Expense calculator

Did  few google searches and came up dry, so I thought I would ask around here…

looking for a free or almost free program or calculator that will let me know what I am paying to produce a batch of beer.

Ingredient cost, labor, electricity and the like.

any one have any ideas???

Tim

Many of the newer (last 2 years) recipe applications can handle this for you. Costs are added when adding items to the inventory. A quick Excel sheet would work fine.

+1 for Excel…I can whip one up for you if you’d like

yeah, i can use, but not create spreadsheets…lol

I currently use Brewers Friend, and I am also exploring MyBrewCo as well, but they don’t have the functions I am looking for.

Tim

The more I think about this the deeper the rabbit hole gets…
Things I would like to add to the cost of a pint:

Grain
Hops
Water
Yeast
Finings
Man hours
Brewing equipment, a % of the total cost until the equipment has paid for itself
fermentation equipment, ferm chamber, carboys, and such
Yeast management and propagation equipment
DIY projects for the brewery
Kegs
Growlers
Bottles

see i keep getting deeper and deeper…lol

Tim

It’s a labor of love. Sure it might be a little cheaper to homebrew, but at the end of the day when you have a good glass a beer, nothing beats something you hand crafted. Most homebrew I’ve tasted here in a Colorado Springs is on par with local breweries

I get a bug up my butt whenever i get close to breaking even.

Yes, that means it’s time for a new toy. Excuse me, I mean tool. Necessary tool that is!

Cheaper to homebrew.  Hahaha hahaha

When your crew only wants your homebrew, you won’t consider costs.  In the last two weeks I have had two sacks of grain given to me (Avengard and a Weyermann Floor malted Pils).  I told my guys long ago to stop bringing me commercial craft brews and never asked for a sack of grain.  Cost of friendship and beer appreciation…priceless.

It is not about making money but seeing how it works in the bottom line for my own knowledge

Jaftak22 are you in the springs?  I am in the fountain/security widefield area

You forgot time spent on internet beer forums :slight_smile:

Word

Another +1 for excel. flbrewer do you want to get started?  I’d be happy to put some work into it also. Automatically this needs to keep track of the recipe so it serves that purpose too. I don’t expect this to replace beersmith or anything but for the most basic stuff it could work well.

Sure, give me an hour and I’ll share something via Dropbox.

flbrewer (and original poster):
Not unexpectedly it has been covered before. Should build on what is there already…
Can’t make tapatalk work to paste link now. Strange.  but Google “homebrew excel”. There is an old thread on homebrewtalk forum.

OK, you can find something online I’m sure. If you know very basic Excel stuff, I would just simply make a column with all cost related stuff. Malt, Hops, Water, etc. going down the left hand side. Make the rows running from left to right your various beers you brew.

Add some simple sum functions and you’ve got a really simple calculator you can play with!  ;D

The cost feature for ingredients is already in beersmith.  You could then add your other items to the miscellaneous ingredients. (Time,  equipment,  fuel,  water, etc. )

Thanks for all the hlp guys!

Great idea! For time one could add an hour to ingredients and the cost, then add X hours to each recipe. Equipment is tricky, but fuel, water, etc could be done the same way.