What do your wives think of your hobby?

Hey guys-

Reading some post tonight about SWMBO (which I think is the STUPIDEST damn acronym ever, but that's for another rant).. Anyway, it got me to thinking about how cool my wife is with my hobby. She has been supportive since day one and has never given me any grief whatsoever about my homebrewing. Of course I always clean up my mess on brew day.... she loves all the smells of brewing, especially the boil, and she recently surprised me by sewing me three custom slip on insulated carboy covers, which are so much better than blankets... She always helps me bottle... And last night, she asked me if I would brew a stout for her (since all I make are ales).... she is sooo cool that way... But I hear so much about guys wifes bitching at them about their hobby.. So tell me, am I just lucky to have a cool brewing wife? Are things really that bad out there on the homefront? What does your wife think?

My ex tolerated my brewing at best. She hated the smell and the mess I made in the kitchen (even though I was normally the one using the kitchen for all the meals and I cleaned up well). Doing the boil outside helped. I think she didn't like it because it was taking attention away from her, but that's just my opinion. My current SWMBO loves brewing and especially loves the end product, so she's highly supportive of my hobby.

BTW, it's not mandatory to use the acronym SWMBO. You don't like it, don't use it. Some of us think it's a tongue-in-cheek affectation.

she is happy i have a hobby. usually she will go shopping, or catch up on some books she is reading. Plus it helps she likes the final product too, haha.

Mine would fall into the tolerant category as well. She HATES the smell of any sort of wort cooking or grains steeping (it makes her nauseous for some odd reason) I even took it outside, and she refuses to go near the door of where I am cooking it. She doesnt drink beer (at all) so I guess she is just tolerating my hobby.
I guess as long as I am utilizing the sweet sticky buds of the hop plant and not his cousin she is cool.
-Me

My SWMBO gave me a Coopers kit last year for Xmas/Birthday. She liked the porters I made and was into learning the styles for the first 3-4 months. She had expected I would stop after the first few.

But I stuck with it, went AG, make a kegerator and started kegging. Now I have an ETOH problem and the damned beer is taking over the house (her words)

wiVes.

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Nerro said:

wiVes.

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Two love it, one couldnt care less and one hates it.

Nerro said:

wiVes.

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Odd... I didn't meet any Mormons when I was in the Netherlands. Do they all approve? Or all disapprove?

I don't have a wife, but married is married, I guess. I don't have any problems with brewing, as long as I don't spend "too much money". Luckily, we've never really discussed what entails "too much". I mentioned a Sabco Three Tier system last week, but that got a head shake. As long I was make good beer, though, I'm happy.

My girlfriend of 4.5 years got me an equipment setup for Valentines day. Totally responsible for me getting into it.

YooperBrew said:

I don't have a wife, but married is married, I guess. I don't have any problems with brewing, as long as I don't spend "too much money". Luckily, we've never really discussed what entails "too much". I mentioned a Sabco Three Tier system last week, but that got a head shake. As long I was make good beer, though, I'm happy.

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The seed was planted though. Congratulations on the new system that you will be getting!!

My girlfriend of 2 years has no problem at all with brewing - her brother brews, and she likes helping when she can.

Hell, I'm picking up 42 kegs today in her Jeep and she's glad that I'll be able to have more options on hand. She wants to brew sour beers soon...

...Oh, and she also has (2) 6gal carboys full of wine. She has NO problem with my hobbies, because we have the same hobbies - cars, video games, and beer .

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

The seed was planted though. Congratulations on the new system that you will be getting!!

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OH! You caught that! Yeah, I'm thinking that it'll be at least a year, year and a half before I get it, though!

I had already mentioned that with a pump I'd never have to pour hot water into a HLT ever again, and that got a "Hmmm- that sounds safer!".

and I don't call her SWMBO even as a joke either... just never really caught on for me.

bullrider4 said:

SWMBO (which I think is the STUPIDEST damn acronym ever)

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This is true, it's not clever and even if it was its charm has long since worn off.

Anyway, my wife complains that it's all I think about (she has a point) but she loves it. I am always giving homebrew for her to take to work and to her friends and she loves drinking it. She drains kegs faster than I do!

Joe C said:

and I don't call her SWMBO even as a joke either... just never really caught on for me.

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Yeah I get it for most, but same here I dont think I could call her that. Jokingly I'll call her the maid...cus she's got it MADE! I do all the cooking and brewing, and outside work. That pretty much keeps her happy. We discuss major purchases, but in the end , she doesn't give a hoot on the price tag. She really just wants to make sure it will get used and that I am not gonna buy something and then upgrade again in a year.

With that in mind, she's not the person you wanna take to buy a boat or RV, she'll always go for the most expensive tag based on the fact that if you dont get the one you want now, you'll regret it later!

My wife is supportive. She's brewed with me a couple of times, ad even tackled a batch (mostly) on her own.

She bought me the Sanyo to convert to a kegerator, and bought me my Barley Crusher. I brew way too much and she's ok with it because she knows that I love doing it and having me in the garage brewing beer is better than having me away from home doing who knows what.

My wife is very supportive of it. She's the one that kind of finally pushed me to go for it. I think she enjoys that I have a hobby that benefits ourselves and our friends hahaha. She also helps me when I need a set of extra hands to bottle, siphon, ect. Right now i'm brewing a Trippel for her and her friend so she especially likes it when the beer involved is her favorite.

Mine is supportive but hates the smell of brewing. Doesn't mind drinking the results and has helped me brew more than a few times.

Heck, she let me do this to the basement...

mmb said:

Mine is supportive but hates the smell of brewing. Doesn't mind drinking the results and has helped me brew more than a few times.

Heck, she let me do this to the basement...

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Envious of that basement....

That's an effing sweet basement!

My wife is actually more into it than I would have guessed. She actually took me to the LHBS to buy my first gear when I was willing to wait until we had more money for it. She helped me throw a batch of apfelwine together, and wants to help me bottle today.

I was just going to get it done while she was at work, but maybe I should hold off. It's rare that she shows any interest in my hobbies, so I think I'd rather include her than get it done when it's most convenient.

Oops, sorry. Didn't mean to type my inner dialogue

I've been with my wife for 10-1/2 years, married for 7-1/2. She doesn't mind my brew room in the basement or the bar or the system I have in the garage. She has her library on the main floor (4 6-foot book cases full of books and tons more not shelved, she's a librarian) I once made the mistake of commenting on how many books she has. "How many beer bottles do you have?" Fair enough. Obviously, as long as I don't blow money on it and disregard other things that have a priority (ie mortgage), she's cool with it.

Actually, when my old chest freezer died and I got a cheap 21 cu ft fridge off Craigslist I was having trouble deciding whether to put the taps on it or keep 'em on the wall behind the bar. I asked for her opinion and she said "I dunno, I thought they looked cool behind the bar." And she doesn't even like beer!

She's a keeper.

My wife is 100% supportive. She never complains when I buy ingredients or get a new piece of equipment. She loves the beer and often helps out on brewday or bottlingday, too.

It helps that I am not obsessed with brewing. I brew twice a month at most, and we share other interests as well.

My wife tolerates it. She doesn't like most beer, but tries every one I make. She'll eventually get a taste for it.

I also moved out of the kitchen though, the big brewpots tend to scorch the range, so I brewed outside/garage for a year now, and am finishing up a basement electric rig. She's glad to give my my space (brew-room, my office etc.) and she gets her space.

She does however really dig the diet soda on tap (thanks to the kegorator, soda water and syrup)

Beerthoven said:

My wife is 100% supportive. She never complains when I buy ingredients or get a new piece of equipment. She loves the beer and often helps out on brewday or bottlingday, too.

It helps that I am not obsessed with brewing. I brew twice a month at most, and we share other interests as well.

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The denial is sweet!

My wife is as tolerant as she can be. She doesn't like beer, doesn't care even for the smell of it on my breath or brewing, but doesn't complain everytime when I want to buy some ingredients or beer.

As her mother was a cheap beer alcoholic while she was growing up, I'm satisfied that I'm allowed the leeway I have.

mmb said:

Mine is supportive but hates the smell of brewing. Doesn't mind drinking the results and has helped me brew more than a few times.

Heck, she let me do this to the basement...

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I love you.


Not in a hetero way. I'm totally f#cking gay for you.

My SWMBO (who is usually called teh wifey on other forums) is generally supportive, but does complain that MY hobbies (skiing, biking, brewing, golf) take ALL DAY to do, while her hobbies (knitting, gaming, art, crafting) don't require all day.

However, she didn't complain (much) when I showed up with a Craigslist fridge for the kegerator, and she got me a nice gift certificate from Austin Homebrew Supply for Christmas. She's not a beer drinker, so she doesn't really enjoy the end product.

I think it helps that I (a) brew outside and (b) ferment in an unused corner of the basement, so brewing stuff isn't taking over the entire house.

My wife will walk past a pot boiling wort and take a big whiff. Then she gets this big "mmm, smells good" smile on her face. She's very into the hobby, even offers to go to LHBS for me to get supplies after work.

Mine bought me my first kit the christmas before last. She's pretty cool with but some times tells me enough when talking about it forever. I've turned her into quite the beer snob. She does tend to expect it just to appear out of thin air. It's hard to break away a whole day by myself to brew. And when i mention spending 30 bucks for ingredients she's like, we can't afford that right now. but then will not bat an eye when I pick 8 dollar 6 packs once or twice a week.

My wife is supportive. She has never complained about how obsessed with the hobby, yet knows that I am obsessed. She even gave me a 'Wow' when she saw the finished keezer project. She is a BMC drinker, but she is a good sport and will always try everything i brew. I have a few brews that she actually enjoys. And of course she likes the Apfelwien. We are moving in the Spring and she already told me to build a man room / brew shed when we get the new house.

Wife hates the smell with the exception of steeping dark grains, not a fan of the mess and doesn't drink beer. However she is enormously tolerant, helps on bottling day, let me brew last Monday after only two weeks since the previous batch, helped me set up some storage shelving in the garage to help me organize, and basically told me to build myself a fermentation chiller cabinet. :rockin:

GroovePuppy said:

Wife hates the smell with the exception of steeping dark grains, not a fan of the mess and doesn't drink beer. However she is enormously tolerant, helps on bottling day, let me brew last Monday after only two weeks since the previous batch, helped me set up some storage shelving in the garage to help me organize, and basically told me to build myself a fermentation chiller cabinet. :rockin:

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basically, anything to get your arse out of her kitchen?

I get 100% support. My wife worked for the American Homebrewer's Association, so through her I met Papa Charlie and picked up several boxes of books. I even got to brew with him once.

My wife likes the smell of the mash, says it smells like bread. Doesn't like hops, though. Occasionally she'll try a beer, but anything with a distinct hop flavor or aroma is right out. She doesn't mind hefes and dry stouts though. In any case she never drinks much of it, just not really a fan of beer. Doesn't drink much of anything with alcohol except on special occasions anyway (her dad was an alcoholic, long story).

On the flip side, though, she can't say anything about the cost of equipment or the time commitment, as she has her own crafting and expensive hobbies, that being knitting and ball-jointed dolls. Those doll parts and clothes are damn expensive! I think my BoilerMaker was cheaper than the doll on her desk - just the doll itself, not counting clothes and custom work.

My wife doesn't drink beer however she is surprisingly cool with my bobby especially since I brew in her kitchen. She often asks me to give some of my beer to her friends.
I must admit tho that one after a long night of brewing I did not clean out the MLT and left it there for a day or two, it ended up smelling like puke, she was not all too happy about that.

My wife loves brewing and does it with me nearly every time. She likes the smell when we're brewing, but not so much for the day or two it lingers around the apartment. She got less excited when I started doing all grain. The simplicity of extract kits was really appealing to her, and I caught the AG bug pretty hard. I think the extra equipment and steps left her behind a little, but she still enjoys it. Hell, she's just glad I have a hobby.

My wife hates the smell of wort and hops. She gets nauseated. She also hates the mess I make, even though I clean up after. She hates that I have appropriated our guest bathroom for fermenting and storing beer gear.

She sometimes enjoys the final product, however. Especially with lightish beers and ciders, she will frequently pop open very green beer if there's no ready alcohol elsewhere in the apartment and she doesn't feel like making a run, so that when the beer is actually ready, there's about six bottles left.

JoeMama said:

I guess as long as I am utilizing the sweet sticky buds of the hop plant and not his cousin she is cool.
-Me

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WTF???

I don't care what you do in the privacy of your own home, but come on, that's kind of an icky mental picture.

First the Layne Bryant fiasco and now sticky man cousin buds... eeughh

conpewter said:

My wife tolerates it. She doesn't like most beer, but tries every one I make. She'll eventually get a taste for it.

I also moved out of the kitchen though, the big brewpots tend to scorch the range, so I brewed outside/garage for a year now, and am finishing up a basement electric rig. She's glad to give my my space (brew-room, my office etc.) and she gets her space.

She does however really dig the diet soda on tap (thanks to the kegorator, soda water and syrup)

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My wife was the same way, she would taste everything I made but didn't like beer at all. Now she almost drinks as much as I do and complains that all the beer I make is making her fat. I told her just do what I do, exercise a few times a week and you can drink all the beer you want.