100 today. The shame is I could have asked a friend with a pub to save me plenty before the current apocalypse.

 

[OldSchoolSi]

Clint you are in denial. As you rightly pointed out on a previous thread this is not a rehearsal. Not sure if you still bother with your pressure barrels but actually the cost differential between those and kegs is relatively small. Get fully reconditioned ones rather than new- maybe a couple to start with from that website in Ireland and I reckon you will be all over it

Forgive the noob question, but how long does the brew stay fresh in the pressurised kegs, once you have taken your first pint off?

 

[OldSchoolSi]

Lockdown for me has been the perfect opportunity to justify extra spends on this hobby. Everyones circumstances are different but for me - commute into central London from zone 4 is £15ish a day - month of that is a SS brewbucket with change. Bacon butty and a coffee another £5 a day. Lunch another few quid. And then the real cost - pub pints, lunchtime/ way home lets say 5 a day at London prices thats another £125 a week. Suddenly makes it easier to justify paying £5 plus for a bag of citra etc.

I've been really shocked at the difference the kind of small spends has made. I'm reasonably frugal but they have become really obvious. The other huge cost saving has been fuel, we live in a really rural area and before this I was spending hundreds on diesel a month. Groceries have gone up, but I'm not suffering a pandemic on an empty stomach!

 

[Cyberjip]

Forgive the noob question, but how long does the brew stay fresh in the pressurised kegs, once you have taken your first pint off?

At least a few months. Yet to have any beer go bad on me.
I tend to have 4 differnt brews ready to serve at one time. I don't drink all that much really probably only less than 10 pints a week at moment. Always have another one ready to go on when a keg kicks that may have been conditioning for a couple of weeks already.

 

[OldSchoolSi]

Buy in bulk if you want to keep the cost down. There's a group buys section on this forum that's worth looking at from time to time. That's pretty good when you are getting low. I got hops last time and I won't have to buy more for ages.

Sound advice that. Even this early on I've sussed that a lot of items are really expensive if bought on their own, but good value in multiples. The only thing I over spent on was the two 25 l fv's, I got them on Amazon and they were significantly more pricey than if I'd got them from a brew shop. No biggie really, but a little annoying.

 

[OldSchoolSi]

At least a few months. Yet to have any beer go bad on me.
I tend to have 4 differnt brews ready to serve at one time. I don't drink all that much really probably only less than 10 pints a week at moment. Always have another one ready to go on when a keg kicks that may have been conditioning for a couple of weeks already.

Now this is exactly what I wanted to hear. I drink a very similar amount and like to have a bit of choice in what I drink. Sounds like a really good solution. Thanks for info :-)

 

[Cyberjip]

Sound advice that. Even this early on I've sussed that a lot of items are really expensive if bought on their own, but good value in multiples. The only thing I over spent on was the two 25 l fv's, I got them on Amazon and they were significantly more pricey than if I'd got them from a brew shop. No biggie really, but a little annoying.

Food grade plastic buckets from Amazon are a good price and just the same thing in reality, just modify them if you want to add any homes ore extras

 

[Cyberjip]

Now this is exactly what I wanted to hear. I drink a very similar amount and like to have a bit of choice in what I drink. Sounds like a really good solution. Thanks for info :-)

Yes bit of an outlay to begin with but I for one think it's defently worth it. Once you have it all up and running it is quick and easy to use / fill kegs and unlike what somebody else said I now don't have to keep sinking money into it. The only costs now are a little bit of gas (pennies per keg).

 

[OldSchoolSi]

Food grade plastic buckets from Amazon are a good price and just the same thing in reality, just modify them if you want to add any homes ore extras

Right, now we are talking! This forum has been really helpful, which is a bit of culture shock as my previous experience of forums (mountains biking) was often a bit up itself. Thanks.

 

[Viamphie]

I really don't understand the fascination with breaking it down to cost. I brew because I enjoy it and I can brew beer that's not available locally to me.

Surely cost is always a factor. Would you still brew if it cost you a grand a pint?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I really don't understand the fascination with breaking it down to cost. I brew because I enjoy it and I can brew beer that's not available locally to me.

I’m the same @samale . I have almost no interest in cost as long as I can afford it and as long as I’m enjoying what I’m doing and what I’m producing.

I have almost none of the more sophisticated/expensive brewing equipment (as you can see on page 1 of my brewday posts) but that’s not about cost, I just haven’t needed it up to now. I can’t discount needing it in the future and if I do I will buy it and enjoy it without trying too hard to rationalise the cost.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I have about 100 bottles and I hate having to clean, sanitise, fill and cap except the fliptops whereas the kegs are easy cleaned, filled and 19l of beer with less hassle.

I’m with you there! I have about 200 bottles and hate bottling so most of them stay empty. I only bottle for competitions, bottle swaps, and brews that need higher levels of carbonation.

 

[Clint]

Cornies,denial and the garage of doom....
The garage needs a rewire for me to set up a kegerator...and a clear out...it's WIP.

 

[samale]

I am not exactly rolling in cash myself but when I buy a pair of trainers I don't work out the cost per step I get out of them. Or if I buy a fishing rod I don't work out the cost per fish. My setup is as basic as it comes, a tea urn and a bag. A few fermentors and odds and ends. Buy what you can afford

 

[OldSchoolSi]

I’m the same @samale . I have almost no interest in cost as long as I can afford it and as long as I’m enjoying what I’m doing and what I’m producing.

I have almost none of the more sophisticated/expensive brewing equipment (as you can see on page 1 of my brewday posts) but that’s not about cost, I just haven’t needed it up to now. I can’t discount needing it in the future and if I do I will buy it and enjoy it without trying too hard to rationalise the cost.

For me cost is very much value for money as opposed to 'how cheap' I can make it. I've no desire to penny pinch at the cost of quality of finished article. That said, I've always had a fascination with finding ways to have high quality things in my life without spending a penny more than I have too. Homebrew is a great way for me to get high quality at incredibly fair money and enjoy the process at the same time.

 

[OldSchoolSi]

Yes bit of an outlay to begin with but I for one think it's defently worth it. Once you have it all up and running it is quick and easy to use / fill kegs and unlike what somebody else said I now don't have to keep sinking money into it. The only costs now are a little bit of gas (pennies per keg).

Really happy with this as a solution, especially seeing as it's also less space than having as many bottles kicking about. I figure I can always bottle a few as I put the rest in the keg. That way I'll have a few to give to friends etc. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

For me cost is very much value for money as opposed to 'how cheap' I can make it. I've no desire to penny pinch at the cost of quality of finished article. That said, I've always had a fascination with finding ways to have high quality things in my life without spending a penny more than I have too. Homebrew is a great way for me to get high quality at incredibly fair money and enjoy the process at the same time.

I get that. If you enjoy the challenge of getting more for less that’s great. I used to develop software many years ago and would spend hours of my own time just trying to shave fractions of a second off the time it took for a piece of code to run.

 

[Edison]

Cornies,denial and the garage of doom....

That sounds like a movie I could get behind!

 

[OldSchoolSi]

I get that. If you enjoy the challenge of getting more for less that’s great. I used to develop software many years ago and would spend hours of my own time just trying to shave fractions of a second off the time it took for a piece of code to run.

That's exactly the kind of thing, or learning to fix/renovate stuff instead of paying somone to do it. Whilst it is partly about the money it's definitely also about the satisfaction of the process.