I love brewing. This batch cost me $14.87 in ingredients from my local homebrew store and it makes FIVE GALLONS of quality beer! For the equipment I used (except the candy thermometer), it cost me about $66 (a onetime investment). I am borrowing a bottle capper, though, which I need to buy sometime soon. It’s about $15.
It takes about 4-5 weeks for a batch to be done, from start to drinking. At about week 3 you bottle it and prime it with a little sugar to help it carbonate in the bottle.
I put off learning how to brew for a long time because I thought it was too expensive and involved. If you can cook, you can brew 🙂 Not only is it a blast (I love it!) but it can be very economical. This is not the absolute best beer that can be made at home, but if certainly beats any cheap beer at the store and stands next to the microbrew beers available at the grocery store.
Sanitizing is very important. Sanitize everything that contacts with your post-boiling wort because that is when there’s a chance of getting infected with bacteria or wild (in the air) yeast.
Happy Brewing 🙂