Is the Chief Brewer in your home brew operation male or female?

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Isd the Cheif Brewer in your home operation a Female or Male?

  • Female

  • Male

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Morrey

Morrey

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My wife works with me when I brew, but in a supporting role as she is multi-tasking with other chores while I stay focused on the boil, etc. She asked me how many women on HBT are the Chief Brewers and make all the beer brewing decisions in the home. Told her I have no clue but maybe this will give us an idea:
 
Yeah it can be hard to tell male from female by handles or avatars. I think my wife wants to balk at being involved since she feels it is a male dominated hobby. Personally, I don't think gender should have a big role in brewing. It's like saying only men should be chefs. I had hoped this poll would be more balanced so I could show my wife this is a gender balanced hobby which I think it is. But the poll results so far are not in my favor.
 
Morrey said:
Yeah it can be hard to tell male from female by handles or avatars. I think my wife wants to balk at being involved since she feels it is a male dominated hobby. Personally, I don't think gender should have a big role in brewing. It's like saying only men should be chefs. I had hoped this poll would be more balanced so I could show my wife this is a gender balanced hobby which I think it is. But the poll results so far are not in my favor.
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Does she like cooking? That's the analog I've used. My wife isn't involved, but she will drink the odd beer here and there, and she's been supportive.

I'm not sure having her involved would help much; having an extra set of hands would be less work for me, but I don't think I'd save much time. On the other hand, it would be nice to do it together.

I think part of what has made her supportive is that I handle all the cleanup involved w/ brewing. Other than small bits that go in the dishwasher, she doesn't touch any of the equipment for cleaning. Not that she can't, it just was my sense that if I was going to pursue this then whatever negatives were involved would be my responsibility.

I'm a little surprised she hasn't shown more interest just from a curiosity point of view. She likes to cook, to try new recipes, and certainly likes to explore things in cooking. But not so much interest in brewing.

[Funny story: I brewed an ESB with some new elements of the recipe and as of a week ago, I was very disappointed in it. Well. Saturday I tried it again after another week conditioning and Wowzer! It went from a beer that did nothing well to....a beer of which I had several refills. Her comment: "You've sure learned a lot about brewing, but the one thing you still haven't learned is patience."]
 
My wife usually likes to be part of the brewing process. If shes not helping shes at least sitting outside with me while I brew and its good couple time. But she is definitely my assistant when it comes to doughing in, and scooping the spent grains out of the mash tun.

I think homebrewing is definitely male dominated, but it doesnt mean there arent women homebrewers out there. I can think of at least 10 on this site. In the HB club I used to attend it was about 60% male 40% female.
 
My husband doesn't get involved in the actual process, but he loves to help me think of recipes and be a sounding board for ideas. I work part-time for a brewery as an assistant (unpaid right now, kinda, unless you count the equipment I've gotten from his old-stuff shed) with two guys. I may not be able to heave the grain bags up over the mash tun, but I can put together everything else and run the system pretty much by myself now.
 
mongoose33 said:
Does she like cooking? That's the analog I've used. My wife isn't involved, but she will drink the odd beer here and there, and she's been supportive.

I'm not sure having her involved would help much; having an extra set of hands would be less work for me, but I don't think I'd save much time. On the other hand, it would be nice to do it together.

I think part of what has made her supportive is that I handle all the cleanup involved w/ brewing. Other than small bits that go in the dishwasher, she doesn't touch any of the equipment for cleaning. Not that she can't, it just was my sense that if I was going to pursue this then whatever negatives were involved would be my responsibility.

I'm a little surprised she hasn't shown more interest just from a curiosity point of view. She likes to cook, to try new recipes, and certainly likes to explore things in cooking. But not so much interest in brewing.

[Funny story: I brewed an ESB with some new elements of the recipe and as of a week ago, I was very disappointed in it. Well. Saturday I tried it again after another week conditioning and Wowzer! It went from a beer that did nothing well to....a beer of which I had several refills. Her comment: "You've sure learned a lot about brewing, but the one thing you still haven't learned is patience."]
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I guess we'll have to learn the art of patience while still striving for perfection:mug:

I solicit wife's involvement based largely on the fact this would give us quality time doing together projects. I know what you mean about needing a dishwasher, but I'd rather do that myself anyway.

I handed her a catalog and asked her to select a recipe that looked good, and she picked a Brick Warmer Red. We took the ingredient list to a LHBS and put together the recipe. She had a good discussion with the owner telling how she had selected this recipe, plus she showed good knowledge of the brewing process. The beer turned out fantastic and she bragged to her GF's at a party she made this beer and they all raved about it. So I know she can do it. She still thinks this is a man's sport, but I try to get her involved for quality time together.
 
seatazzz said:
My husband doesn't get involved in the actual process, but he loves to help me think of recipes and be a sounding board for ideas. I work part-time for a brewery as an assistant (unpaid right now, kinda, unless you count the equipment I've gotten from his old-stuff shed) with two guys. I may not be able to heave the grain bags up over the mash tun, but I can put together everything else and run the system pretty much by myself now.
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The way you and your husband are working together brewing is an identical mirror image of my wife working with me.
 
My wife and I brew together, but I'm definitely the one running the brew sessions. Of course, that makes sense, since I had started brewing years before we met, and I was her introduction into brewing.
 
My wife and I started brewing in part to have a mutual hobby. I'm definitely the lead but she is fully involved in every aspect. We love brewing together! When I get a week day off and we can brew while the kids are gone to school, it even more fun. 😜
She picked the name "ugly sister brewery".
 
One thing I would like to note, though, even though my wife is my "assistant", she was the (unwise) one who bought me my first brew kit (brooklyn brew shop, 1 gal) and more or less got me going down the rabbit hole. So she gets a partial vote for making a big (costly) mistake :D
 
+1 on my wife will come to the LHBS and at least sit out there with me and listen to the radio and have some good conversation when I brew. Not every time, but several times at least. She also helps with a few odd and end tasks but thinks its more for guys. Hell, shes even gotten to know the guys at the cigar shop b/c she will go pick some out and surprise me with a good stick. She still thinks all of that is more "guy hobbies" but I applaud the wives that at least support us and our hobbies its always nice.
 
There are other women brewers on the forum, and they can "out" themselves if they want to, but I won't do it for them. I love that we are gender-less here. We are all brewers.

I remember the first National Homebrewer's Conference I went to- there were like 800 people and about 5 of attending the seminars were female. Things have changed- there are quite a few women at the seminars these days although it is still predominantly male and white.

My best friend brews, and I met her here on this forum as a matter of fact. I know some women who brew alone (as I do), and others that brew with a partner or spouse. My husband knows nothing about brewing, and doesn't care to learn. He's told me before "It's YOUR hobby!" when I mentioned that it would be nice to share it with him. He's just not interested in brewing, and I'm not interested in vegetable gardening so we have our own hobbies but enjoy the fruits of each others' labors!
 
Yooper said:
He's just not interested in brewing, and I'm not interested in vegetable gardening so we have our own hobbies but enjoy the fruits of each others' labors!
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Just sort of curious what sort of growing season do you folks get in the UP, also what commonly grows for Bob?


And then not to derail, my wife bought me my initial brewing rig, and supports my hobby, but espouses no interest in participating. That being said she's got one of the more discerning palates of anyone I know and I can always count on her for an honest (if sometimes depressing) evaluation of my beer.
 
dryboroughbrewing said:
That being said she's got one of the more discerning palates of anyone I know and I can always count on her for an honest (if sometimes depressing) evaluation of my beer.
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This is the truth. I had my wife try my new IPA yesterday, which admittedly is slightly undercarbed (back at 26psi right now) and she says "Meh, its alright. Flavor is there, needs more carbonation." :confused:
 
My wife hates the smell when I am brewing, that's why I brew outdoors. When I do small batches inside on the stove top, I get an ear full of how awful it smells which carries over to the following morning. Plus my oldest daughter doesn't like it when I do my small batches indoors. With that being said, it's my hobby, I brew alone and my wife thinks I'm obsessed with it (and pokes fun at me).
 
I'm the only only brewer in my house. My wife is just happy that I have something to do during my retirement.

Phew, I thought maybe you were going to tell me I had to use a different bathroom or something :mug:
 
In that case, Dave, I can see her hands off attitude. Heck, my wife drinks more of certain beers than I do! I need to rethink my strategy here.
 
dryboroughbrewing said:
Just sort of curious what sort of growing season do you folks get in the UP, also what commonly grows for Bob?


And then not to derail, my wife bought me my initial brewing rig, and supports my hobby, but espouses no interest in participating. That being said she's got one of the more discerning palates of anyone I know and I can always count on her for an honest (if sometimes depressing) evaluation of my beer.
Click to expand...

It's a very short growing season! We have all sorts of things, from herbs to veggies. No peppers (season is too short), but most other veggies that we enjoy. We get greens in May, and brussel sprouts through October, so we have something most of those months. We have frost up until early June sometimes, and sometimes a frost at Labor Day, so some years are better than others!

Bob also has a great palate, and he really helps me tweak some beers. He'll say, "This is good, but I'd like a bit more citrus on the nose, and a bit of a biscuity flavor to the malt".....and then I can make it better because of his suggestions.
 
I brew solo being single(no guys, I am not interested at my age, don't ask!) but friends sometimes sit in and help with the heavy lifting since I have a bad back and shoulders. But I have done a lot of "men only" things in my life, I have rebuilt houses with my dad including doing plumbing and wiring, raced a drag car on weekends at our local fun track(2 mile strip of road the sheriff shut down for us to use on Saturdays and Sundays, I had a Gremlin X with the 401 V8 and a 4 speed, very much a sleeper that surprised out of towners), I hunt, fish, shoot and build guns...
 
I had expected a slant toward male brewers but not a 96% landslide as the poll showed. In the fairness of disclosure I showed the thread to my wife who immediately gloated saying I told you this was a male dominated activity. However, the biggest point we saw is how many men want their wives involved in brewing as a together activity. I also pointed out that the ladies often have objective taste profiles and can offer honest opinions about the product. A good example is when I am adding tinctures at kegging or when deciding to pull a dry hop bag, she can offer spot on advice that I value.

So we felt good about this and she laughed and said, "Shall we consider vacuuming a together activity?
 
About the only involvement my wife has in the process is to open the door every hour or so to tell me I'm making the house stink.
 
The decision to start brewing was mine and I, by far, am the main motivation in doing so. With that said, my wife loves to brew with me when both of us are able! Having a kid that is involved in several activities which means that often we have to share duties so we don't always get to enjoy the process from start to finish together, but she loves it as a hobby and all the great tasting experiments we get to enjoy!
 
When you look back at history, I find it somewhat sad that the "renaissance" of homebrewing is mainly a "man's" thing. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, homebrewing was very common, it was mainly a "woman's" thing.

I found out recently that the whole Witch imagery that is so familiar to us at Halloween is most likely derived from medieval Ale wives.

Picture this:
- A big bubbling cauldron, in which you throw herbs
- A cat to keep vermin away from the grain
- Long hats to be recognized in fairs
- Broom sticks were displayed above the door of a brewer to signify that ale was available for sale.

As usual, the Catholic Church had to take control of that (you know, women with kind of powers are scary, right?).

A few interesting articles:
https://www.craftbeer.com/editors-picks/what-do-witches-and-brewers-have-in-common/
http://brewhoppin.com/2015/10/the-truth-of-women-and-beer-witches/


That being said, my wife is not interested at all in my brewing hobby (obsession). She really doesn't enjoy the smell in the house. But she sure does enjoy having access to "gluten reduced" beer on tap (she is gluten intolerant), though, so she is pretty accommodating. :)
 
Morrey said:
My wife works with me when I brew, but in a supporting role as she is multi-tasking with other chores while I stay focused on the boil, etc.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much how it is at my place too. She gets bored 'watching' grains steep for an hour and wanders off to do other things. Someday I hope to get her to do a full batch by herself with just prompting from me, but so far it hasn't happened.
 
It seems to me that the wording of the question is part of the reason you are not seeing what you had hoped to see. It seems like you really want to know how many female are involved, and stating Chief Brewer means who is running the show. I think if it would have been worded a little differently, or even added an option of both that you would have seen a lot more both come up, which would have helped you with your point. For me, it is just me. My wife hates the smell of brew day, which is why I am in the garage or outside! Myself, I love the smell!
 
My wife wants to get into brewing, but she can't grow a beard so I'm pretty sure her beer will suck.
 
When I used to predominantly bottle my wife would volunteer to help. Not once did she actually come down and actually help. She sounded sincere though!

And she actually asked if we could brew some beer this Sunday. I'll post back but I think that means she wants to sit on the patio drinking beer and watching me brew. :)
 
I run a one man operation. I would gladly let my wife brew with me or even take over on a batch but she is just now starting to like some beers where as before she hated beer
 
TenaCJed said:
It seems to me that the wording of the question is part of the reason you are not seeing what you had hoped to see. It seems like you really want to know how many female are involved, and stating Chief Brewer means who is running the show. I think if it would have been worded a little differently, or even added an option of both that you would have seen a lot more both come up, which would have helped you with your point. For me, it is just me. My wife hates the smell of brew day, which is why I am in the garage or outside! Myself, I love the smell!
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I see your point, but if the wording is changed, the meaning is changed too. My question is actually directed more at spouses or families that may be made up of males and females. In this scenario, I was wondering how many females (in a mixed gender household) actually decide when to brew, what to brew and then take the lead in brewing. Maybe the husband is involved, maybe not, case in point is Yooper or Seatazz who's husbands are not involved. In this case, Yooper and Seatazz are clearly the Chief Brewers or decision makers. MaryB has no male in her home that she disclosed, so if MaryB chooses to brew, that is clearly her decision and qualifies her as the Chief Brewer.

By saying "Chief Brewer" I was searching out how many females in a home make the decision to brew and take the lead role. If the decision was left up to my wife to take the lead role in brewing, I'd be drinking store bought beer all the time. Granted she helps as an assistant to some limited degree, but she clearly would not brew a beer on her own. I have encouraged her to gain this knowledge and experience but she is not interested. But yes, your point is valid, and to further your thinking to encourage my wife, a large percentage of the posts do say that females in the home or relationship do have involvement in the brewing process. You make a good point by saying this.
 
Okay, I will chime in with Yopper. I am the one that does the brewing, cooking, and vegetable garden in our house, along with being a Director at an Observatory and from my avatar it is hard to tell if I am male or female, but I am a girl that loves to brew. I enjoy all facets of brewing, being that it is like cooking. Your building a recipe and creating it. Then relaxing and enjoying it.

I just finished planting the spring garden, so fresh veggies here we come. Luckily I do not need to wait until late May or June to plant. Can have a garden year around down here in Texas.

In fact in our brew club there are several women that enjoy brewing. Maybe it is just a Texan thing!!!!
 

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