Brewing with the Kids?

[IrregularPulse]

My 9 yo daughter has helped me brew a batch or two. The first one was an IPA and when it came time to bottle, I told her she needs to taste it to make sure it isn't bad. She was a bit hesitant, but I told her she didnt' have to swallow, but it's important to know if it's bad, because I don't want to bottle if it's not any good.

So she got a sip and couldn't run tot eh bathroom fast enough!! Well, her sister was in that bathroom with the door locked, so she had to run all the way to the back bathroom to spit it out! I guess she's not going to be drinking beer for a long time! I know, mean trick...

Well, she did help with another batch and did taste that one too and didn't like it and spit it out, but she did try it. I am pretty sure she will have no clue as to what a "bad" batch is going to taste like!

Her 15 yo sister refuses to even taste any of my beers, which is a bit disappointing, but she has her reasons, and I will not force any of them to drink if they do not want to. It would be nice if she at least tasted it though, or gave me a reason why she won't. I mean, I have to read her crappy essays from school! LOL!

My little one seems to be interested in the science behind the brewing process, so that makes it more enjoyable for me.

Father of the Year haha Forcing your 15yo to drink beer! other kids could only be soo lucky!
I AM OF COURSE ONLY JOKING WITH YOU, NOT REALLY CALLING YOU A BAD PARENT.

 

[nosmatt]

my 9 tear old helped me bottle last night after dinner.
started actual bottle filling of a 5 gal batch of stout @ 8:12p.m. done @ 8:28 p.m.!!!!
that's cleaned up and evertyhing.
i did sanatize while making dinner, and mix up the bottling sugar.... but i could not keep up with his filling./ blew SWMBO away in this regard.

for $4.00 i got 48 bottles filled,AND 48 bottled delabled this weekend.
i love cheap labor.

 

[Baunno]

The problem arises when the zero tolerance, nanny state gets wind of that little sip and you get stern looking humorless people dragging your children away and you are getting charged with reckless endangerment, contributing to the delinquency, underage drinking and stoopidity in the night time. The state takes a dim view of just about eveything, including that innocent little sip. They don't see any difference with that or letting the kid take a toot off of your crack pipe.

If your kid goes to school and tells Mrs. Ballbricker daddy lets him taste his beer....The feces have just dropped into the launcher, engage rotating oscillator.

Never underestimate the mean spiritedness of your local authorities.

end of rant:

Agreed...been there, had that done to us...aint no fun at all. Just wait until the 5 -7 year old grows a little older and goes to DARE classes in middle school and starts talking about helping o'le dad on brew day. Oh yea, not so cute when a school guidance councilor calls and threatens to have a case worker from Dept of Children Services put you on their call list. Nope, not me.

 

[ChshreCat]

Actually, it states clearly in the law (at least Washington state) that it's perfectly legal for my daughter to taste the beer and wine we make. Hell, it'd be legal for her to get hammered right here. Of course, she only gets to have a sip to see how what she helped make came out. I'd rather she not experience her first hangover until she's twenty-one and a day.

 

[SkylerChaBro]

it's get even better when my daughter told her kindergarten Teacher we were making beer. Her teachers totally hot, I can't wait till she calls me into her office to discuss it.

I like how you think good sir.

 

[albannach]

You guys will be surprised at how responsible your kids will grow up to be. The reason most kids/teenagers go insane over any alcohol they can find is mostly due to the fact that they have been told that they can't have any and that "it's bad".
My parents allowed me to drink a glass of wine, a beer, or a little whiskey/rum/whatever ever since I was 14 or so. The rules were simple, one drink, you don't drive, and you only do this at our house.
I'm now a successful college student who has never gotten p*** drunk just because there was a keg of bud urine around. The main thing that attracts kids to an excess of alcohol is the novelty of it; once you show them that alcohol is perfectly fine as long as you're responsible, they won't go on puke-inducing drinking binges.

 

[TeufelBrew]

My 16 yr old daughter has enjoyed helping with all aspects from bottle washing to brewing to bottling. She askes questions about what's going on with all the compounds and yeast. Helps her with her AP biology in school.

Did the Big Brew Day last year with hombrew club and my daughter had a writeup in the newsletter for being so helpful to all the brewers, being knowlegable and asking really good deatailed questions about why they were doing things a certain way.

She's responsible, courteous and has absolutely no interest in the beer yet. I'll be happy with that for now and hope the trend continues.

 

[FireBrewer]

My boys have been around it since they were old enough to walk. Right now they're only interested in it pre-dough-in, where they eat handfulls of crushed grain.

Both have had sips and small amounts of beer before. Some they "like", some they don't. I intend for them to grow up with a healthy respect for alcohol, not make it taboo and thereby get them interested in finding out what it's about irresponsibly.

 

[FoundationFunkwerks]

Long and short, it's better to have you take the "mystery" of alcohol "out of the bag" instead of another peer of sorts.
I seen it work better that way, with less chances of abuse. (Not really scientific, but from what I've read / personally seen.)
Plus you say your in Illinois?
It's legal in your home to allow your children to drink.

http://drinkingage.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002591

"Underage consumption of alcohol in some states is allowed on private, non alcohol-selling premises as long as the under age person has the consent and/or is accompanied by the physical presence of a parent or legal guardian. Private, non alcohol-selling premises include residential homes, private properties not open to the general public, etc. In some states underage consumption of alcohol is also allowed on private, non alcohol-selling premises when the under age person is accompanied by a spouse who is at least 21. Each state sets its own specific requirements for what is considered legal."

The post above me (FireBrewer) hit it right on the head.