Re: Incentive to brew your own - Beer prices in your area!
- From: "alebrewer" <alebrewer@xxxxxx>
- Date: 4 Aug 2006 15:53:32 -0700
Martik wrote:
"John 'Shaggy' Kolesar" <spam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:slrned6vuv.jpk.spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Fri, 4 Aug 2006 17:01:16 +0000 (UTC), <plutchak@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
alebrewer <alebrewer@xxxxxx> wrote:
But, there is at least 6 hours of labor involved (probably 10 if I was to
bottle) for each batch.
If you're goping to start getting precise about it,
I would hope you're not spending six hours of constant
labor to brew a batch of beer.
I never have understood the "labor" thing anyway. Personally I don't
pay someone to brew my beer for me, so why factor labor costs into it?
Either you spend time brewing because you like it as a hobby or you don't.
IMO, trying to figure out how much it costs you to do your hobby with
regards to labor charges is just plain silly.
I agree, you cannot put a price on your FREE time. If I did, I would never
cook at home. And I don't understand the huge capital startup costs
discussed here. A primary, carboy, hydrometer is all that is really required
to make decent beer. You can usually find those items at a garage sale for
under $20 and new for $40-50. I use both used plastic soda 'bottles'
500/1000ml and the 473ml swing-top bottles I got free from the local pub.
The brew made with this simple equipment is already so much superior to most
local brands I never bothered to venture into more exotic methods.
The reason you have to put a price on your time is the OP was comparing
the PRICE of commerical beer to the COST of the ingredients of HB. If
you don't account for the labor (and other costs), you're comparing
Apples to Horseshoes. While you can debate on what price to put on
your time, if you ignore it (or put some unrealistic price, such as
$0.05 per hour), then your comparision is unfairly slanted to the
result that is emotionally desired. If you are going to do that, there
is no reason to make a comparison in the first place. To use a
metaphor already posted, you're just performing mental masturbation.
The point is that, once you have accounted for all the costs, HB is not
really cost effective. While there are things that can be done to
improve the cost comparison (larger batch size, kegging, bulk buying of
ingredients, etc...), it is hard to truly justify on a cost basis
alone.
Another way of saying this is that if you didn't enjoy the hobby, it
wouldn't make sense. Provided you can buy the beer you like at a
reasonable price, it would make more sense just to buy what you like
when you want it. Because many people do enjoy the hobby, many people
brew. It isn't for the cost savings, it's for the enjoyment of the
hobby.
As for the amount of time spent on a batch, six hours is probably
somewhat conservative. If you only want to count the time actually
spent stirring the pot, try to get a mechanic to only charge you the
time he spent actually turning a wrench when you get your car repaired.
ab
.
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