What does your SWMBO think of your brewing hobby(lifestyle for some of you)

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wife bought me the kit,helps brew,sanitize,bottle and drink the rewards.
only thing better would be for her to leave the drinking part to me ;)
 
My wife is 100% supportive. She loves beer and has been really cool about me spending so much time on brewing related activities. She was also very excited to tell our friends about the new "beer geyser".... read : keezer
 
Unfortunately, my lovely bride hates the smell of the brewing, fermenting, bottling and the drinking process. She had a childhood filled with an alcoholic father and somehow fears that her easygoing, fun-loving husband will follow the same path. I actually feel bad for her, for she can't get over her childhood/teenage issues. Maybe someday she will realize brewing/drinking beer isn't the root of all evil. Rant over.
 
Mine bought be the equipment in august and she's been there brewing and bottling every time. It's like a fun activity and we get lots of beer out of it. Good stuff really. Just did my 8th batch since august had to buy another bucket today!
 
smokey said:
My wife is supportive, she knows how much I like brewing. She bought me brewing classic styles, extreme brewing, and brewing related magazines and mailed them to me while I was deployed. She didn't complain much when I put the beer fridge and the fermenter cabinet in the office. The downside is she hates the smell of the wort, it makes her gag, so I am banned to the garage/outside for mashing/boiling. :drunk:
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I've already been promised a dedicated indoor all electric brewing area in the next house due to the smell of wort. :rockin:
 
My wife loves the beer I brew, comes home with bombers of interesting stuff whenever she goes to the fancy-pants local grocery store, etc. She's a little incredulous about the cost and the endless gear-purchasing treadmill. I'm also a cyclist and skier, and the basement is totally full of bikes, bike stuff, ski stuff, etc along with the obligatory workshop, table saw etc. She has no expensive hobbies, and has a hard time wrapping her brain around how much things cost. Example: I got started brewing less than a year ago and brew extract, partial boil on the stove. I have five cornys and a keezer, couple of carboys, etc. I have one cobra tap on a length of tube, no taps, no coffin, no drip tray, no dual regulator or gas manifold. The other day i was brewing and mentioned wanting to get these things, explaining how I wanted to get into all-grain, etc. and she looked at me with total incredulity: "You mean there's more stuff you need for brewing?"

I haven't had the heart to tell her that there will always be more stuff I need for brewing.
 
My wife supports it fully and is constantly encouraging me to put together plans to go micro-brew-pub. She doesn't drink NEAR as much of it as I do but enjoys most beers I've made, and certainly lets me know if she doesn't! She's all about me brewing and refining the process, learning more, and even pretends to be interested when I talk about it. Of course she uses it as ammo when I tell her I don't care about the pop-culture/entertainment world and it's happenings (I have enough to keep track of in my own life to care that much about some "famous" persons...).

Short answer - she's in full support and I love it (yes, and her too).
 
Over the years my wife has turned into something of a hophead, and much prefers pale ales, IPAs, etc. to porters, stouts, etc. As long as I have something in the pipeline that keeps her hop-loving taste buds happy, she totally approves of me brewing. She'll even remind me when our supply is low and will say that "you need to brew soon."

I usually brew 5 gallon batches of the stuff she likes and 3 gallon batches of the darker or experimental recipes; I drink it, regardless.:tank:
 
My wife is semi-supportive of my hobby. She likes to consume it, but can't stand the smell of the wort boiling... thankfully with a fan over the stove and the windows open it's not so bad.
 
Yooper said:
I brew and do all the "work" and Bob drinks it. He is supportive, and often brags about my beer but doesn't have any interest at all in brewing himself. He does have a great palate, though, and makes constructive criticism that helps. He'll say, "I like this beer but I wish the malt would shine a bit more and I'd like to see a reddish color and have more late hops", for example. I'll then tweak that recipe to accomodate his requests. He gardens, and grows three kinds of hops for me. He also helps with dumping my mash tun into the compost.

He helps more with the winemaking- he'll pick the fruit and crush and help with carrying carboys. Wine is more his thing than beer.
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Reverse the sexes and this is pretty much fits us, except that I'm the hop grower and schlep my own spent grains. In the garden I do the perennials and she does the annuals.

Often, she is the one who will say, "you really should brew this weekend".
 
I started my first batch just after Christmas (when my buddy bought me the basic brew supplies and starter kit). She was happy and supportive of the first batch I made. Then the following weekend I went to the LHBS and bought two more kits to make and an extra fermenting bucket. Since then I have been really into the hobby and I really enjoy it. Just this past weekend I made my 9th batch and it was my first partial mash.

Anyway, back to the wife... She absolutely detests the hobby and thinks it is a complete waste of my time and money. God damn, don't even get me started on the money thing, since I'm the only one in the house that has worked for the last 14 months and have been supporting everything on my income. :mad:

She hates when I drink, even if it's only 1 beer she gives me a hard time about it. Like a previous post I had to tell her at least I a home and not getting lit in the bars and screwing other women. She still throws out little comments that just plain piss me off, like 'You're going to buy/make more beer this weekend and waste more money?' when I tell her I'm going to the LHBS, and 'That sure is A LOT of bottles!' with a cocky attitude when I am cleaning bottles.

Maybe she has her pantys in a bunch because I have invaded her flipping dedicated stamping/scrap-booking room with ~14 cases of empty bottles or something.

Long story short! She hates it, but I don't care since I enjoy it, it IS going to happen whether she like it or not. The only nice thing I can say is she does like to sample what I have made, and she has had a couple home brews with me on occasion. :mug:
 
My wife considers me "The Provider" and thanks me for brewing after every brew day.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Sometimes, see even adds the hops.
 
My wife doesn't drink a lot of homebrew (or any beer for that matter) due to blood-sugar issues, but has no particular issues with my brewing. She does not like the smell of boiling wort though (the hops).

I have a lot of hobby interests, so sometimes I have to catch myself from going a little crazy with $$/time invested. I definitely buy more "toys" than she does, so I'm pretty glad she's understanding and doesn't complain (often) about it.

I was shocked the other day when she spontaneously suggested that we should think about getting "a beer fridge" that we could incorporate into the living room furniture.
 
My next couple of weeks include....

Judging ALL DAY at a local competition.
Attending my weekly BJCP course.
Training sessions with experienced judges to prepare for my March exam.
Brew day with buddies.
Monthly homebrew club meeting.

Given the fact that our kids are 8 and 3, I can say that my wife is extremely supportive of my hobby. And I'm thankful for that!:)
 
My SWMBO is in yeast genetics and it was her idea and desire to brew. So I got her a starter kit for Valentine's day 4 or 5 years ago and she has never really had the time to help or do it (due to her career)... so I brew and we talk about yeast and we both love the beer.

On Valentine's Day (after I spent the evening at a local community college taking a welding class for sh*ts and giggles) this year I thanked her for putting up with my general shenannegans and even more specifically, the brewing obsession... her response? I love your shenannegans and I love your beer.

What a gal!
 
She could care less as long as I clean up after myself.

She does however come to the LHBS when I am brewing a batch for her and loves to share it with all her friends when they come over.
 
My wife does not drink but is supportive of the hobby. She let's me do my thing and occasionally buys equipment for me for B-days and Christmas. She would much rather have me brewing and drinking beer at home then heading out to the bars all the time.
 
My wife is almost a teetotaler, but she's the one who bought me the kit! Well, she went to the lhbs and realized there might be some decisions, so she sent me a month before my birthday to the lhbs to get a kit so I would have beer for my birthday. She does't like the smell of the barley and hates the smell of the hops, but is getting to like it better. She has helped me with bottling, though really only gets excited about root beer :)

She makes kafir, yogurt, sauerkraut, and cans just about everything, so we jest; when I'm flush on ammo we are prepared for the zombie apocalypse! I want to get her a cheese kit... mmm I had asiago with a Westmalle Tripel the other night... would be better if it was a home brew tripel and the wife's asiago!
 
I am also in the fortunate crowd here, my wife loves helping with brewdays and bottling. She is not as interested in all of the hows and whys like I am but she does enjoy brewing and bottling since we get to spend a little more time together doing something we both enjoy. She doesnt drink as much as I do either. :mug:
 
My wife likes the results and probably drinks more of the homebrew than I do. It is nice that her beer requests are things like a cream stout or a nicely hopped IPA and not something fruity or yellow and fizzy. However her eyes start to glaze over when I start talking about hops, IBU's, GU:BU ratio and yeast profiles.
 
logan3825 said:
My wife likes the results and probably drinks more of the homebrew than I do. It is nice that her beer requests are things like a cream stout or a nicely hopped IPA and not something fruity or yellow and fizzy. However her eyes start to glaze over when I start talking about hops, IBU's, GU:BU ratio and yeast profiles.
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Amen to that. I think my SWMBO is more of a hop-head than I am, and I love 'em!
 
When I'm brewing, it's just about the only time that me and SWMBO actually sit down and talk. She's not really into helping out, but enjoys the sampling aspect. She does not like when I sample a little too much, but I can't blame her.
 
BeastMaster said:
I got into brewing a few months ago and other than casually mentioning it to my girlfriend I never really brought it up. She isnt a big beer drinker and doesnt really share my tastes on it. However, I had to run to my LHBS the other day to grab a few things and she went along. Next thing I know she is weighing and crushing grain for the Hefeweizen she wants to help me make! She had a bunch of questions and is looking forward to our brew day together. I'm so glad to have someone to sanitize and bottle with. :mug:
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Like a lot of others in this thread, my SWMBO is very supportive of my obssession. She even pretends to enjoy the beer. Everytime she takes a sip, the look on her face (half repulsed, but determined to like it) reminds me why I thought she was so foxy to begin with.

I always have a brown, Scottish or some other lightly hopped session beer in the pipeline for her.
 
My wife went from drinking no beer to discovering several styles that she enjoys. Right now she is very fond of the Scottish Heavy that is on tap! She has even bought me a grain mill!!!!!!!!!
 
She bought me my kit for Christmas, being able to pick up on my less-than-subtle hints. Toleration is the word I'd use to describe her attitude. She doesn't drink herself, but understands that it's a hobby I really enjoy.

Her eyes do glaze over when I talk about the ins and outs of the process, though. And she reminds me that we are both students and can't afford to buy all the brewing equipment I want at once. :drunk:
 
My fiance hates beer; doesn't like the smell of brewing, and told me to get the hell out of the house... And build a brew shed.

I think I'll marry her after all.
 
So far shes been really supportive. She listens to all the brew talk and will help me if I ask her for something on brew day. Even bought me a kit and some goodies off my wish list. However, like many of yours, mine doesnt care for beer. I'll have her smell it and can get her to take a sip once in a long while but if it isnt a sweet or Lambic style beer she wont drink it. She does like dessert wines and margaritas once or twice a year but can only drink half a glass or so.
 
My wife egged me into the hobby over the course of a few years. When I finally bit the bullet she remained supportive and willfully ignorant of the costs of the operations. She can and will drink as much as me and we have right similar tastes. She has been known to sneak a few bottles behind my back and sheepishly hide when I find out weeks later. How she drinks that green garbage is beyond me. She talks as if she wants to help brew but she really never does and I think she is more afraid of taking on any liability for a potentially bad batch. Occasionally she makes the mistake of asking me questions like, "What does OG mean". I don't know how to give concise answers because my brain doesn't accept such answers. I have to understand the full gamut of variables and factors and reasons and so I try to relate far too much information when asked simple questions.

All in all the hobby and the SWMBO are copacetic with one another. If one had to go it would definitely be the hobby (not that she would ever require it). I only wish I could get her to value homebrew ingredients over new purses and shoes. I suppose my lax attitude towards those gets me the no questions asked when new equipment appears in the kitchen.
 
my wife is very cool about brewing. she doesn't drink as much beer as i do, but she definitely loves the beer when she does. always asks me if I need anything from the 'beer store' when she goes down to the big city. she rules!
 
She seems to be down with it.
The extra equipment kinda caught her off guard, coming from Mr. Beer which is basically kettle, lbk and bottles. Now when I brew I have equipment strewn all over the kitchen HAHA :ban:
 
My wife thinks its cool that we have beer on tap at home (although she doesn't drink beer).She loves to help me brew and I love that she has a food science background, its fun asking her questions about fermentation. Other than that I get the usual "you want to buy what? How much?" questions all the time
 
My husband and kids bought me a start up kit for my birthday. They are all quite supportive and play a big part in our brewing. I do the boiling, he does all of the heavy lifting, and my 7 year old does all of the bottling. It has become quite the family affair :)
 
my fiance was OK with my brewing at first but now i think she is starting to reach the end of her rope.

we are saving for our wedding so everytime a package arrives with more brewing supplies she gives me a bit of the stink eye...
 
kingmatt said:
my fiance was OK with my brewing at first but now i think she is starting to reach the end of her rope.

we are saving for our wedding so everytime a package arrives with more brewing supplies she gives me a bit of the stink eye...
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Gotta start sending those packages to a friends place :rockin:
 
Wife is simi supportive, but I realized I had stepped over the line when we were eating out with some friends. Of course I was having a craft brew, they were looking at my black beer and saying stuff like that looks like motor oil.
Long story short, they asked about what hops were and I happened to have a near empty bag of hops in my poket. I guess I shouldn't have gotten it out and passed it around.... It didn't go over well with her. So now I don't bring up my addiction in public in front of the SWMBO.
 
My girlfriend and I share good taste in beer, have brewed 4 beers and Apfelwein together, and her help/involvement has gradually declined to 'assistant when needed'. Always eager to help with '2-person jobs', she is also happy to do her own thing until needed. Holding/carrying things, stirring while I dump, bottling/cleaning, etc. She loves cooking, canning, gardening, but she has less interest in actually brewing than I expected. Always willing to help 'free up' bottles though.

Aaron
 

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