Brewing with newborns

[deepsouth]

Well, in my case, if I left the kitchen mid-brew session overnight, my wife would completely lose her $*&% and I'd never brew again... so that's a bit of a con. But YMMV.

i brew outside the garage and mash inside the garage, so in the southern heat, the ambient temp around the cooler would likely not get below 90.

 

[FromZwolle]

i do have a question though.......


i've been hearing about being able to mash in at say 10:00 pm and putting a lid on the cooler and waking up at say 6:00 and picking back up and finishing.

has anyone ever done this?

any real cons to it?

i haven't, as my mornings are short, but it seems quite a few folks like it:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/overnight-mash-108485/

 

[deepsouth]

i haven't, as my mornings are short, but it seems quite a few folks like it:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/overnight-mash-108485/

rockin! thanks for that link.

 

[petep1980]

I have a 3 month old and brewed two weeks ago. It can be done. Don't try any enhanced double decoctions mashes though or you could be in for it.

 

[jarod7736]

I have twins coming late November, early Dec... I'm building a brewtroller controlled single tier system in my garage. I'm almost done, the only automated things in phase one will be temp control though (electric). I'm hoping that will help in brewing in those months after they arrive, just by giving me the ability to not have to watch temps like a hawk and fiddle with burners & things. Doubtful though. I'll just be brewing a lot before they come in preparation.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

And here I thought it would end with the placenta beer. Now this?

 

[ArcLight]

What are your experiences with newborns and brewing? Can I squeeze in a few hours of brewing without neglecting my other duties?

Babies may wake up and cry and demand immediate attention. That can be problematic when brewing or bottling. Perhaps your wife can give you a 1-3 hour window to do something like prepare a starter, bottle, etc.


PS If/when you have another THEN You will be far far more hard pressed

 

[deepsouth]

Babies may wake up and cry and demand immediate attention. That can be problematic when brewing or bottling. Perhaps your wife can give you a 1-3 hour window to do something like prepare a starter, bottle, etc.


PS If/when you have another THEN You will be far far more hard pressed

quoted and bolded for truth.

 

[Clann]

My wife is due sometime in November as well. It will be my first but her second(I did adopt her son so he is mine too and at this point you cant tell he is not from my loins. Like father like son.)

Nervous anyway cause i've never changed a diper in my life

 

[FromZwolle]

My wife is due sometime in November as well. It will be my first but her second(I did adopt her son so he is mine too and at this point you cant tell he is not from my loins. Like father like son.)

Nervous anyway cause i've never changed a diper in my life

you learn quick. getting pooped on is a great motivator

 

[Mogwai]

I will encourage my wife to visit her mother frequently. Brewing and not going to the in-laws on a weekend sounds too good to be true...

 

[davefleck]

SAHD here. Today we took a trip to the LHBS. Tomorrow we brew. She is 4 1/2 months. The first 2 without mom, it would be impossible. Now she naps better. Once she is walking it will be more difficult

 

[Sweetchuck]

I was one of those D&D geeks. Me and a couple of buddies were playing one Saturday and his wife decides we're babysitting while she goes out with her friend.

That was a first and last.

 

[danorocks17]

You know, cook, clean, nag, and pillow fights with her friends.

oh I remember when i got to make jokes like this....but then i got married

 

[Bill05]

I have an 8 month old so I know what your up against. Like others have said, you aren't going to care about anything else once you have that little bugger in your arms! And trust me, they don't sleep long! Luckily my wife likes my beer as much as I do so when I ask for some brew time she has no complaints. I wasn't in to brewing until about 4 months ago, but I wouldn't have been able to brew with a newborn. You will be way to tired to do it! Drinking is a chore with a newborn (they don't care if you are hungover, they want that bottle!!) Good Luck and Congrats! You will be brewing again in no time.

 

[genes]

Really?!

 

[Clann]

you learn quick. getting pooped on is a great motivator

Ha ha ha

Guess I'll learn soon enough

 

[Vance71975]

Yes, I know what the title implies, feel free to add appropriate jokes/puns.

Anyway, my wife is very pregnant with a due date of next Thursday (6/23). Since this is our first child, I expect life to become quite hectic with limited time for brewing (and drinking).
Luckily I have a batch (my first) in bottles, ready to be had, with a second batch ready to be bottled tonight. When do you think I can brew again? My thought was to brew as soon as possible before the baby will need more of my time (I figured the little rascal will be sleeping and eating the first few weeks).

What are your experiences with newborns and brewing? Can I squeeze in a few hours of brewing without neglecting my other duties?

This is quite simple, Bribe the wife, tell her that every day she allows you to brew, you will in turn take the baby for the same amount of time so that she can do whatever she wants be it hang with friends, take a hot bath, go shopping etc. 50/50 trade off, But you HAVE to keep up your end, or no more brew days for you my friend!

 

[Vance71975]

I have an 8 month old so I know what your up against. Like others have said, you aren't going to care about anything else once you have that little bugger in your arms! And trust me, they don't sleep long! Luckily my wife likes my beer as much as I do so when I ask for some brew time she has no complaints. I wasn't in to brewing until about 4 months ago, but I wouldn't have been able to brew with a newborn. You will be way to tired to do it! Drinking is a chore with a newborn (they don't care if you are hungover, they want that bottle!!) Good Luck and Congrats! You will be brewing again in no time.

I have 3 kids, Only ONE of them didn't sleep a solid 8 hrs at night RIGHT after coming home from the hospital.

 

[adx]

Mine is 15 months and only my 3rd brew since she was born. Mostly because I like to brew early on the weekends and I mostly just want to sleep in on those days as much as I can now. The lack of sleep was the biggest killer for me and mine sleeps really well. Now she can easily go 12 hours a night and we only had about 1 month where she would wake up at 3 AM.

I used to post a lot more around here at one point in time too.

 

[Special Hops]

I have 2 now. The youngest being 6 months. I dint brew as often but I got a bigger keggle so I can brew a double batch in the same amount of time.

 

[TheDom]

Having a kid really helped my case for switching to kegging.
SWMBO: "No more F^&%*$@ beer bottles all over the house? Sold!"
Me: "Giggity!"

My wife and I have a give and take arrangement, where I'll get to brew, then I'll take our boy 15 month old for a while and let her do her own thing. The first few weeks after the birth though, brewing should probably be off the table. Even if she says it is ok, it'll probably stop being ok 17 years later or something.

 

[Bucks-04]

My wife is due in July and i plan on doing what Jetsmooth did. INLAWS!!

My father in-law's son brews mr beer, so i plan on introducing him and my self to my first all grain when they come out to visit. I have only done extract and i feel this is the perfect time to move on into all grain!

Congrats on the new one!!

 

[jsbiral]

I wholeheartedly agree with TheDom. I have three ranging from 5 to 9 months and they definitely have reduced the number of times I'm able to brew annually by at least half. The first few weeks to month are going to be very difficult to adjust to for both you and your wife (lack of sleep, adjusting to the new family member, people constantly wanting to stop by to see the new baby, etc). There has to be give and take and like TheDom, if the wife gives me an evening "off" to brew, I give her one to do her thing. Good luck and congrats on the little one!

 

[theonetrueruss]

I have a pair of 2.5 year olds and the way I've been brewing is to brew at night after they are asleep.. that puts my brew day from like 9pm till 3am. rough but works

 

[tradgunkie]

Make sure you take care of the mom. A happy mother = happy spouse = happy marriage = time for you to brew. I started brewing before my third child, so I never really knew what it was like to brew without responsibilities.

But I learned this much: You can brew as much as your wife wants you to brew. Just ask her which day would be best for you to brew, and hopefully she'll respect your hobby and give you the 4-5 hours that you need.

The first five years are the hardest. If you survive those, your pipeline will come back into balance.

 

[ktillman1]

I have my first due in a few weeks! I love brewing but I think it might be wise to put it aside for a while. In preparation I have taught a few buddies to brew. Hopefully beer karma will come into play here, by my calculations I should have a few years of free brew...!

 

[DannPM]

I've found that homebrew makes babies happy, quiet, and all around just...jolly. You should encounter no problems. For infants perhaps a milk stout would be appropriate. You can start things like a Saison around 9-13 months.

 

[mcbethenstein]

Good Luck to all the future parents on this thread! It's so much fun!....

That being said, I MUST be an anomaly on here. I bought the kit at christmas when my little boy was 3 1/2 months old. It turned out my SO was more into the idea of brewing than the actual process (But he does help me bottle), so I became the brewer. I did have a bit of trouble getting the first few batches done without interruptions (I was breastfeeding up until a month ago). But as the little one got older I figured out how to mash, then feed him, start a boil, then put him down for a nap...etc. In all fairness my SO does have a 8 yr old son who lives with us and he is a big help keeping the Little One laughing and occupied. Also the little one has spent many a brew day playing with toys in his high-chair, while I mash, boil, etc.... As long as he could see and hear me it was OK with him. In the last 6 months I've made 10 batches, with my 11th one being brewed on friday before I take the baby for his 9 month doctor appointment.

NOW that I've given you some hope, I am going to say that I can not imagine trying to do anything else the first 6 weeks but eat, sleep, take care of the baby, and take daily trips to target so I could pick up a Starbucks coffee and get the baby to nap in the car-seat...(he didn't like napping until I figured out how to swaddle him.) Seriously, get the "Happiest Baby on the Block" DVD. It SAVED my life! So hold off on the brewing until you doctor's give you the 6 week clearance. It's a good milestone, and by then you will be a little bit more settled into the whole parenting thing.

 

[mcbethenstein]

The first one is a brew day. The second I think I was doing dishes, and cleaning bottles.