The homebrewer's profile

Hello to all the homebrewers reading this. I have been brewing for about a year now, only completed 10 or so batches and looking to try my first all-grain when I get a free weekend. I've been following this site for a couple months and just officially signed up.

The intention of my first post comes to you with a favor, so I hope your game. I've been doing research at local (Atlanta) breweries and beer conventions but the process is taking forever so I'm hoping that this method speeds things up. The reason for these questions? Me and 4 fellow MBA classmates are trying to launch a business that caters to the homebrewer. I really can't expand any further at this time in fear of swaying your true responses. For those curious, I"ll expand further after the response rate drops. But please take the time to read and answer the following questions to help us define the homebrewer customer profile. Thanks in advance!

1. What do you enjoy most about brewing?
2. What do you enjoy least about brewing?
3. Why do you brew?
4. When do you brew the most? (time of year, month, week, and/or day)
5. Where do you brew?

Well, I'm killing time while I wait for a detector to cool down, so I'll play along.

1. recipe formulation
2. cleaning
3. because I enjoy making food and beverages by hand that I, and others, enjoy.
4. year round, Saturdays or Sundays. Frequency probably the highest in spring and fall.
5. at home, on my back porch

1) The potential for customization. I like that I can take any beer out there, and try to recreate it. Or, I can make something up that I've never heard of and see if it's any good.

2) Waiting. Let's see you cater to that need. You'll be millionaires in a second if you can.

3) I brew because I can, and because I find it a relaxing and enjoyable pasttime. I also like the freshness and quality I can recreate by homebrewing.

4) I brew in the first half of the week, almost any time I have an empty fermenter.

5) My brother's garage. We share equipment and each brew our own 5 gallon batch every brew session.

1. The peacefulness of brew day.
2. Cleaning
3. The satisfaction of making a beer that everyone likes to drink. Then doing it again, better.
4. All year, weekends. Once or twice a month.
5. My garage

1) Seeing my imagination turn to reality as each new recipe comes together in the finished product.

2) Cleaning

3) I have a passion for beer and want my beer to be fresh and exactly how I want it

4) When I need beer

5) Either at home or in whichever brewery I happen to be working in at the time

Stumpe said:

1. What do you enjoy most about brewing?
2. What do you enjoy least about brewing?
3. Why do you brew?
4. When do you brew the most? (time of year, month, week, and/or day)
5. Where do you brew?

Click to expand...

1. Creating something that is enjoyable.
2. Waiting
3. Because it is fun
4. Pretty steadily all year, 2-3 times a month
5. In my garage

Good luck with the MBA!

1. The look on a friends face when they try one of my brews, followed by "damn that's good"
2. Cleaning (seems to be a pattern here)
3. I love beer, I love being creative, and the ability to share it with others.
4. As often as I can afford, typically on weekends.
5. Kitchen by necessity, hopefully outside in the near future.

1. What do you enjoy most about brewing?
The diy / tinkering combined with the creative expression brewing provides

2. What do you enjoy least about brewing?
Cleaning

3. Why do you brew?
I love beer, to cook, be creative,. Brewing combines all 3

4. When do you brew the most? (time of year, month, week, and/or day)
Weekends or holidays (love working or a bank). Most in spring / fall. Least in winter. Avg 20 - 25 batches a year.

5. Where do you brew?
Nice weather - deck
bad / cold weather - garage

1. I enjoy the success that I made something others and myself enjoy drinking.
2. Probably the clean up.
3. I brew cause I enjoy it, relaxing, creative and cause my brother does.
4. Whenever I can. Mostly weekends.
5. In my garage cause that's where I can.

Hope these help.

1. "Wow...you made this?"
2. Stirring while the IC runs (need a longer spoon)
3. Because I can. (I also make my own applesauce, jams, hot sauce, etc.) I guess more accurately it's because I can make something better than I can buy and for a lot less money.
4. Every weekend (almost)
5. In the kitchen. I will move outside for the summer so I don't burn out the AC.

1. The creativity that comes with creating your own recipe and the brewing process.
2. Cleaning. It takes to much work.
3. I brew for the creativity. It is the one outlet in my life that I can be creative and do what I want.
4. All year around. Typically on weekends.
5. At my place...In my garage or back patio.

tochsner said:

1. The peacefulness of brew day.
2. Cleaning
3. The satisfaction of making a beer.
4. All year,But peak time is December to March
5. My garage

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This. Especially #1

1. the creative process. i've never followed a recipe to the letter, i always take a tangent at some point - and i love seeing where it takes me.
2. waiting. i lot of people have said cleaning, but i don't think it's *that* bad.
3. for personal satisfaction. i enjoy creating things. i like knowing what is in my food and drink. i grow a lot of my own food (weather permitting) so home-brewing fits right into my lifestyle. also, the satisfaction of seeing others enjoying the fruits (grains?) of my labor. certainly isn't to save money!
4. i brew the mostly during weekends, because of work: i usually travel, so i'm away from home during the week. i can't give you a "time of the year" answer because i'm relatively new to the hobby.
5. my kitchen. fermenting happens in the basement.

I love market research, so I'll try to help. But I haven't been very good at introspection lately.

1. I guess the experimentation, and the sequence of 100 small tasks that I can check off as "done".
2. Clean-up, and all the acrobatics of brewing in the kitchen.
3. I don't really know why I brew... I started because it was something I had always been curious about, and I kept going because the beer was really good. Now, it's just my default way of getting beer. Kind of like how take-out used to be how I got dinner every night before I learned to cook.
4. Year-round, about once a month. Saturday or Sunday (Saturday if I can).
5. In the kitchen.

1. What do you enjoy most about brewing? Creating something my friends, wife, and I really enjoy.
2. What do you enjoy least about brewing? Cleanup during the entire process.
3. Why do you brew? I want good beer, that I make, for a reasonable cost.
4. When do you brew the most? (time of year, month, week, and/or day) All year long, but perhaps more once it gets cooler.
5. Where do you brew? Outside.

moti_mo said:

Well, I'm killing time while I wait for a detector to cool down, so I'll play along.

1. recipe formulation
2. cleaning
3. because I enjoy making food and beverages by hand that I, and others, enjoy.
4. year round, Saturdays or Sundays. Frequency probably the highest in spring and fall.
5. at home, on my back porch

Click to expand...

Basically word for word what I would answer.

#1 Tweaking a recipe, and enjoying the result.

#2 Waiting! For the mash to finish, for the wort to chill, for the beer to carb...etc.

#3 I can brew beers that I like to drink, but can't afford to drink commercially.

#4 Every other week when I'm off work if possible.

#5 In my garage.

1. Having control of recipe formulation, along with knowing exactly how the beer is handled before it gets poured into my glass. No old IPAs for me.

2. Cleaning, and cooling wort down in the summer when the tap water is nearing 75*F.

3. I love beer, I like making things myself, seemed like a pretty apparent reason to start brewing.

4. Whenever I can, usually turns out to be every 2 weeks or so.

5. My parents' house. Rolla water sucks, St. Louis water is pretty great in comparison.

1. The the creativity that is involved
2. Cleaning
3. It's a fun creative process
4. Weekend year round
5.apartment patio

Stumpe said:

1. What do you enjoy most about brewing?
2. What do you enjoy least about brewing?
3. Why do you brew?
4. When do you brew the most? (time of year, month, week, and/or day)
5. Where do you brew?

Click to expand...

1. Creating something that is uniquely mine and sharing it with SWMBO and my friends
2. Cleaning
3. Because I can't stop! Also because I love the creative process.
4. AG on weekends year round, generally 2-4 times per month. In winter I also sneak in the odd extract batch on weeknights to keep the pipeline full.
5. Outside on the back patio for AG batches, in the kitchen for extract.

1. Creating something awesome to share.
2. Clean up
3. I love to to create the things I need or desire and love to cook. Brewing combines both of these elements.
4. I brew the most in the cold months due to lack of temp control and always on weekends.
5. I brew right on my back porch or occasionally in the parking lot of the LHBS when our club has brew days.

1. Creating good beer to enjoy with friends and family.
2. Cleaning, Cleaning, Cleaning, and lastly Cleaning.
3. It is very addicting and relaxing. Great hobby where you get great satisfaction.
4. Every weekend possible.
5. In the kitchen.

Stumpe said:

1. What do you enjoy most about brewing?
2. What do you enjoy least about brewing?
3. Why do you brew?
4. When do you brew the most? (time of year, month, week, and/or day)
5. Where do you brew?

Click to expand...

1. The process of taking a bag of grain & creating a tasty brew
2. Cleanup at the end of the day
3. It's fun, & I enjoy the fruits of my labor
4. In TX, I brew anytime but summer, on Saturday or Sunday
5. In my backyard on the driveway

1. What do you enjoy most about brewing?

The peacefulness it brings to my mind during brew day when everything goes well, and staring lovingly at my fermenters like they are my offspring.

2. What do you enjoy least about brewing?

Cleaning obviously.

3. Why do you brew?

Like cooking, I enjoy taking raw ingredients and making them into something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Furthermore, I enjoy these things because it allows me to share a part of myself with the world.

4. When do you brew the most? (time of year, month, week, and/or day)

My days off are when I do actual brewing, but I also do stuff like bottling when I have a little bit of free time. I live in Southern California so time of year isn't really an issue.

5. Where do you brew?

Wherever I can! I started brewing in my kitchen and now I do it in my backyard, and keep my fermenters and supplies in my man cave.

This is great guys, I appreciate the feedback. It appears that we are all on the same page in terms of what we like, why we like it, and what we hate. Although there are only 20-something replies, there are over 500 views and I would imagine all those didn't respond because their answer was already given. I'm going to start a new thread "business idea for homebrew" later tonight or tomorrow. It will outline what we are thinking, but I'm skeptic on how feasible it is after more research. Be on the lookout for it and be sure to lay out all the flaws. thanks again!

1. The privilege of participating in an activity that started at the dawn of civilization.
2. Cleaning & sanitizing.
3. I like beer, and it is less expensive to make my own.
4. Year round on weekends.
5. Back porch.

1) I enjoy adding my own twists to existing styles

2) Cleaning

3) I brew because I love beer and love the challenge of making a brew that stands up to any commercial beer

4) Mill, mash and spare in the kitchen. Boil in the garage. Chill, pitch, ferment and bottle in the mud room. Listen to my wife complain about it throughout the house.

5) All year but the most in the spring and fall.

1. Recipe formulation and sharing with friends
2. Cleaning
3. Good quality beer, it's fun, and it's a stress reliever.
4. Weekends year round, mostly in the fall, spring and winter (too damn hot here in the summer)
5. On my back porch

1. making something tasty
2. variables that it comes out bad
3. i like the process. i done drink alot of beer
4. saturdays
5. kitchen in house. will maybe move to propane outside when summer comes

1. What do you enjoy most about brewing? Reaping the rewards, and learning from failure
2. What do you enjoy least about brewing? Cleaning and sanitizing bottles
3. Why do you brew? Enjoy the hobby and SWMBO and my daughter are getting involved
4. When do you brew the most? (time of year, month, week, and/or day)Approx. every 6 weeks. Usually a Saturday.
5. Where do you brew? I have a second stove in the basement