What do you brew when..

.. you have no time in your busy schedule for long brewdays? For instance, when my wife and I eventually have our first child I imagine I will be exhausted all the time and I am wondering how this will effect my brewing hobby.

Just wondering from the people that have busy lives and schedules.. what do you brew? I'm not referring to just beer, but any sort of beverage.. wine, cider, etc..

I brewed Ed Wort's Apfelwein this past weekend so I'm sure that is one of the options!

Yup. The apfelwein is a good pick. I have a 4 month old boy and a 2.5 year old boy and a full time and demanding job. I always brew on A Saturday, and pretty much have to stick to extract for now due to time constraints. I'm usually exhausted by 11pm an my boys go to bed at 8 so I really only have a 3 hour window for everything.
I also love playing around with kits (in cans). Adding hops as grains, and just having fun. it's quick and easy and makes pretty good beer with a little tweaking.
Have a kid, brew some beer, have another kid, brew some more, and enjoy it all!

Yeah wine, cider, mead are all very easy and dont require a large chunk of time on a particular day.

But....
We have a 6 week old at home and Ive already brewed twice since he was born. What I try to do is split up the brew day as much as possible. So I weigh my grain and hops, mill my grain, fill up the HLT with my brewing water, and get all my equipment ready (even carboys/buckets) the night before. By being prepared ahead of time I have more time during the brew to 'help out' upstairs during lulls in the brew (mash, once boil has started, chilling, etc). Even if I dont actually do anything other than the occasional diaper change or bottle prep, she nags less often if she sees me a couple times in 4 hours.

I do have an electric setup so I dont have to worry about catching my garage on fire while Im away. And actually during the winter I have been turning the entire system on at around midnight the night before. That way all my water is at temp bright and early in the morning. Hell last brew I even poured some 170F water from my HLT into my french press and made coffee right in the garage!

Our first is now 7 weeks old and I brewed two batches last week. Although, I am currently a full time student, my wife isn't working right now, we are living with my in-laws, and I was on spring break last week.

Living the dream, I guess.

Anyway, I have a Kolsch and a Spotted Cow clone in primary.

you can go for total extract, or at least extract with specialty grains. mash on the stove, no 1 knows you're gone. brew the batch after every 1 is asleep or engrossed in a movie you don't care about

I tried to brew a lot before our first was born so I'd have a bank. and you will be exhausted. but one option is a few can kits. they're just 15 minute boil. now we have two boys (5 & 2) and just waiting to get over the age hump so I have two helpers to help daddy brew more often. when they help daddy (5 y/o helps me bottle), they stay out of mama's hair.

I have 5 kids and when I started brewing my youngest was 3, my 3 youngest have helped pretty regularly and even more after going AG. I typically brew in the evening and into the night but on the days I do, I'm usually doing "chores" in between mash, sparge, boil and hop additions.

I don't know what it would be like trying to brew with an infant but what I do remember with younger kids is that after everyone went to bed it was me time and I would try to do things for me at that time so I guess that is when I would be brewing.

kpr121 said:

Hell last brew I even poured some 170F water from my HLT into my french press and made coffee right in the garage!

Click to expand...

This. Is. Brilliant! Why haven't I thought of this?!?

It helps to have a wife that understands you need some time for brewing. I brew all grain and my daughter is currently 2.5 and I work a full time job. What I started doing is planning double brew days so I'm not brewing as often. Maybe once every couple months. I don't brew at night or after work because I'm already tired and I like to rest. I either brew on the weekends or I take a day off. I let my wife know well in advance so I'm not just springing it on her the day of or the day before. I grind my grain the day before, I set up everything I can the night before once my daughter goes to bed. Then I wake up just before she wakes up and start heating up my strike water. Then in the down time during the first mash I make my wife and I breakfast(gains extra points) and entertain my daughter a bit between measuring out hops and heating mash out and sparge water. From that point on, my time is very limited but my wife has always been willing to keep her occupied while I brew since she knows its something I enjoy doing. It ends up being a long double brew day since I do it all by myself but I usually have everything cleaned up and finished around 5:00. Then I spend the rest of my time with the family. It was definitely much easier for me to brew before we had a kid, but it helps to have a supportive wife.

we are living with my in-laws, and I was on spring break last week.

If you have a dedicated room for brewing the brewing can be divided into several days.
I have one kid and do this sometimes to be able to brew on workdays.

Example:
Day 1: Measure all malt, hops and water. Bring water up to boiling and leave it well isolated.

Day 2: The water is almost prefect now for mashing in. Adjust temp and mash in.
Mash out and raise temperature to boil and leave it over night. (This kills all bugs that could be in your wort)

Day 3: Boil, cool and pitch.

Takes about 3 hours every day for me, actual brew time is less, mostly waiting. Gives me time to read bed time stories.

Here's some kits that might help you folks out there that have youngins in da house that are either AG or extract with steeping grains that are finally back at midwest. One old fav,& two new ones,single hop IPA's!--- http://www.midwestsupplies.com/pages/single-hop-kits.html
Our kids are all grown,but weekdays & Saturday afternoons can be tricky. So I still have to plan a day where I'm sure we won't need to go to the library or run around on errands.

You just have to make time.

BTW with only one kid (especially if your wife is planning on staying home with the baby), it's actually pretty easy. It's only *really* become hard to find time now that we have three kids, especially since my 3 1/2 yo is autistic and refuses to be confined to the open garage. I can watch the 5 1/2 yo (and he helps), but that leaves the 3 1/2 yo and the infant with my wife...

My strategy is to try to avoid weekend brewing as much as possible. I'll brew in the evenings after work, as I stay up late anyway, or I'll try to brew when my wife might have some coverage from the in-laws. Alternatively, when I have vacation days piling up at work sometimes I'll just take a day off, tell my wife "pretend I'm at work", and brew. Hell, I've even hired a babysitter once for brewing!

I got 12 batches in last year, and I've already done 3 this year.

I don't have children but I spend a lot of time away from home (active duty military). I try to brew things that fit into my time schedule. If I have a short turn around time I make ciders and hefes. If I am going to be gone for 6 months I will make something that needs to age. If when I am home, and I don't have much time, I just buy good beer from the local brewery; I like supporting their small business and I really like drinking quality beer.

For me the kids weren't an issue. I've only 2. Wife and I both took time as needed to help the other out (I'm sure I helped less than she did, but you know how moms love to be with the kids! )

I've learned to prepare brewday as much as possible, measuring water and grain, crushing, setting everything out, etc. Then try and brew when it's nap or night time. Extract is awesome for quick brewing too.

I think the key is to plan a time when the other person is willing to give you the time to get it done, and if something comes up, don't get mad, just adjust and try again another time. Make sure the wife is able to get her time off too.

And understand that you can go a few months without brewing. If you get a pipeline built up ahead of time you can avoid the necessity (not necessarily the desire) of brewing during the first stage of baby time. With luck it won't take long before the little one is napping for several hours without needing a persons constant care.