Author: Marshall Schott

On top of satisfying personal curiosity, there are a few reasons I think it’s good and even important to regularly collect data on homebrewing. The information gleaned from our annual General Homebrewer Survey gives us a unique peak into the hobby that reveals trends about the people who make it up and the direction things are going. When used properly, this data can used to inform decisions in the hopes of making sure homebrewing continues to flourish.

Based on comments we received after publishing the results of the 2015 General Homebrewer Survey, I decided to take a different approach with sharing the 2017 data by providing more visuals and a little less chatter.

2017 General Homebrewer Survey

On May 11, 2017, we began asking homebrewers to complete the 2017 General Homebrewer Survey, which was advertised on Brulosophy.com, The Brülosophy Podcast, homebrewing forums, and various social media channels. The survey was available for 3 weeks during which it was completed by a total of 2,570 people, a slightly larger sample than 2015.

| DEMOGRAPHICS |

Similar to 2015, a rather hefty majority (71.6%) of respondents live in the United States with the next most common nations of residence being Canada (8.2%), United Kingdom (5.3%), Australia (2.9%), Sweden (1.9%), and New Zealand (1.7%). A host of other nations were represented as well, which was cool to see.

Respondents were then asked a series of questions unrelated to brewing in order to provide an idea of what the modern homebrewer looks like.

What is your age?

What is your ethnicity?

What is your gender?

What is your marital status?

What is your profession?

What is your annual income?

What is your dwelling place?

What is your religious perspective?

What is your facial hair status (men only)?

Based on these results, and completely assuming those who responded to this survey accurately represent the hobby, the modern homebrewer is a white married male in his 30’s with some form of facial hair who works a fairly well paying job, has no strong religious convictions, and brews in a home he owns. This obviously doesn’t apply to all, thankfully, though I’d imagine there are more than a few out there feeling like I just described them well.

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| BREWING BEHAVIOR |

What follows are responses to questions regarding the general brewing behavior and approach of respondents to the survey.

How long have you been homebrewing?

This is pretty interesting. Back in 2015, nearly 19% of respondents reported they’d been brewing 1 year or less whereas under 8% endorsed that option this year, which could be indicative of slowed growth. On a potentially positive note, it would seem a good portion of those who got their start back then have stuck with the hobby, as the percentage of people who have been brewing longer than 3 years increased by about 22%.

How did you learn how to homebrew (primary source)?

What approach did you use initially?

What approach do you use currently?

What all grain method do you use most often (all grain brewers only)?

Extract brewing continues to be the most common approach used by new homebrewers, though it’s interesting to see that almost 1 in 4 respondents reported starting with grain, with most others making the switch at some point down the line. Indeed, batch sparge brewing is still popular, but this data indicates its losing some interest, as nearly 47% endorsed it as their preferred method in 2015 while only 38% reported relying on it this year. Unsurprisingly, Brew In A Bag (BIAB) remains the next most popular mashing method.

What type of brewing setup do you have?

How often do you brew?

What is your typical batch size?

How many batches per brew day?

A rather large number of homebrewers brew one to four 5 gallon batches per month using propane rigs outdoors and usually just a single batch per brew day. I found it interesting and pretty cool the percentage of respondents who reported using electric rigs indoors increase from 11% in 2015 to 18.3% this year, I can think of a few converts myself.

How much homebrew do you produce annually?

How do you typically package your homebrew?

Over 68% of homebrewers reported kegging their beer, a 16% increase from 2015. Nuts!

How do you usually shop for ingredients and gear?

On average, how much do you spend on homebrewing per month?

Similar to before, most homebrewers spend $100 or less per month on ingredients and gear, which corresponds with the aforementioned data on brewing frequency, and it would seem a majority prefer to support local before buying online.

What is your preferred online homebrewing community?

Some previously speculated that this question may have been influenced by the fact I personally tend to mingle the most in the Homebrewing subreddit, as that received 52.1% of the vote back in 2015. However, my behavior and preference hasn’t changed while preferences for online communities have. I noticed an uptick in homebrewing Facebook groups over the last few years, and given the increase in popularity can’t help but wonder if people find appealing its more personal/less anonymous nature. It’s also good to see increased interest in the AHA forums!

How much homebrew do you consume?

How much commercial beer do you consume?

What do you prefer drinking more?

We’re not all alcoholics and we love us some homebrew! I count myself among those who enjoy drinking beer made by myself or others over commercial beer, though at the same time, I always tend to have a 12 pack in my fridge as well.

What style do you brew most often?

Surprised? Me either.

What percentage of your brewing is gear toward sour beer?

Traditionally, sour beers required a lot of time to produce, though of late it seems quick souring methods have become quite popular, which might account for the slight increase in people brewing such beers. In 2015, nearly 75% of respondents said the don’t brew sours compared to 69% this year.

What percentage of your brewing is gear toward lager beer?

What lager fermentation method do you use (lager brewers only)?

Some will likely view the fact that more people are foraying into lager beer brewing as a bad thing, particularly since a majority are employing quick fermentation schedules, but I love it!

What other alcoholic beverages do you make?

What is your preferred yeast harvesting method?

What do you use for brewing water?

What do you use to determine brewing water adjustments?

A whopping 66.4% of homebrewers these days are adjusting their brewing compared to only 41.1% who reported doing so in 2015, most relying on some sort of calculator for accurate measurements. I have to believe this is due in large part to the contributions of people like John Palmer and Martin Brungard. Water matters!

| OPINIONS & BELIEFS |

Homebrewing is rife with opinions often formed from one’s own or perhaps a trusted other’s anecdote, though occasionally rooted in something more. While I tend to agree with Leonardo da Vinci that “the greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions,” the fact is, we’re only dealing with beer here.

Respondents were presented with a series of statements and given the option to agree, disagree, or claim not to know. Links to relevant xBmts are provided for each statement.

All grain brewing produces better beer than extract

xBmt 1 | xBmt 2

Transferring from primary to secondary is beneficial

xBmt

Decoctions have a noticeable positive impact on beer

xBmt

Hot-side aeration leads to off-flavors and should be avoided

xBmt 1 | xBmt 2 | xBmt 3

Water chemistry adjustments are key to producing great beer

xBmt 1 | xBmt 2 | xBmt 3 | xBmt 4 | xBmt 5 | xBmt 6 | xBmt 7 | xBmt 8 | xBmt 9

Irish moss will noticeably impact the clarity of your beer

xBmt

Boiling for less than 60 minutes will lead to DMS off-flavors

xBmt 1 | xBmt 2 | Lab Data

You cannot make award winning lagers using hybrid yeast strains

xBmt

Clear wort in the fermentor leads to clear beer in the glass

xBmt 1 | xBmt 2

First wort hops produce a noticeably smoother bitterness

xBmt

First wort hops contribute noticeable hop aroma and flavor

xBmt

Macro beer is evil bullshit and should be avoided at all costs

And there you have it, a snapshot of what the modern homebrewer of 2017 looks like and believes. I’ll be interested to compare this data with those of the recent American Homebrewers Association survey, which if drastically different would suggest an error in my sampling. If in fact our data is accurate, the poignant finding to me is that women and people of color make up less than 10% of homebrewers when combined, which is pretty pathetic. We can do better than this, the question is– how? I’ll certainly be mulling this over and hope others do too.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to contribute, we’ll be back next year with the 2018 General Homebrewer Survey. Until then, think beer!

Please share your thoughts about these results in the comments section below.

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