Brewing less because of financial crisis?

I just read an article about how Americans are spending less recently because of doubts in the financial market. Here's the article if you're interested: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/business/06econ.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Anyways, this made me think: is the financial crunch affecting homebrewers? Homebrewing is a luxury (well...maybe a necessity for many ) that many people might be cutting out of their personal budgets during these harder times.

Have homebrewers cut back/stopped brewing because of economic worries? Have people put off their planned homebrewing upgrades (eg. are waiting to get that SS conical, or go AG) until the economy improves?

Not directly because of the economy but because I need to pay off some debt and do some home repairs. So I'm not brewing less but am putting on hold my kegerator purchase and will probably use Costco honey instead of the good stuff for my Cyser.

Craig

The way I see it...>Commerce is THE ONLY THING that drives the economy! Cutting back my spending wil only make things worse.
If I quit brewing, Brew store loses a customer, brew store Loses enough customers, he'll have a hard time paying employees, Employees loose a job, then families go hungry. BULL ****! Not on my dime! I'll just brew thanks.

BigKahuna said:

The way I see it...>Commerce is THE ONLY THING that drives the economy! Cutting back my spending wil only make things worse.

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That is all fine and good as long as you know how to keep a budget and spend within your limits. its people spending money when they don't have it and the banks just giving out more and more loans and lines of credit that got us into this mess.

I am brewing less, but because I have a 5mo. old girl needs my attention and a 3.5yr old who wants to take that attention away from the 5mo old!

Parker36 said:

That is all fine and good as long as you know how to keep a budget and spend within your limits. its people spending money when they don't have it and the banks just giving out more and more loans and lines of credit that got us into this mess.

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If you are homebrewing on credit, I think it is time to join a group and start attending some meetings....

If things continue as they are, I'll soon be unemployed and brewing beer all day!

I'm going to cut back on IPAs because of hop prices and my thirsty friends. Still brewing though.

BigKahuna said:

The way I see it...>Commerce is THE ONLY THING that drives the economy! Cutting back my spending wil only make things worse.
If I quit brewing, Brew store loses a customer, brew store Loses enough customers, he'll have a hard time paying employees, Employees loose a job, then families go hungry. BULL ****! Not on my dime! I'll just brew thanks.

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+1

As long as I am employed at my current job my day to day budget will not be affected by the current financial mess so I'll keep on spending within that budget. Now, if the current financial mess leads to me being unemployed, then I will probably cut way back on brewing (or I might just join the_bird and brew all day every day, depends on how bleak my prospects look).

In general it bugs me that normal people (ie. those of us that aren't heavily invested in the stock market/don't work in the financial industry) are blowing a nutty over this thing. I understand that everyone's 401K is getting hit, but unless you plan on retiring tomorrow it'll recover. As long as you still have your same job and same level of expenses, nothing should change for you, but maybe that's just me.

TheJadedDog said:

(or I might just join the_bird and brew all day every day, depends on how bleak my prospects look).

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Remember the episode of the Simpsons when Homer Became the Beer Barron? If this economic crunch falls too much more...people are going to be looking to us for consolation. You knwo that there are some Slim Shady Characters out there that might take a few bucks to brew up someting wicked for the local speakeasy.


Damn! Bud's still got us beat on cost though!

I cut back on my brewing, but not due to finances. I've got two children--21 months and 2 months and a wife going through chemo. On the plus side, in six months I'll be done with school, she'll be done with chemo and I hope to have a new job with weekends off.

Plus, Apfelwein is always easy enought to make.

TheJadedDog said:

+1

As long as I am employed at my current job my day to day budget will not be affected by the current financial mess so I'll keep on spending within that budget. Now, if the current financial mess leads to me being unemployed, then I will probably cut way back on brewing (or I might just join the_bird and brew all day every day, depends on how bleak my prospects look).

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+1 to this and to BK's post.

There's going to be a huge ripple effect on my local economy if all of a sudden we all decide to cut back on some luxury items. My wife and I put away more than enough money into a variety of things and I'm not too worried yet.

TheJadedDog said:

In general it bugs me that normal people (ie. those of us that aren't heavily invested in the stock market/don't work in the financial industry) are blowing a nutty over this thing. I understand that everyone's 401K is getting hit, but unless you plan on retiring tomorrow it'll recover. As long as you still have your same job and same level of expenses, nothing should change for you, but maybe that's just me.

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unfortunately, it doesn't quite work that way. A capitalist economy operates on credit. stores use it to build inventory, to make payroll, to invest in buildings, etc. Now, currently, there is NO credit available on a large scale. Banks are only able to borrow a fraction of what they normally would because the market is freaked. This part isn't about the sub-prime crisis. These aren't risky investments. This is normal business that can't operate unless we pull this together. in a market system, everything is in the market, and it's all VERY connected.

Brewing has always been a luxury and the first things out of the budget are those luxuries. I'm a pretty young guy who doesn't have the savings to weather a long recession, so I have been socking some money away while trying to keep up my standard of living. No upgrades for a while, and a bit slower on the brewing.

Things will return to normal when I have a few months worth of living expenses saved up.

My "investment" in brewing has long since paid for itself.

At around $18-$20 for a 10 gallon batch, brewing is the cheapest thing I can do to stay busy...aside from drinking.

I think that (simple) hobbies tend to be on the increase in times of economic stress. Dining out, vacations, home projects, even simple "Sunday drives" are out the door before a simple hobby.

No particular need to "upgrade" equipment, cost-effective in terms of good beer cheap. As to having a job next year, well, that's going to depend, and I can't do a lot about it, directly.

[X] Brewing as much or more, and what are these "equipment upgrades" you speak of? Dark alleys for money to run off into that could be spent on malt and hops (and sanitizer and bottle caps and such-like consumables)?

BierMuncher said:

My "investment" in brewing has long since paid for itself.

At around $18-$20 for a 10 gallon batch, brewing is the cheapest thing I can do to stay busy...aside from drinking.

I think that (simple) hobbies tend to be on the increase in times of economic stress. Dining out, vacations, home projects, even simple "Sunday drives" are out the door before a simple hobby.

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How the hell are you brewing 10 gal for $18-20????? You must have the Tijuana Connection! Hook a brutha up!!:rockin:


Economics cannot stop the train that is my brewing....

eschatz said:

How the hell are you brewing 10 gal for $18-20????? You must have the Tijuana Connection! Hook a brutha up!!:rockin:

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Bulk purchase baby :rockin:

55# sack of MO for $39.00 (delivered)

71 cents a pound

14-16 pound batches = ~$10.00 per batch for grains.
3-4 ounces of hops at ~$2.00 per ounce = $6-$8
Harvested batches of dry yeast are pennies each.

Bulk purchase.
Low to moderate gravity beers
Low to moderate IBU's

I think I'm done making any major brewery investments for the foreseeable future. I'll get the stir plate sorted out, but otherwise I doubt I'll buy much of anything. Since I've got a lot of ingredients kicking around, the only real cost that I'll be incurring going forward for the next five or six batches will be the propane. I just can't see spending the money to buy pump or build a stand or do any of those things right now, though.

It's a little tougher, too, to stop by the packie and pick up a couple six packs. Not that the $15 or $20 is really going to break me... but that's just one area where I just naturally want to spend a little less, especially since I know how much good beer I have already at home.

I thought I was done....but then I decided I needed to show everyone that they were using WAY too much material by building brew rigs out of 2x3 steel tubing.
I guess I'm building a 2 or 3 tier system.

Financial Crisis? I have gotten two raises in 3 months and our business just keeps going up every month. Brewing is a cheap hobby though, its the other hobby (diving) that's expensive.

Financial Crisis --> Drinking More --> Brewing More. Easy Math.

Actually I don't foresee any change to my brewing patterns. I will continue to brew a 3 gal batch about every 3-4 weeks, and continue to make slow progress towards eventually partial mashing (i.e. get a 2gal cooler and a grain bag). I am a grad student -- I already have to buy food in bulk so I can afford to brew.

i've cut back. i just upgraded to AG when i bought my house in early spring. only thing that sucked was i put alot of my savings towards the house, then i jumped into all grain, and then some plumbing problems, then electircal problems...then a wicked windstorm that knocked a tree onto my car...i'm hurting. but i have a roommate coming in this month (been planned for a long time) that'll cut everything in half. that i'm looking forward to that. i just hope it passes soon, i tend to look at things half empty (like my mug of IPA right now), so i hope that after the election things pick up. i'm also in an automotive related field and that doesnt sit well with me most days.

I chose still brewing but waiting on upgrades, though it has nothing to do with the economy, and everything to do with my inability to put brewery upgrades at the top of my priority list. I had some hurricane Ike damage to repair, but that is no excuse!
Brewing will now regain its position on the priority list, beer must be produced!
Oh yeah, drank too

I'm older than many (all?) of you, and always been thrifty. When other people my age were buying nice cars and nicer houses, I was living frugally, and paid cash for my house and car. I guess that one of the advantages my "cheapness" has given me is that while so many of my neighbors struggle, I am still living the exact same lifestyle. Whether I make $17,000/year (I did, just 10 years ago!) or much, much more, I live basically the same.

A few things, though- we NEVER eat out. Never. We rarely go out, in fact, because we eat and drink better at home. We don't watch much TV, so we have no cable/dish bills. No cellphones- we don't talk much on the phone. No movies, etc. That's just not what we do for entertainment. We often socialize with friends at different homes, having dinner or wine and cheese and beer. We live very well, in my opinion. There are other ways I'm extremely frugal, so I haven't felt the need to curtail my drinking!

I have not brewed in about a month, not because of the economy but because I have not had time. I can only brew every other weekend, I am on call with my job, and the weekends I have not been on call I have been doing other things like going to the lake.
But in that time I've also been freezing different strains of yeast to build a yeast bank, buying a few more fermenting buckets, a kegerator and a few more glass carboys. At the end of this month I am planning on taking a week off from work and brewing five batches, right now I am planning what to brew so I can save some money by buying in bulk.

YooperBrew said:

I'm older than many (all?) of you

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Uhh, nope, though in theory if the privacy things work as they say they will that won't verify, as I'm kinda wary of getting too much info out in public in places it does not need to be.

And frugality pays in spades, no doubt about that. Loans on nothing, don't buy what I can't afford, will buy 6 months worth of supplies to save on buying onesie-twosie, etc...

I'm brewing more. Just ordered stuff for 2 more brews and some mead stuff.

I figure, I'm going to drink and the beer I like is expensive. This really does save me money if you don't include equipment.

Working less = more brewing for me
I buy less good beer than I used to, so figured I'm saving a good amount of money right there. If you were to buy 6 packs at $9 a piece, that's $72 for 2 cases, and I can brew that amount for much less.

Boerderij Kabouter said:

If you are homebrewing on credit, I think it is time to join a group and start attending some meetings....

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There are meetings for people who buy crap they don't need, with money they don't have, to impress people they don't like? Man, I wish I knew that 25 years ago...

Seriously though, 2yrs debt free of the shackles of debt* and will forever remain so. That is 95% of why this economy isn't hurting me that much. If you're not there and want advice feel free to ask, or just google "Dave Ramsey".

Philip

*Except my home mortgage.

What financial crisis? It's been business as usual around here.

The way I see it is that it would cost me a ton more to buy 11 gallons in the store than it would to just brew up a batch. 9 bucks for a 6 pack of mid grade commercial? No thanks......

My financial crisis has nothing to do with the market (for now, at least). I'm recently single, and being broke goes along with that. Trying to save some pennies to put together a batch.

Brewing gives me a reason to stay home instead of going out and spending on beer. It also provides quality gifts for family and friends at a very reasonable cost.
I say brewing saves more money in my situation.

I just bought a house so had to put brewing on hold. I'm sick of spending $$ on extract so I'll get a cooler and build a mash tun soon for AG. I HAVE to buy a propane burner to save my new flat surface range, so the only other expense is going to be a keg to boil.

Considering a batch of beer costs me about the same as driving to Golden Valley and having 2 pints & lunch, it's an economy move to brew more.

None of the above, because I've got my rig.

In times like this, things like brewing only make more sense. Besides, I have no need to upgrade my equipment, and everything is bought and paid for. I have plenty of grain right now and yeast...so no it won't stop me. In fact this is probably a great time for us homebrewers to supply much needed things like our Oktoberfest parties...etc. People need to have a reason to be happy .

I gotta admit....I'm torn between batche or Sculpture. I'm thinking I'll skip a trip or 3 to the city and do both!

I still try to brew at least once a month but i have had to put the brakes on the upgrades. I have definitely quit making the 40 mile drive to the LHBS in favor of the cheaper shipping online.