Fatherhood And Brewing

[mulletmaster]

For me I have a son thay is nearly 2 and another child due in February. In 2017 I have brewed the most batches ever at 4 so far with a brew day this weekend and at least one more to come (mommy needs a stout after #2). Edit: The increased number of brew days this year are directly related to me not going for multi hour bike rides or doing other hobbies that take me out of the house for half/most of the day.

I think what works well for me at this point is my son will take decent naps in the afternoon so I take advantage without my wife having to always take over. Obviously this is situation dependent and I know for me mornings will not work as i try to let my wife sleep in on the weekends. I think the best approach is to see if there is a routine you can take advantage of and give mommy a break at other times to do what she wants.

 

[jakwi]

for me the funny thing is how my kids refer to my passion for Beer, read brewing, as if I were a complete alcoholic. I think this is the result of their complete lack of exposure to actual alcoholism. At the same time I talk about beer, and brewing a lot, but my actual consumption is usually two or three on a friday and saturday night. My wife drinks even less.

I've had to point this out to them a couple of times to limit what they say to people we barely know. Comments like "my dad loves beer even more than me" may be laughable in front of people you know, but prompt curious looks and concern with the soccer moms.

Its probably my fault as I have a lot of t shirts, books, and equipment associated with brewing, and I spend a lot of time trying to explain the science behind brewing in order to make it interesting for them.

 

[Anon111]

So.... With Being a few weeks from fatherhood myself, i thought id ask; a) How Brewing has changed since you have become a father. and b) dare i ask any advice from the current brewer dads out there?

Kids have a very clean and unspoiled palate. Might as well use them as wort tasters.

 

[SlitheryDee]

It occurs to me that a brew day might be viewed as more acceptable to the family if it were combined with some other activity. I imagine a long day some weekend spent smoking some meat on the grill, playing in the back yard with the dog/in the pool/whatever you have in your back yard, and a beer quietly mashing/boiling/cooling somewhere just out of notice. If you were well prepared you could tend to it in short instances a few minutes at a time while doing everything else.

 

[Griffin495]

My son will turn 3 in December and my brewing habits have changed. Before, I'd just brew whenever I felt like it, not now. It takes some planning.

After he was first born, I took some time off. First 6 to 8 months, there was no sleeping, so when he napped, the last thing I wanted to do was brew. I'd rather nap or do chores that needed doing.

Later, I started brewing a little more. Maybe 4 or 5 times in the next year.

Now, he takes a good solid 2.5 to 3 hour nap. I do BIAB and I get my water close to dough in temp a little bit prior to lunch. Then prep his lunch and while the wife sits with him as he eats, I start my mash. Then we play for a bit and he goes down. Somewhere during his nap, mash ends, boil starts, boil ends and I've started chilling the wort (and maybe finished) by the time he wakes up.

I've also noticed my consumption is down. Don't drink as much, don't have as many friends and family over to give beer away to. So I've been doing smaller batches which can make for a shorter brew day. This weekend, I brewed two one gallon batches. One Saturday and one Sunday, and both of them I finished up in about 3 hours from flame on to yeast pitched and clean up.

Oh, and this weekend, my son helped me crush my grain! Well, he had his hand on the handle along with me and we crushed it together (didn't bother to get the drill out to run it as it was less than 2.5lbs)

 

[Bigalsworth]

Don't over think it and be adaptable, eventually you will find a rhythm what works for you.

 

[popsicleian]

I didn't start brewing until my son was about 8 months old, and he is now a little over 2. It is definitely a challenge to fit brewing into the schedule, but I have adopted a few practices that seem to make it easier. I usually prep water and mill grain the night before. I use a sous vide cooker to heat my strike water up over the course of several hours so it's ready whenever I am. I mash in either while my son is taking his afternoon nap, or while he is eating dinner. I do full volume BIAB, so I don't have to worry about sparging.

Once he goes to bed around 7:30, I start my boil. I do almost exclusively no-chill, so as soon as I'm done boiling the wort goes into a clean corny keg and I'm done, minus kettle cleanup. The problem for me is not that I don't have time to brew, but rather that I don't have 5 hours at a time to do it. Doing no chill allows me to deal with yeast and fermenter prep, oxygenation, etc a day or two later. No chill may not be the best practice for super hoppy styles, but I don't brew those. You can make really good beer without chilling--I'm far from the world's greatest or most experienced brewer, but I just won two silver medals at the MN State Fair homebrew comp.

With this routine, I can even brew on weeknights and get to bed at a totally reasonable time as long as I set the sous vide cooker up in the morning before I go to work.

We're talking now about kid #2, and I know that will make things more difficult.

 

[Vandulus]

I brewed once or twice a year until my daughter came along and my son two years later. It then became once every 5-6 years! The equipment sat gathering dust most of the time. Finally in 2014 when they were both teenagers, I got back into brewing and have managed a batch every month or two. Every once and a while my now 18 year old daughter will help and provide tasting feedback

The biggest factor is prepping as much as you can a few days before so you can shorten the actual brew day. Brewing smaller batches and going BIAB or partial extract can also help make brew day easier.

 

[JohnK93]

Congrats! My brewing has taken a pretty sharp decline since our daughter was born a year ago. Just not enough time, and even an early Saturday morning brew (mashing in at 5 AM) would be asking my wife to watch our little one for a good 3-4 hours on the one day that she has a break from being a mommy. She deserves it. I've been thinking of going back to extract just to cut about 1.5-2 hours from the process.

I managed to get 4 or 5 brews in this year, but I missed my Oktoberfest brew in March for the first time in about 5 years, and haven't gotten in nearly as much brewing as I'd like. Staring at two empty kegs in my basement now, so I'm thinking that this long weekend might be a good time. If I'm flexible in which day/what time I brew, my wife is usually pretty good about it, but with baby #2 on the way I don't see a whole lot of leisurely brewing in my future.

John

 

[Soeze]

So.... With Being a few weeks from fatherhood myself, i thought id ask; a) How Brewing has changed since you have become a father. and b) dare i ask any advice from the current brewer dads out there?

You might not like my negative view, but I am going to tell it from my current situation. When my daughter was born I had a lot time to make beer all year long when I went electric and can do it in my basement. When I had my second kid my time was reduced significantly. However, I was able to get away and take a day to make it. When my third kid came along I pretty much gave it up altogether. My wife was not going to let me hang out all day in the basement and make beer while she is chasing a 1-year-old, 3-year-old and 5 years old.

Fatherhood is an amazing experience, but..................... it can basically put your hobby on hold for a little while.

Plus the cost of paying for grains or daycare makes you think twice about doing a Zombie dust clone or a Three floyds.

 

[brhenrio]

When my first, and so far only daughter was born 20 monts ago i was just starting to brew. As i have now given up my other hobbies (sports, my body has given up on me) my wife lets me brew once a month, but i like to keep it as short as possible. So i take a half hour to an hour the night before to prep and clean as i go on brew day. During mash i will go in and play with my daughter, and she "helps" wherever she can. Picture is a few months old. Weed has grown alot since.

View attachment 1504345792763.jpg

 

[tofuguy]

It occurs to me that a brew day might be viewed as more acceptable to the family if it were combined with some other activity. I imagine a long day some weekend spent smoking some meat on the grill, playing in the back yard with the dog/in the pool/whatever you have in your back yard, and a beer quietly mashing/boiling/cooling somewhere just out of notice. If you were well prepared you could tend to it in short instances a few minutes at a time while doing everything else.

I usually mow my lawn during a brew day. Small 1/4 acre lot and everytime I have to dump the clippings I check on the brew. So my wife supports the hobby.

 

[triethylborane]

Weed has grown alot since.

Haha, thats a great pic :fro:

 

[Sailingeric]

Remember when brewing with children, they need a full hour mashing at 155

 

[Burndog]

My sons wanting a Chemistry Kit is what lead me to start brewing...

My wife bought me a Home Brew Kit for Xmas and I was like "Honey , I got enough hobbies. Send it back...." Meanwhile my sons on about wanting a Chemistry Kit with a bunsen burner etc, and how he wants this in his bedroom. Obviously that's not happening so after finding the return cost to be prohibitive, we decided it would be a good father and son project. He's 14 and did most of the work, making sure things were done on time etc etc.

Turns out making your own beer, turns out some pretty damn good beer.

Now I'm hooked, and my son does help still but not as interested as he was. :-( Same with us Surfing together :-(

Such is the life of a Dad. Enjoy it while you can as they grow up fast, get independent and their friends become more interesting then family. -> insert more sad faces.

Next I'll have to start watching for when he gets an interest in CONSUMING beer. Lock the fridge? Go back to bottles so as to monitor stock...bridges crossed when encountered.