Does anybody get the kids involved?

I brewed up an IPA this past week, and my daughter was extremely interested in all the goings on. She wanted to help in every step. When we were done she was extremely proud of "our" beer and watches the airlock for bubbles. The funny part is that she is only 4 years old. I got a big kick out of having such an excited little helper, since the wife doesn't care at all (as long as I don't make a "big mess"). Just wondering if anyone else has little ones "help" them.

My 14 year old son is my assistant just about everytime I brew.

Not yet. Well, not really anyway. My two are really young yet (1 and 3) and it's just too dangerous. When the 3 year is in the garage with me, he's either riding the electric 4 wheeler around, throwing/kicking stuff or hitting things with the rubber mallet. The younger one LOVES to be in the garage with me, though, and I find myself carrying him around out there a lot.

My son is 8 years old and he helps me dump the grains into my barley crusher but that's about it. I'm not too sure I want him around propane just yet.

My 3 year old likes to eat the barley before it's crushed. She likes to dump grain into the hopper on the mill too.

ktm250 said:

Does anybody get the kids involved?

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My kid's involvement is mainly in drinking my beer.







. . . but they're 28 and 35 years old! :cross:

Both of my kids are sad that I don't bottle anymore. They helped by handing me the caps and by writing the letter of the beer on it after it went into the box. Now, they just show up for hop additions. At 7 and 5, they can't lift a sack of grain for ****...

LakeErieBrew said:

My 3 year old likes to eat the barley before it's crushed. She likes to dump grain into the hopper on the mill too.

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+1. Bean's been going to the homebrew shop with me since she was wee little. She gets pissed when I don't let her run the drill to crush the grain. LOVES earning grain; we went to the HBS a while back, the owner offered her a cookie but instead she just wanted to chow down on some Munich malt!

Mischief_Brewing said:

Both of my kids are sad that I don't bottle anymore. They helped by handing me the caps and by writing the letter of the beer on it after it went into the box. Now, they just show up for hop additions. At 7 and 5, they can't lift a sack of grain for ****...

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I'm thinking Bean could. She's about to turn six, but she's strong as hell for her age (going to be daddy's little power forward, if all goes to plan ). She has no problem carrying the big sack of dog food all the way around the store for me!

This was a few years ago, but he still helps out with stirring and the occasional hop addition. He does enjoy hanging out with me when I brew. Inevitably, he ends up doing something near dangerous and it's time to corral him. His little sister is less interested in the brewing process and more interested on what she can throw in the kettle.

My 14 year old helps on bottling day, but my 18 year doesn't seem to care - too much work I guess.

I've a 5 and 3 year old. I mash and sparge in the kitchen and all that hot water is just to dangerous to have kids poking around. I DO let the kids apply bottlecap stickers after I've bottled and let it sit for a day. They get a kick out of the stickers.

My 2 year old likes to eat spent grain. I lift her up occasionally so she can see the mash or boil. She wants to help but is just too young. In a couple of years she will be able to. We'll see.

Every time I have a beer she tells me she wants to taste the beer.

At my in-laws over Thanksgiving. She went to the fridge and brought me a bottle of beer at 9:00 am without me asking. I just hope she keeps doing this when she is older!

My kid is the one who got me interested. I watched him brew up an extract batch and decided a couple years later to try it myself. Of course, he was about 27 when he showed me.

Both of my kids are sad that I don't bottle anymore. They helped by handing me the caps and by writing the letter of the beer on it after it went into the box. Now, they just show up for hop additions. At 7 and 5, they can't lift a sack of grain for ****...

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Have you tried buying a little smaller sack? Those 50 pounders might be a little much but they might handle a 10 pound or maybe it has to go all the way down to the 1 pound size.

My soon-to-be 4 year old likes to help with pouring the grain into the hopper, but that's about all so far. Hmm, maybe I should see if she'd like to be Mommy's Little (Brew) Helper, and then I wouldn't have to brew at night after she's gone to bed anymore.

Actually she kind of surprised me. She has never really showed any interest in the beer making before. But when I got the ingredients out, she asked if she could help. I was making an extract batch, so she put the specialty grains in for the steep, and then helped stir when I added the extract. Next was "helping" put the wort into the fermenter. Now she cant wait till its done and asks everyday if its done. This is something I am going to encourage. It would be nice to have a helper.

my three year old loves to dump the hops in and stir the soup (hoop) a few times. i just make sure i'm holding him when he's that close to 212F liquid.

My grandfather taught me to brew when i was ten. I was his assistant, he was an old school guy who brewed during prohibition in Detroit, and it helped pay the bills during the depression. He brought the skill over from Hungary where he was a professional brewer. I learned alot, probably not very politically correct to todays standards, but i cherish the time i spent with him. I always think of him when i brew, and my first toast is in his honor. He died @ 92.

redwingnut said:

My grandfather taught me to brew when i was ten. I was his assistant, he was an old school guy who brewed during prohibition in Detroit, and it helped pay the bills during the depression. He brought the skill over from Hungary where he was a professional brewer. I learned alot, probably not very politically correct to todays standards, but i cherish the time i spent with him. I always think of him when i brew, and my first toast is in his honor. He died @ 92.

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Awesome!!

My kid, now 11, is an alcoholic. He started helping me when he was 9 and started sneaking beer when he was 10 after he brewed a IIPA almost solo. So watch out if you involve your kids, could turn bad. We have had to have his stomach pumped 3 times and he is now in rehab but the kids there are pretty tough. He has been disciplined for knifing another kid in a fight (the other kid was cut up pretty bad but thankfully lived.) After getting into drinking he got into other stuff and formed a gang.

stevedasleeve said:

My kid, now 11, is an alcoholic. He started helping me when he was 9 and started sneaking beer when he was 10 after he brewed a IIPA almost solo. So watch out if you involve your kids, could turn bad. We have had to have his stomach pumped 3 times and he is now in rehab but the kids there are pretty tough. He has been disciplined for knifing another kid in a fight (the other kid was cut up pretty bad but thankfully lived.) After getting into drinking he got into other stuff and formed a gang.

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Wait....


What???

I hope he meant that his kid is 21 or 31 or.... My daughter (3 years old) loves to help me clean up, she uses the hose to clean my keggle and other equipment.

uhhh wow

My 5 year old just wants to know if the airlock is bubbling..and thats only when I check it

stevedasleeve said:

My kid, now 11, is an alcoholic. He started helping me when he was 9 and started sneaking beer when he was 10 after he brewed a IIPA almost solo. So watch out if you involve your kids, could turn bad. We have had to have his stomach pumped 3 times and he is now in rehab but the kids there are pretty tough. He has been disciplined for knifing another kid in a fight (the other kid was cut up pretty bad but thankfully lived.) After getting into drinking he got into other stuff and formed a gang.

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so you're the ahole father of the kid that knifed my son.

My boys (5 and 2) love to help, though I keep them away from all of the hot water processes. The 5 year old names all of my beers, which gets you pretty slick names like "Wolverine's Claws Kolsch". His naming preferences are opening me up to a Marvel lawsuit though.

However, after reading this thread, I'm a bit disappointed that neither of them have formed a gang and iced some sucka. Slackers.

doctorRobert said:

so you're the ahole father of the kid that knifed my son.

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lolz

My 5 year old likes to help me i let her dump the grains into the barley crusher then pull the trigger on the drill to crush them.

ccleaver2 said:

My 5 year old likes to help me i let her dump the grains into the barley crusher . . .

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How many fingers does she have left.

LOL oh trust me she has them all im very safe with that stuff as i used to be in charge of health and safety in a union.

No kids and I can't even get SWMBO to help. I can't even get her to stay out of the sink when I'm soaking bottles. I'll come back after 20 minutes of soak to see if the labels are loose enough and there will be a mostly empty juice glass in my oxyclean water.

No one complaining about introducing children to activity that isn't legal till 21 (USA) yet?

SwampassJ said:

No kids and I can't even get SWMBO to help. I can't even get her to stay out of the sink when I'm soaking bottles. I'll come back after 20 minutes of soak to see if the labels are loose enough and there will be a mostly empty juice glass in my oxyclean water.

No one complaining about introducing children to activity that isn't legal till 21 (USA) yet?

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Jesus Christ no. I want the kids to know and respect and understand beer. Making it taboo is going to tempt them further. Much better that they learn about beer and alcohol from me and Mama than from some high school senior with nefarious intentions.

Definitely! My two sons, 2.5 and 4.5, help out. They they pitch the yeast, they name the beer ("Bropsa Bripsa" -- that was a few years ago, and doubtless it would be "Iron Man Stout" and "Buzz Lightyear IPA" now), they taste the beer (just a sip, mind) and they like to grind barley. Hand-cranked Victoria mill, too -- none of this "pull the trigger on the drill" slacking!

http://http://vimeo.com/8424072

the_bird said:

Jesus Christ no. I want the kids to know and respect and understand beer. Making it taboo is going to tempt them further. Much better that they learn about beer and alcohol from me and Mama than from some high school senior with nefarious intentions.

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Dont have kids, and my biggest worry is finishing up college and finding a job, but I couldn't agree more with what you just said. My parents "educated" me about alcohol when I was in high school, theres nothing wrong with a glass of wine at the dinner table. It is legal however, to be under 21 and drink in your house under direct parental supervision in NJ. But it taught me the effects of alcohol and I'd just shake my head when I'd see the other kids in high school that drank for the first time and got whacked out of their skulls because they didn't know limitations.

My son has been my helper since he was about 2. He specializes in begging me to take him to the "beer store" and stirring my mash tun when I batch sparge. He used to ferry my bottles between the dish washer and my floor when I bottled as well, but that often ended poorly, thank God I don't bottle anymore...

As to the taboo thing, my dad brewed a bit when I was growing up, and he is definetly all about the beer (he is my largest customer and even bought my kegging set up) so I know first hand that being exposed to it, and taught to respect the beer and not go overboard can be a positive influence.

On New Year's Eve I made an extract batch of Orfy's Hobgoblin. My four year old son wanted to be there every second of the process "so I can know what the ingredients are when I'm big." Each time he needed a break he asked me to "pause it" until he got back. Yes, he was raised with DVD and computer technology!

B

I love working the recipes with him!!

I get the fam involved as well. Then we do an rootbeer.

My dughter always wants to help, but saometimes it can lead to trouble. Yea, like when my daughter last year (4 years old) was at the bank with my wife when she wandered off (wife used to work there). She proceeded to tell a small group that her Daddy loves beer, and that she makes beer for Daddy, and that he has beer in the garage, under the steps, and has four refridgerators full of beer. He loves it so much that he drinks it all the time, in the morning, for lunch and for dinner.
She even went on to tell them how to make beer, boiling wort and adding hops, then adding the yeast.
If that wasn't funny enough, she also told her teacher at school. That was a little harder to explain.
I manage a restuarant/bar, and she had wandered off and was holding court with about ten of my employees, they though is was hilarious, still trying to live it down.

I agree with The_Bird! I have an 11 year old carboy washer and she loves to hang out and make beer. Make Beer!! anybody here that? MAKE BEER! She's not drinking it! She's Making it, like Science, like making cheese, canning food, preserving food, gardening... Make sense?

coderbond said:

She's Making it, like Science, like making cheese, canning food, preserving food, gardening... Make sense?

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math, creativity, experimenting, cooking, etc....

Science and sufficiency!

stevedasleeve said:

My kid, now 11, is an alcoholic. He started helping me when he was 9 and started sneaking beer when he was 10 after he brewed a IIPA almost solo. So watch out if you involve your kids, could turn bad. We have had to have his stomach pumped 3 times and he is now in rehab but the kids there are pretty tough. He has been disciplined for knifing another kid in a fight (the other kid was cut up pretty bad but thankfully lived.) After getting into drinking he got into other stuff and formed a gang.

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Tell me this guy is BSing, that or found his way to HBT by accident while looking for a MethBewTalk.com... Cause who the hell leaves an 11 year old unattended for 3.5 hrs to make the beer and doesn't find the fermentor for 2 weeks.. Then goes without noticing a missing Keg or 2 cases of bottles? Gimme a break!