Author: Marshall Schott
As we approach the second quarter of 2023, I can’t help but think back to what we’ve all been through over the last few years, and how happy I am to be able to go out in the world again. While I admittedly developed a bit of an obsession with Call Of Duty during the pandemic, I’ve loved getting back out to breweries, hanging out with friends, and travelling to rad places.
Oddly enough, there seems to be general consensus among those I communicate with in the world of homebrewing that interest in the hobby is trending downward. I’ve heard speculation that this is due to the state of the economy, though it’s my understanding that historically homebrewing does well during rougher times. I personally feel there’s likely more at play, I’m just not entirely sure what that is.
Either way, one thing I trust everyone reading this agrees on is that homebrewing kicks ass and we want as many people to experience it as possible. This is a our driving motivation here at Brülosophy– by publishing 2 articles, 2 podcasts, and a YouTube video every week, we hope to demystify the brewing process and make it more approachable while also honoring the great work of those who came before us. Whether boom or bust, we’ll be here doing our thing!
2023 General Homebrewer Survey
I’m curious like a cat, which is why soon after starting Brülosophy I had the idea to collect data to get an idea of what the modern homebrewer looks like. After sharing those first results, it occurred to me that by collecting the same data annually would be an interesting way to track temporal changes, which could potentially provide various insights. While there have definitely been some changes over the years, there’s unfortunately been some very consistent trends, and it’s our hope that this survey might help to incite some positive movement.
Naturally, not every brewer out there loves Brülosophy as much as we tell ourselves during our morning affirmation rituals, and seeing as as our goal is to capture the broadest set of data possible, we’d like to ask that you share this survey with all of you brewing friends, regardless of their feelings about. Rest assured, this is a completely anonymous survey where the raw data does not get shared with anybody outside of Brülosophy
Note: our aim with this survey is to capture as much information about the modern homebrewer as possible with one hope being to shine a light on under-represented groups. As such, certain questions address topics that may be sensitive to some, please feel free to skip any that make you uncomfortable.
The survey will be open for approximately 6 weeks, after which the data will be analyzed and shared. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to help us learn more about modern homebrewers!
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3 thoughts on “Announcement: 2023 General Homebrewer Survey”
Would have provided pressurized fermentation as a lager Iagering. That’s my preferred lager method now.
There are hundreds (thousands) of terrific craft beers available for purchase now. For me I still home brew but just not as often as 10 years ago…
I think I may be able to elucidate a reason, or at least a partial reason homebrewing is currently on a decline. Historically, people that pick up homebrewing not only love a good beer and enjoy the work that goes into making a drinkable beer at home start because it is sold to them as a cheap and easy thing to do. And it is, initially. Due to the advance of technology and social platforms, as these new hobby brewers connect online to forums and other groups that are there to share knowledge, recipes, and ideas suddenly the hobby becomes something of a financial burden. It is getting to where you cannot ask a simple question on a forum without most respondents becoming salesmen for the various high price pieces of equipment “you have to have” in order to brew a decent beer. I think this turns people off. I know it’s made me re-think whether I want to keep doing it. I think a lot of guys out there that are making decent beer at home think their beer must be “terrible” because they didn’t go buy an expensive fermenter or temperature control fermenting chamber, or can’t afford the all-in-one brewing system. The hobby has ballooned into basically a group of people that dominate these knowledge centers that insist you must have a high tech microbrewery in your house, garage, shop, or basement in order to produce a drinkable product. I’ve been very discouraged lately after spending money to become a member of a homebrew website. I posted a few questions to the forums there and got some information that was a little useful but each post devolved into guys suggesting I go buy this or that, and that was after I explicitly noted I did not have the funds or space to add those things. It’s turning into an “elitist” mindset hobby that is leaching the fun out of it.