Kids and brewing

[BrewinHooligan]

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.

My youngest just turned two and is great at making sure dad and mom get no alone time together. Tonight she kept covering up the mash tun with blankets and things for me though. She is like a tornado with feet, but loves to help. My 8 and 10 yr olds love to help bottle and are always interested in what I am doing while brewing my "stinky beer".

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Lol wait until she's 4 and your explaining what your hop plants are and what they're for. Or trying to give reason to the 50# sack of 2 Row in the house and why it can only be used for the arts and crafts dad uses them for. I think the best though is how she talks about my filled carboys full of "stuff" more than I do.

 

[HeavyKettleBrewing]

5 and 3.5 yr old little dudes who love to help with the whole process. I let them turn the valve on my cooler mlt and they love to help add hops during dry hop. They have helped bottle and keg but know to stay away during boil times. Funny thing about this is that they tell everyone that they help dad "make beer". I get funny looks from the pre school teachers. Oh yeah, they love taking hydro readings. Can't do it without them.

 

[shelly_belly]

He has to do every thing I do.

 

[Gustavo]

My lil one helping me with keggle

 

[Gustavo]

 

[barrooze]

Got a 2+ year old son and have twin daughters on the way. Wife's been on bed rest for 8 weeks with (hopefully) 8 more to go. That's a pretty damn good hurdle I have to get over if/when I want to brew. Good thing I had ~20 gallons on tap when she went on bed rest, but the pipeline is dwindling! Brewing on 7/3 though, so I'm happy about that.

 

[barrooze]

Is everyone having daughters these days? *raises hand*

oddly enough, down in Houston it seems everyone BUT is are having boys! Same thing happened when we had our son. Everyone else was having girls! In our parenting class of 11 babies, 9 were girls.

 

[Special Hops]

I usually mull grain am mash in with my 3 year old helping in the late afternoon. But I wait to start the boil until they are in bed.

I don't want them around a Keebler of boiling wort.

 

[Glynn]

Me and my little guy went to the local brewing supply store this morning and he helped my mill 13 lb of malt

 

[fluidmechanics]

My daughter is just under 2 so it's hard to get away for 5 hours or so to brew, my wife also enjoys brewing so its hard to ask her to just watch her while i brew. So here is what I do for my boil and all three of us and our dogs just spend the day outside.

 

[fluidmechanics]

She was very young here.

 

[JonGrafto]

2 girls 1 boy. Girls 4 and 2 and the boy is 11 months. Here thy are trying to help me with my hop schedule.

 

[kaconga]

My daughter is just under 2 so it's hard to get away for 5 hours or so to brew, my wife also enjoys brewing so its hard to ask her to just watch her while i brew. So here is what I do for my boil and all three of us and our dogs just spend the day outside.

It surpirsed me that you were the one penned in. I thought that was awesome.

 

[RogueVassar]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned giving the kids wort! They absolutely love it and always ask for it when they see I'm setting up the brew equipment. (although my oldest was sure she'd like wort after I added the hops and did an awesome and immediate spit-take) Their favorite wort is a wit and will often pass on porters since they're too roasty.

I have a 3 and 5 year old and they've been helping in different ways for years. They'll help grind the barley (and eat a couple grains). Smell the grains at Northern Brewer. Put stickers on bottle caps. Water the hop plants. I'm sure they do more that I'm forgetting.

I do put my fryer in a corner of the porch so they have no reason to walk by it. But they've never messed with the fermenters or anything. I think they're pretty good kids anyway but I think letting them be part of process keeps them from meddling in the parts that need to stay sanitized.

 

[lewishowardm3]

My little boy is too young to help ATM but he loves to go into the cupboard under the stairs where my fermenter is and laughs at the air lock bubbling away! He gets so much amusement from it lol

 

[grasshopperfirestarter]

My little lady Farrah turned 18 months on Father's day and she helped me convert my cooler into a mash tun and played in the box my wort chiller came in for like an hour as I assembled it! Fun Stuff!

 

[wegz15]

My twins help. They're almost 3. They like to help crush grains and look through the refractometer.

 

[snaps10]

I just added two taps to my system (4 total) and am keeping one with soda. Just taught them the intricacies of a good pour on their ginger ale today. Seems I've got a new barmaid/tender and no longer have to fetch my own brew. Ahhhhh. Can't wait until their strong enough to change out a keg. I let my son critique the ginger ale today. He says it's too sweet and we should add some lemon lime next time like sprite. Who am I to argue with an 8yo asking for less sugar?! I'm thinking of dropping the money on a couple small kegs just to let them experiment with soda.

 

[malweth]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned giving the kids wort!

I'm surprised nobody mentioned giving them beer! Just tiny sips - enough to wet the tongue. My recent Rye IIPA got some very interesting bitter faces.

They like to help, but they're usually inside when I'm outside. The 11 month old would just want to crawl over and help with the propane. Here are the girls (9-10 mo and nearly-3 in the photo) helping measure grain. My son is 7 and not nearly as interested as these two are.

 

[PKLehmer]

oddly enough, down in Houston it seems everyone BUT is are having boys! Same thing happened when we had our son. Everyone else was having girls! In our parenting class of 11 babies, 9 were girls.

This kid is going to have great odds in high school!

 

[PA49erFan21]

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.

Wow! You even had bottle caps made. I didn't even notice that.

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*

I have 2 boys, both 2 years old. But like you it seems as though all of my friends who have kids have daughters. It's quite hard to find people to give our old outgrown clothes too. We are not having any more so we aren't holding onto them.

 

[barrooze]

This kid is going to have great odds in high school!

That's for sure! He's a lucky little dude.