Author: Marshall Schott

Back in December 2014, I sent out a brief survey to homebrewers, the results of which became an article titled A Portrait of the Modern Homebrewer, and realized I’d made a terrible mistake– I didn’t ask enough questions! Sure, it was interesting to read what nearly 900 homebrewers thought about certain homebrewing topics, but it was 10 measly questions, I was left hungry for more. This hunger was the impetus for a new, much more detailed survey consisting of quite a few more questions, many of which aren’t related to homebrewing at all. In addition, there were a few more participants this time around: 2,173.

This type of data doesn’t necessarily lend itself to pictures, and graphs for each question would only serve to increase page load times, which everyone hates. For these reasons, this article is text based and a tad longer than usual, but I trust it will satiate some of the curiosity you might have about your brewing peers the way it did for me.

A final word before getting into it: these results aren’t necessarily scientific, I didn’t poll a random sample of the population, but rather used forums and social media to ask bored homebrewers to complete it. The purpose of this was to provide interesting information with a touch of entertainment value, not prove anything about homebrewers. Please don’t use this information for anything shitty. Thanks.

2015 General Homebrewer Survey

While the majority of responses came from homebrewers residing in the United States, folks from as far away as Latvia, Israel, Brazil, and so many more places around the world were represented as well. Let’s see what we collectively look like, shall we?

| DEMOGRAPHICS |

Of all respondents, a mere 1.9% (41) were female, a reminder that homebrewing seems to cater more to men, though perhaps more positively, an indication of an area of potential growth for the hobby. At the risk of coming across a bit controversial, I must say there is 1 area women just can’t compete with those of the opposite persuasion: the brewer’s beard.

Whether left untamed or exquisitely coiffed, many believe this ubiquitous symbol of masculinity fantasized about by every pre-adolescent boy is proudly sported by many a homebrewer. And they’re not wrong! Wholly 49% of male respondents reported keeping a short or long beard with an additional 9.9% wearing a mustache or goatee. That leaves only 41.2% of homebrewers without facial hair, a number I imagine will steadily dwindle as newbies progress in the craft.

In terms of age, 79.6% of respondents fall within the 21-39 year range, with the next largest swath being 40-49 year olds. Predictably, there aren’t many homebrewers out there under the age of 21 (0.9%), a finding I assume is inversely correlated with PBR sales among that age group. I was initially a bit surprised by the fact only 6.1% of respondents reported having been on this planet for 50 years or more, though it’s possible this number was impacted by the survey method and/or the avenues I used to promote it.

When I started brewing in 2003, I lived in a small rental apartment, which according to this data would have placed me among only 20.8% of my beer making peers. By and large, modern homebrewers make their beer in the comfort of the homes they own with 56% and 4% reporting owning either a house or condo/apartment, respectively. Another 17.3% live in a rental house, 1.3% endorsed “Other” (i.e., live with parents), and a miniscule 0.4% reside in a dormitory setting. Homebrewers also seem to value commitment with nearly 68% reporting they’re either currently married or in a domestic partnership. The next largest segment were single folks who have never been married at 29% of the sample, while only 2.8% reported being divorced or widowed.

The previous statistics may lead to speculation that homebrewers are a relatively well-off lot, what with most of us owning our own places, an assumption that doesn’t appear to be misplaced. A rather low 2.6% of respondents reported being unemployed at the time of taking the survey while 20.7% said they make an annual income of $100,000 or more. My word! Additionally, 32.5% reported earning between $60,000-$100,000 per year, 23.3% earn $40,000-$60,000 per year, and 20.4% have an annual income of less than $40,000.

Where does all this dough come from? I’ve heard rumors most homebrewers have a background in either engineering or science, but even when added together, these folks only comprise 25.7% (17% engineer, 8.7% science) of modern homebrewers. The most endorsed career, clocking in at 23.9%, was computer science. Health & human services, education, and sales/retail were each selected by less than 7%, while “other” was chosen by 30%, an indication of the shittiness of this question. My bad.

Finally, a question about everyone’s favorite subject, something I’ve a deep personal interest in– religion. I was pretty shocked to discover that homebrewers are disproportionately non-believers, with 63.5% endorsing None/Humanism/Atheism/Agnosticism. The next largest selections were Protestant at 10.8%, Catholic at 9.4%, Other Christian at 7.8%, and Other at 6.8%. The least represented groups were Jewish people at 0.8%, natural spiritualists at 0.8 %, and finally Mormons and Muslims, each selected by only 1 person.

Summing this all up and generalizing just a bit, the typical modern homebrewer is a bearded 30-ish year-old married dude who believes we all came from nothing and makes beer in his own home he paid for with the $60k+ annual salary he earns as a computer scientist (maybe engineer). Interesting!

| BREWING BEHAVIOR |

What follows is my attempt to present responses to a ton of questions as cohesively as possible. I think it worked okay, though some may find it jumps around a bit. Sorry about that. If you have any specific questions, ask and I’ll try to help out.

Ever hear about the boom homebrewing has experienced over the last few years? It would appear to be real considering 86.5% of survey respondents reported they’ve been homebrewing for 6 years or less. A closer look reveals 18.6% started homebrewing within a year of taking the survey, which is higher than the combined responses of those who reported brewing for 7-10 years (6%) and 10+ years (7.5%). The combined percentage of everyone who reported brewing for 3 years or less (66.7%) nearly matches the 65.6% of respondents who reported their primary source of learning how to homebrew as being online resources (e.g., blogs, forums, etc.). The next most popular method of learning, endorsed by 21.4% of survey takers, was books, which was followed by lessons provided by a friend at 6.2%. Lessons provided by a local shop or club and, surprisingly to me, podcasts were endorsed by less than 3% of participants.

While 18.8% of the survey sample reported jumping directly into all-grain brewing, a significantly larger 79.4% said they began by using malt extract, the most common approach involving steeping grains and a partial boil (25.1%). However, when asked about their current method, a whopping 85.2% reported brewing all-grain, which may have to do with the demystification of the process and proliferation of more simple methods. Take for example Brew In A Bag (BIAB), a relatively new all-grain brewing method used by 29.7% of modern homebrewers, second only to the batch sparge method at 46.7%. Back when I got started, all-grain basically meant you fly-sparged, though these days only 20.5% of people reported this as their method of choice, a number I imagine will continue to drop as more new folks enter the fold. The no sparge technique was endorsed by only 3.2% of survey takers.

Predictably, 5 gallon batch sizes are the most popular among modern homebrewers with 73.9% of participants saying that’s what they do most often. Another 11.7% reported brewing 10 gallon batches and 12.7% make less than 5 gallons at a time. Only 1.8% of respondents said they make 15 gallon batches. In terms of frequency, 52.4% reported brewing 1 time or less per month while 45.2% said they regularly brew 2-4 times per month. Only 2.1% and 0.3% reported brewing 4-6 and 7-10 times per month, respectively. Another likely unsurprising finding is that 85.1% of respondents reported brewing and fermenting a single batch per brew day, though I think it’s pretty rad that 9.5% regularly split a single batch into 2 fermentors and 4.8% brew 2 separate batches together. A mere 0.6% endorsed brewing 2 batches and splitting those between multiple fermentors.

The fact this survey was 100% confidential hopefully enticed respondents to answer the question about annual production honestly. If so, ol’ Uncle Sam doesn’t have much to worry about as only 4.5% of homebrewers reported brewing 200+ gallons of beer annually. For those who participated in this survey, the huge majority are making between 5-50 gallons/year (41.2%) and 50-100 gallons/year (34.5%), with another 15% and 4.8% reporting they brew 100-150 gallons/year and 150-200 gallons/year, respectively.

My first 10 or so batches were brewed in an apartment kitchen, which is consistent with how 28.1% of modern homebrewers do it today. The only setup that’s more popular, endorsed by 55.2% of respondents, is brewing outdoors using propane. Man, this hobby has come a long way! The third most popular approach is brewing indoors using an electric rig (11%), followed by brewing outdoors using natural gas (3.1%) and brewing outdoors using an electric rig (2.6%).

Yet another apparent sign of the homebrewing boom is the fact over half (51.6%) of homebrewers primarily keg and force carbonate, a method viewed as being the prerogative of only the most obsessed just a few years ago. While still a popular packaging method endorsed by 46.9% of people, bottle conditioning seems to be losing the interest of today’s homebrewers. The least most popular option on the survey was naturally conditioning via priming sugar in a keg, endorsed by only 1.5% of respondents.

I’ve heard it said that jobs are for making money and hobbies are for blowing it, an adage I’m sure many can relate with. At the same time, many homebrewers report their interest in the hobby stemmed from the idea of producing larger volumes of beer for less than what it would cost to purchase commercial examples. I suppose this is relative to the amount one would typically spend on commercial beer, but the fact 83.8% reported spending less than $100/month on homebrewing, 36.5% of whom spend less than $50/month, seems to suggest it’s not terribly expensive. Another 12.3% said they spend $100-$150/month on homebrewing while only 3.9% are regularly spending over $150/month. So, where is all this money being spent? At 64.7%, it’s safe to say most modern homebrewers prefer supporting their local shops, 33.4% of whom said they only shop online if their local shop is out of something they need. Alternately, 35.3% reported they prefer shopping online for most things, with 21.2% saying they go to their LHBS only if an item is needed immediately.

As the hobby has grown, so too have the myriad options for online communities, and everyone seems to have their favorite. The most popularly preferred homebrewing community endorsed by respondents on this survey is the homebrewing subReddit (r/homebrewing) at 52.1% with the next most preferred, HomeBrewTalk, taking 30% of the vote. The third largest swath of 11.5% endorsed “Other,” followed by 5% who prefer Facebook groups and 1.5% saying they enjoy the AHA Forum most.

When it comes to drinking preference, 52.7% of modern homebrewers prefer drinking homebrew, 8.2% prefer drinking commercial beer, and 39.1% have no preference. And we’re all drunks, right? Nope. In fact, only 9% of respondents reported an average daily intake of more than 24 ounces of homemade beer, with a miniscule 0.8% imbibing on 48+ ounces of homebrew daily. It may surprise some that 55.1% of modern homebrewers reported there are days they don’t drink any homebrew, while 25.5% said they drink 12-24 ounces of homebrew per day and 11.3% drink 12 ounces or less. Perhaps we’re making up for this lack of consumption with commercial beer. Or, maybe not, as an entire 74.5% of modern homebrewers report there are days they drink no commercial beer at all. Another 21.1% said they drink 12-24 ounces of commercial beer per day, 3.7% drink 24-48 ounces, and only 0.6% reported their average daily consumption of commercial beer to be 48 ounces or more. This is refreshing and validating. Way to be, homebrewers!

The rest of the information is more specifically related to how participants brew and some of the methods they use. Because of this, I thought it’d be more helpful to present the data in a less conversational manner… plus, my fingers are tired and I’m sick of overusing certain words and phrases. All percentages are derived from the total number of survey takers (2,173).

What styles do you brew most often?
APA/IPA/DIPA: 54.9%
Porter/Stout: 10.7%
Belgian styles (Saison, Dubbel, Golden Strong, etc.): 9.6%
Amber/Brown Ale: 8.1%
Mild/Bitter/ESB: 5.4%
Pale lager: 2.1%
Amber/dark lager: 1.7%
Hybrid styles (Cal Common, Kolsch, Altbier): 2.8%
German Wheat Beer: 2.4%
Wild/sour beer: 2.3%

What other alcoholic beverages do you enjoy making?
Cider: 64.7%
Mead: 31.6%
Wine: 29.2%
Other: 17.1%
Kombucha: 9.1%
Sake: 2.7%

What percentage of your brewing is geared toward sour/wild beers?
I don’t make sour/wild beers: 74.7%
Less than 25%: 19.4%
25% to 50%: 4.2%
50% to 75%: 1.3%
75%+: 0.4%

What percentage of your brewing is geared toward lager beers?
I don’t make lager beers: 58.4%
Less than 25%: 31.8%
25% to 50%: 7.6%
50% to 75%: 1.7%
75%+: 0.6%

When making lager beer, what type of fermentation schedule do you employ?
3-4 week turnaround (i.e., Brülosophy): 55.7%
2 week turnaround (i.e., Mike “Tasty” McDole): 4.2%
6+ week turnaround (i.e., traditional): 40%

What is your preferred yeast harvesting method?
Overbuild and harvest from starters: 31.1%
Save slurry from a prior batch without rinsing: 11.7%
Rinse yeast used to ferment a prior batch: 8.5%
Rack fresh wort onto used yeast cake: 3.6%
I don’t harvest yeast: 45.1%

What do you use for brewing water?
Unfiltered tap water: 54.7%
Filtered tap water: 21.2%
Spring water (from store): 9%
RO water (from store): 7.3%
Blended tap and store-bought water: 5.1%
Distilled water (from store): 2.7%

What do you use to determine adjustments to your brewing water chemistry?
Bru’n Water Spreadsheet: 14.5%
Add set amount of minerals to each batch (e.g., 1 tsp gypsum per 5 gal): 7.6%
Brewer’s Friend Water Chemistry Calculator: 6.8%
Other: 6.8%
EZ Water Calculator: 5.2%
SO4:Cl (sulfate to chloride ratio): 0.2%
I don’t adjust my brewing water: 58.9%

| OPINIONS & BELIEFS |

I sought the opinions of modern homebrewers on a few aspects of the hobby that might be viewed as controversial by some. This ought to be fun…

All grain brewing produces better beer than extract (xBmt)
Agree: 52.5%
Disagree: 18.7%
I don’t know: 28.8%

Transferring from primary to secondary is beneficial (xBmt)
Agree: 14.8%
Disagree: 70.6%
I don’t know: 14.6%

Hot-side aeration leads to off-flavors and should be avoided (xBmt)
Agree: 10.1%
Disagree: 41%
I don’t know: 48.9%

Water chemistry adjustments are key to producing great beer (xBmt 1, xBmt 2)
Agree: 40.4%
Disagree: 24.1%
I don’t know: 35.5%

Irish moss will noticeably impact the clarity of your beer (xBmt)
Agree: 56.7%
Disagree: 8.9%
I don’t know: 34.3%

Boiling for less than 60 minutes will lead to DMS off-flavors (xBmt)
Agree: 16.6%
Disagree: 23.5%
I don’t know: 59.9%

You cannot make award winning lagers using hybrid yeast strains (xBmt)
Agree: 2.4%
Disagree: 45.3%
I don’t know: 52.3%

Clear wort in the fermentor leads to clear beer in the glass (xBmt 1, xBmt 2)
Agree: 20.4%
Disagree: 57.5%
I don’t know: 22.1%

First wort hops produce a noticeably smoother bitterness (xBmt)
Agree: 28%
Disagree: 5.8%
I don’t know: 66.1%

First wort hops contribute noticeable hop aroma and flavor
Agree: 14.3%
Disagree: 22.3%
I don’t know: 63.5%

Decoctions have a noticeable positive impact on beer
Agree: 10.5%
Disagree: 7.8%
I don’t know: 81.7%

Macro beer is evil bullshit and should be avoided at all costs
Agree: 34.1%
Disagree: 57.8%
I don’t know: 8.2%

How well do you fit this portrait of the modern homebrewer? I know it was a ton of information, hopefully it didn’t bore you too much. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, you can use the comments section below.

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