Is Homebrewing Cost Effective: Redux

Well, it's been a year since my last calculations regarding the cost-effectiveness of homebrewing, so I think I'll re-run the numbers for my experience thus far.

Take Nugget IPA as an example: $26.10 or so in ingredients, which works out to 77¢/pint or about $1.04 for a 22oz bomber (most batches are in the 4.3 gallon neighborhood once all is said and done). This is a bit less than the $1.39 of a year ago, but I've saved money by using tap water and buying hops in bulk for the last year or so. Also, I worked out how much gas and water I use during a brewday -- about 8¢ of water and 25¢ of gas, which adds about a penny a pint to the whole works.

And what about capital goods? Well, because of new equipment (keg system, extra kegs, new mash tun, etc.), I'm up to about $1,000 worth of brewhouse stuff. This works out to about $35.71 per batch over my 28 batches, which is about $1.05 per pint or $1.42 per bomber. My average last year was $2.17/bomber, but I was predicting getting as low as 63¢; clearly, that didn't happen.

Still, that means that a glass of decent IPA is costing me $1.83 per pint or about $2.47 per bomber. A good IPA is at least $3.99 for a bomber, sometimes as high as $5.99 before getting into DIPA territory. That means that Nugget saves me a rough average of $2.52 per bomber, or about $63 per batch. Woot! Still savin' money!