Authors: Marshall Schott & Andrew Bromley
When we started the General Homebrewer Survey back in 2015, Brülosophy had been around for about a year and homebrewing was on a tear. Batch sparge seemed to be the go-to all-grain method for most, though BIAB was growing in popularity, and electric brewing was in its infancy.
Since that time, things have changed. They’ve changed a lot.
While it’s impossible to know exactly the reason why, recent statistics indicate that craft beer and homebrewing are on a bit of decline. Whether it’s fallout from Covid-19 craziness, health related concerns, lost interest in DIY, or something else entirely, people these days just aren’t drinking and brewing as much they were a few years ago.
Our main interest in collecting this annual General Homebrewer Survey data is to keep track of changes and trends in this hobby, in part because it’s interesting, but also to reveal areas that could use a bit more focus. Shockingly, in what seems a pretty obvious example of how much has changed, this year’s survey received just 1,191 responses, nearly 1,000 less than last year. Huge thanks to everyone who took the time to complete the survey, we truly appreciate it and hope these results, in some way, contribute to the betterment of this badass hobby!
While it’s true these findings represent a relatively small cross-section of all homebrewers, namely those who follow Brülosophy, some of the data likely accurately aligns with actual demographics. The hobby continues to be made up largely of middle-aged, white, bearded dudes who make enough money to own their own homes. Disappointingly, based on some of the disgusting comments we received on this year’s survey, it seems at least part of the reason people who don’t look like me stay away from the hobby is because of the behavior of some people who do look like me. Hmm…
Anyway, it’s good to see that people continue to mind their water chemistry and cold-side oxidation, as these are both variables we’ve shown over and over have a qualitative impact on beer. Also, as someone who has no shame admitting my love for Miller Lite, it’s nice to see the easing up of perspectives on the evil of big beer.
Big ups to Andrew Bromley for analyzing this data and compiling it in a way that’s easy to read. And huge thanks to all of the brewers who took the time to complete this survey, we really appreciate you helping us get a picture of what the modern homebrewer looks like!
If you have any thoughts about these survey results or suggestions for future surveys, please do not hesitate to share them in the comments section below!
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29 thoughts on “2023 General Homebrewer Survey Results”
Interesting as always, surprised how few homebrewers use the no sparge method, that I use and copied Marshall’s setup for.
Shame to read about disgusting comments received, remember that there’s always a tiny percentage of loud ****s in every walk of life, don’t let it get to you!
Cheers, and keep the content coming, love it!
Thanks for all the time and effort. Most interesting. Sorry you had to view toxic comments but it is the concern of the commenters
, not you.
Well done.
I feel like the beer consumption questions would be more informative broken into 2 – “how many days a week do you drink?” and “on days that you drink, how many beers do you have?”
Otherwise one day of abstinence can obscure ~85% of the week.
Appreciate all the hard work! As someone in several of the very tiny slivers on the demographic questions, not surprised at the negative comments, though always disappointing. Certainly plenty of work to do on that front.
Thanks for all the effort in doing this! Hope to see more diversity in our hobby one day!
Very interesting data thank you, and very nice to see more people doing water adjustments, hopefully it is easy to get into doing it with the help of Brewfather.
And BeerSmith.
And Bru’n Water 🙂
Losing almost half the previous year’s respondents is pretty shocking. As a scientist, no doubt you have a hypothesis or two. Thoughts?
Thanks again for all you and the guys do. The experiments, articles and videos are all much appreciated.
Dave here. I didn’t notice before posting my comment used an old handle of mine! Sorry about that.
How did you solicit responses? I’m subscribed to the site and I get e-mails notifying me of new posts, but I never saw anything about the survey. I had no idea it existed. Maybe that’s why you got 1000 less responses?
98% male, 94% white, granted the survey is not of every brewer in the country, but if you extrapolate that out, it really makes me question why current AHA leadership focuses most of it’s energy on diversity, equality etc. instead of trying to driver more brewers into actually joining. As of 2022 they only had 36,000 members and they are losing money, forcing Homebrew Con to be merged with GABF next year as a cost saver.
Hello Joe D. Feel free to reach out to me directly (julia@brewersassociaition.org) about your thoughts on the American Homebrewers Association. Your “most of it’s energy” comment merits me learning more from you and you learning more about the AHA. Cheers, Julia-Executive Director, American Homebrewers Association
From the Brewer’s Association Web site:
“The Brewers Association is proud to fund grants in support of local and regional events, media production projects, and educational and training initiatives that thoughtfully and intentionally promote and foster a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive craft beer community. The Brewers Association Philanthropy and Outreach Subcommittee invite proposals from individuals and organizations who are developing virtual, in-person, or hybrid events, media projects, and educational and training initiatives that will be developed and/or executed in 2022.”
This is seen on the AHA parent. This has absolutely nothing to do with promoting craft/home brewing. It is political pure and simple.
Here’s another example of DEI aka DIE the BA supports taken from the web site under the “DEI” page along with other DIE supporters.
Big Queer Beer Fest
Gold Spot Brewing & Lady Justice Brewing
Denver, CO
It’s perplexing why you asked Joe D to educate you on your employer. As director of AHA, this is concerning. I was an AHA member twice. I terminated membership the first time when they advertised “Pimping your system” pointing out that was denigrating to women. They disagreed. I rejoined when it seemed they were beyond this but I was wrong. I resigned again when they had ID group categories for brewers apart from beer quality. I will remain so until the AHA – you apparently – have the wisdom to understand that DIE has nothing to do with brewing beer.
I realize the Brewers’ Association has zero to do with how a beer is produced, its adherence to a beer’s category standards, and its quality recognizing the latter is subjective. Membership is based on ownership and quantity with the latter changing over the years. So, what is the BA? It is a trade organization. Unlike it’s historic trade predecessors, it has nothing to do with quality.
The AHA is a profit center for the BA providing some information to home brewers giving them a larger connection and a sense of belonging while pushing the BA’s political agenda.
What the BA/AHA does is betray the profession and hobby of brewing with its political agenda. It’s simple to provide info generally available while pursuing a political agenda. I subscribe with other brewing sources that do not push their personal/corporate political/social agenda. If they do, I will be gone. I have no need to endure liberal delusions about sexuality, race, reality, etc. I subscribe for brewing information – period. Sadly, the BA/AHA has no idea treating their subscribers/members as a captive audience.
Oh, it doesn’t matter how many agree with their agenda because it is not about the political/social/liberal delusion. It’s about BREWING. If the agenda does matter, than honesty demand the BA/AHA change their names to the “Progressive BA/HA”. This would be honest. But power and money will prevent this.
Their political agenda resulted in my resignation. Oh, they’re in Colorado which explains it. Sad they don’t understand the focus is on home brewing not politics or self-delusion.
@dammad Drop us a postcard from 1955 if you get a chance.
Lol
The market for white males in homebrewing is saturated. The way to drive more members to join the AHA is to welcome and encourage OTHER demographics to join. Duh. This entails fostering a climate of inclusion and welcoming. Also duh.
Who told you that? Ah, your agenda told you. Excuse me, your pandering agenda. Look it’s about beer, beer, and beer. The DEI aka DIE agenda is exactly that. Welcome anyone who comes – period. You don’t do that with liberal political tactics to create ID groups which can be manipulated and divide not unify. As in politics, it’s all about the money as it is in liberal politics. What don’t you get?
As for your first insulting comment, you may wish to take your head out of the sand and see what’s going on. You may even learn something of value.
Many thanks for the effort on this survey. So much easily digestible data. Perhaps some more cross-pollination with other brew sites would help with survey participation (though nobody really likes doing surveys). Worth repeating – kudos to Andrew Bromley for such professional work with the data.
Very interesting data compilation. Thanks!
The number of craft breweries in the U.S. has doubled since 2015. There is now a lot of flavorful beer to purchase in places where not long ago none could be found. Many got into brewing because they couldn’t buy what they wanted. That isn’t so true any more. Some just jumped on a passing bandwagon and are on to another.
Things trend and fade and tend to boom-and-bust when they are monetized, but there are a lot of great things that have come of this boom: quality info online, in books, etc; quality yeast in wide variety; more new hops than most can keep up with and better equipment than brewers could ever have dreamed would be available.
I wonder if perceived cost is a factor for fewer people getting into homebrewing…
Ten years ago, a quick scan of brewing websites would depict homebrewers mainly using cooler mash tuns, propane burners and DIY fermentation chambers. My perception was anyone with a bit of nous could get themselves setup for all-grain homebrewing using easily obtained items and for not too much coin.
Browsing homebrew websites today, I see all-in-one systems, glycol chillers, pumps, controllers, and lots of shiny stainless steel. If I was starting out today, I would feel somewhat daunted by potential complexity and cost of getting into the hobby.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for advancement and improvement of the tools at our disposal. There’s no doubt the all-in-one systems have huge advantages. But perhaps they come at a cost that is more than just dollars.
I think the flip side of that is a lot of people are doing 2 Gallon batches in a stove top pot and a BIAB . . . BIAB makes ease and cost of entry even cheaper than the old mashtun cooler days. Its generally where I tell new brewers to start.
For me, perceived cost has always been an issue. Back when I was thinking about getting into all-grain brewing from extract over a decade ago, my searches across the web and in forums often brought me to three-tier systems in expensive garages. It definitely dissuaded me from doing all-grain, because I hadn’t even registered that batch sparging or BIAB could be a much more affordable (and space-friendly) intro to the method. Nowadays even with electric brewing, much of the discourse assumes unlimited space/money. “Can’t you just hire an electrician to upgrade the wiring in the house that you own?” etc. — for those who don’t own a home, or have limited space, or whatever, it sends a signal that you need to have a fair bit of money and space to brew. I don’t think it’s ever done intentionally or with malice, but the implied messaging is there. This is why I’m glad to see small-batch stovetop brewing get a little more attention!
Part of the drop in responses can possibly be attributed to Brülosophy not posting the survey on Reddit?
Last year, out of 2173 responses, it was the main online community of 30% (652). This year, of 1191 responses, it had fallen to 11% (131), so it’s possible 500 people just never saw the survey.
I’m one of those 500!
I just listened to the podcast about this and am sad to say that I wasn’t totally shocked about the huge drop off in people. I work at a homebrew store and we’ve seen less and less people coming in throughout the last year. One important factor in this that I didn’t hear mentioned was the massive increase in the price of brewing equipment and ingredients in the last year. Every month our suppliers are raising prices and we have to do the same. Hopefully everything will level out soon and we can see our numbers start to increase again.
Hey guys – just listened to this episode this morning and I was touched by your message of inclusivity.
I’m 50+ non-binary but I’m the closet. I agree with other commenters that this forum is about brewing and sexual preference and gender should be irrelevant.
The thing is, if it’s perceived as a place where our differences (which in the case of gender are evolving quickly and often not well understood or accepted) make us potential targets, that has the effect of keeping us away if we’re out of the closet, or doesn’t help us get out of the closet if we’re still in it.
It could be argued that it’s not your job to help people show up as their true selves – I guess that’s true, however to be a place that is open to all people of all nationalities, colours, genders etc, (and the therefore grow your customer base), being inclusive and welcoming is the way to go.
This isn’t about a political agenda, or being ‘woke’, whatever that actually means, it’s just about respecting each other for who we are.
So let me say I LOVE the work you guys do, and will keep listening and long as you keep talking, and I REALLY appreciate the message you’ve put out here. Let’s keep making great beer and not let anything get in the way of that for anyone!
Best wishes to all
Jo