Home Beer Brewing - Cost Effective?

Home beer brewing is more a labor of love than anything else. Home beer brewing hobbyists love to experiment with different types of beers, they love learning the art of brewing beer and they love to share their new batches with friends and relatives. For the most part, home beer brewers are not overly concerned with the expense of creating their own beer. Some people however, do wonder if brewing your own beer at home is worth the expense. Follow along as we take look at a few of the factors and growing your own beer versus buying it at the local beer store.

First of all, if you're simply trying to better the prices that you get from the large brewers and their products such as Old Milwaukee, Miller Genuine Draft, Labatt, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. or Miller Brewing Company, then you have to make a lot of beer to overcome the sheer volume that these beer companies make and market. They have the economies of scale on their side and it will take a while before you really start save money.



On the other hand, if you look at the specialty beers are crafted beers then you can definitely save a lot of money by making your own homebrew beer. And the unique aspect of bring your own beer is that, once you understand the process and have some practice, you can begin to tweak the recipes to create a beer that is unique and fits your taste buds exactly. This is one of the most remarkable aspects of home beer brewing, the ability to create your own brand of beer.

When it comes to some basic costs here is what you are likely to see on costs when you start to brew your own beer:

* a Home brewing kit generally costs about $100 including the ingredients. The normal fermenter will make 6 gallons of beer.

* 6 gallons of beer is the equivalent of 64 12oz bottles. 64 bottles for $100, comes to about 1.56 a beer.

* at a local homebrew store or to buy online you can buy your next beer ingredient kit to start another 6 gallon batch for between $27 and $40.

* in general terms to brew 64 12oz bottles of beer the cheaper kits will cost you .42 cents per bottle and the most expensive beer kits will cost .63 cents per bottle.

* if you go for a can of Hopped Wort and Dextrose or even table sugar you may get the costs down to 30c a bottle.

Here are some other things to consider to lower your costs:

* If you don't want to buy a new equipment to make it at home you can use a U-brew facililty. These locations have all of the equipment and ingredients you need and a book of recipes for you to follow or you can create your own. You do all of the work yourself just like with home equipment and then come back two or three weeks later to bottle your brew and take it home.

* Some people like to grow their own hops and that can also lower your costs.

* Gluten free beers are expensive but necessary for a celiac who loves beer. You can make homemade gluten free beer at a much lower cost while you enjoy this great hobby.

* get family and friends to start saving bottles for you, if you plan to bottle your beer. Keep in mind that you will need the kind of bottles that use pryoff caps only (no threaded tops). and the good part is that you can recycle the bottles many times keeping our costs down.

So there you have it as far as costs are concerned in home beer brewing. If you do it right you can save a lot of money, especially if you and your friends drink a lot of beer! But more than anything else, home beer brewing hobbyists can use the money they save to buy a different kind of beer kit to experience a brand-new taste. Whatever your reason for home beer brewing, the love of a good beer is probably at the top of everyone's list.

by: Lee MacRae