What my wife says

[PJoyce85]

Wish I could, but no LHBS here in Germany. So I have to order all of my stuff and plan about 3 weeks (minimum) in advance.

I got stuck cleaning the dishes and the bathroom, which I'm pretty sure she ended up re-cleaning . Not that it wasn't clean, it was just "man clean."

 

[MonkHeDo]

Wish I could, but no LHBS here in Germany.

This makes Baby Jesus cry.

 

[PJoyce85]

This makes Baby Jesus cry.

The shipping makes a 200lb man cry

 

[thadius856]

Germany, The Land of Bier, has no brew shops?

 

[GrogNerd]

if only there were some place somewhere in Germany where you could go while the wife cleans and they would serve you beer

wouldn't that kind of place be awesome?

 

[PJoyce85]

Germany, The Land of Bier, has no brew shops?

They do but you have to order for delivery and with the exchange rate, it's not worth it. Best Maltz and Wyermann don't sell in small enough quantities to make them a possibility.

There is a place I have bought yeast from in Belgium, but again, exchange rate makes it $10-12 for one smack pack.

if only there were some place somewhere in Germany where you could go while the wife cleans and they would serve you beer

wouldn't that kind of place be awesome?

It would be . But small towns in Germany have their handful a beers they serve and that's it. I live in a part of Germany where Bitburger is served and I refuse to drink it.

Normally I just sit on the couch and drink while she's cleaning.

 

[PistolsAtDawn]

Well my "wife" (long term, live-with girlfriend) is very supportive of my hobby. She even gave me grief one time for not brewing (because it had been a long time and she didn't want me to abandon a hobby that's very important to me). That was because I was broke for a bit and couldn't even so much as afford the cost of grain. But that time passed fortunately.

I really feel for you guys who have to deal with a SWMBO that is not supportive of brewing. I really can't fathom being in a relationship where my other half questions things that make me happy (so long as they're not destructive things I guess). To me, that's the definition of hell.

 

[Jayhem]

It's easy for me. My wife bought my first brewing equipment kit for Christmas 2 years ago...

So If she gives me crap for brewing or bottling in her kitchen I just tell her "hey, you did this to me!"

She enjoys the beer I make so we work it out!

 

[winterc]

My honey do list is infinite, I give 1/2 day each weekend to brewing, the rest goes to the list. When she is unhappy about the amount of time used on the hobby, I point out that it's cheaper than $12 twelve packs nightly, and better beer too.

 

[m_stodd]

I don't have a wife. But I think it's important for each partner to be totally respectful. If my partner told me to "stop and do something else", I wouldn't take it well at all.

I don't garden, but I would never tell my spouse to get out of his garden and "go do something else", as that is his passion and not mine. He better not tell me to get out of my brewery or stop messing with my equipment, because that's my passion and not his! I wouldn't be very tolerant of being told what to do.

Maybe tell her that you have an idea for a new hobby or two. SCUBA Diving and/or boating. The brewgear looks like peanuts in comparison.

Partner/not wife/spouse/he = husband?

You described him in every way except the easiest and most definite!

 

[Malty_Dog]

So far all my wife has said is "are you going to be doing this every weekend?"

To which I offered a big grin, but no verbal commitment one way or the other

Fortunately her friends like beer so I can brew some up for them.

 

[Jbird]

Mine encourages me to brew. She wants me to be happy and she enjoys my beer, but I think it might be something else.

Her: When are you brewing again?
Me: I don't know. Why?
Her: I just want you to be happy and do what you love.
Me: Really? Cool. I will order some grains right now.
Her: You mean you don't have it to brew tomorrow or something?
Me: No, why?
Her: I want you out of the house.
Me: What?!?!
Her: I need to clean.
Me: I can help you, Schatz (German for sweetie. She's German)
Her: Oh, thanks, but just get your ass out of the house. You suck at cleaning.

That's pretty funny.

 

[Avocet]

I no longer have a wife. I do however have a carboy cold crashing in my "inside/house" frig, along with a keg I am gassing up. My ceiling fan is festooned with air lines currently dripping star-san into the middle of the carpeted floor. In the garage, besides my Harley, extra propane tanks, carboys of various sizes, empty Corny kegs and my kegerator currently holding 2 different flavors and two 6.5 gallon carboys aging on the bench.

Look guys when you are in your early 50's and gainfully employed finding women is not all that difficult. But making decent beer? Still a daunting task!!!

 

[tommyguner03]

i cant wait till this is done with!! ...then 3weeks bottle time she is helping out saying glad i could help now you arent doing another batch for a while right? no next batch is tuesday.. as she walks away lol. i think shes in a love hate relationship with the home brewing

 

[bigbeergeek]

My wife is very supportive of the hobby and loves to drink and share the beer I make. She only seems to get her feathers ruffled when I make larger purchases ($200 worth of specialty grains online, a couple of new cornies), then the questions about cost etc start flying. So it goes.

 

[lunchbox]

+1. I wouldn't be real happy if my wife said that to me either. I'm so lucky to have a very supportive wife in just about every stupid thing I want to do. Her philosophy is, if I'm happy she's happy. It's funny, that's my philosophy too..I'm pretty fortunate. It's too bad that your wife doesn't see that you have a passion for brewing and brewing equipment.

+1 My wife has always been supportive of whatever I do, and has never said anything negative about my hobbies.

Hmm, perhaps I need to pick up some flowers for her today after work...

 

[PJoyce85]

That's pretty funny.

It's no joke. I do the dishes, which the dishwasher does for me, and the bathroom, which is a spray and rinse job.

When we first moved in she asked, "Can you do laundry?" I said, "Sweetie, I've made it this far in life washing my own clothes. I can handle it." She then saw me divide the clothes into 2 piles; whites and everything else. I have not been allowed in the laundry room since

 

[thadius856]

When we first moved in she asked, "Can you do laundry?" I said, "Sweetie, I've made it this far in life washing my own clothes. I can handle it." She then saw me divide the clothes into 2 piles; whites and everything else. I have not been allowed in the laundry room since

Yep. That's pretty much it for me too.

The first time I did laundry, she came home from work to see it folded on the couch. And she was pleased as punch.

About the fifth time I did laundry, I forgot it in the washer. She came home and noticed. When she went to transfer it to the dryer, she was pissed at what she saw. You see, I just throw everything in together on cold wash and cold rinse. I never have colors bleed. Everything comes out fresh and smelling great. Other than socks, I own one white piece of clothing (a polo I had to buy to work a charity event), and it gets washed alone. Been doing it this way my whole life and it's never failed.

For the longest time, she banned me from doing the laundry. When I told her I'd do it any time the hamper was full, she made sure it never filled up. Boy, that was great, never having to do laundry.the life! As time went on, she'd let it slip here or there and I'd do it. Eventually she realized that I wasn't ruining her clothes and they kept coming out just the same as if she separated by color, used different settings, etc.

I've been the one that does the laundry ever since.

 

[narl79]

my wife is awesome. she is fully supportive in my new found passion in life. luckily i have a shed in the back yard i can keep all my brew stuff in and brew my beer on the weekends. ive found if you can keep it all out of her way youll be golden. it might be a good idea to invest in a small shed if you can. just think man cave lol.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]When we first moved in she asked, "Can you do laundry?" I said, "Sweetie, I've made it this far in life washing my own clothes. I can handle it." She then saw me divide the clothes into 2 piles; whites and everything else. I have not been allowed in the laundry room since

I believe that exact strategy is documented in "How To Train Your Wife"...

Cheers!

 

[PJoyce85]

I believe that exact strategy is documented in "How To Train Your Wife"...

Cheers!

Is that a real book?

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

It's no joke. I do the dishes, which the dishwasher does for me, and the bathroom, which is a spray and rinse job.

When we first moved in she asked, "Can you do laundry?" I said, "Sweetie, I've made it this far in life washing my own clothes. I can handle it." She then saw me divide the clothes into 2 piles; whites and everything else. I have not been allowed in the laundry room since

My wife is seriously anal about how laundry should be done, but given that we have 3 kids (and she's doing laundry about 4 times a week), I try to help her out and do it to her specifications every once in a while.

The hanging rack where clothes finish air-drying, though, is right above the tub basin in our garage. I think she's catching on to the fact that when she sees me carrying all the dry clothes from the rack up to the bedroom closets, I'm not doing it because I'm a nice guy -- I need that faucet and basin to clean stuff for brewing or kegging beer!!

 

[Spintab]

I think she's catching on to the fact that when she sees me carrying all the dry clothes from the rack up to the bedroom closets, I'm not doing it because I'm a nice guy -- I need that faucet and basin to clean stuff for brewing or kegging beer!!

Hah yeah, my wife has learned that if the kitchen is spotless, a countdown to brew day has commenced and it is 5-6 hours away from housing a bunch of post brew, washed and drying brewing paraphernalia.

 

[dog_gone]

Exactly. While it wasn't hookers and blow, if you fly off *one* motorcycle at 75 mph, suddenly brewing looks like a much better hobby to SWMBO...

MY SO actually encouraged me to start brewing again after an old lady missed a red light while texting. One of my first memories in the hospital was her suggesting I get back into brewing. I *love* my GF and her infinite wisdom.

Now... if I could only convince her it's time to get another bike, too.

 

[stellaontap]

My wife and I went away for a long weekend on our anniversary a couple of years ago, for antiquing, winery tours and garage saling. She planned the whole trip and we stayed at a inn that had a dinner and wine pairing from one of the local vineyards......and had a great time. I am a beer drinker so she also found a craft brewery for us to tour and a brewpub for lunch. That was the weekend I got the bug to brew and she has supported my hobby ever since. I am a very lucky guy!!!!

 

[SharonaZamboni]

My wife is seriously anal about how laundry should be done, but given that we have 3 kids (and she's doing laundry about 4 times a week), I try to help her out and do it to her specifications every once in a while.

The hanging rack where clothes finish air-drying, though, is right above the tub basin in our garage. I think she's catching on to the fact that when she sees me carrying all the dry clothes from the rack up to the bedroom closets, I'm not doing it because I'm a nice guy -- I need that faucet and basin to clean stuff for brewing or kegging beer!!

Maybe the drying rack is above the sink for a reason...:wink:

 

[nwroadie]

I absolutely love my wife, even though she hates beer....although I could be slowly turning her with my current batch of Saison; regardless, we have a tremendous relationship that is based on trust and respect, each of us bringing different aspects/personalities to the union. All that said, if I tell her I'm going to brew, it is never an issue (occasionally I will be heavily teased if there are more then three beers in various stages of fermentation)

I definitely married up!!

-Paul

 

[day_trippr]

Is that a real book?

Ahahahahaha!

You should Google "How To Train Your Wife"

Cheers!

 

[abledsoe]

I feel for you guys who can't enjoy brewing or have to do it in secrecy. My wife surprised me a few years ago with brewing equipment as an x-mas gift after hearing me mention once that brewing sounded interesting to me. The equipment has grown some since then but she still likes that I do it and is often times telling me I should brew more often, or spend more time on my hobbies (the other is golf).

 

[tennesseean_87]

My wife is ambivalent. She got me a new scale for Christmas, but it's a pain to her when my mess is all over our small apartment, so I try to brew when she's away. It's my hobby, so she doesn't feel compelled to help in any way. She doesn't really like much beer, so I get to drink it all. On the other hand, she put up with several fermentors being in the living room while the basement was too cold for Belgian fermentation. She worries most about how much I spend, since we're broke (I'm in school).

I would love to have her lead me around the HBS telling me what to buy, but we don't have room for much more anyway.

 

[norsk]

I have the opposite problem. My wife likes drinking beer more than I do, so when I'm working on my motorcycles or sailboat she often bugs me to brew more beer. Currently have 6 beers fermenting at different stages and she is still coming up with more beers to brew. Gonna take her to Firestone's Taproom to check out their new Barleywine so I can work on my bikes in peace...

 

[ryno84]

I got back into homebrewing last year and not long afterwards I got on our computer and saw the browser was on a google results page for "can homebrew poison you".

So, she either thought I was going to poison myself, or she wanted to poison me.

 

[Ondori]

Some women get pissed when we have hobbies and they don't. Mine is glad I'm brewing at home and not spending my free time in the bars. She doesn't even mind the money I spend b/c I would be spending much more hanging around in bars.

This happened to me, Mine was always mad because I had a ton of hobbies. I shoot archery, brew beer, and geek out on PC related stuff, plus others. She has now taken up extreme couponing lol More power to her. Now, we just need more storage because we have a ton of crap we don't need. :/

 

[ron,ar]

Maybe tell her that you have an idea for a new hobby or two. SCUBA Diving and/or boating. The brewgear looks like peanuts in comparison.

>
>
I have always heard that a boat is a hole in the water that you pour money into. My ex-wife thought that my brewing was a kettle on the stove that I poured money into. I guess thats why she is the ex....

 

[jc587491]

Beer cupcakes sound gross. Then again, I just skimmed your post.

My girlfriend (pastry chef) makes Guinness cupcakes with baileys buttercream and DFH Chicory Stout cupcakes with vanilla frosting. They are amazing!

 

[thadius856]

This happened to me, Mine was always mad because I had a ton of hobbies. I shoot archery, brew beer, and geek out on PC related stuff, plus others. She has now taken up extreme couponing lol More power to her. Now, we just need more storage because we have a ton of crap we don't need. :/

Golden Rule of Couponing, adapted from the Golden Rule of (Survival) Prepping:

Coupon what you eat, eat what you coupon.

That "extreme couponing" show is terrible. It's nothing like how real people (should) coupon. We have 6 copies of the paper that come every Sunday. We don't clear shelves. We buy only what we'll eat, unless it's free or better, in which case it goes to the soup kitchen. We tip our baggers. We keep the purchases within our available space.

I've seen a couple episodes where they're buying 90 bottles of mustard or stocking an entire two car garage floor-to-ceiling, or feeding the entire neighborhood's kids. Guess what... most of the free and cheap stuff when couponing is high-sugar, high-fat, highly processed, addictive junk food. That's the whole point behind a loss-leader.

Most couponers don't like the "extreme" title.

 

[adiochiro3]

My girlfriend (pastry chef) makes Guinness cupcakes with baileys buttercream and DFH Chicory Stout cupcakes with vanilla frosting. They are amazing!

Dude! Will your SWIMBO give up these recipes????? They sound amazing.

 

[Jbird]

My girlfriend (pastry chef) makes Guinness cupcakes with baileys buttercream and DFH Chicory Stout cupcakes with vanilla frosting. They are amazing!

Send me some!

 

[TheRussMeister]

I saw this thread thinking at first I would be in the majority. After the first post I thought I would be in the minority. But looking through it seems there are a lot of supportive partners out there! Some more so than others, but it's great to hear.

I also have a supportive girlfriend/fiancé/wife. She goes to the LHBS with me to pick up ingredients. Helps to think up names, think of next purchases, discuss techniques/theories. She's not into as much as I am, and I sometimes think her eyes glaze over when I start geeking out over beer things. She likes beer as well, especially the Kölsch i make. We also make wine together, but we have only done one batch, but are planning to get a few more going. She also is supportive of me wanting to open a brewery. So much so that she has asked me if i would be happier dropping out of my PhD program to work at a brewery and eventually open our own.

 

[HeavyKettleBrewing]

I saw this thread thinking at first I would be in the majority. After the first post I thought I would be in the minority. But looking through it seems there are a lot of supportive partners out there! Some more so than others, but it's great to hear.

I also have a supportive girlfriend/fiancé/wife. She goes to the LHBS with me to pick up ingredients. Helps to think up names, think of next purchases, discuss techniques/theories. She's not into as much as I am, and I sometimes think her eyes glaze over when I start geeking out over beer things. She likes beer as well, especially the Kölsch i make. We also make wine together, but we have only done one batch, but are planning to get a few more going. She also is supportive of me wanting to open a brewery. So much so that she has asked me if i would be happier dropping out of my PhD program to work at a brewery and eventually open our own.

Dude, get the PhD! Unless, of course, you are in your first semester of CC with a ten year plan of obtaining a PhD. If the latter, go to work at a brewery.