Current state of craft homebrewing hobby

[bigken462]

Good morning all,

It's been way to long since I've visited and posted on this site. Once a point of time in my previous single life, I considered homebrewing to be something I was very passionate about. For several years I devoted every spare dollar, and square foot of space in the garage to a brew shack. I married again in 2015 into a ready made family of two children and three grandchildren who were all tweens. Little could I expect there would be no such things as hobbies any longer. Moving forward several years, a move and a grandson later, all of my homebrewing supplies are scattered between storage facilities, back yard sheds and victims of yard sells. It's sad really when I look back at my photos to see a hobby that I very much loved to be sacrificed to raising a family and supporting other financial obligations in life.

I hope someday to find the time, space and spare money to restart some type of brewing. I miss the days of pulling my lawn tractor into the garage and filling a frozen mug of a ice cold draft treat. Sadly, my wife would even support me brewing again but long gone are the days of a nice brew space. It would truly be a back yard/porch project. I still actually have about 15 gallons of kegged beer that was brewed in 2016 that still is under pressure. I can't imagine the horror show inside the other kegs. lol

So with all this said, a quick search into YouTube this morning is a reminder that this hobby seems to be fading for others as well. It looks like very few are making brew videos as they once did. Which brings me there to the forum tonight to see how popular brewing has been over the last few years. Sadly my last post here was back in 2019. Way to long.....I miss the hobby, but never could justify spending the money when I had other obligations to support my family.

Hope everyone has been doing well here on the forum.

Kenny Taylor
Cullman, Alabama

 

[CascadesBrewer]

If you have around $500 that you can justify investing in the hobby, the various electric all-in-one systems look great. One compact unit is much easier to setup and clean vs the older 3-vessel propane fired gravity systems. There are plenty of options for fermentation and packaging/kegging as well.

As far as the hobby goes, it does seem to be in a bit of a lull right now. I am still passionate about the hobby and I have plenty of friends that are as well. I also have plenty of friends that have stopped brewing as well.

 

[wepeeler]

Seems like a lot of the brick and mortar stores are thin on inventory and even closing up shop. Sad. The online presence seems to be very much alive, but I have no data to suggest that there are as many or fewer homebrewers right now. Beer and Brewing mag put out a stat within the last year or so, but that's only from the data they can collect, so not sure how skewed it is.

As for getting back into brewing, the prices for ingredients have gone way up since 2106. Grain has basically doubled or tripled, yeast has about doubled, and hops, depending on where you get them, can get pricey unless you buy in bulk.

Join a homebrew club if you can, which doesn't/shouldn't take up much time, but you can often trade or split ingredients with other members to offset some cost. Some, like mine, do grain buys through local shops and can help greatly reduce cost as well, since shipping has gone way up for bulk sacks. Morebeer still allows you to do 5 10# sacks for free shipping. NB does free shipping for anything over $99, as long as they aren't full sacks.

Lastly, sounds to me like you have everything you need to still brew, it's just scattered about. Get yourself a BIAB. If you have a 10-15 gal kettle (15 gal is ideal for 5-10 gal full mash volumes), you're good to go. If you have a smaller kettle, you can always top up to get 5-5.5 gal into fermenter if you need to. You mash and boil in one vessel, so it saves on space and cleaning. Plus it only costs you the price of a bag!

 

[Zanatrik]

I suppose I can’t speak to the hobby as a whole, but I’m relatively new to brewing, just started last year. I think 2020 created a huge boom due to people having a lot of time at home which has now died back down with increasing inflation killing a lot of ‘hobby budgets’, but if you look on this site there are still new folks joining the forum relatively regularly.

I do think that the way new brewers connect or engage in the hobby might be a little different than it might have been in the past and part of that is likely the decrease/consolidation in local brew supply stores.

For getting back into it, I second comments about single vessel ebrewing reducing the investment cost and at very least cleaning time. I have had pretty great luck with sales on this site to buy stuff either from someone getting out of the hobby or even better upgrading to new equipment.

 

[day_trippr]

The hobby population has been in steady decline since ~2012, and I don't think there was a significant upswing during the pandemic.
I'm sure there's a broad litany of reasons - including Boomers aging out...

Cheers!

[edit] With respect to the pandemic...I don't know what happened outside my own home but I can say that my visitor traffic dropped by 90% for the first couple of years - and that includes my own family. It certainly impacted my brewing frequency as I no longer could count on someone other than myself and The Spousal Unit (who prefers wine and really good bourbon) to set the production pace. And that paradigm really hasn't gone away yet...

 

[Dog House Brew]

My local is actually better now than ever. They are doing a great job and the selection is really good. Just bought an all rounder there last week. Hobby is hobby, just like golf years ago. Courses are still full of golfers, even though they say the same. I will never get away from this hobby. Even when I have been unable to brew I come here. If you want things bad enough, you make it happen. I’ve always felt that way about everything. Got sick and fought it for 20yrs, lost a cool $mil. Still here, still brewing, ain’t stopping anytime soon. I will say the $90 sacks for premiums have pushed me to domestics. I’ll be honest, the beer is just as good. Bought yeast for the first time in a long time . Local is WLP, just means harvest, harvest, and harvest. This hobby does need new entrants. People now think you need glycol stainless conicals and programmable mash steps. Other than NEIPA, I’m still a plastic fermenting cheap dude. Have 6 carboys I use for wine. So to the OP, I’m personally not seeing a decline. I personally am seeing an uptick in everything except liver function. Get back into the hobby man! I had a guy once tell me, “You want to be in the picture, or the one looking at the picture.” Small batches could help you see the light.

 

[Rish]

Small batches could help you see the light.

1-2 gallon stove top biab or extract/steep brews are pretty cheap, easy and relatively quick. It might get you back in the game without interfering with the rest of your activities. Give it a go! Good luck!

 

[Bassman2003]

It is a strange mix - declining activity along with it never being easier to brew. I would 2nd the thought of putting together a compact system like an Anvil Foundry. I hope you can find a way back in as it is a great hobby!

 

[Wrendelar]

First off props for giving up what you loved for a new family ... I have MAD respect for you!

I just recently came back after a 4 year hiatus, I guess I'm lucky because I have a lady who believed in what I am capable of. She bought me an AIO Anvil Foundry 10.5 gallon system for Christmas 2 years ago, I moved it around and across multiple states. I finally have a place to brew comfortably (this is relative since I live in SC and for gods sake heat is for real). I brew on a set schedule every 2 weeks. I am now because of her encouragement entering beer competitions and have hit a groove on a few beers that people (not just friends) ask me for more of.

This hobby is all about creativity, since I have been back I am all about the "experiments" for example Shake N Brew (Failure), Modified ABC Beer kits (success), and the biggest longest experiment a double fermented as I call it Laison which is a Saison fermented with BE-134 at a stupid low temperature (62) and then throwing a pound of honey and 34/70 at it to re-ferment at (55) it's a 6 week process start to finish, but what came out of it was something so interesting I am brewing it again Friday.

I guess what I'm saying is the Hobby is what you make it, I agree with the above posters that going single vessel BIAB might be the way to go, or doing small batches, even the extract kits. Anything to give you that "I made this" feeling that you seem to be missing.

Just keep it real and do what you can, the rest will always fall in to place.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

An interesting post and something I've been wondering about for awhile. My brewing frequency has dropped but I wasn't sure if it was the plague (not having folks over as much), retirement or just not drinking as much. I thought with retirement I'd have more time but so far that hasn't happened.

I still enjoy the brewing part, reading about brewing and all the history, so I'm not sure where it's going.

Ingredient costs have risen a lot but everything else has too and brewing to me was never was about saving allot. I just like to brew the beer I drink, much like cooking.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

I ventured into home brewing back in the early 90’s when I ordered a kit from an ad in Mother Earth news. It was as basic as it gets; plastic fermenter, bubbler, caps & capper, racking cane with hose and bottle filler, and a can of pre-hopped malt syrup and “beer yeast”. I supplied the pot, spoon, and sugar. Problem was, this was pre-internet, pre cellphone, and I knew no one that brewed. I had no clue where to get corn sugar. Those cane sugar beers were marginal at best, but they were mine. I did experiment with their other offerings and moved from Canadian lagers to Oktoberfest, to German dark. It was a new experience after my PBR days, and the pronounced flavors hid the cidery cane sugar flavor; some.

A move and new job relegated everything to a box where it stayed for awhile until a chance meeting with another homebrewer. I got the itch again, especially since he clued me in to a supply store 30 miles away. A larger brew kettle and a variety of extract kits opened up a whole new world of brewing for me.

Things change; my kids aged out of toddler stage and family obligations increased; brew gear back to the box.
Fast forward to kids out of college and meeting a couple guys who would introduce me to all grain brewing. Now I was hooked. I’m not a hamburger helper guy, and pre-packaged commercially prepared kits just didn’t deliver the experience to me. I’m not judging those who use them, and I have and will use the kits again. I have used them when I have found deep discounts on seasonal beers post season, and sometimes when something just grabs my curiosity.

This forum has been a real game changer. The idea of closed transfers never occurred to me, along with purging my kegs with my fermentation gases, but have made a tremendous difference. Like Wrendelar above, I’m also in South Cackalacky, and essentially had to suspend brewing in the summer until I learned of the Kveik strains here. Another game changer!

According to my supplier up the road a piece, the pandemic was devastating to his business. I believe a lot of his customers hunkered down and relied on mail order. He is still in the process of adjusting his business to accommodate the changes in buying habits. He’s been in business for decades, and I pray he finds the right balance.

I can’t speak for the hobby at large, and admittedly, I have little contact with folks who brew other than this forum. I do think that as I have read here many times, folks just go through different phases and cycles. I think that the experience we went through in recent years just impacted all of us at the same time, and it may take awhile for everyone to get back on board. Some will probably never return, but others will jump in. Brew on!!

 

[hottpeper13]

Hobbies are suppose to cost money, our swmbo's should thank the stars we're not model railroaders! As for the hobby ,I have switched to mostly 5 gal batches and haven't used the 14 gal fermzilla since the shut down.

 

[Agent]

I think space constraints are very high on the list why otherwise involved and passionate people stop the hobby. Finding 2-4 hours to make a batch is tough at times, but often doable. Finding useable space for a keezer, 6 carboys, bins of grains, kettles, etc is either a yes or no question.

I'm lucky that I've got a ton of space, so I only had to adjust my process and expectations to fit my time constraints.

 

[DevilsCups]

In my opinion, the hobby has changed and shifted. The advent of all-in-one systems and the convergence of equipment choices have pretty much negated the need for brick and mortar driven accessibility. What I mean is, the equipment is all pretty much agreed upon nowadays. Most people now use all-in-one style systems of their choice, and most use similar fermenting equipment (SS buckets or conicals, corny kegs with spunding, Fermzillas etc). All you really need a store for is ingredients, and there is a much smaller need for brick and mortar stock. I don't need to see or feel my grain and hops.

Legacy equipment brewers are legacy equipment brewers for a reason. They know and like their current setup. However, as people get on in the hobby the desire to simplify tends to get bigger, and the simplification of the tools you need to make beer follows suit.

It's not necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion. It's a shame that people are losing their businesses or their local spots they enjoyed. However, every industry/hobby/sector eventually pivots and it's up to the people involved to pivot alongside.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Hobbies are suppose to cost money, our swmbo's should thank the stars we're not model railroaders!

There are plenty of golf courses around me that charge $20K or more per year for a membership that requires that you spend another $1K per month at the club. As far as hobbies go, brewing is pretty reasonable. For $1K you can have a pretty decent brewing system, maybe even with a fermentation chamber and a simple kegging system. If you take up woodworking, $1K might you an entry level table saw.

 

[amber-ale]

Maybe rethink what equipment/space you really need. Brew tech has really changed in the past decade, much simpler.
Maybe you could redesign how you brew to take up less space/time.
My set up occupies 1.5 closets, my beer/wine cellar doesn’t take up much space since it lines a wall in my basement. My brew day is 4 hours from start to finish.
Start small with whatever equipment you still have. Rebuild! Innovate! Redesign!
Buy a net bag, get out your soup pot and try a half batch!
If it sounds like fun, get back on the horse!!

 

[Bobby_M]

People fade in and out of hobbies all the time. It bit me hard enough that I found a way to keep it going through raising 3 kids, the oldest of which is starting college next week. The general participation in the hobby is probably at a 20 year low right now, but there are regular walk ins to my homebrew shop still asking about beginner classes and the people who have persisted are also spending a lot of pocket money on high end gear (new retirees for example).

It would be really convenient for you to grab an Anvil Foundry 6.5 (3 gallon batches) or 10.5 (5 gallon batches). Brew day doesn't have to be a marathon event and fill a whole garage anymore.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

I agree with many other posters on the time and money issues, if you are in a tight spot I can certainly see giving up the hobby at least momentarily.

But, brewing does not have to be so time consuming and expensive, keep your setup simple and brew every 4-6 weeks according to your needs.
Spending a few hours once a week or so after kids are asleep on maintenance of equipment, cleaning a keg and lines, preppinga starter etc is tbh not a hassle for me personally. But then I am one of those people who prefer to do something rather than just sit in the couch and watch some brain dead junk on the telly at night after kids and chores are taken care of.

And talk to your spousal unit, because having interests and the ability to actually be a person despite kids and responsibilities is important, my wife has baking and gardening and I my brewing.
If you can't give each other half a saturday every once in a while to get some on-your-own time and tinker with stuff, you need to have a talk, seriously.

 

[bigken462]

Hobbies are suppose to cost money, our swmbo's should thank the stars we're not model railroaders! As for the hobby ,I have switched to mostly 5 gal batches and haven't used the 14 gal fermzilla since the shut down.

Haha. I have four O scale trains and about 200' of track in the storage along with homebrew equipment. Small mortgage tied up with Lionel and digital controllers.

 

[bigken462]

I ventured into home brewing back in the early 90’s when I ordered a kit from an ad in Mother Earth news. It was as basic as it gets; plastic fermenter, bubbler, caps & capper, racking cane with hose and bottle filler, and a can of pre-hopped malt syrup and “beer yeast”. I supplied the pot, spoon, and sugar. Problem was, this was pre-internet, pre cellphone, and I knew no one that brewed. I had no clue where to get corn sugar. Those cane sugar beers were marginal at best, but they were mine. I did experiment with their other offerings and moved from Canadian lagers to Oktoberfest, to German dark. It was a new experience after my PBR days, and the pronounced flavors hid the cidery cane sugar flavor; some.

A move and new job relegated everything to a box where it stayed for awhile until a chance meeting with another homebrewer. I got the itch again, especially since he clued me in to a supply store 30 miles away. A larger brew kettle and a variety of extract kits opened up a whole new world of brewing for me.

Things change; my kids aged out of toddler stage and family obligations increased; brew gear back to the box.
Fast forward to kids out of college and meeting a couple guys who would introduce me to all grain brewing. Now I was hooked. I’m not a hamburger helper guy, and pre-packaged commercially prepared kits just didn’t deliver the experience to me. I’m not judging those who use them, and I have and will use the kits again. I have used them when I have found deep discounts on seasonal beers post season, and sometimes when something just grabs my curiosity.

This forum has been a real game changer. The idea of closed transfers never occurred to me, along with purging my kegs with my fermentation gases, but have made a tremendous difference. Like Wrendelar above, I’m also in South Cackalacky, and essentially had to suspend brewing in the summer until I learned of the Kveik strains here. Another game changer!

According to my supplier up the road a piece, the pandemic was devastating to his business. I believe a lot of his customers hunkered down and relied on mail order. He is still in the process of adjusting his business to accommodate the changes in buying habits. He’s been in business for decades, and I pray he finds the right balance.

I can’t speak for the hobby at large, and admittedly, I have little contact with folks who brew other than this forum. I do think that as I have read here many times, folks just go through different phases and cycles. I think that the experience we went through in recent years just impacted all of us at the same time, and it may take awhile for everyone to get back on board. Some will probably never return, but others will jump in. Brew on!!

I think this Fall when the weather cools, I may try to collect all my items in one area. I can probably get going again with some new tubing and a weekend of scrubbing. I did loose my 15 gallon brew pot in the move, but still have a kegerator, variety of carboys, coolers and kegs. Somewhere floating out there was a like-new monster mill that I never collected back from a friend. My wife seized by chest freezer early in my marriage, but those can be purchased on Marketplace. I can't imagine my kids seeing flasks on spin plates or smelling the fresh yeast milkshake in the fridge.

In my previous house, I had a cozy garage with barn plank walls, AC, computer work space and 55" flat screen on the wall. It sure made a fun brew day to watch some Alabama football while mashing in. I had a lot of fun back then. Mostly brewed by myself on my off weekend. I would light the fire at day break, brew two batches and have everything cleaned up by late evening. Of all my hobbies in life, it's probably one that I miss the most. My hobby today seems to be comparing sales prices between DG and Walmart for cheap drinks. lol

In all seriousness, giving it up to take care of my family was a easy decision. My daughters now are 18 and 21 and my wife and I are taking care of our 15 month old Grandson. It's a challenge some days to find the fridge, much less our bed. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Lol.

My favorite brew was a ice cold Kolsch and some Irish red ales. My wife has begged me in the past to brew some Blue moons which was what I had on tap when we were dating.

I applicate you guys replying. I forgot the joy this old forum brought back then. I remember always having the brewing software on one computer screen, this form on another and football on the TV while I was waiting on the timers to buzz. Dangit guys, ya'll are about to cost me some money. LOL

Kenny

 

[Bassman2003]

I am sure it will happen again for you as it seems to be a true pursuit. A lot has improved in the homebrew world over the years. If I could share a few tips I would say to build a fermenter setup that can handle pressure and do fermenter gas purging of your kegs. It sounds complex but this setup makes life so much easier and it is oxygen free. Multiple birds with one stone! I bought a Kegland Kegmenter used for $100 and routed tubing out of my wine fridge to hook up to the keg for gas purging during fermentation. I ferment either under pressure or turn up the pressure towards the end for carbonated beer coming out of the fermenter into the keg which is pre-sanitized on brewday and O2 purged.

Speaking of tubing - on the cold side, convert all of your tubing to EVA Barrier with the Duotight fittings. These two things did not exist for many years of my brewing. They are not expensive but make things so much better.

 

[Jim R]

I still brew but probably only about half as much as prior. I bet there is a pretty high rate of dropout or at least decreased participation compared to many other hobbies.

Here are some of the reasons that I brew less. It is time consuming. A high percentage of the task is cleaning. I gradually drink less beer as I have gotten older. Good craft beers are much more readily available than prior. There are enough local breweries and bars with large tap menus around that allow me to drink decent beer (often with food menus) and then also socialize with others. I brew in the garage and it is more difficult in the winter. Ingredients now cost more. Now that I have my processes dialed in, it really isn't very challenging to make the beers that I enjoy. It is too much work for me to share with friends that don't appreciate it and prefer Bud Light so it ends up being largely a private hobby. I am sure many would disagree with many of these. I will keep brewing some but it isn't surprising that home brewing is a fairly esoteric hobby.

 

[BeerNsteadofH2O]

First off kudos to you for putting family before hobbies.
In my 66 years on earth, I've seen a lot, one thing I'm sure of is everything goes in cycles, everything goes on highs and lows, I did not brew in the "hay day" of home brew, the plandemic steered me in that direction..
I have several other hobbies, but really enjoy brewing. I'll be retiring soon and I cant fish every day,( nor do I want to) my (4) aquariums only.take so much care.. so brewing keeps me home and gives me refreshing beverages., and my wife spends time keeping me company. Win -win.
To answer your question, I'm sure the home brew hobby has changed, on the other hand people have been brewing for hundreds of years, I'm quite sure, brewing, in some form will continue long after anyone reading this thread has moved to that great brewery in the sky.
Maybe it's time to organize your remaining gear and mash in one more time.. you might be reborn.

 

[Iowa Home Brewer]

Don't use YouTube as a way to see how many of us are around. You can only watch "how to make a starter" Or Grain to glass videos.
Youtube has made it very difficult to monetize. Most home brewers I know never goto YouTube.
It's takes time, effort, computer hardware, video editing software etc..And then a whole lot of luck for anyone to see your video.
Most who where there hot and heavy years ago, left because you can only cover the subject of brewing beer without sounding repetitive.
They are still brewing, just not loading videos that have been covered thousands of times.
And some grew out of it like any other hobby.
There is also a cliche on YouTube. The louder, more obnoxious you are the more views you get. Even though half the crap they put out is just that, Crap. Then they ask for donations so they can spew more Crap.
If you don't enjoy the craft, why bother ?
There are plenty of homebrewers out there. Like many mentioned join a homebrew club.
Is it the same as the 90's ?
Absolutely not. That can be seen by closures of many Brick and Mortars.
Ask yourself. Do you brew for pleasure or just to impress?
Again, if you're not interested any longer then sell the equipment for pennies on the dollar and don't look back.
If you still enjoy it then keep on brewing !

 

[Conehead]

Been homebrewing for 44 years now. I have my older 15 gallon 3 vessel electric system + a Robobrew. I don't brew as much as I did when I was younger because I don't drink as much as back then. I brew around once a month or so. Yea, some stores are closing here too just like in the US. As long as I can lift stuff around when it is time to clean up I will keep brewing beer.