Is the Homebrew hobby in decline?

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Google search activity for the "Homebrewing" topic has been continually decreasing since 2013 with a spike in interest during the pandemic lockdowns.

What do you think are the reasons for the massive decline in popularity of this hobby?

People not having time to brew because they are taking on second jobs and side hustles to make ends meet?
People are drinking less?
Demographic changes (I'm a massive outlier, been brewing beer since I was a teen and now I'm 30, but the typical age for this hobby is much higher)?
People are more vain (the pandemic was an inflection point for social-media vanity) and don't want to be seen doing "poor people hobbies"?

I'm honestly surprised that homebrewing popularity didn't increase because of the cost-of-living crisis. It's still an extremely cheap way to acquire beer and an interesting hobby in its own right.

 

[MashBag]

I have been making since my teens.

Yes. I reckon time to brew..
A. because of second jobs
B. Myths: kits taste sh1te & AG takes too long.

Yes, People are drinking less, lower abv. We have threads on here about the same.

Yes. People are more vain. So they want a shiney brewery. InstaFace ready. But that's serious money.

Plastic cooler & a grain bag now need Paintshop skills to surgically remove it from anything that goes anywhere near instaFace.

Yes. Peeps also what instant. You see it in some posts here. Good brews need time & skill.

I will add, "no sense of money".
I enjoy a drink, but I have calculated the cost. Not fashionable to able to count, far better to be shiney and in debt.

We live in a post fact/post truth world now. Homebrew will show you up

 

[Druncan]

Another problem is the instant gratification syndrome of Gen Z.
Who now can be bothered to wait 3 weeks for a brew to clear? and then there's all the bloody cleaning (which I enjoy, slowly rubbing my shineys,,,,,Ooops )

Not fast or trendy.

All the Baby booming ADHD Meccano addicts will continue constructing brewing engineering masterpieces, while deciphering the chemistry and history of new esoteric brews.
We'r all just a bit sad and has-been, but at least we play nicely

 

[MashBag]

Has smaller houses (so no space) for anything to do with it?

 

[matt.]

What about the Oldie factor?
There's more of us lot about; free time and for some, a wee bit of disposable income.

I have the patience and an interest to learn.
I rotate the quick ( full proof ) 40 pint kits with 10 liter grains boiled stove top.
Suits me, Sir.

 

[Bitter_Dave]

I started brewing in the mid-2000s and it seemed like a pretty marginal hobby back then - nobody I knew did it, I went to a homebrew club a couple of times and and there were a few of us there. Boots had stopped their homebrew stuff by then I think. I stopped brewing for a decade when I had kids and returned about seven years ago and if anything it seemed like it had grown in importance (of course people were using the internet more by then as well, so it may have been an impression).

Google searches may have fluctuated a bit over time, but I think you have to go back quite a long way to the time when significant numbers of people did it (probably when the relative price of drinking at home was higher). I bought Wheeler's Brew your own Real Ale at Home book when I started, I think published in 1998, and the introduction states that it is a hobby in decline (although it argued more people were mashing)

 

[Stu]

What about the Oldie factor?
There's more of us lot about; free time and for some, a wee bit of disposable income.

I have the patience and an interest to learn.
I rotate the quick ( full proof ) 40 pint kits with 10 liter grains boiled stove top.
Suits me, Sir.

As above, I'm now 52 (Gen X) and been brewing since I was 20 odd and a skint student on and off.

My ex-wife's stepfather used to drink around 6 pints a night of homebrew from his 30s until apparently he lost his leg to gout in his 70s. I've not spoken to him for years, but apparently he's still about, so probably still drinks a fair bit.

My now wife says her Grandad used to do a kit every 3 weeks or so.
My side of the family have never done it. I'm 1 of 7. I've never really had many friends that did it either.

 

[Bitter_Dave]

I'm not even sure young people know about home-brewing as a hobby these days. In the past you could not avoid it. Closure of Wilkinson isn't going to help as it was probably an entry into the hobby.

 

[WillFrites]

My personal opinion:
Yes and no.....

NO:
Those who have always done homebrew will continue to do so.
The internet community helps further a community such as this

YES:
It is expensive. I could never buy the things required to do grain beers (so always LME)
It is harder to get kits (here in France)
Great beeer can now be got fairly cheaply thanks tosupermarkets

 

[MashBag]

YES:
It is expensive. I could never buy the things required to do grain beers (so always LME)
It is harder to get kits (here in France)
Great beeer can now be got fairly cheaply thanks tosupermarkets

Only if the newb, has a short term view.

My BM20, was expensive. But has more than paid for itself.

Someone earlier in the thread mentioned understanding money.

 

[jof]

YES:
It is expensive. I could never buy the things required to do grain beers (so always LME)
It is harder to get kits (here in France)
Great beeer can now be got fairly cheaply thanks tosupermarkets

You don't need a £500 grain father to make good all grain beer.
There are plenty of us using converted tea urns/entry level boilers or even big stock pots on their cookers to do our mash & boils.

Ingredient costs are around £0.33 per pint for me. Bottles are recycled & the more I make, the lower the equipment's costs become.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I am a boomer/Gammon and don't care started on kits in the 70s gave it up they were crap, fast forward 2017 and retirement what to do i know home brew got loads of time now' bought a starter kit o they have moved on nice then full ag and loving it

 

[An Ankoù]

My personal opinion:
Yes and no.....

NO:
Those who have always done homebrew will continue to do so.
The internet community helps further a community such as this

YES:
It is expensive. I could never buy the things required to do grain beers (so always LME)
It is harder to get kits (here in France)
Great beeer can now be got fairly cheaply thanks tosupermarkets

YES:
Thise are ntot my experiences @WillFrites . If you buy from Autobrasseur or Rolling-beers then you're going to be fleeced, nut have you looked at thehomebrewcompany.ie and braumarkt.com ? Their prices are both very reasonable Postage bumps it up a bit so make sure you make your order up to the maximum weight (around 30Kg).
I haven;t seen a lot of great beer in supermarkets, to be frank, but the beer from up by your neck of the woods is definitely the best.

 

[klaus]

On and off brewing for around 30 years, Boots got me into it, was always fascinated by the kits on display, but shop retail is more or less dead now, however the number of suppliers on the web is amazing.
Then there's still the age old question "Is it safe to drink?" .... in these safety conscious times.
It's a discussion around for decades in many hobby communities, why bother with SLR digi cameras when you got a phone, why bother with amateur radio when you got a phone, why bother with cooking when you can order a meal with your phone, why, why, ....
But there are many people who still insist on carrying on with traditional hobbys, and hopefully pass them on to some of the younger people.

 

[Stu]

On and off brewing for around 30 years, Boots got me into it, was always fascinated by the kits on display, but shop retail is more or less dead now, however the number of suppliers on the web is amazing.
Then there's still the age old question "Is it safe to drink?" .... in these safety conscious times.
It's a discussion around for decades in many hobby communities, why bother with SLR digi cameras when you got a phone, why bother with amateur radio when you got a phone, why bother with cooking when you can order a meal with your phone, why, why, ....
But there are many people who still insist on carrying on with traditional hobbys, and hopefully pass them on to some of the younger people.

During Lockdown, 10,000 new amateurs passed their exams.
We started an online Amateur Radio Club and over 1,000 people instantly joined. A decent chunk of them have no interest in voice, are under 30, are building their own kit and are re-introducing all kinds of things that haven't been popular for years - we have the majority of the UK covered using Computer (mostly Raspberry Pi based) repeaters.

A lot of good things came out of lockdown. It wasn't all gloom and doom.

 

[klaus]

A lot of good things came out of lockdown. It wasn't all gloom and doom.

Not saying it's all bad - met quite a few amateurs who started (or re-started) and got licensed during lockdown. I volunteer at the National Radio Centre and the stories I hear are amazing.
Keeping up the momentum is the important bit now.

 

[Stu]

Not saying it's all bad - met quite a few amateurs who started (or re-started) and got licensed during lockdown. I volunteer at the National Radio Centre and the stories I hear are amazing.
Keeping up the momentum is the important bit now.

Fair chance we've met before!
I moved from MK 20 months ago.

 

[AndrewJB]

I started brewing back in 2016 as I got a brewing kit for my birthday (a Woodforde’s Wherry), and when searching for equipment discovered that there is a large homebrew shop nearby. My Dad did comment at the time that the kit was far better than the ones he made in the 70s/80s and did not have “the homebrew taste”.

Stopped brewing in 2018 as I couldn’t drink a whole pressure barrel’s worth on my own, then decided to resume in 2022 to use up the old kits I had left.

Haven’t really made much in terms of beer but decided to try making the 6 bottle wine kits and have now made 4 batches.

Definitely a shame that Wilko wound down their homebrew section then closed but I’m fortunate that Farnborough is nearby.

 

[Sadfield]

Thread merged - Admin - Click here to go to post #1


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Google search activity for the "Homebrewing" topic has been continually decreasing since 2013 with a spike in interest during the pandemic lockdowns.

What do you think are the reasons for the massive decline in popularity of this hobby?

People not having time to brew because they are taking on second jobs and side hustles to make ends meet?
People are drinking less?
Demographic changes (I'm a massive outlier, been brewing beer since I was a teen and now I'm 30, but the typical age for this hobby is much higher)?
People are more vain (the pandemic was an inflection point for social-media vanity) and don't want to be seen doing "poor people hobbies"?

I'm honestly surprised that homebrewing popularity didn't increase because of the cost-of-living crisis. It's still an extremely cheap way to acquire beer and an interesting hobby in its own right.

That 2010s peak and then decline has a positive side. The volume of homebrewers that have gone into the brewing industry. I started going to homebrew club in 2014-15, out of the 8-9 regulars, 6 currently work in the industry.

 

[Cwrw666]

Maybe the number of people googling how to do homebrew has dropped because they've already googled it and are busy in their sheds brewing and getting lathered.