Brewer's Friend Home Brewing Software

Better Faster Cheaper Beer

Friday, August 17th, 2012

Brewer's are always on the lookout for a killer recipe, a brew day improvement, or a way to take their brewing to the next level. When we taste a good quality micro brew, we say to ourselves: "I could brew that... but first I'd make a few changes...". Home brewers are ...

Posted in Economics of Brewing | 1 Comment »

The Dark Side of Home Brewing

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Brewing has a dark side.  It has yet to be brought to light by the dozens of books I have read on home brewing.  The multitude of people online who I have connected with about brewing have never spoken about it.  The brewing industry itself wants us to believe it ...

Posted in Announcements, Economics of Brewing | 34 Comments »

Brew House Efficiency Defined

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

For the all grain brewer, brew house efficiency is of great importance. Brew house efficiency will directly affect your recipe formulation and how many pounds of malt will be required to reach a specific OG at a specific volume in the fermentor. This is a brief explanation of ...

Posted in Economics of Brewing | 4 Comments »

Money Saving Tips – Repitching Yeast

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

Update 11/12/2011: Check out the article on Bad Batches to see why you might want to avoid re-pitching yeast, or if you do so, make sure to understand the risks involved. Did you know you can save ~10% on your next batch of home brew by re-pitching yeast? Some brewers buy new yeast ...

Posted in Economics of Brewing, Yeast Cultures | 13 Comments »

Money Saving Tips – Hops Utilization Factor

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

Minimizing costs and maximizing beer is a wonderful thing to put into practice. This post discusses the idea of getting more bittering potential from hops. With hops going for $32/pound this is worth paying attention to. Alpha acids in hops are isomerized into bitter flavors during the boil.  The utilization factor ...

Posted in Brewing, Economics of Brewing | 2 Comments »

Cost Breakdown of Beer, Home Brewing vs. Commercial

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

The relative cost of commercial beer to the consumer is 70% marketing, packaging, and taxes! It is all because of the hefty price of marketing and packaging that home brewers have a substantial economic edge over large scale breweries. Comparing the breakdown to what home brewers pay ...

Posted in Economics of Brewing | 7 Comments »

Per Batch Miscellaneous Item Costs

Sunday, July 27th, 2008

When 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 ...

Posted in Economics of Brewing, Equipment | 3 Comments »

Break Even Cost of Home Brewing

Saturday, June 7th, 2008

The economics of home brewing are almost as pleasing as drinking the final product. If you just want to make ales, you can break even after only four batches. Some starter kits are so cheap, you can break even after less, but the more 'tools' the more fun and the easier ...

Posted in Economics of Brewing | 8 Comments »