Decline in Hombrewing.

Zefram said:
The example I saw was $49 for a domestic 50-lb sack of 2-row plus $31 for shipping. Five 10-lb bags with free shipping was $77... so you save about $3. When I looked at a 55-lb sack of Maris Otter, it was about $22 cheaper to go with the sack versus five 10-lb and one 5-lb bags. In short, I guess it depends.

If you know the fine folks at your local brewpub, they may let you add a sack or two on their next order and just have it delivered on their next shipment.
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Kinda what I figured. MO is pretty pricey anyway. One thing I don't see a lot of is 6-row. I'm still in the browsing/researching phases to make sure it's the route I wanna take.
 
Minbari said:
I think some of the decline in homebrewing is from simple math. the pandemic hit and people needed something to do. now they are back to work and discovering that making their own beer doesnt save money and if you dont spend the time to learn it......the beer sucks on top it, lol. so people are giving it up.

the people that have a passion for it.....still doing it. saving money is not the motivator for me. making a product that people drink and tell me "I would not know this isnt from a commercial brewery" yes, an ego stroke, lol. but I also like experimenting. what happens if you change one thing..............its fun and getting the results I planned on, once and while, makes it worth it.

I just recently tried anchor steam, lol. it is pretty good, but honestly. not earth shattering. its too bad a brewery that old couldnt be saved though.............be the second time it has closed.
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Trialben said:
I've Stumbled upon this Twice thus far in recent weeks the humble Decline in people taking up and continuing on In the Hombrewing hobby.

We've all just witnessed the demise of some big arse US long time brewery Anchor Steam and I've been witness to a few going under here in Australia.

It seems these post covid days have been hitting the hip pocket pretty hard causing people to tighten the proverbial Belt buckle and forgoe the local tipple and even the hombrewing hobby altogether!

I for one remember the massive boom in hombrewing durin the Covid 19 pandemic I'm sure even a few forum members jumped on here In the brewersfriend forum.

I would thought the cost of living the rise in interest prices and rise in affordable living would of spurred people to keep on brewing beer at home so that's for sure puzzled me.

I know personally me and my little family have felt the pinch. I'm just glad I've lernt a few cost saving measures when it comes to brewing like yeast re pitching and well nowadays malting my own grains - buying hops in bulk has always been a wise idea if ya gunna be brewing long term.

I saw the brulosophy state of hombrewing survey had 1000 less participants from this time last year! that's a big hit within the hombrewing margins especially when it's a selection of that already small number of hombrewers who found there survey...

So what have you all been noticing in regards to your own hombrewing in general?

Are you cutting back on them more hoppy homebrews because of the cost / brew of such styles NEIPA IPA's?

Another thing I've noticed is the price of beer here in Aus has definitely gone North of 10$ mark for a schooner of craft beer and that can be pretty cheep depending on where you go for a beer!


Just interested in your thoughts on this?

Are struggling to keep in the hobby?

You seeing other hombrewers/pro brewers struggling?

Even online I see the extra push for Patreon on YouTube subscriptions for instance.
Anyhow enough of me waffling.

What's your take on this?
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I wouldn’t say I’m “struggling” to continue brewing, but I’ve definitely decreased the frequency of my brewing - from a high of once every to months to currently maybe 4 times a year. The main reason for my own decrease I think has mostly to do with my decrease in consumption, nothing to do with cost of ingredients. I’m 69 now and just don’t drink as much as I used to, plus I’m not giving it away like I used to. I do still love to spend a good part of a day brewing as well as the lead-up preparations, so I’ve considered decreasing to have batches of 2 1/2 to 3 gallons. One thing I changed during the pandemic was to challenge myself to make styles I’d shied away from, specifically sours and lagers. I like the challenge of these more complicated processes as well as the need for patience. )Just bottled a Russian River Temptation clone that too a year to produce and am quite happy with the result.)
My biggest worry with the decline in home brewing is that my treasured local HB shop may close down. They have a warehouse sized building that stocks everything you need and they provide classes as well as advice on an informal basis. At some point, if their business doesn’t pick up, I fear they’ll just liquidate and sell the building.
 
Frank S said:
I wouldn’t say I’m “struggling” to continue brewing, but I’ve definitely decreased the frequency of my brewing - from a high of once every to months to currently maybe 4 times a year. The main reason for my own decrease I think has mostly to do with my decrease in consumption, nothing to do with cost of ingredients. I’m 69 now and just don’t drink as much as I used to, plus I’m not giving it away like I used to. I do still love to spend a good part of a day brewing as well as the lead-up preparations, so I’ve considered decreasing to have batches of 2 1/2 to 3 gallons. One thing I changed during the pandemic was to challenge myself to make styles I’d shied away from, specifically sours and lagers. I like the challenge of these more complicated processes as well as the need for patience. )Just bottled a Russian River Temptation clone that too a year to produce and am quite happy with the result.)
My biggest worry with the decline in home brewing is that my treasured local HB shop may close down. They have a warehouse sized building that stocks everything you need and they provide classes as well as advice on an informal basis. At some point, if their business doesn’t pick up, I fear they’ll just liquidate and sell the building.
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Sounds like your still passionate about homebrewing one year to produce a beer that's dedication.

Sour beers something I've not delved into yet in my homebrewing sounds like their slow sours soured in the fermenter not kettle sours.
I hear you need to build up a bit of sour stock to blend with to produce fine quality sour beer.

Yeah let's hope we're at the bottom of the curve and HB stores hold strong to weather the decline.

Thanks foe your Valuable input I hope you continue in the hobby cheers!
 
Frank S said:
My biggest worry with the decline in home brewing is that my treasured local HB shop may close down. They have a warehouse sized building that stocks everything you need and they provide classes as well as advice on an informal basis. At some point, if their business doesn’t pick up, I fear they’ll just liquidate and sell the building.
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Nice post @Frank S , welcome to the clubhouse! My suggestion is to step it up ...give more away, brew more and maybe they won't !
 
My brewing schedule hasn't changed much, in fact, it has increased a bit.

My local brew club has been pretty active even with summer vacation.

Our LHBS that I use for my stuff seems to be really steaming along. I think this is part to an active group of brewers and small restuarants in the area that buy grain from them.

The pocketbook is definitely a big factor and also being post Vid. More people are back into a steady work schedule.

Here is the cool thing in my opinion, in terms of hobbies. I used to play Disc Golf every day over 20 years ago. Disc golf was really popular for a stretch and then didn't really decline but more flatlined and then there was a massive growth spurt and decline that happened about 3 times in the last 20 years. The same has happened in the pipe smoking/collecting hobby. As a BBQ chef and avid griller, working in an Ace Hardware, as the head of the grill department I have seen an up and down in the grill realm.

Yes there may have been a drop in survey participants but I don't think it is indicative of a drop in brewers. I know I don't answer all the surveys I get in all the different hobbies I am currently in. It's not that I don't care, sometimes I don't have the time or I am not totally intune with all the aspects of the survey material.

Sorry if I rambled, pain meds and life are kicking my ass!
 
CoFlyGuy said:
My brewing schedule hasn't changed much, in fact, it has increased a bit.

My local brew club has been pretty active even with summer vacation.

Our LHBS that I use for my stuff seems to be really steaming along. I think this is part to an active group of brewers and small restuarants in the area that buy grain from them.

The pocketbook is definitely a big factor and also being post Vid. More people are back into a steady work schedule.

Here is the cool thing in my opinion, in terms of hobbies. I used to play Disc Golf every day over 20 years ago. Disc golf was really popular for a stretch and then didn't really decline but more flatlined and then there was a massive growth spurt and decline that happened about 3 times in the last 20 years. The same has happened in the pipe smoking/collecting hobby. As a BBQ chef and avid griller, working in an Ace Hardware, as the head of the grill department I have seen an up and down in the grill realm.

Yes there may have been a drop in survey participants but I don't think it is indicative of a drop in brewers. I know I don't answer all the surveys I get in all the different hobbies I am currently in. It's not that I don't care, sometimes I don't have the time or I am not totally intune with all the aspects of the survey material.

Sorry if I rambled, pain meds and life are kicking my ass!
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Sorry to hear about the pain.
Thanks for chipping in.

Sounds like you've gone from strength to strength with your Hombrewing man!
Sounds like you've found a great homebrew club too I bet you've lernt alot from them:).
 
Trialben said:
Sorry to hear about the pain.
Thanks for chipping in.

Sounds like you've gone from strength to strength with your Hombrewing man!
Sounds like you've found a great homebrew club too I bet you've lernt alot from them:).
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Every time I see them I feel like I learn something. Some things are better than others LOL
 
I am brewing less often because I don't drink as much as I used to. I guess being 69 years of age does that. However, looking at the price of Craft Beer where I live and for a 24 of 355 ml the price is close to $72. I can certainly brew way cheaper than that even with the high cost of ingredients for malt, yeast etc. Besides, homebrewing is fun.
 
Home brewing seems to be cyclical. I started 24 years ago and most of the people in the local homebrew club had pretty much given up at that point. There was a lot of interest in the 90's because there really wasn't much beer variety. If you wanted to try a different style of beer then you had to make it yourself. A lot of people stopped home brewing once imports came available and local micro breweries started to experiment with different styles.

I took an initial break when my kids were born, but became very active in 2006. I would brew up to 20 batches a year and competed in a lot of competitions. I went semi-pro in the 2010's and was pretty much done brewing at home by 2015. This was around the time I noticed a lot of others were getting interested in the hobby.

I just started home brewing again. Not sure if I'll get back to the same volume, but I'm planning to be a lot more active. It makes sense things are also heading to a downturn... I always seem to be on the opposite side of the cycle ;)
 
Forbidden Grain said:
Home brewing seems to be cyclical. I started 24 years ago and most of the people in the local homebrew club had pretty much given up at that point. There was a lot of interest in the 90's because there really wasn't much beer variety. If you wanted to try a different style of beer then you had to make it yourself. A lot of people stopped home brewing once imports came available and local micro breweries started to experiment with different styles.

I took an initial break when my kids were born, but became very active in 2006. I would brew up to 20 batches a year and competed in a lot of competitions. I went semi-pro in the 2010's and was pretty much done brewing at home by 2015. This was around the time I noticed a lot of others were getting interested in the hobby.

I just started home brewing again. Not sure if I'll get back to the same volume, but I'm planning to be a lot more active. It makes sense things are also heading to a downturn... I always seem to be on the opposite side of the cycle ;)
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Bucking the Trend love it!

Things woulda come a long way since the 90's for instance more reliable yeast strains not bread yeast lol.

We really are spoilt for choice these days in homebrewing supplies!

You think of it someone's made it and is selling it for so competitive a price that it's hard to source just the materials and parts at same cost.

I hope you have a good time here let us know more about your brewing we're all a bit mad here about homebrewing :).
 
Forbidden Grain said:
Home brewing seems to be cyclical. I started 24 years ago and most of the people in the local homebrew club had pretty much given up at that point. There was a lot of interest in the 90's because there really wasn't much beer variety. If you wanted to try a different style of beer then you had to make it yourself. A lot of people stopped home brewing once imports came available and local micro breweries started to experiment with different styles.

I took an initial break when my kids were born, but became very active in 2006. I would brew up to 20 batches a year and competed in a lot of competitions. I went semi-pro in the 2010's and was pretty much done brewing at home by 2015. This was around the time I noticed a lot of others were getting interested in the hobby.

I just started home brewing again. Not sure if I'll get back to the same volume, but I'm planning to be a lot more active. It makes sense things are also heading to a downturn... I always seem to be on the opposite side of the cycle ;)
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Welcome back! A lot of people have gone to brewing one or 2 gallon batches only, that way they have a wide variety but don't have to drink 5 gallons of beer every two weeks.
 
Forbidden Grain said:
It's about the same effort to brew a 2 gallon batch, so I'll stick to my usual 5 or 6 gallons batches.
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Funny, that is exactly my thought when I actually get a chance to brew. I could brew a small batch, but why spend the all the time for just a gallon or two when I can just as easily make a 10 gallon batch. Yes, the larger equipment takes a bit longer to clean, but not enough to make a smaller batch less timely. I just give most of it away.
 
Bottling makes a small difference for storage. Obviously, to store lots of different styles, it takes lots of different vessels for storage. A couple cases of bottles is a lot cheaper than a keg, and don't take up significantly more space. More risk of blow-outs, but I try to pay attention to my priming when I bottle. On the high side of 30 batches, and not a single bottle bomb yet. (I probably just jinxed myself). But yeah, I agree, it's just as much work/time to do a 2 gallon batch as it is a 5 gallon, and not much difference in cost for ingredients, making it seemingly a lot more cost effective to brew larger quantities. Maybe my math is wrong.
 
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