Research Project

[ShippedinaBottle]

Hello all,

I am a member of a team of University of Washington students working on a project for an entrepreneurship class. We are gathering information about the home brewing market for a potential business. I understand that this is a unique post, but we wanted to talk directly with the potential customers of such a business.

Concept:
We would operate a business which sells glass bottles and labels for the bottles at wholesale prices. These bottles would come in an array of sizes and colors, from 11 oz. stubbies to growlers and pints. We would offer a screen printed or sugar cane paper labels which the brewer would design through our website. As the business developed, we would integrate a recycling/refund system for the bottles. Basically, the bottle for your creation could be as unique as the beer you make to put into it!

Questions:
Where do you find bottles now?
What about the bottling process is most challenging for you?
What are the aspects of bottling that we may be overlooking?
Would you use this service?

Thank you in advance for your feedback, critiques, and ideas. We undergrads appreciate your help, and delicious beer!

 

[giraffe]

I mostly keg now but when I bottled, I clean and sanitized bottles from commercial beers. If I didnt have enough, Id get them from a bar's recycling.

Bottling is tedious. Its not really challenging.

The bottles would need to be sanitized, before filling, so the labels couldnt be on the bottles beforehand.

Nope. I just mark any bottles with a paint pen. Im minimalist.

 

[bruteforce]

I get my bottles from friends mostly. I reuse them as many times as I can, which is nigh unto forever. I don't really label except for special occasions.

 

[Singletrack]

I don't buy bottles; I buy beer. And get the bottles for "free." I bottle in bombers (22 oz), and reuse. Of course some disappear over time. Then it is time to buy commercial beer. Sorry, not a good customer for you.

 

[dkevinb]

1. I bought a whole bunch of amber PET bottles when I started bottling and I reuse them. I've never bought any more. But I'm a rare oddity among homebrewers. Almost everyone I know gets their bottles for free from commercial beer they or friends drink. Some get used empties for free from bars. Many keg and don't use bottles at all.

2. Bottling isn't challenging, but it can be tedious. Sanitizing the bottles before hand is one of the most tedious parts. Actually putting the beer into the bottle is easy.

3. Labels rarely survive the cleaning/sanitizing process for very long. Most homebrewers who bottle label by marking the caps with a Sharpie. Labeling is another tedious part of the process that most people skip altogether. I design and print my own labels with Photoshop and a color laser printer when I'm in the mood.

4. I'm afraid not. Sorry.

 

[eric19312]

I think there could be a market for 22oz bombers with screened labels. I am thinking for wedding favors and similar "event" brews.

Where do you find bottles now?
- I bought a couple cases when I started and since then collected commercial beers with easy peel off labels and screen printed bottles.

What about the bottling process is most challenging for you?
- It is tedious and worst part is cleaning and storage of bottles is an ongoing chore. I've switched to kegging and only bottle for sharing beers, competition entries (no labels), maybe making room in a keg.

What are the aspects of bottling that we may be overlooking?
- I already recycle when I bottle. I wash out my bottles and fill them back up. i'd not need to return bottles to you for that.
- Home wine makers bottle too

Would you use this service?
- Maybe once every 2-3 years if I was brewing something commemorative.

 

[Singletrack]

Some notes that may be a little more encouraging than my previous post:

1. I support what you are doing 100%. (The entrepreneurship course.) I would love to go back and do that myself.
2. You are incredibly smart to be posting on this forum to understand the market.
3. eric19312 made a great point about 22 oz bombers with screened labels for special occasions. If I ever decide to name my brewery, I could see buying some of those. Then, whenever I give away beer, it would be in a nice package.
4. An observation: Home brewers are almost by definition do-it-yourselfers. To market this group, you will have to think about what services this type of person is willing to spend money on vs. spending countless (enjoyable) hours/dollars doing themselves as part of the hobby. If I could make my own screened labels, I might try it -- even if it ended up costing me more money than having you do it, plus my time.

Personally, I don't enjoy buying things or services as much as doing things, and I actually enjoy being frugal about the way I engage in this hobby. Spending money unnecessarily starts to ruin it for me, although I could afford it. I am a tough sell, but I may be atypical.

Probably there are avenues to make money in this market and make us glad to give it you. In my mind, step 1 is to be a home brewer because you love it. Step 2 is to develop a product or service that benefits the community -- your community as a home brewer. These are difficult steps for your course, but maybe part of the lesson.

Good luck!

 

[dnslater]

Just transitioned from bottling to kegging, but will still bottle some.

Questions:
Where do you find bottles now?
1. I bought 48 bottles for my first batch at my local brew shop, but since then, I have had family members save beer bottles from commercial breweries for my use. It doesn't take long to get cases of free bottles when you have a few folks who know that you brew.

What about the bottling process is most challenging for you? The tediousness of filling and caping. And cleaning. And filling and capping.

What are the aspects of bottling that we may be overlooking?

Would you use this service?

I'm not sure I understand your business model. You would put permanent labels on the bottles for home brewers? this might be somewhat attractive, although I would not want to pay much. Part of the nice thing about bottles is the ease of giving home brew to friend and family. It would complicate things if the bottles were expensive printed bottles that I would need back. I have been bottling for three years and have a stack of about 8 cases of bottles in my basement. I consider them disposable. I do label my beers, using the Milk method. I dip labels printed via laser paper in milk, which adheres them to the bottles, and are easily removable.

Many here brew special brews for wedding, parties, etc..... Custom bottles could be attractive for this method.

 

[Rev2010]

1. Where do you find bottles now? - I've used the bottles from my favorite beer that I always order cases of. I de-label them with a hot water Oxyclean soak then rinse them thoroughly

2. What about the bottling process is most challenging for you? - Nothing challenging, just tedious as mentioned. More tedious is rinsing out the bottles several times after pouring to keep them clean for reuse.

3.What are the aspects of bottling that we may be overlooking? - Mostly that bottles are reused by homebrewers, and with our beer batches constantly changing to different beer styles a permanent label is absolutely useless, inconvenient actually. Also, as mentioned already, the bottles need to be sanitized before use. There's a strong potential of wetting/damaging a paper based label, not the silkscreened bottles obviously, but silkscreening bottles costs noticeably more no?

4. Would you use this service? - No, because of the already mentioned issues above. However, another thing to mention is the recycle/refund program you mentioned. Cost of shipping for bottles back to your company would likely outweigh any benefits. Glass is heavy even empty, and also fragile, so paying for shipping to return them and once again paying shipping for the new bottles back to me would be too costly to make any sense.

Last thing to mention is most home printer ink these days is water resistant and printing labels at home to slap on a dry bottle is quite inexpensive.

Best of luck with your project!


Rev.

 

[ShippedinaBottle]

Hey all,

We just wanted to say thank you so much for the feedback, we have done some more in person research and the community has been overwhelmingly helpful. We appreciate the thoughtful responses.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

And, what was the consensus, of your research?