I prolly spend about $600 annually on brewing supplies and incidentals. ... But I get a huge subsidy from my brewhouse time, since I pay something like $3.50 a six pack equivalent for homebrew.
what he said!! When you add up the cost of the stainless kettles, grain mill, wort chillers, ss conical fermenter, and my bins of various malted and roasted barleys, I have a fair amount of money tied up in my [-]obsession[/-] hobby. Don't know what it adds up to a month, but now that I have it all, beer is $3-$4 per six pack, and better than I can buy (if I do say so). It used to be cheaper but hops, yeast, and barley have all gone up.
After stacking up lots of gadgets from past hobbies (and never wanting to get rid of them), I approached my brewing hobby differently. I'm a bit unconventional, but my beers are turning out very good (I usually prefer them to most commercial that I would $10/sixer for).
I do a "mini-mash" of about 4-5# grains and and collect ~ 3 gallons of wort from that, which I can boil on the kitchen stove split between two big pots we already owned. Almost zero investment, no brew pots, no special burners, no grain mill (at those quantities of grain, I get it pre-milled). I add dry extract (~4-5#) at flame-out to make up the remaining fermentables. It's cheap when bought in bulk, and keeps well. I can chill by adding ice and chilled water. No chiller investment.
Cheap plastic "Ale Pail" for primary, I've got a couple carboys if I want to do extended secondary, but I rarely do anymore (I've developed a taste for fresh ales for my main consumption). Then into the bottles to condition. DW gave me a nice bench capper, but those are only ~ $30. So a pretty minimal investment to do it that way. Misc, hydrometer, tubing, thermometers - nothing much. We get some good deals on hops and grain through our club, so I can usually keep that batch cost ~ $25-$30 for 5.25 G, so in that $3-$4/sixer price range.
Some friends have the computer controlled recirculating systems, multiple SS temperature controlled Conicals, etc. I think all that is pretty cool too, I just don't have the desire for it at this stage of my life. I get a kick out of making my beer with the very basics. Some of it turns out better than what they are brewing, but they do have more options available, and make some killer stuff also.
And while they keep raising taxes on liquor/beer - homebrew ingredients are taxed at the lower "food" rates, so that helps. And it's fun for me. Been too busy to brew lately and have had to buy some commercial brew to carry me through, and I miss my daily homebrew.
-ERD50
But I also believe there are a few "good" wines under $10...below $7 and you are starting to gamble!
