Would it be easier for you to give up drinking beer or brewing beer?

In 2 days my wife will have the proper blood test to see if our month long process of IVF will have resulted in a pregnancy. A month ago she had to give up drinking beer/alcohol and caffine (which was very hard for her to do) and to support her I said I would do the same thing for this first month of shots and other treatments. She has taken 2 home pregnancy tests that both indicate a positive result but a clinical blood test will be definitive on Wednesday. She asked me today over dinner if it was harder for me to give up drinking beer or brewing beer and I had to think about it. If given the choice as to what to do for the next 8 months I think I would miss brewing just as much as I would miss drinking good beer.

This makes me wonder if I should be in some sort of 12 step program for people addicted to brewing.

I could give up drinking beer a lot easier than I could brewing. Hell, I don't even drink that much as it is. Most of my homebrew goes to other people, and I enjoy that.

funkapottomous said:

I could give up drinking beer a lot easier than I could brewing. Hell, I don't even drink that much as it is. Most of my homebrew goes to other people, and I enjoy that.

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This applies to me, too.

i drink most of what i brew, so it would be a ***** to give up drinking what i brew

funkapottomous said:

I could give up drinking beer a lot easier than I could brewing. Hell, I don't even drink that much as it is. Most of my homebrew goes to other people, and I enjoy that.

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I probably give away over half of what I brew to our friends and family so after reading what you have written my friends would probably prefer for me to give up drinking instead of giving up brewing.

As long as I could still surf HBT, I think I could give up brewing easier than drinking.

If I gave up my kids, I could brew and drink much more. Kidding of course. Good luck to you!

funkapottomous said:

I could give up drinking beer a lot easier than I could brewing. Hell, I don't even drink that much as it is. Most of my homebrew goes to other people, and I enjoy that.

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This post nails it for me!

I cut way back on drinking and brewing while my wife was pregnant. She didn't really think it was necessary for me to give it up with her. It was harder for her to give up drinking coffee than beer ... even though she is a fan of a good glass of porter.

But in the grand scheme of things, the 9 months will come and go and is not a huge amount of time. You can do many things, such as brew a big beer and let it mature, and then when the babe comes, you both can celebrate!

It should be noted, that during this time period you should use some of your drinking time to store up some reserve sleep ... for the period after birth when you will get none.



Good Luck!
~rc~

If I couldn't drink it, I wouldn't brew it. It would be easier to give up brewing.

I like beer too much, I would give up brewing first without thinking about it. Fortunately I haven't had to make that decision.

There are lots of guys here on the board that are non-drinkers due to medical reasons, but still brew.

I think I would continue brewing even if I couldn't drink it, maybe just not as frequently.

I love brewing beer, but I love drinking it even more.
I'd miss the brewing, but I would likely have to start therapy, if I had to stop drinking beer for some reason.

No.

Yuri_Rage said:

No.

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At first I thought it was a hard question. But then it came really easy. I realized that I drank beer long before I started brewing it, 20 years before I started brewing. And I drink beer almost every day and only brew maybe twice a month.

I think it would be much harder to give up drinking it than brewing it. In fact last year with the surgery I gave it up for 2-3 months. And it wasn't fun.

It's a good question by the way.

If I had to chose, I'd give up brewing.

For the situation you're in, I'd still brew once every couple of months. Find recipes that need to age a while, brew longer aging beer first, less aging beers next, and if you time it right they'll all be ready for when y'all can drink again.

Thanks for everyone's replies. We will know by dinner time tomorrow (Wed evening) as to if the IVF procedure worked. Either outcome I plan on having my first beer in a month and doing a small stovetop BIAB this weekend. When the weather allows for it I plan on brewing a nice higher SG beer for my wife to enjoy in 9-12 months time. She enjoys botyh higher ABV beers and higher IBU beers. Anyone have suggestions on what might be a nice homebrew beer present to suprise her with?

msa8967 said:

Thanks for everyone's replies. We will know by dinner time tomorrow (Wed evening) as to if the IVF procedure worked. Either outcome I plan on having my first beer in a month and doing a small stovetop BIAB this weekend. When the weather allows for it I plan on brewing a nice higher SG beer for my wife to enjoy in 9-12 months time. She enjoys botyh higher ABV beers and higher IBU beers. Anyone have suggestions on what might be a nice homebrew beer present to suprise her with?

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Best of luck to both of you! I'd say brew a barleywine, but throw in a few roasty specialty grains to give it a porter-esqe feel (you said she likes porters, and coffee...) Or maybe just a big 8 or 9% coffee stout...

AS to the OP/question...my first though would be as Revvy said: I get to drink more than I brew, and further to that there are so many damn fine craft breweries now! Still, if it weren't for my brewing, I wouldn't have *nearly* as fine a handle on beer in general. Not to sound boastful, but I had the random opportunity to walk through a new local brewpub with one of the owners (a guy who is admittedly more on the financial side of things), and it almost felt like I was giving him a tour of his own brewery. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't appreciate beer in general, and certainly not my own beer, as much if I wasn't a homebrewer. I might just have to pick that it would be homebrewing I would miss more...

I only brew every couple of months. I drink much more often then that.

I would miss drinking more than brewing. Good luck to you and your wife. We just found out my wife is pregnant. I will slow down my drinking a little but since I seldom have more than 2 beers a night I will not change much. At the end I will stop drinking almost totally like I have for other two kids we have. I find when they reach 2 or so it leads to more drinking. I am so afraid of the teenage years. I do not think my liver can handle it.

We got the test results about 2 hours ago and found out that we are definitely expecting. Think it is time for a beer or two to celebrate.

From reading all of these responses I think it would harder for me to give up looking at HBT forum than to give up either drinking beer or brewing.

msa8967 said:

I probably give away over half of what I brew to our friends and family so after reading what you have written my friends would probably prefer for me to give up drinking instead of giving up brewing.

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I'm glad other people are like this too. I took a bit of heat for saying this recently...people couldn't believe I gave away most of my beer. I only have 1-2 a night averaged out, but I love creating recipes and brewing them.

As for the OP--keep brewing! Not drinking for 8 months = happy family (a.k.a.future babysitters!) + SICK pipeline for when you can drink again + (most important) happy wife= big time WIN!!!

msa8967 said:

We got the test results about 2 hours ago and found out that we are definitely expecting. Think it is time for a beer or two to celebrate.

From reading all of these responses I think it would harder for me to give up looking at HBT forum than to give up either drinking beer or brewing.

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Congrats on the good news.

msa8967 said:

We got the test results about 2 hours ago and found out that we are definitely expecting. Think it is time for a beer or two to celebrate.

From reading all of these responses I think it would harder for me to give up looking at HBT forum than to give up either drinking beer or brewing.

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Congratulations! I would rather give up brewing than drinking. That being said, my little girl is a year and a half old and I did give up drinking for the ninth month of the pregnancy. That was a long four weeks. And she came three days late!! I'm not sure how I ever survived...

Congrats on the kid!

I could definitely give up brewing easier, but I'm also new to the game. I think I agreed to try and give up drinking when my fiancee and I have kids. I think we'd both definitely be down for brewing up some sick stuff to sit for a bit so when we can drink again, we can do it in style.

No matter what. Brew up as much as you can now and build up a good pipeline. Once the baby pop out your brew days will be few and far between.

Obviously if you give up drinking then you most likely are going to have to give up brewing anyway....I mean logically. Unless of course you are the Santa of beer providers and dont mind giving all your beer away for free that you brew.

I could give up brewing as long as I could still drink a good homebrew or microbrew frequently! I've given up drinking beer for a month once. It was tough for a week and then not that bad until I saw a friend drinking a nice microbrew at a resturant and started getting cold sweats....

dirtdigger said:

I love brewing beer, but I love drinking it even more.
I'd miss the brewing, but I would likely have to start therapy, if I had to stop drinking beer for some reason.

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Ditto.

Hard for me to imagine brewing beer and not drinking it. I have not bought a six pack of beer at a store since I started brewing my own 3 1/2 yrs ago. We do go to a pub from time to time and have a beer though. Even at gatherings with friends I bring my own brew.

However, I would give up brewing before drinking.

I couldn't give up brewing, and definitely couldn't give up drinkin' beer. The two go hand in hand, kind of, you can't brew beer and not drink it!

I hope to brew for the rest of my life... But, oh man! To be able to create the things that I do and not drink it? Horrors!

Super congrats on the expected assistant brewer!

I have to agree that they go together so it would be tough to brew and not drink. If I was forced to quit drinking I would probably quit brewing unless I was doing it for money....

I would switch to wine!! Lol. What about brewing for others, but drinking store bought? I like looking at ALL the angles.

Anyway, very good question! I honestly don't know what I would do, but would lean towards not brewing, and I don't even drink that much...

Good luck with the pregnancy!! SWMBO and I have been trying for awhile, so I understand what you are going through! Cheers to those that have succeeded!!

I'm really really really lazy. so obviously it'd be easier to stop brewing. Of course, the other option is probably healthier.

funkapottomous said:

I could give up drinking beer a lot easier than I could brewing. Hell, I don't even drink that much as it is. Most of my homebrew goes to other people, and I enjoy that.

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This really hits the nail on the head for me too

Well readers of this thread I can say that my wife's progress on baby #2 is going well so far and I have started both brewing and drinking again. Just one beer with dinner and I have been doing so BIAB stove top sessions to make 2.5 gallon size brews. this is going to give me a chance to do some smaller size brews of recipes I have not yet made before. We will know on the 12th if the pregnancy is viable and how many of the embryos are growing via the IVF.

I bought a second burner, brew pot and made a second mashtun so I can run two brews at the same time because my brewing days will be limited for quite some time. I have really enjoyed reading your responses to my original question and it is good to see many brewers out there that freely share the benefits of their craft with family and friends.

I could totally drink and not brew..... did it for years with a clear conscience....

Thats like asking Left nut or Right nut.

Hope I'm not being an a-hole, but this is a chance for the OP to have a designated driver! It's AFTER the baby is born where you will be too busy to brew or drink as much! (Been there.)