Is Brewing Your Own Beer Worth It
- Sep 18, 2021
- 124
- tiantai
The general question when trying to get into homebrewing beer is, is it worth it? Homebrewing is a peak interest of mine and in this blog post, I will help you understand whether or not brewing your own beer is worth it, with a focus on the overall cost, quality and general enjoyment of homebrewing beer.
Is Brewing Your Own Beer Worth It? If you like doing something yourself and if you enjoy a beer from time to time, home brewing might be worth it for you. You can craft beer with a personal touch for less than 50 USD worth of equipment and ingredients. All it takes is a few hours of your time to brew your own beer
First of all, are you interested in homebrewing because you think you can save money, or because you think you would enjoy making your own personal beer?
Either way, it's possible to create cheaper beer than the stores while still getting the satisfaction of enjoying something you have done yourself.
To make a personal beer which is probably what most homebrewers aim to do, you have to spend a lot of time understanding how to mix your batches.
In the beginning, you have to understand what grains and herbs, spices, etc. go well together to find a good foundation.
It is important to mention that experimenting with different beer recipes is where the cost can increase quite a lot depending on how long it takes you to find a formula you are happy with.
You then have to make sure you understand what kit to acquire depending on your own vision and budget.
The Cost of Homebrewing Kits
The cost of homebrewing entirely depends on how you wish to craft your beer. If you wish to craft cheaper beer than what you find in the local store that is entirely possible, but it will limit you substantially.
The truth is that homebrewing won’t save you a fortune unless you don’t mind drinking very low-quality beer. You can save money in the long run, but that requires you to make a commitment and not quit after a few batches.
When talking actual numbers in terms of cost of homebrewing your own beer, the prices vary a lot. If you are just starting there are kits online priced at between 5-10 USD. The price then increases as the kits get more advanced all the way up to several thousand USD.
Advanced quality equipment is more expensive, but not necessary for hobby brewers
Here is an example of a low-cost brewing kit from Amazon. This kit crafts up to 1 gallon at a time.
If you feel you are ready to craft larger and more advanced batches then the next step could be a kit like this one. In this kit, you have more tools to work with and can make up to 5 gallons at a time.
If you want to check out some nice home brew kits for beginners check out My Blog Post About The Best Home Brewing Kit For Beginners.
The reason for this big price jump is the increase in quality of the equipment, and the potential acquirement of add-ons for the kits to make a more advanced beer-making process that gives you a better and more personal beer in the end.
Some of the starter kits are very straight forward, with all the equipment and ingredients provided and a clear instruction manual for the entire process.
But if you want to make a more personal beer, you have to acquire a kit that allows you to mix whatever grains and herbs you want.
The more advanced kits require you to have some knowledge of basic beer making. Then you can challenge yourself by adapting new equipment for new processes to further increase the personality of your own beer.
The Cost of Ingredients
To craft a good personal beer you have to research and understand what ingredients best suit your needs. There are many different types of beer you can make. For example, if you want a tropical tasting beer, you have to focus on ingredients that have a natural fruity sweet or sour taste and try to mix it to your best ability.
To start off, Beer is made from 4 main ingredients:
Water
Hops (either grow your own or buy online for 2$+)
Grain (usually consists of barley, but others can be used, prices from about 0,2$+)
Yeast (fermentation process, prices from 2$+)
These are the ingredients you need to understand to make a good foundation for your beer. What gives the beer a personal touch is both the correct mixing and processing of these 4 ingredients, but also the herbs and spices you can add to create a unique taste experience.
The same thing that applies to the cost of kits applies to the cost of ingredients. It all depends on how advanced you want to get. If you are just experimenting you may want to acquire somewhat low-cost ingredients to make sure your losses aren’t too high.
Many brewing sites have a wide range of hops, grain, and yeast in all price ranges. You can create a batch with ingredients for less than 10 USD. If money isn’t an issue, you can create a batch with ingredients from 300 USD+.
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