[Saltheart]

Yeast is about $1 per pack , I use only 3/4 of a cup of corn sugar to bottle , thats about 25 cents worth. My beers typically jusy have malt , hops , water and yeast. If you are doing something like a ginger beer , you don't use as much specialty grains. so everything pretty much stays the same. In fact , I can make a 100 bottles of typical 5 to 6 Percent alc pale ale for about $24. Stouts and porters are more.

The equipment is not all that expensive and I garantee if you buy or make good stuff , you can sell it for at least what you paid and maybe more. Bottles are free. I do sometimes keg and that is another equipment charge but again you will get it all back when (if) you want to sell.

I have not dumped a batch of beer do to spoilage or bad taste in well over 15 years. Once you learn how to brew , the only reason a beer comes out bad is if your sanitation breaks down. To me , you have a motivated self interest not to let that happen for obvious reasons.

I do all my boiling in kegs with a hole cut in the tops. I do my mashing in a Red Dog Cooler that I have used for maybe 20 years now , it has a stainless steel ball valve and a Phils False Bottom. I also have a Schmidling (of course) Malt Mill . I use a drill to turn it if doing a lot of grain but do just 1 batches worth by turning the crank by hand. I can sell that Mill for more than I paid for it 20+ years ago.
Anyway , yes there is some investment if you want to go big time but anyone can brew a good beer using their own spaghetti pot and a 5 gallon bucket. You just use extract instead of mashing.

The burner I use is used for beer , lobsters , frying turkeys , clam boils and huge beef stews when there is a crowd. Again , if you get a good one with a big cast burner manifold it will outlive you.

I have noticed that it is about the same or less to brew beer now than it was in 1983 when I started. Of course I am more well informed about suppliers and do buy in reasonable quantities but certainly not truck loads.

Anyway , you can go economy by using kitchen stuff you already have or you can go cadillac and treat it like an investment.