Is the Chief Brewer in your home brew operation male or female?

[pepindavid]

When you look back at history, I find it somewhat sad that the "renaissance" of homebrewing is mainly a "man's" thing. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, homebrewing was very common, it was mainly a "woman's" thing.

I found out recently that the whole Witch imagery that is so familiar to us at Halloween is most likely derived from medieval Ale wives.

Picture this:
- A big bubbling cauldron, in which you throw herbs
- A cat to keep vermin away from the grain
- Long hats to be recognized in fairs
- Broom sticks were displayed above the door of a brewer to signify that ale was available for sale.

As usual, the Catholic Church had to take control of that (you know, women with kind of powers are scary, right?).

A few interesting articles:
https://www.craftbeer.com/editors-picks/what-do-witches-and-brewers-have-in-common/
http://brewhoppin.com/2015/10/the-truth-of-women-and-beer-witches/


That being said, my wife is not interested at all in my brewing hobby (obsession). She really doesn't enjoy the smell in the house. But she sure does enjoy having access to "gluten reduced" beer on tap (she is gluten intolerant), though, so she is pretty accommodating.

 

[PitRow]

My wife works with me when I brew, but in a supporting role as she is multi-tasking with other chores while I stay focused on the boil, etc.

That's pretty much how it is at my place too. She gets bored 'watching' grains steep for an hour and wanders off to do other things. Someday I hope to get her to do a full batch by herself with just prompting from me, but so far it hasn't happened.

 

[TenaCJed]

It seems to me that the wording of the question is part of the reason you are not seeing what you had hoped to see. It seems like you really want to know how many female are involved, and stating Chief Brewer means who is running the show. I think if it would have been worded a little differently, or even added an option of both that you would have seen a lot more both come up, which would have helped you with your point. For me, it is just me. My wife hates the smell of brew day, which is why I am in the garage or outside! Myself, I love the smell!

 

[myelo]

My wife wants to get into brewing, but she can't grow a beard so I'm pretty sure her beer will suck.

 

[Murphys_Law]

My wife wants to get into brewing, but she can't grow a beard so I'm pretty sure her beer will suck.

Yeah, but if he looks really good in flannel that can offset the beard. But she certainly has to cuff her jeans.

 

[Murphys_Law]

When I used to predominantly bottle my wife would volunteer to help. Not once did she actually come down and actually help. She sounded sincere though!

And she actually asked if we could brew some beer this Sunday. I'll post back but I think that means she wants to sit on the patio drinking beer and watching me brew.

 

[neverfadeaway86]

I run a one man operation. I would gladly let my wife brew with me or even take over on a batch but she is just now starting to like some beers where as before she hated beer

 

[Morrey]

It seems to me that the wording of the question is part of the reason you are not seeing what you had hoped to see. It seems like you really want to know how many female are involved, and stating Chief Brewer means who is running the show. I think if it would have been worded a little differently, or even added an option of both that you would have seen a lot more both come up, which would have helped you with your point. For me, it is just me. My wife hates the smell of brew day, which is why I am in the garage or outside! Myself, I love the smell!

I see your point, but if the wording is changed, the meaning is changed too. My question is actually directed more at spouses or families that may be made up of males and females. In this scenario, I was wondering how many females (in a mixed gender household) actually decide when to brew, what to brew and then take the lead in brewing. Maybe the husband is involved, maybe not, case in point is Yooper or Seatazz who's husbands are not involved. In this case, Yooper and Seatazz are clearly the Chief Brewers or decision makers. MaryB has no male in her home that she disclosed, so if MaryB chooses to brew, that is clearly her decision and qualifies her as the Chief Brewer.

By saying "Chief Brewer" I was searching out how many females in a home make the decision to brew and take the lead role. If the decision was left up to my wife to take the lead role in brewing, I'd be drinking store bought beer all the time. Granted she helps as an assistant to some limited degree, but she clearly would not brew a beer on her own. I have encouraged her to gain this knowledge and experience but she is not interested. But yes, your point is valid, and to further your thinking to encourage my wife, a large percentage of the posts do say that females in the home or relationship do have involvement in the brewing process. You make a good point by saying this.

 

[tracyk]

Okay, I will chime in with Yopper. I am the one that does the brewing, cooking, and vegetable garden in our house, along with being a Director at an Observatory and from my avatar it is hard to tell if I am male or female, but I am a girl that loves to brew. I enjoy all facets of brewing, being that it is like cooking. Your building a recipe and creating it. Then relaxing and enjoying it.

I just finished planting the spring garden, so fresh veggies here we come. Luckily I do not need to wait until late May or June to plant. Can have a garden year around down here in Texas.

In fact in our brew club there are several women that enjoy brewing. Maybe it is just a Texan thing!!!!

 

[madscientist451]

Why isn't transgender one of the choices?

 

[Morrey]

Why isn't transgender one of the choices?

Maybe Kaitlyn Jenner will chime in. Cool.

 

[Morrey]

Okay, I will chime in with Yopper. I am the one that does the brewing, cooking, and vegetable garden in our house, along with being a Director at an Observatory and from my avatar it is hard to tell if I am male or female, but I am a girl that loves to brew. I enjoy all facets of brewing, being that it is like cooking. Your building a recipe and creating it. Then relaxing and enjoying it.

I just finished planting the spring garden, so fresh veggies here we come. Luckily I do not need to wait until late May or June to plant. Can have a garden year around down here in Texas.

In fact in our brew club there are several women that enjoy brewing. Maybe it is just a Texan thing!!!!

Very good post. I am thinking of all the "things" that guide us to do what become our hobbies or interests. I am the cook of the family, so you pose an interesting correlation between brewing and cooking. Shooting/hunting is my other main hobby, so I process my own game meats and enjoy cooking it as well. But again, it may be possible that there is a direct connection to cooking and brewing which I hadn't really thought of until your post.

 

[MaryB]

Observatory! This is mine!

Roof wasn't all the way open, this is the roof opening
http://vid226.photobucket.com/albums/dd248/maryalanab/Observatory pics/roofopening1.mp4

AT6RC Ritchey-Chrétien telescope with a video camera on it currently

Nerve center in a separate warm room from the scope.

Lot of the build pictures, I did the build myself including roof engineering and controller

http://s226.photobucket.com/user/maryalanab/library/Observatory pics

Okay, I will chime in with Yopper. I am the one that does the brewing, cooking, and vegetable garden in our house, along with being a Director at an Observatory and from my avatar it is hard to tell if I am male or female, but I am a girl that loves to brew. I enjoy all facets of brewing, being that it is like cooking. Your building a recipe and creating it. Then relaxing and enjoying it.

I just finished planting the spring garden, so fresh veggies here we come. Luckily I do not need to wait until late May or June to plant. Can have a garden year around down here in Texas.

In fact in our brew club there are several women that enjoy brewing. Maybe it is just a Texan thing!!!!

 

[Lefou]

My wife hates the smell when I am brewing, that's why I brew outdoors. When I do small batches inside on the stove top, I get an ear full of how awful it smells which carries over to the following morning. Plus my oldest daughter doesn't like it when I do my small batches indoors. With that being said, it's my hobby, I brew alone and my wife thinks I'm obsessed with it (and pokes fun at me).

This makes me sad.
The arcane homebrewing, distilling, and wine-making pastime, legal and otherwise, has run fairly strong in my family for a few generations. It's never been encouraged beyond the creative hobby stage but it's never been actively discouraged, either.
Everyone eats and everyone drinks, but preferences will never be identical. I've always loved the smell of malt so it's hard to understand how sweet wort or bread could smell "bad" unless there's some other association.
My wife thinks I'm obsessed (I am) but she understands. Where she comes from, the "malt tea" is consumed as is. Taking the "tea" an extra step into another form is just another type of "food" for me - it just seems natural.

 

[chickypad]

I just added my vote to the meager women's count. The hubby got me into this, buying our first starter kit, but he hasn't actually brewed with me in years. I've cut down to almost exclusively small batches in the last 2 yrs so I don't even need him for the heavy lifting anymore. He's much more interested in cooking food which works out great because I hate that. He loves to drink beer though and has a great palate, so again win-win.

 

[Norselord]

As a follow up poll.

Of those who participated in this poll - is the main cook in the house a male or female?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Yes! the chief brewer in my household is a male or a female.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

And YES! the main cook in my household is a male or a female.

 

[stella_tigre]

Just added my count, it's probably pretty obvious I'm of the female persuasion. I started with wine, cider, mead (and variations thereof) but started in on the beer a bit later. HWMO has become an an enthusiastic partner, but I don't know if he's desiring to take the lead on any of the brews. Probably should ask!

I am the primary cook as well, in fact I have to make sure I don't take over when he is the chef de jour. He does most of the grilling, all of the smoking, and cooks other items several times a week. We often work together on things, which we do well, one of the reasons we ended up married.

Edit - I'm also chief gardener, although he helps with the heavy stuff he doesn't like grubbing in the dirt. For those wondering wtf he does do, he has his own sets of hobbies like ham radio, and he works on stuff around the house, like he made our summer kitchen cabinets. And he drinks beer, wine, cider and mead with me!

 

[Auger]

As a follow up poll.

Of those who participated in this poll - is the main cook in the house a male or female?

I do 100% of the brewing and about 90% of the cooking. Wife likes the smells through the house while I'm brewing, but has zero inclination to get involved in the process (other than drinking it).

 

[Brickman]

I am head brewer and the wife is Commander in Chief. I do most of the brewing but she does most of the cooking. I used to do most of the cooking but she has become a very accomplished cook. We are both competitive "live fire" ie bbq and grilling cooks. She can hold her own over a fire.

Mark

 

[krackin]

Why isn't transgender one of the choices?

Because strange things can happen after a few pints which expands the gray area tremendously.

 

[hedge_87]

I'm a male and brew with one of my buddies form the fire department. So far my wife just likes to hang out in the garage while we are brewing. Of course that might be because about the time we got our brew rig operational our son was born. He is one now so somebody has to keep an eye on him so he doesn't try and climb the brew rig with wort boiling in it or tip over the glass carboy lol. She is very supportive and I have slowly opened her taste buds up to different beers. When we first met she strictly drank bud light. I got her into wheat beers and it's progressed from there. As long as I keep the IBU's fairly mild she will drink about anything and has a great palette for picking up subtle differences like different yeast strains on the same beer (split 10 gallon batches). I think once our son gets a little older where we don't have to constantly watch him she might be interested in brewing. As far as cooking we split duties. She will pick 3-4 recipes she wants to make and I will do the same. One of us will go grocery shopping and then just rotate cooking duties as our schedule allows. I always get stuck doing dishes though while she takes little man for a bath right after dinner.

 

[bob1852]

Yes! the chief brewer in my household is a male or a female.

Except that implies someone in your house actually brews.

 

[MaryB]

What is his ham call? I am also a ham radio operator.

Just added my count, it's probably pretty obvious I'm of the female persuasion. I started with wine, cider, mead (and variations thereof) but started in on the beer a bit later. HWMO has become an an enthusiastic partner, but I don't know if he's desiring to take the lead on any of the brews. Probably should ask!

I am the primary cook as well, in fact I have to make sure I don't take over when he is the chef de jour. He does most of the grilling, all of the smoking, and cooks other items several times a week. We often work together on things, which we do well, one of the reasons we ended up married.

Edit - I'm also chief gardener, although he helps with the heavy stuff he doesn't like grubbing in the dirt. For those wondering wtf he does do, he has his own sets of hobbies like ham radio, and he works on stuff around the house, like he made our summer kitchen cabinets. And he drinks beer, wine, cider and mead with me!

 

[stella_tigre]

What is his ham call? I am also a ham radio operator.

He's says OK to post! WA0UXB. I keep saying I'm going to get a license but never have.

Love your observatory btw, we talked about doing something like that, but haven't...yet...

Edit, pm your call if you prefer.

 

[Murphys_Law]

I see all these posts about wife's not liking the smell...I'm lucky...my wife loves the smell.

I may keep her.

 

[Norselord]

And YES! the main cook in my household is a male or a female.

I suppose an "or" is more convenient than an "and" in this case.

 

[MaryB]

My call is W0AAT and I thought maybe I had talked to hm if he operated 2 meter SSB but I don't recognize the call. I mostly work the VHF bands and bounce my signals off the moon on 2 meters...

My 2 meter antenna array pointed at the moon

He's says OK to post! WA0UXB. I keep saying I'm going to get a license but never have.

Love your observatory btw, we talked about doing something like that, but haven't...yet...

Edit, pm your call if you prefer.

 

[tracyk]

MaryB love the observatory. Looks like the dome opening is remote controlled or I am wrong. I love how you have it opening up that is a great concept. Doing anything for the Total Solar Eclipse this year?

Anyway here is my little playtoy that I use most clear nights. A 36" f/7.4 or 13.0. I can flip the secondary and change the focal length. It is a classical cassigrain with a hyperbola mirror. The mirror alone weighs 500lbs!!