I brewed a lot in 2020...

naDinMN

Active Member
Trial Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2020
Messages
101
Reaction score
119
Points
43
Not including what I did for work, I brewed 155-165 gallons of beer, wine, cider and mead in 2020. Legal limit is 200 gallons for personal use (in a two or more adult household). Has anyone else added up their volume? Is is strikingly more than previous years?
 
I've brewed more this year also then I have in recent years. I did do a pretty high volume during the first part of lock down. I should go back and calculate how much I've done this year also...or do I really want to know lol.
 
Not including what I did for work, I brewed 155-165 gallons of beer, wine, cider and mead in 2020. Legal limit is 200 gallons for personal use (in a two or more adult household). Has anyone else added up their volume? Is is strikingly more than previous years?
23x5 gal batches for me. I re-started brewing in 2020 after a 10+ year hiatus. Also started partial mash and just ordered all grain setup so all in now.
 
What an interesting way to look at things.

I've done 17 batches at approx 5 gallons each. If my math is correct that's 85 gallons. I only had to dump 5 gallons all year so that's a pretty good net yield of beer, with almost every drop going into my wife or my stomach. Sadly the pandemic has taken away a lot of opportunities for sharing and, frankly, I've not found there to be much "extra" beer beyond what I want to drink. Also a result of the pandemic.

Like Bubba Wade did, a person could really drill down on the cost/savings of their year of homebrewing. Personally, since I just started brewing this year, my equipment costs will destroy any savings over buying at the bottle shop. 2021 will be the year to really decide if this homebrewing thing is actually a money saver or just a new hobby.
 
Like Bubba Wade did, a person could really drill down on the cost/savings of their year of homebrewing. Personally, since I just started brewing this year, my equipment costs will destroy any savings over buying at the bottle shop. 2021 will be the year to really decide if this homebrewing thing is actually a money saver or just a new hobby.

I think Bubba'a point was more about reducing the tax dollars he'd spend when purchasing an equal amount of beer. I agree with him 100% and, as long as the government(s) waste a large percentage of out hard earned money, will do everything possible to avoid taxes whenever I can.

As for your equipment costs, if you go down the rabbit hole of homebrewing like many of us have, amortizing it will take a looooooooong time :):):)
 
What an interesting way to look at things.

I've done 17 batches at approx 5 gallons each. If my math is correct that's 85 gallons. I only had to dump 5 gallons all year so that's a pretty good net yield of beer, with almost every drop going into my wife or my stomach. Sadly the pandemic has taken away a lot of opportunities for sharing and, frankly, I've not found there to be much "extra" beer beyond what I want to drink. Also a result of the pandemic.

Like Bubba Wade did, a person could really drill down on the cost/savings of their year of homebrewing. Personally, since I just started brewing this year, my equipment costs will destroy any savings over buying at the bottle shop. 2021 will be the year to really decide if this homebrewing thing is actually a money saver or just a new hobby.

My material cost for malts, hops, yeast averages out to around $45 per 40 pint batch. Craft brews in the Northeast US run $3-4/pint, so $120-$160 per batch. So if you go purely on that, out of pocket savings can add up fairly quickly. Craft brew prices were somewhat of reason for me to get back into brewing. Now if you add your time, there's probably no comparison so it has to be a labor of love. But I do like to tell my wife that all the shiny stainless steel will pay for itself in less than a year, lol.
 
If you brew quite a bit, I think you can amortize your equipment pretty quickly.

I estimate that I have about $1200 in equipment including a fancy SsBrewtech fermenter with temperature control, a keezer/chilled water reservoir, electric BIAB vessel, 4 kegs, a CO2 tank, two taps, and a Tilt.

My batches cost about $12-13 per 2.5 gallons. Four 6-packs would be $36. I save around $24 per batch. I make around 25 batches a year, so a $600 savings. It pays for itself in two years, or a bit quicker if you use less expensive equipment.
 
Mine's all been amortized for some time now but, in the early stages, when I was switching to the bigger and better pretty regularly, costs exceeded returns by quite a lot. Once I settled in on a process and the gear that went along with it, the savings caught up to the outlay. Pretty much reached the end of the rabbit hole. Took awhile for me with double the batch size and about 4 times the total outlay by the time all was said & done. It's nice to see actual savings.
 
  1. late to the christmas party, brewed in January, Christmas Tree NEIPA with Lemondrop Simcoe and Chinook
  2. British Golden SMaSH with Golden Promise, Olicana hops, and S-04
  3. Azacca Cryo and Spelt SMaSH NEIPA, ended up being 3.8% and that beer slammms
  4. Red X and Styrian Cardinal SMaSH WCIPA
  5. Mittelfruh and German Pils SMaSH IPL
  6. Session IPA with Southern Passion and Summer hops for Big Brew Day
  7. Mixed Ferm Sour IPA with Citra, best beer i've ever made, soured in the fermenter with Lacto, added Citra Cryo as a dry hop and Hornindal to ride it out, no hot side hops. Incredible citra flavor.
  8. Wai-iti and Spelt SMaSH NEIPA, also 3.8%, same recipe as my Azacca beer, different hop
  9. Idaho Pils and Idaho 7 SMaSH WCIPA
  10. 100% Oats NEIPA with Sabro
  11. Vienna Lager SMaSH with Tradition hops
  12. Hopped up German Pils with Hallertau Blanc
  13. Delirium Tremens style "clone" with Ardennes and Ginger Candi Syrup
  14. Belgian Golden "IPA" with Saphir hops, A+, Saphir is extremely underrated
  15. Apple Pie Sour for Learn to Homebrew Day, made with a little Martinelli's and pitched with the new Lallemand Philly Sour, a new species called Lachancea
  16. Belgian Dubbel with Simpsons DRC and Special B, the greatest malt duo ever.
  17. Munich Brown Ale thing, Munich 5L paired with some Chocolate Malts
  18. Double Decocted Dunkelweiss
  19. Amber Ale with 2oz each of Crystals 10L, 20L, 40L, 60L, 75L, 90L, and 120L, to see if using a range of crystal malts lends more complexity to the beer, didn't really seem to, tasted like it just had 1 crystal malt
  20. Belgian Dark Mild, a British style grain bill with Belgian malts and Belgian yeast.
  21. British Dark Mild, a near identical grain bill but with actual british malts and British yeast.
All but 2 are 2.5 gallon batches = 57.5 gallons.

21 batches this year, 28 batches last year, but we had festivals last year.
 
First, sorry for not participating lately. I’ve been focusing more on brewing and less on talking about it lately. I have some minor issues with astringency to fix. But have 22 5-gal batches of beer on the wall this year. Most ever. I’m pleased that those tax dollars didn’t go to the Govt for my evening swill. Ben, keep those pool shots coming. TW, Bourbon updates appreciated. Bob, meds are always in order. Merry Christmas all. GW
 
  1. late to the christmas party, brewed in January, Christmas Tree NEIPA with Lemondrop Simcoe and Chinook
  2. British Golden SMaSH with Golden Promise, Olicana hops, and S-04
  3. Azacca Cryo and Spelt SMaSH NEIPA, ended up being 3.8% and that beer slammms
  4. Red X and Styrian Cardinal SMaSH WCIPA
  5. Mittelfruh and German Pils SMaSH IPL
  6. Session IPA with Southern Passion and Summer hops for Big Brew Day
  7. Mixed Ferm Sour IPA with Citra, best beer i've ever made, soured in the fermenter with Lacto, added Citra Cryo as a dry hop and Hornindal to ride it out, no hot side hops. Incredible citra flavor.
  8. Wai-iti and Spelt SMaSH NEIPA, also 3.8%, same recipe as my Azacca beer, different hop
  9. Idaho Pils and Idaho 7 SMaSH WCIPA
  10. 100% Oats NEIPA with Sabro
  11. Vienna Lager SMaSH with Tradition hops
  12. Hopped up German Pils with Hallertau Blanc
  13. Delirium Tremens style "clone" with Ardennes and Ginger Candi Syrup
  14. Belgian Golden "IPA" with Saphir hops, A+, Saphir is extremely underrated
  15. Apple Pie Sour for Learn to Homebrew Day, made with a little Martinelli's and pitched with the new Lallemand Philly Sour, a new species called Lachancea
  16. Belgian Dubbel with Simpsons DRC and Special B, the greatest malt duo ever.
  17. Munich Brown Ale thing, Munich 5L paired with some Chocolate Malts
  18. Double Decocted Dunkelweiss
  19. Amber Ale with 2oz each of Crystals 10L, 20L, 40L, 60L, 75L, 90L, and 120L, to see if using a range of crystal malts lends more complexity to the beer, didn't really seem to, tasted like it just had 1 crystal malt
  20. Belgian Dark Mild, a British style grain bill with Belgian malts and Belgian yeast.
  21. British Dark Mild, a near identical grain bill but with actual british malts and British yeast.
All but 2 are 2.5 gallon batches = 57.5 gallons.

21 batches this year, 28 batches last year, but we had festivals last year.
Looks nice and varied. Really cool.
 

Back
Top