Kids and brewing

[Gustavo]

Well having two toddlers running around makes it a little hard to brew. Since they love to get into everything and some how manage to open everything they get there little hands on. To start off my little girl threw ice from the ice bath into the cooling wort. Secondly she some how got unit my " man cave" and managed to opeb

 

[Gustavo]

^^^ managed to open my primary bucket. Not sure if she actually stuck her hand in. Well I hope she didn't contaminate my brew. ANY ONE ELSE HAVE TROUBLE KEEPING THERE LITTLE ANGLES OUT OF TE BREW LOL

 

[Polboy]

My 2 year old is little problematic but manageable. I brew when he slips to avid risk associated with hot water, burners, gas, glass carboys ect, and my fermentation chamber is out of his reach, 2ndaries on the floor but he knows not to pull airlocks anymore, he always go with me to the basement to check on fermentation and starters, now he is actually reminding me every morning to check on my brew (dad yeast, dad beer, lets go

 

[badhabit]

All my kids, two girls and a boy, ended up brewing with me when they were young. I got a bottle opener and put it on a cord and hung it around their neck and called them my assistant brewmaster. I never had any trouble with them doing something what they should not have but I will admitt keeping a pretty close eye on them as I was concerned about them beinbg around boiling wort. Anyway as they got older they were good help, not always willing. All of them are now moved away from home and homebrewers themselves. I guess what goes around comes around, I learned to brew from my dad when I was still in gradeschool.

 

[Shooter]

I've thought about getting my two little boys invovled in the process, but then think about how they can't be within two feet of each other for more than five minutes without chaos erupting and I think again.

 

[FirstStateBrewer]

Spare the rod and spoil the child... ;-)

 

[PA49erFan21]

I have twin 2 year olds at home. For this reason I either brew during the day when they are napping or I brew at night after we put them to bed. I use the closet up stairs to store the beer while fermenting, which they can't get into.

 

[neosapien]

The 10-year-old nephew....not a problem. He's really good at brewing too. Likes maths and science and chemistry, so it works.

The 18-month-old...oi. Brewing and small children is a disaster waiting to happen. And he loooooooooooooves the airlocks. Can't help but want to play with them.

 

[homebrewdad]

My four year old and two year old boys love to help out. I regularly post pictures of them to my blog.

My four year old LOVES to help, loves to smell the beer, etc.

 

[PA49erFan21]

My four year old and two year old boys love to help out. I regularly post pictures of them to my blog.

My four year old LOVES to help, loves to smell the beer, etc.

Those are some awesome labels you made! Did you create them or get them somewhere? I guess I probably could have read the blog and found out. Sorry.

 

[ryclo]

This is the reason I went to electric brewing, that hot propane burner was just waiting for one of my kids to come up and grab it... I brew out in the garage and have a line I make with chalk that they are not allowed to cross.

 

[PKLehmer]

It always cracks me up to hear parents talk about their children. I'm the youngest in my family and I have 11 (#12 on the way) nieces and nephews and every time my wife and I leave a family function we vow to wait another year
We'll have kids eventually but for now, there's no finer birth control than talking to the parent of a 2 year old.

 

[chriscam]

2 year old and 4 month old. i try and do as much prep work the night before after they go to bed. try and keep my 2 yr old involved as much as possible while keeping him away from the burner and hot equipment.

 

[PA49erFan21]

This is the reason I went to electric brewing, that hot propane burner was just waiting for one of my kids to come up and grab it... I brew out in the garage and have a line I make with chalk that they are not allowed to cross.

And they do not cross it? Really?

 

[fenners]

This is the reason I went to electric brewing, that hot propane burner was just waiting for one of my kids to come up and grab it... I brew out in the garage and have a line I make with chalk that they are not allowed to cross.

I like the chalk line idea. I rarely brew around my preschoolers (3.5 & 5.5) but when i do, they know there's a hard line they can't cross. Marking it's a good idea. They do okay with not messing with the brew, but it's just *hard work* to keep an eye on them and the brew.

 

[bluemoose]

My son is 5 and he is a great helper. I tell him what time the next hop addition is and he stares at the clock until it is time and then adds the hops. That little kid could stir for hours, sometimes I make him. We are working on weighing the hops on the scale. As soon as he can reach the tap handles, I'm just the supervisor!

 

[stamandster]

I've thought about getting my two little boys invovled in the process, but then think about how they can't be within two feet of each other for more than five minutes without chaos erupting and I think again.

Seconded.

 

[BeerDoctor5]

My 10 year old helps me. She likes to help me bottle. Last time she filled all the bottles while I capped. The last three brew days I've made her stir the mash while I dough in. She's a big help and I always explain the process to her.

As for my toddler (17 months) I have no issues with her getting in the way. My wife watches her while I brew. When I have to take my strike or sparge water from the stove upstairs to the garage my wife makes sure she's not in the way so as not to get burned. No issues.

My brew day is usually in the garage and my fermenters are in the utility room so I haven't had any issue with the toddler getting into something she shouldn't.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

My older son [5 in August] helps me when I'm measuring and crushing the grain, and he's in charge of filling the bucket up to the specified line for mash water, and then filling the keggle/HLT for sparge water. That's about all he can handle right now, as everything else is hot-side stuff and there's just too much big boiling equipment around. He is at least old enough that he can hang out with me outside and not get into too much trouble.

 

[homebrewdad]

Those are some awesome labels you made! Did you create them or get them somewhere? I guess I probably could have read the blog and found out. Sorry.

Thanks! I bought the labels from onlinelabels.com - about $18 for 400 bottles' worth of labels. They have a template you can download and edit in photoshop.

I have a couple of artist friends who take my general ideas and turn them into actual labels. I then print them out and stick them.

The custom bottle caps come from bottlemark.com.

 

[daksin]

No kids, thank god, but my cats hate the blowoffs. They'll usually pull the tubes out so I get beer crap all over my carpet. I've started taping the tubes to the bottles.

 

[tonyolympia]

Two girls, ages 6 and 2, and they know a tremendous lot about brewing and fermentation.

It's hard work, taking care of kids while finding time for brewing, but there are two awesome things about it. First, I can see the day approaching when I'll have few if any restrictions on this hobby I love so much. Second, at that same moment, I will have two incredibly smart, beautiful, well-loved girls to be proud of. Out in the world doing their own things, and maybe even brewing with me.

 

[Balue]

My 5y/o likes to help me. She also says she loves the smell of daddy making beer(mash) unless I am making an IPA then during the boil she doesn't like it so much. She also loves tasting the grain when we are at the LHBS getting ingredients.

 

[Oddball]

I have a two year old and brew after he goes to bed. It is definitely a chore to keep him out of my brew closet, but there have been no major issues yet. I desperately need to clear out a space in my garage....

 

[freemanmh]

So far my 10 year old is the only one that took an interest. She told me it looked like I was setting up a science lab last weekend when I was brewing. The first thing she asked the next morning was where did I put the beer, and as soon as she checked to make sure it was really there she had to have an explanation of the air lock. A few hours later when I realized I should have just started with a blowoff tube, she saw me sanitizing it, asked what I was doing, and insisted that I tell her when I was ready to go downstairs to set it up so she could watch.

I am so NOT looking forward to her teenage years...

 

[SledgeH]

Thus far I've found a way to maintain the hobby with the 6mo old munchkin. After reading through everyones feedback I'm looking forward to a helpful if inquisitive assistant in the future. anyone else notice all of daughters mentioned? Is everyone having daughters these days? *raises hand*

 

[freemanmh]

Is everyone having daughters these days? *raises hand*

Two daughters, 14 and 10. My son will be 8 next month. My ex's son (who for all intents and purposes is my own) is 18.

Even split

 

[ChessRockwell]

there's no finer birth control than talking to the parent of a 2 year old.

Can't think of a truer statement...

Well, other than possibly BEING the parent of a two year old. That's pretty good birth control.

 

[ChessRockwell]

She also loves tasting the grain when we are at the LHBS getting ingredients.

My daughter loves Weyerman CaraAroma. She was curious so I gave her a little piece thinking she'd spit it out, disgusted. What did I get? "More! More! Grains! More!" She ate a good sized handful before my wife made me stop giving them to her.

 

[Gustavo]

My problem is my 18 months old wants to help with every thing and Is just waiting for the opportunity to see what's inside the fermenter. I guess it's like a forbidden treat. She just has to see what's all the fuss about