Homebrewer/….dad?!

[mattdee1]

I started brewing in 2015; I had no kids at the time. Now, I have 2 of them - aged 5 and 1. I just checked my notes and it looks like my brewing frequency didn't decrease much from my roughly 1-brew-per-month pattern until the 2nd kid came along. I've only brewed 5 times in 2022, with no more sessions planned until the new year.

I have definitely made adjustments to make it possible to stay in the hobby. Some highlights:

Plan, plan, plan. Get the ingredients and everything you need before you need it. I hate not supporting my local brew shop but sometimes I order ingredients from the internet to save me the 30-45 minutes it would take to go out and buy them (every minute counts with kids!) I try to pick up my RO water alongside some other errand(s) in that part of town so it has no real effect on anything. I do this even if I don't have a specific brew planned - I just get it done at the first opportunity so it's ready. Also, make sure all your equipment is ready - your kettle is clean, valves are assembled, fermentors are ready, etc. These tasks can be done beforehand on a random weeknight. The moral of the story: it's a lot easier to "find the time to brew" if it's just the brewing itself, without tacking an extra lump of time on the front of it to gather and set up stuff. Lots of little tasks that only take a few minutes by themselves can add up.

I use a lot of dry yeast now. Farting around with starters and harvesting yeast takes time. I still do that sometimes, but there are lots of great dry yeasts that are super convenient and add no time at all to the process.

Three words: dry malt extract. I went directly into all-grain when I started brewing and there was a time I would have turned up my nose at the suggestion of using extract, but I'm in a different world now. Would I prefer to do all grain? Absolutely. Do my extract results match my all grain results? No. Do I (and my guests) enjoy my extract results? YES. Bottom line - extract has been a key enabler for me to continue making beer during such a hectic time of my life.

Natural wort chilling. I haven't used my immersion chiller for over a year now. I finish my boil, put the lid on the kettle, point a fan at the kettle to blow air over it, and go to bed. Usually 12 or so hours later, the wort is at the perfect temperature to pitch yeast. This is great because it effectively breaks the brew session up into chunks, which opens up more opportunities to brew. If I'm using DME, I can fire up the kettle at 9 or 10pm to start, and still be in bed at a decent hour.

I've always been a bit of a night-hawk, and that fact has come in very handy with brewing. Once the kiddoes are in bed, much more can get done. I don't have actual data but I bet 80% of my time spent fiddling with homebrewing is done later than 9pm.

Having an understanding spouse is absolutely essential. No matter how hard you try to minimize the impact of your brewing on the operation of the household, there is no getting around the fact that it takes hours to get a batch of beer from ingredients to kegs or bottles. If he or she is against time being spent on homebrewing, then trying to fit it in is only going to put you on a collision course with destiny.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Congratulations! My wife is actually due with our first little girl this Sunday, so we're expecting her any second now. I have a cherry wheat kegged and last weekend I brewed an english mild to get it out of the way. I don't plan to stop brewing so I'll try to remember to report back with any advice I come up with.

I also have a clawhammer system but the 120v. I bought it last January. If I could go back in time and re-purchase it, I would 100000)% get the 240v system instead. I love the 120, but the amount of time I would save just waiting for water/wort to heat up with the 240v would be worth any additional price. I didn't think it would be a big deal at the time when I bought it, but I do now.

Lots of good advice so far though. Make sure she gets her time to herself also and find a balance that works for both of you and you should be fine. Definitely don't suggest giving it up though... brewing is my hobby to relax and take my mind off things (with a great reward), so if it's similar for you, you don't want to lose that. Good luck to you!

 

[treacheroustexan]

Sorry for the double post, but just one more piece of advice. If you get a baby brezza bottle sterilizer, definitely don’t tell your wife that you also plan to use it for beer bottles before you bottle a 6 pack from your keg. It doesn’t go over very well.

 

[JAReeves]

You've heard this a lot, but if it's your passion as a hobby, you can do it, just less of it. Our youngest is 13, so he helps with some of the work; but I still break the brew day up into two parts. At least water and grain prep the night before, sometimes, I mash at night and then the next day brew and clean bright and early. I can still do family stuff, drive kids around, cook, whatever with that schedule. Be ok with the unexpected; this last year our oldest had a late class at university, so I wasn't getting home until 6pm most days. At that point, prepping a brew isn't in the cards, but there's always 2023.

 

[matt_m]

Speaking as a recent empty nester. A lot of people we knew as our kid grew up did EVERYTYTHING for their kids and nothing for themselves. A lot them have kids that are dependent on them for EVERYTHING (you should hear the stuff my kid complains about peers not being able to handle on their own.) And assuming the couple has made it even this far, a lot of the marriages are on the rocks.

Not to say we wouldn't have done ANYTHING for our kid...we just didn't do EVERYTHING for our kid. Leave time for yourself, leave your spouse time for herself, leave time for the two of you, and leave time for your kid to do their thing and learn to be independent.

 

[AzOr]

You've heard this a lot, but if it's your passion as a hobby, you can do it, just less of it. Our youngest is 13, so he helps with some of the work; but I still break the brew day up into two parts. At least water and grain prep the night before, sometimes, I mash at night and then the next day brew and clean bright and early. I can still do family stuff, drive kids around, cook, whatever with that schedule. Be ok with the unexpected; this last year our oldest had a late class at university, so I wasn't getting home until 6pm most days. At that point, prepping a brew isn't in the cards, but there's always 2023.

I like the “be ok with the unexpected.”
I’ve brewed many a times while being rushed and busy and made lots of mistakes. Quite a few times I thought to myself that if the beer is half decent that’s a win.

 

[pvtpublic]

Well, the wife's place is in the kitchen, or with the children. This allows you to do whatever you want. You're the man of the house, right? Definitely joking about that, for sure, and not because my wife may see this.
I've put my brewing on hold for a while. My son took up all of my time and that was totally on me. Brewing hardly occupied my mind while caring for this little dude.
Fast forward to now, he's three. I've extended my mash and boil times to 90 minutes. That's piggyback time. That's hot wheels time.
But when it's time for me to do some brew work in between our guy time, I throw on some Paw Patrol. It's Kryptonite. However, I find ways to spend time with him while brewing. I have him help me with mash in by adding the grain. I've never enjoyed mashing in before. He puts the hops in. I never thought that putting hops into a kettle could be so entertaining. I'm not sure who is having more fun to be honest.

 

[jdauria]

First off, congratulations! It can definitely be tough balancing kids and brewing. I brewed in the 90's, but only a few times a year...but as my son got to be an age to play sports, that all went out the window, as I because the soccer coach, the baseball coach, then the summer all star coach, the soccer coach, the travel soccer coach, soccer board member, cub scout leader, etc etc etc. Then his high school years was driving to all his games all the time all over Eastern Mass...so I really did not get back into brewing until he was in his 20's. But then it was great, as he could carry the heavy carboy of beer down to the basement for me. LOL! But now he's got his own little one that will be tying his life up for the next 20+ years, so payback's a bitch.

I have seen it in my club too, lot of the younger guys who were members got married and had kids, and now we are lucky to see them once a year at meetings and they barely ever brew. Not to scare you off...it's just about priorities. I know plenty of guys who would brew early morning before the kids got up or at night after the kids went to bed. As they get older, you can always involve them in the process too...my 16 month old granddaughter loves to help her papa put the hops in the pot.