Decline in Hombrewing.

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GFHomebrew

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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?
 
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.
 
Last edited:
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..............

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.
Click to expand...
I agree with you on the above.

Look at our little group of forum brewers here I'd say most All of us were brewing before the pandemic hit.

Your right money is time and we spend alot of time brewing and not as much time drinking maybe anyhow :D.

Yeah there come a time pretty early on in homebrewing where you've gotta make a big decision is this for me?

Do I wanna spend X amount of time on Saturday brewing beer?

Me yeah it's time we'll spent other oh I'd rather just drink it ?

I think it's great it's a hobby as well and not a day job I think it'd definitely take the gloss of it.

You know do you wanna choose when you brew vs you have to brew ...

I guess the big spike of hombrewers gained through the pandemic have just dropped off and that maybe the decline not long term homebrewers?o_O
 
I’m still on my same schedule/regimen as the past couple of years.
 
Not much change around here, but thats because there are only a handful of brewers...
Covid hit us hard income wise as tourism stopped, but we were never closed down (well, we were officially, but nobody listens, so nothing happened), so people weren't looking for other hobbies.
To the South of us: South Africa closed down plus put a ban on alcohol sales, resulting in a lot of S-Africans starting brewing just to get alcohol. Lot if equipment was sold out. No yeast available, not even baker's yeast!
We saw a lot of them appearing on the forum.
Now it is opened up and most have given up. The ones that were brewing before covid are still brewing plus maybe 1 or 2 that actually enjoy the process.

I brew because I can make beers that are not available here and because I like the process
 
Zambezi Special said:
Not much change around here, but thats because there are only a handful of brewers...
Covid hit us hard income wise as tourism stopped, but we were never closed down (well, we were officially, but nobody listens, so nothing happened), so people weren't looking for other hobbies.
To the South of us: South Africa closed down plus put a ban on alcohol sales, resulting in a lot of S-Africans starting brewing just to get alcohol. Lot if equipment was sold out. No yeast available, not even baker's yeast!
We saw a lot of them appearing on the forum.
Now it is opened up and most have given up. The ones that were brewing before covid are still brewing plus maybe 1 or 2 that actually enjoy the process.

I brew because I can make beers that are not available here and because I like the process
Click to expand...
Yeah I remember watching this south African lady on YouTube brewing a sorta pineapple ciderish beer in a storage tub using bakers yeast

A sorta tub to glass kinda video.

I watched it just for some amusement :)
 
I think it's a big combination of things.
Amazon, YouTube, Uber, economy, etc.
Seems to me the younger generations of people are feeling the pressure to succeed and with a big push on post high school education and or trade school to achieve that. (Economy)
So then, entering the work force at a later age and with a fair amount of debt, hobbies take a back seat.
Whatever they want, they can get (Amazon) quickly and get immediate gratification. Brewing takes time and additional effort to get it right.
Along with that goes getting the information they need (You Tube) to make the their decision which can be confusing at best.
They also are willing to pay for an "experience" and not be burdened with the baggage. This is where Uber comes in as they can affordably share a ride somewhere and enjoy this without concern about overdoing it.
This is some of it, but certainly not all.
So, I think the decline will flatten out as there are still those that have a passion for this, but those starting into the hobby are less and without Mentoring, are likely to quickly abandon it.
Sorry, I can't "Cheers" this.
Brian
 
I'm still brewing, but I don't have the time to do a lot of it because I like to visit the other breweries. Mathwise, it isn't that expensive for what I do. When I run out, I'm going to plan another weekend to brew.
We lost a couple of commercial places very recently. The reason for those were skyrocketing commercial rents. To add insult to injury here, commercial rent is subject to state sales tax. Rent (both residential and commercial), have become insane over the last couple or few years compared to wages/cost of living. We might be at the bottom or maybe the bottom 3 for that statistic in the country.
 
My opinion is that the hobby is just rolling in a natural ebb and flow.

But...

If there is any long-term concern, I would be most worried about the general decline in beer sales and the fact that beer isn't necessarily a go-to for the next generation of drinkers. Just first-hand experience tells me that the youngers, while certainly not beer haters, do have a taste for mixed drinks, seltzers etc. Nothing wrong with that of course.

I also wonder about the hobby losing its DIY roots. Someone considering/researching homebrewing might think that the electric all-in-ones are the only way to brew. And every day there are seemingly less and less knowledgeable local homebrew shops to teach them otherwise. Yes, a Brew-Zilla et.al. make things easier, but they are not as hands on and are certainly far more cost-prohibitive to anyone who wants to just see if the hobby is for them. This absolutely isn't a knock on the all-in-ones, but I hope people understand that you don't need one to brew great beer, just like you don't need a new set of Taylormades to play your first round of golf.

Maybe the folksy, handcrafted lessons of Charlie Papazian are getting lost in the rear-view mirror.
 
Megary said:
My opinion is that the hobby is just rolling in a natural ebb and flow.

But...

If there is any long-term concern, I would be most worried about the general decline in beer sales and the fact that beer isn't necessarily a go-to for the next generation of drinkers. Just first-hand experience tells me that the youngers, while certainly not beer haters, do have a taste for mixed drinks, seltzers etc. Nothing wrong with that of course.

I also wonder about the hobby losing its DIY roots. Someone considering/researching homebrewing might think that the electric all-in-ones are the only way to brew. And every day there are seemingly less and less knowledgeable local homebrew shops to teach them otherwise. Yes, a Brew-Zilla et.al. make things easier, but they are not as hands on and are certainly far more cost-prohibitive to anyone who wants to just see if the hobby is for them. This absolutely isn't a knock on the all-in-ones, but I hope people understand that you don't need one to brew great beer, just like you don't need a new set of Taylormades to play your first round of golf.

Maybe the folksy, handcrafted lessons of Charlie Papazian are getting lost in the rear-view mirror.
Click to expand...
I don't know, I liked 2 liter bottles of wine coolers as a teenager. Some people develop a palate later on:)
But, nobody has any patience anymore.
 
My production declined a bit when my process and equipment got more complex (Pre-C.) 5.5-6hr brew days are rough, splitting the process over two days helps but still. If I could shorten my time significantly, my output would increase. It is nice to have a variety on tap, explore different styles and clone beers because most breweries these days are so dang IPA heavy.
Brew pubs have been multiplying like mice in the South. We have 22 within an hour drive and that's a lot of options to just have one out.
Echoing comments from Megary and Sanday Feet, I wouldn't be surprised if brewing was not popular with the younger crowd. Light cheap lager drinking is what i did also until I started exploring foreign imports in my 30s. For those that stopped, maybe gave up because of poor results. Maybe they didn't start with easy extract and kits. Remember being flush with beers with only 1.5hrs into fermenter?
 
Zambezi Special said:
Not much change around here, but thats because there are only a handful of brewers...
Covid hit us hard income wise as tourism stopped, but we were never closed down (well, we were officially, but nobody listens, so nothing happened), so people weren't looking for other hobbies.
To the South of us: South Africa closed down plus put a ban on alcohol sales, resulting in a lot of S-Africans starting brewing just to get alcohol. Lot if equipment was sold out. No yeast available, not even baker's yeast!
We saw a lot of them appearing on the forum.
Now it is opened up and most have given up. The ones that were brewing before covid are still brewing plus maybe 1 or 2 that actually enjoy the process.

I brew because I can make beers that are not available here and because I like the process
Click to expand...

You nailed it. I brew because I can make beer better than I can buy (usually). My bride and I go to micro-brewer's when we travel and then try to make the best ones we find. It beats just sitting around in retirement and going to the store for one of the national brands of "rice beer". Yes, there will be others and the hobby will ebb & flow as far as numbers.
 
I think it may have been a bit trendy 10 years ago or so and there was a kind of "buzz" about it. I remember people getting exited about brewing and home brew club meetings were packed.

But now people can pick up just about any beer they want from the store, less fuss and much easier. Homebrewing does require more patience and as humanity "advances" we seem to be running low on it.

I still brew and I brew because I like the process, the beer I make is very good and I prefer it to commercial beer. It certainly isn't much cheaper, especially considering the amount of time it takes to make a beer. I think it may decline a little more and like most things make a come back. I think in the future we will look back at the early 2000's to 2015 as the "golden age" of homebrewing. Sorry to see it decline, but I'm glad I was fortunate enough to experience that golden age.
 
Megary said:
My opinion is that the hobby is just rolling in a natural ebb and flow.

But...

If there is any long-term concern, I would be most worried about the general decline in beer sales and the fact that beer isn't necessarily a go-to for the next generation of drinkers. Just first-hand experience tells me that the youngers, while certainly not beer haters, do have a taste for mixed drinks, seltzers etc. Nothing wrong with that of course.

I also wonder about the hobby losing its DIY roots. Someone considering/researching homebrewing might think that the electric all-in-ones are the only way to brew. And every day there are seemingly less and less knowledgeable local homebrew shops to teach them otherwise. Yes, a Brew-Zilla et.al. make things easier, but they are not as hands on and are certainly far more cost-prohibitive to anyone who wants to just see if the hobby is for them. This absolutely isn't a knock on the all-in-ones, but I hope people understand that you don't need one to brew great beer, just like you don't need a new set of Taylormades to play your first round of golf.

Maybe the folksy, handcrafted lessons of Charlie Papazian are getting lost in the rear-view mirror.
Click to expand...

Had I been reading this thread earlier I would have almost written this exact post! Declining beer sales, less DIY, everything costs more, etc. Especially the impression of the high "Entrance Fee" to homebrewing. Someone thinking about getting into home brewing now will find tons of information on shiny, flashy, easy-to-use and relatively expensive all-in-one systems. What has kind of disappeared is the simple, low-cost, one kettle, one bucket, one picnic cooler mash tun setup.
 
The Brew Mentor said:
I think it's a big combination of things.
Amazon, YouTube, Uber, economy, etc.
Seems to me the younger generations of people are feeling the pressure to succeed and with a big push on post high school education and or trade school to achieve that. (Economy)
So then, entering the work force at a later age and with a fair amount of debt, hobbies take a back seat.
Whatever they want, they can get (Amazon) quickly and get immediate gratification. Brewing takes time and additional effort to get it right.
Along with that goes getting the information they need (You Tube) to make the their decision which can be confusing at best.
They also are willing to pay for an "experience" and not be burdened with the baggage. This is where Uber comes in as they can affordably share a ride somewhere and enjoy this without concern about overdoing it.
This is some of it, but certainly not all.
So, I think the decline will flatten out as there are still those that have a passion for this, but those starting into the hobby are less and without Mentoring, are likely to quickly abandon it.
Sorry, I can't "Cheers" this.
Brian
Click to expand...
I also hear Gen Z consume less alcohol in general.
So this will have an impact if your not drinking mass market beer your not gunna find your way across to craft beer and then explore the possibilities of making your self at home.
 
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?
Click to expand...
I wonder if it has anything to do with Bud Light basically being free in the US with their full rebate of the purchase price. :p
 
BarbarianBrewer said:
Had I been reading this thread earlier I would have almost written this exact post! Declining beer sales, less DIY, everything costs more, etc. Especially the impression of the high "Entrance Fee" to homebrewing. Someone thinking about getting into home brewing now will find tons of information on shiny, flashy, easy-to-use and relatively expensive all-in-one systems. What has kind of disappeared is the simple, low-cost, one kettle, one bucket, one picnic cooler mash tun setup.
Click to expand...
You can get some good Concord kettles on Amazon for cheap and use weldless fittings to make your own, I made a 25 gallon for a friend: $200 for the pot, $100 for the false bottom, $55 for thermometer and fittings, $50 for the BIAB to fit. He had the burner for his aluminum crayfish pot... $150 for a 50 L Milk container for a fermenter, another ball valve, pack of grommets for a airlock.. he's in business and that's a good size setup for $600.
 
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?
Click to expand...
Where in Australia?
 
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