Per Batch Miscellaneous Item Costs
Sunday, July 27th, 2008When calculating the cost of a batch of beer, it is easy to overlook the little items like sanitizer, bottle caps, clarifier, priming sugar, and specialty items like burton/gypsum salts or Irish moss. For those of us who keg our beer, don’t forget we have to pay for CO2 recharges every couple of years. For the time being most places in North America can take clean fresh water for granted, though some people do prefer to brew with spring water. No matter what, home brewing is STILL cheaper than store bought beer, because there is no marketing, packaging, labor, or transportation costs to deal with. Even if home brew was more expensive, it still tastes better and is more satisfying to drink.
| Item | Desc | Cost/Batch |
|---|---|---|
| StarSan Santizier | Use approximately 1 ounce (30 ml) per batch | $0.95 |
| Bottle Caps | Estimate 50 (max) at $0.02/cap | $1.00 |
| Misc Ingredients | ||
| Burton Salts | For English Ales, 1 ounce | $0.20 |
| Irish Moss | Use ½ tsp per batch | $0.20 |
| Gelatin | Use 1 tsp per batch | $0.25 |
| Priming Sugar – Corn Syrup | 6 oz per 5 gallons | $0.40 |
| Priming Sugar – Light DME | 8 oz per 5 gallons | $1.75 |
| Kegging | ||
| CO2 | If you are kegging a 5 gallon batch | $1.00 |
| Line Cleaner | $0.25 | |
| Kegging | ||
| Water? | If store bought spring water used in beer (5 gal) | $5.00 |
| Carbon Filter | wear and tear on filter | $1.00 |
3 Responses to “Per Batch Miscellaneous Item Costs”
Don’t forget the cost of propane and or electricity as well.
By Caleb on Dec 19, 2010
Quite right, I’d say I can get 5 batches from a 5 gallon tank of propane. That is about a gallon per brew session, or $3.00 additional.
By Larry on Dec 21, 2010
I usually label my bottles. I use laser labels, 6 to the page … works out to about 10 cents/bottle. (Probably more since I use my color laser printer) :/ But, heck, I’m sharing my beer with friends — I want them to know that they are enjoying “Rando-beer” and what the ingredients are, and the brew date, etc.
So add labeling costs for those of us who label.
By Rando on Apr 22, 2012