Newborn Beer

Not quite sure where to post this, so I am posting it in the general area. My wife and I are expecting our first kid this September and I was wanting to brew something for the occasion. Basically I was thinking of brewing something, either a beer or wine, just before the baby comes and letting it age for 21 years to enjoy with the kid when they can legally drink.

So my question to all of you is what would be a good alcoholic beverage to make/brew for such an occasion? Any input is appreciated.

I've seen posts similar to this a few times. I think the consensus was some type of barleywine, but I can't remember. Do a search and you'll find some answers.


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Congrats!!!

My wife and I had our first one last September, and we brewed an IPA "for" him. It turned out great, but it was more of a "party favor" beer for family and friends, we even gave a couple of bombers to her OB/GYN (who also brews!). We weren't looking for a long term storage kind of thing. Celebrate the moment! We even had some custom labels made up with his picture from the day he was born, still in the hospital.

I'll tell you this, is was tough timing everything to coincide around his birth! The beer actually finished in the secondary a few days after he was born, so it worked perfectly to force carb in a keg and bottle within a week. I actually ordered the labels from the hospital room!

Anyway, enough of my reminiscing!

We do plan on brewing the same recipe every year for his birthday, as a present for us, and, eventually, for him! 😉


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In most states you can legally serve alcoholic beverages to your children in your home whenever you (in your capacity as a parent) deem it appropriate. I'd suggest offering samples whenever your child is curious about what you are drinking. Starting out with the assumption that your children wont drink at all until they are 21 is just silly and not well grounded in reality. Teaching your future kids to be a connoisseur, that drinking in moderation is a normal part of life, and demystifying alcoholic beverages in general will do far more to set them up for success in life than brewing any awesome well aged home-brew for them to enjoy (or not) at some arbitrary point in the future.

These kinda things always sound like a good idea but after 21 years a homebrew, even a barleywine is probably going to be really oxidized and taste terrible.

Afro_Lou, I like your idea of brewing the same thing each year on his birthday. That would get around my worry of having something horrible in 21 years and not knowing it.

Renoun, I plan on introducing our kid to alcohol well before he is 21. I am thinking of more along the lines of something for his "official" first drink.

Is there anything you could age in say a whisky barrel that may hold up better for a couple decades? The hard part is finding something that won't taste horrible in 21 years.

a 21 year old beer is a baby compared to some of these http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/an-1875-arctic-ale-tasting/

brew as big as you can (OG > 1.110). Avoid styles dependant on hop character because it will be long gone by the time you open it. Your best bet would probably be an imperial stout, barley wine or scotch ale. Make sure you use heavy bottles with corks and cages.

I'm not the most experienced brewer but I'd recommend a mead, maybe a wine, but September is awfully quick to try to get a wine. I think 21 years is too long for a barelywine or even a Belgian (St Bernardus 12 says you can age it for 15 years but that is shy of your mark).

My first brew was a mead that used really basic/primitive tools that I made for my wedding. It was made in less than 9 months and was good at the time. We opened a bottle not too long ago, almost 8 years later, and it was amazing. It should last the 21 years you want AS LONG AS YOU TAKE CARE OF IT.

I would recommend a sweet mead that borders on a sack mead. I would start it ASAP. A few weeks before your wife is due I'd bottle one bottle, or enough for everyone that you want to share the initial brew with, at that time. I'd let the rest sit for up to a year in a secondary and then bottle it and let it sit.

As an alternative you could make a barelywine, drink it young when she/he is born and then let the rest age and have it annually till it's gone or weird. Then on or round her/his 20th birthday he/she could help you make the same recipe that you both would enjoy the following year at the age of 21.

Just my 2 cents

At any rate congrats and enjoy it!

Mead is a cool idea too but read the zythophile post I linked to. All of those beers (big barley wines, burton ales and IRS) were brewed and packaged on "primitive" systems with questionable sanitation and most were aged in wood before the discovery of brettanomyces. Don't fear it going weird. Thats half the fun.

What is you buy a nice single barrel bourbon..... let it age for 21 years....

and then make a stout or wee heavy using it six months to a year before their birthday?

Just another idea....

I think I will look into a mead recipe. I have made one before and it took over a year before I could really drink it so that may be a good way to go.

Actually, who knows, maybe I could make a big big beer and a mead. That way I would double my chances of success in case one doesn't turn out.

I did the same thing for our son, he just turned 4 months old. I brewed a barley wine that a member gave me the recipe for a 15% English barely wine. I brewed it about 6 months ago. I cracked one open with a buddy of mine who likes barley wines and we both thought it was pretty good.

Here is recipe if you would like it.



Millstadt First Born Son English Barleywine

English Barleywine (19 B)



Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 10.00 gal
Boil Size: 13.92 gal
Boil Time: 120 min
End of Boil Vol: 10.92 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 10.00 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage


Date: 21 Oct 2013
Brewer: Craig Frazier
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: Stainless Kegs (10 Gal/37.8 L) - All Grain
Efficiency: 80.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 84.6 %
Taste Rating: 30.0


Taste Notes:



Ingredients


Amt

Name

Type

#

%/IBU

29 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 68.5 %
5 lbs 5.3 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 2 12.6 %
4 lbs Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 9.4 %
4 lbs Dememera Sugar (2.0 SRM) Sugar 4 9.4 %
10.00 oz Target [7.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 80.3 IBUs
4.00 oz Target [9.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 43.6 IBUs
5.33 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.20 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 21.8 IBUs
4.0 pkg Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [35.49 ml] Yeast 8 -


Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.133 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.018 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 15.5 %
Bitterness: 145.7 IBUs
Est Color: 17.6 SRM

Measured Original Gravity: 1.128 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.008 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 16.2 %
Calories: 456.5 kcal/12oz


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Sparge Water: 6.54 gal
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE


Total Grain Weight: 42 lbs 5.3 oz
Grain Temperature: 65.0 F
Tun Temperature: 62.0 F
Mash PH: 5.20

Mash Steps


Name

Description

Step Temperature

Step Time

Mash In Add 12.08 gal of water at 163.7 F 149.0 F 90 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 6.54 gal water at 168.0 F
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).



Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Bottle
Pressure/Weight: 7.85 oz
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 70.0 F
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage


Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Carbonation Used: Bottle with 7.85 oz Corn Sugar
Age for: 30.00 days
Storage Temperature: 65.0 F


Notes



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Thanks for the recipe. I think I will give it a try but cut it down to a 5 gallon batch to fit my equipment.