Is homebrewing growing?

I was looking for info but could find none. Is homebrewing a growing thing?

I know I converted a few friends. But I am wondering if we are getting more in than other leaving the hobby.

Any stats exist?:fro:

Well the National Hombrewers Conference sold out in something like 2 hours.....so I would say yes.

I think it's become more known about in the last few years, with tv shows highlighting the hobby. But I wonder if it's really growing or has it some sort of stasis....not everyone stays in the hobby, there are names from the past that are long gone. Folks who were mainstays that have gone on to other hobbies or just become too busy to brew anymore. I don't know what the attrition rate is.

I know there's been a ton of things that have happened that I'm sure spark the interest, like Whole foods in NY adding homebrew supplies (I wonder how many folks wander in there for groceries and wander out with a kit) or those Brooklyn Beer 1 gallon AG kits.

This is a good topic, I wish there were a way to figure out the attrition rate vs folks coming into the hobby.

Well I know for a fact it grew by two over the last year or so!

I would have to say it is growing, apart from the fact that homebrewers are friendly, passionate people who are spreading the word, I think it's probably also directly correlated to the rise in craft beer sales. As people learn about new styles and quality beer, they're more interested in where their beer comes from, how it's made, and how they can make their own however they like.

Upthewazzu said:

Well I know for a fact it grew by two over the last year or so!

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And I can count that it grew by at least 3 more than that.

Define 'growing' More homebrewers? or more homebrew beer? If I brew 5 gallons 1 year and 10 gallons the next did homebrewing grow? I'm going to stick with more brewrs

I suspect it is growing. I heard a beersmith pod cast that suggested such. I think it had one of the guys from MoreBeer who was interviewd. Now how much is it growing? I don't know. Faster than population? maybe, I mean it grows if it goes from 1,000,000 to 1,000,001 but that isn't very fast, and implies saturation.

My evidence of growth however is that there are more LBHS's around. (see opening comment for why this could be off). You need more sales to support the LBHS's, generally that means more brewers. But as Revvy pointed out, some people come in and some people leave. Just look for gear on Craigslist to see that people are leaving.

I had to take a many-months-long break (5 or so) due to finances, but I'm back at it again finally. I don't consider that "leaving" the hobby because I kept every last brewing item I have, but if I had sold or otherwise gotten rid of my equipment that would be a different story.

Brewing is expensive, but worth it when you can afford it.

It might be an easier metric to gauge the growth of homebrewing by the expansion of not only the supply chain, but also the ancillary craft beer boom that has risen since the 1970's. I started brewing in 1991 while I was in college. There were no LHBC's or LHBS's in the entire state where I lived. I had one choice for homebrew ingredients: The US mail and my bacchus and barleycorn catalog. They were one of the first major players in the homebrew world, and they're still around all these years later.

Now, it seems like every major and minor city has at least one LHBS (if not multiple) and many big cities have way more than one LHBC. Ours has two, I think Tampa has three or four, Orlando the same. Then, take a look at how many craft beer breweries have opened up. I think in the late 70's & early 80's, there were two craft beer breweries. Now there are well over 2,700 and the number is expanding.

BMC, which still dominate the market share, are steadily losing ground and are frankly scared sh!tless as to what to do about it. They've been playing strong arm tactics with distributors to prevent craft from taking up shelf space and tap space for years and are fighting a losing battle. They just don't understand the nature of craft beer and how to properly market it. The best they can do is buy up successful breweries in an attempt to survive.

So, yeah homebrewing is helping to change the landscape of beer itself.

dpatrickv said:

And I can count that it grew by at least 3 more than that.

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We're up to 6 now!

Working on 2 of my neighbors as well, so hopefully we can add 2 more to that list.

I really have no numbers to add to any of this, other than the fact that in the area I live, I've actually noticed it with more shops opening up. And when I visit them, there are always multiple customers in them. 5 years ago, i wouldn't have known where to even start looking for homebrew stuff.

I'd figure in times of financial stresses, homebrewing might grow. At least in countries/regions where taxation on alcohol is high.

Didn't read all the responses but here is my take on it...

When I started racing it seemed to me everyone was racing.
When I started rockcrawling it seemed everyone was rockcrawling.
When I bought a house it seemed to me everyone was buying a house.
And so on...

Numbers show that at the time each of those things was true (strange coincidences), but part of it was involvement within those circles changed my perception as well and skewed it a bit.

There is a growing homebrew movement right now, but much like all the other things I involve myself in there will be the bandwagon brewers who give up after a couple years and the die hards will settle out like yeast.

Bevmo is now selling beer kits..... It's a step in the right direction. Wouldn't it be awesome though if everyone brewed.... There would be TO MUCH good beer.... O wait, not possible.....

Nightshade said:

When I started racing it seemed to me everyone was racing.
When I started rockcrawling it seemed everyone was rockcrawling.
When I bought a house it seemed to me everyone was buying a house.
And so on...

Numbers show that at the time each of those things was true (strange coincidences), but part of it was involvement within those circles changed my perception as well and skewed it a bit.

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This is a good point... also, for the most part, it seems as though you have to seek out other homebrewers. It's not a very common thing (at least near me) in the public spotlight.

I feel like here in NY it's still a secret basement operation, probably to keep it from growing too rapidly. Although as Revvy mentioned, the Whole Foods here does have ingredients, and I do buy from them. However, I haven't once seen someone even look into the homebrew corner... I could probably sit on the floor without being disturbed.

So to the original question... it's hard to gauge, and probably varies significantly by region.

Yeah I would certainly say so with how many members continue to join HBT

Growing is an understatement. Homebrewing as an industry is growing faster than the craft beer segment. It is not only due to the rising popularity of good beer, but also people realizing that homemade tastes better more often than not in regards to food and drink.

The best part,besides having better beer,is that homebrewing will have more weight at a political level. Then we can get many of of the archaic homebreweing laws/regulations changed.

Hard to say for me, in Quebec, its permitted with any amounts of gallons (or most likely litres here) So I guess we are golden.

Can't buy beers at the gas station after 11pm though (only bars or restaurants)

There were some stats from Britain in the latest issue of All About Beer and they quoted that while pub consumption and retail outlet beer sales had both fallen off upwards of 5% in England, the number of homebrewers / sales of homebrew product had gone up 46% in the last year. The stats were provided by some sort of retail alcohol sales governing board. That's a huge almost unbelievable increase.

fbaillargeon said:

Hard to say for me, in Quebec, its permitted with any amounts of gallons (or most likely litres here) So I guess we are golden.

Can't buy beers at the gas station after 11pm though (only bars or restaurants)

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In Ontario they can't buy alcoholic beverages anywhere but LCBOs and special Beer Stores and all of those usually all close before 9pm...

So the 11pm rule, I'm not even remotely annoyed with that law.... What's annoying me is the SAQ's monopoly on drinkable wine. They'd better not ever try to extend that to beers... Do you know you can't sell a beer higher than 12% in grocery stores in Quebec because then it's classified as high alcohol and it's SAQ's territory....? (not that I particularly like >12% beer...) ;-)

Prices for grain and hops make it feel like demand is growing IMO. It's also clear that the corny keg market is not saturated as it once was. 20 for a corny used to be standard. Now, it makes me think,"hmmm did they store radioactive waste in these? There must be some reason they are so cheap."

There were far less, "Got a Mr. Beer for Christmas, now what?" posts this year than we normally see.

I think the announcement of the White House recipes could have impacted the growth of homebrewing. People hear that the president is drinking home brew, they might want to try it. it would at least dispell the myth that all homebrew is something that only a hard core alcoholic would ever consider drinking...
the big reason I think though, is craft beer. people love the beer, but find they can make it themselves cheaper. the number of lhbs's also drives up the number of homebrewers. there's got to be people who would never have gone searching for the hobby, but they see a shop selling the stuff and get curious, next thing they know, they're in the kitchen putting wort into a plastic bucket and planning what to brew next....

On my last craigslist search for kegs I noticed that there were 3 or 4 people looking for empty half barrel kegs. I assume these are people wanting keggles. Probably not newcomers but I think a small sign of growth. Though it could be they are just looking to build a smoker or grill out of them so what do I know?

Hogarthe said:

the big reason I think though, is craft beer. people love the beer, but find they can make it themselves cheaper.

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I think you've hit the nail on the head here. For me, craft brew is getting SO expensive that I don't really care to spend that much money on it when I can make five gallons and have it on tap in my home for way less. I guess as long as you don't monetize time & your equipment...