Notice I said “the beer I like to drink”. Which is not fizzy yellow crap.
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I guess I misinterpreted your post. It came across to me as your homebrewed beer (it) is “more expensive than buying the beer I like to drink.”
Apologies.
I have to agree with many other brewers. I have found home brewed beer to be much more expensive than commercial beers of the same style. By the time you calculate the ingredients, the water, the cleaning and sanitizing chemicals and the power consumption — not to mention the equipment cost and maintenance — there is no comparison.
I’m fortunate enough to be able to drive for my ingredients. Many brewers don’t have that luxury so shipping costs are added to the ticket! 
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I think that it takes a certain (maybe more mature?) mindset to persist with hobbies like homebrewing that requires patience, research, and the resilience to try again after less-than-stellar results. These aren’t common attributes in the college students I teach in general. Except in the case of student athletes who typically have more of a stomach for set-backs. Combined with an expectation of a result that is similar to good craft beer, the perceived barriers to making great beer are higher than they once were.
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I don’t want to place all of the blame on the youths of today. Popularity always ebbs and flows, and at peak craft brew even I was a little irritated at the scene, the collectors, the overdone styles, etc. I haven’t been able to get a good british beer, imported or local, in maybe 10 years! So there’s a little bit of backlash now (“you drink IPAs? Why not drink something that tastes good”) from people who embraced the opposite and prefer convenience and candy tastes. Maybe the 80s truly are back.
Not to get too far from the original topic, but my beer costs are definitely lower than store price for the good beers ($5 for a 16 oz can). If you throw in equipment, it may not be, but this is a hobby. Like any hobby, your main goal isn’t to do things in the most cost effective way, but to have fun.
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denny - i think youre deliberately ignoring the statements i made outlining “average quality craft beer” ie. average state+surrounding state distribution size craft brewer producing pale ales, IPAs, craft lagers, porters, etc. i do not have a confident number for US pricing on that but i would be 90% certain it is currently within the range of $2.50 to $3.50 per can. probably $3.50 to $5.00 for something stronger, something seasonal, something barrel aged but not crazy etc.
obviously we know you dont drink miller lite, and frankly i think anyone in the homebrew community whos been around know generally what types of beers you like - belgian tripels, WC IPAs, saisons, american pale ales, and in general other quality flavourful beer styles.
@kellerbrauer - i have done the math including my equipment costs, and as many costs as i can include. water is not expensive where i am, so i dont factor it. per beer just ingredients costs, but incuding any RO water i might buy and including everything including bottle caps i am in the range of $1.10 to $1.25 for a 500ml of a 5% common style beer. anywhere from $1.75 to $2.50 for a 500ml of a strong beer or beer with a lot of hops or oak cubes or candi syrups etc.
youre probably not realizing that you can breakdown the equipment costs over literally hundreds of litres of beer over the equipments lifetime. it’s not like an $800 grainfather covers 5 gallons/20 litres of beer.
these clearly beat commercial prices by a fair bit. if you disagree please give me a breakdown or explanation of what costs you think im missing, or are much higher for you.
quality wise: i find that my homebrews may suffer from oxidation issues sometimes more than commercial products due to the nature of my current system (hope to fix this in about 18 months with an upgrade). my esters can be uneven in beers where that is a focus, sometimes they hit just right though.
commercial beers can suffer from imho inferior mouthfeel often, random craft ones can be hit or miss, and i get metallic off-flavours somewhat frequently in a lot of canned craft or “good/european” brewery beer.
it’s always going to be a trade-off, but homebrew is a great value proposition and i have never seen a clear, well-explained answer online why it isnt.
I think it is a lot tougher now to get people interested in homebrewing as there are so many craft beers available even if some are mediocre. I am glad I started brewing in the very early 90’s. Different beer styles were beginning to appear. Most you could only get at a brew pub as the packaged beers were limited esp the places I lived. If you wanted to explore different styles you had to home brew.
Since I started grain brewing in the mid 90s it was then I really enjoyed it. I enjoy it for the combination of science and art. I enjoy the recipe formulation, the brewing process from grinding grain to mashing to boiling. The wonderful aromas of brew day. I like figuring out the extract potential with every new bag of grain I get. The magic of different varieties of hops.
I enjoy the conditioning process and of course serving my beer through my engines. Figuring out which spout to use, sparkler or no sparkler. I enjoy the process of serving whether to myself or others
All my years of brewing I still drink my beer and think I can’t believe you can make this.
My system has been the same for over 30 years. 2-10 gal Rubbermaid coolers copper mash manifold ,15 gal SS crab boil pot that I added a drain port. Whirligig, my Philmill, and of course old school hydrometer. Single infusion mash at ~ 150+F. Mash at just over 1 qt /lb and spare 1/2 gal / pound. Add makeup water as necessary
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re: your setup - i think people should always kind of start on this. its so affordable, it makes you think things through and get a good understanding of the struggle in keeping temps during mashing, and all the little things and is a little bit DIY but not overwhelming.
this is what i use but only 8 gallon SS pot size.
and again, if youre using a setup like this there is no way you are not turning work/labour into $ savings per litre of beer made.
i’m not even getting into the added value elements such as really tuning into beers you can’t get otherwise at all commercially.
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I’m late to the thread, but thought I would report my local price to swap out a 5lb CO2 tank: $62 at Airgas in Huntsville, AL as of July 2025. About half of that is from various fees and taxes. That is quite a bit more expensive than in 2019 when I started kegging my homebrew, but not high enough to get me to stop brewing my own lagers. I brew 10 or 11 five gallon batches per year and I think I need a new CO2 tank every 6-9 months, so I would estimate my CO2 costs as about $100 per year.
You can exchange for much less ($15-20) at Greenbus Brewing Company. They keep some tanks on hand but sometimes you have to leave it and comeback in a few days. They exchange 5 and 20 pound tanks for sure. Maybe other sizes also.
I may have to check that out, thanks!
holy crap - I exchanged a 5 and a 20 lber a couple of months back here in LA for $45 with taxes. $62 is a rip!
Glad I use my beer engines. I have not had to replace a co2 tank in well over 8 years. Still have plenty of cO2 left
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Old thread, but had the same issues here in Mass. LHBS closed about 3 years ago cutting off a place to swap CO2. Airgas swap prices in Boston area are crazy, so that was only going to be a last resort. Was able to find a Fire Extingusher place next town over that did fills while you wait, and it was like $12 for 5 lb tanks, perfect. Then they got bought out and the new owner decided to do it by appointment only, then to not to CO2 fills for beer.
So that got me thinking I can spund my beers for natural carbonation, but how the heck can I push it out of keg? But then my local craft beer store decided to step up and carry CO2 for swamps. Great! But the same fire extingusher company was where they were getting fills and they would not do it anymore, so shop was always out. Finally found another fire extingusher place about 30 mins away and went there…they fill 5# for $17, but it’s a drop off and come back in a week situation, not a deal breaker. And I let the craft beer store know about that place, so now they are back into doing swaps. Anything to keep me from having to drive into Boston to a welding shop!
I keep thinking CO2 refills didn’t used to be this difficult. I used to go to a Iowa Fire Equipment (IFE) here in Des Moines until the guy who worked the walk-in desk changed (I didn’t ask why he was gone but it seemed like something the bosses didn’t like happened). IFE told me that they just took beverage refills down the block to a “Carbonics” company and sent me to them. The new place was great. They could re-cert tanks, refill, swap, or whatever I needed and were cheap.
A few weeks ago one of my 20# tanks finally ran dry, so off to the carbonics place, no problem. I got to their building and they aren’t there anymore. 
They put a note on the door telling their customers to go to a new address because they had merged with another company. Okay, drove a bit further east and found the new place and they were great. My tank was in need of a re-cert so they swapped it out for ~$30 including the fill. Good enough.
They icing on the cake in all this is the company has been fighting with Google to have the old website address updated/redirected to the new company. Google refuses to believe they are the same company. So when you lookup CO2 suppliers in Central Iowa, all you get is the old company at the wrong address.
I wonder how many homebrewers have given up because of stuff like that. Sometimes seems like the gods are not on our side.
If you are looking for a refill in Central Iowa, here’s the place.
Central McGowan-Beverage Carbonation - Address: 4397 E 50th St, Des Moines, IA 50317- Phone: (515) 255-5717
Paul
Beer and Wine Hobby in Danvers is reliable.
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just about homebrewing, and obviously preaching to the choir here. but my homebrewering season is starting up again and its just so exciting. homebrewing is such an incredible hobby
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I continue to say I am amazed/astounded you can brew and serve beers better than most if not all breweries as you make and serve them to your specifications. Once that amazement ends I will stop brewing
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Make and serve beers better than most breweries? You’ve been drinking beer from the wrong breweries!
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I think I can make better beer than SOME breweries but I continue to be impressed by some small, local breweries. I get HEUBrewer’s point that the beer you make has been made to your specifications and there is value there. As an aside, I was at a “Tap House” the other night .. not a brewery but a bar with a good number of drafts. I got two different beers and they were either old, stale, my glass was dirty or the draft lines needed to be cleaned. I was with someone who was not drinking beer and I had her taste these beers. She winced and said, “What on Earth? That beer is not supposed to taste that way” so there is “poor maintenance” involved too. To round that thought out .. I have visited a number of places that brew horrendous beer.
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