Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Did wrote:

FBeyer wrote:

Did wrote:... by my calculations we will be ahead in about 16 years of solid drinking.

Quoted, because I needed to quote someone saying that to get it off my bucket list.
Thank you.

Not sure if that is a closed loop, systems method or other ERE speak (have to ask jenny), but I just wanted the damn thing and bought it...

I just pictured the dinner table discussion, flipcharts, laser pointers and suit 'n tie are you are doing a presentation where you are trying to convince your wife that you both need to start drinking an obscene amount of alcohol to mitigate the purchase costs of your brewing equipment.

In those very rare circumstances where it's actually possible to buy happiness: Buy happiness. You seem to enjoy your brewing adventures.

I either need to drink an obscene amount of alcohol, or lay off the coffee and pints for a year.

Update: I pretty much gave given up pints out and almost never buy more than one. Through my brewing adventures I now have more than enough pretty free drinking out that I don't have to pay any more (apart from homebrew costs). Not that I'm a cheap bastard, it's just that sort of unbelievably I can bring homebrew to an Irish pub for brewing, and "beer appreciation" club meetups (two clubs - once each a month) and also because I've cosied up with two local breweries I get invited to all sorts of brewing pissups where the grog is free. So I guess getting involved has resulted in this. I've also made some friends and even brought kegs to parties where I'm the most popular guy there.

Almost forgot, through a friendship in the brew club I'm now getting free hops (the expensive part) as he is, er, connected. Another local brewery threw me a 25kg bag of their own grown grain which I mill myself (otherwise it's still very cheap - maybe 5-7 euro of grain for a 38 pint brew) - he wants to see what I can do with it and will come over to sample the results. Dried yeast I buy in bulk.

Alas coffee is still expensive but we do get great "mate's rates" at our local coffee shop and have become firm, genuine friends with the manager. All resulting from a home made wine gift last year.

Sounds great!

Did you look into roasting coffee yourself at all?

I've recently started roasting coffee. I got a little specific-purpose handheld pan for it . Green coffee is a bit cheaper - costs about $4-$7 per pound. It loses a bit of weight from roasting, maybe 20%. So it's quite a lot cheaper than buying roasted coffee.

I've started more for for the sake of convenience while I'm traveling, so I don't have to be finding places to buy coffee or deal with shipping. So far, it's been easy and works well. Roasting can get as complicated as one wants to make it, but can be quite simple also. I've had some coffee that I really love from my first few attempts at roasting. For a few days after roasting, my whole van smells wonderful.

@Did, another fine example of human capital beating financial capital hands down. Free ale, what's not to like!

@C40, where do you buy your green beans, and how do you store them?

I cheated and started working from home. So I had to make my own coffee. But I got good at it. You find the beans you like, have a burr grinder, and a method to brew that produces coffee you like (I use a Kalista 185 pour over -- I happen to have the glass one but kind of wish I had the metal one). Then coffee out doesn't really taste so good. I'll still buy coffee if push comes to shove. But I also tweaked it so I use 2/3 decaf and 1/3 caffeinated beans. That agrees much more with my constitution but I don't really want to explain that. So the coffee has to be self-serve.

Become a coffee snob and your problem may be solved on the coffee front!

My next step down this path is to follow @C40 to the land of green coffee beans. I'm really mulling that over though. I have an itch to maybe DIY a roaster and I'm in no rush.

@Augustus, you mean Arabica?

I would guess that the biggest health risk of coffee roasting is inhaling the smoke/air?