New brew schedule... or how to brew with toddlers! (input/advice sought!)

[WheeledGoat]

ah, it's so nice to hear that i'm not the only one whos brew life is complicated by the little ones! my girls are 3 & 5 - just the right age that I can usually engage them in helping me.

I know they won't be interested in helping me the whole time, so I over-play it... have them do everything, even the stuff that they aren't excited about - until they get bored of brewing (and me) and go off to play by themselves. I act all dissapointed and sad that they're leaving me, and ask how I'm going to do it all without them, and my 5 year old reassures me that I can do it. It seems to work perfectly to solidify it in their heads that I'm gonna be busy.

I mash & sparge in the kitchen, and boil in the garage. The attention span of 3 & 5 year olds usually ensures they're done with me long before the boil. I check on them often, and sometimes flip on a movie for them, but this way they understand that a)I'm busy and b)it's not something they want any part of.

Admittedly, it helps that I got 2 of 'em - I figure one kid gets bored and seeks out daddy a lot faster, while a pair of them will occupy each other.

I'm gonna be in trouble soon, though, when they get smarter than me and this reverse psychology stuff won't work anymore...

 

[R2-D2]

Very relevant topic as I just did my first AG on Saturday with a 3 year old girl and 2 year old son... and wife in Vegas for the weekend.

I cleaned and sanitized everything the night before. Sat them down for lunch while I set up all my gear and heated the water. By about 1:30 the water was at temp and the kids were ready for bed. Put the kids upstairs for their nap, ran downstairs, started the mash, wrapped some towels to retain heat and ran back upstairs to yell at the kids.

One hour later, kids asleep, and ready for sparging. Now, I rushed my collection and sparging at this stage because I knew the kids would be awake within 30-45 minutes. In the future I will be more patient as this affected my efficiency. Collected my amounts and started the boil. Boiling this large amount took longer than I thought and by the time it had started a rolling boil the kids were awake.

The kids were actually super enthusiastic because I allowed them to dump in the hop additions at the 20-15-10-5-0 marks. They loved it! At that point I had to cool down in a ice water bath but they loved that too because they could dip their hands in the cold water to swirl it around the tub.

The 2 1/2 year old son is a handful and I got lucky that he was fairly calm during this time. Next time, I will start the mash well before lunch so that I can collect and sparge right after they go down for their nap. It's all about timing.

 

[Saint Aardvark]

I'm in exactly the same boat: 2 sons, 2.5 yrs and 10 mos, and afternoon naps are about 1.5 - 2 hrs in length; fairly dependable, though not always. And the last time I tried doing it at night, I was up 'til midnight; with #2 son up at 5:30am without fail, this is just not possible. (I cannot wait 'til they're in university; I'm going to spend a year in a medically-induced coma just to catch up on sleep.

I am thinking that if I can mash/sparge in the afternoon when my son is napping and prepare for the boil. Then let it sit a few hours (3-4) and do the boil in the evening. Hopefully I won't be up all night. I was thinking mash early AM and then let it sit 'til afternoon. Problem is once you've got the boil going you pretty much have to follow through to pitching and I cannot do that in an 1.5-2 hours (nap duration)

That is exactly what I did last Saturday, and it worked like a charm for me -- as far as timing goes, anyhow...this turned out to be my first all-grain batch, so I'm on unfamiliar ground here. However: I took a pint last night for *cough* gravity reading, and it tastes pretty good! So I think this schedule will work out.

(One little variation for me was that I got my older son to dump in the hops when he woke up. For a stout, first-wort hopping may be a bit ridiculous, but he really liked helping Daddy make beer.)

I plan on continuing this schedule, since I'm really looking forward to experimenting with all-grain (perhaps with smaller batches, since I'm still working with an electric stove). The prospect of continuing to brew beer and getting to bed at a reasonable time is just too appealing to pass up.

 

[buzzkill]

my youngest just started pre-K this year :rockin:

and my mom takes my girls to Sunday school and keeps them for most the day. moms rock!

man it is hard to do anything when they are that young, just finding the time to take a shower can be hard to do.

 

[janzik]

We have a 2.5 year old and one on the way (any minute now, actually). I have found that brewing in off hours has been my only real solution.

When I was doing extract batches, it generally wasn't bad. Now that I'm doing AG batches in the kitchen, I have found that it helps me to get up early and do it then. I usually get up at 5am and go for a run on the treadmill. So what I started doing was, got everything up and going and while my 60 minute mash was going, I got a 30 minute run in. This gives me a head start before my daughter (or wife) get up and they're both not in my way.

 

[MacBruver]

We have a 2.5 year old and one on the way (any minute now, actually). I have found that brewing in off hours has been my only real solution.

When I was doing extract batches, it generally wasn't bad. Now that I'm doing AG batches in the kitchen, I have found that it helps me to get up early and do it then. I usually get up at 5am and go for a run on the treadmill. So what I started doing was, got everything up and going and while my 60 minute mash was going, I got a 30 minute run in. This gives me a head start before my daughter (or wife) get up and they're both not in my way.

Now that's time efficiency... running while mashing!

 

[Dog House Brew]

My wife takes care of my little beast while I brew. This limit in time is what pushed me to do 15 gallons. I only get to brew once a month. Love the larger batches, same time.......more beer.

 

[missing link]

I have a 2 year old. I generally set everything up before dinner and get everything pre-heated. Since my system maintains temps automatically, I just let it sit for 2 hours. Right before sitting down to dinner I mash in so I know I have 60 minutes to eat and help clean up.

My wife and son come to the garage for an hour during the sparge and then my wife gets him in bed while I tend to the boil.

I then clean up and get in to hang with the wife. If it is past 10 when I finish, I leave everything to be cleaned up the next day.

Linc

 

[GreenwoodRover]

I used to brew in the evenings, outdoors on 2 propane burners I had it down from heating strike water at 8pm to pitching at 1am. Not too shabby.

i decided to switch it up a bit the late nights were getting rough. This past weekend My wife went shopping and I was at home with my 2 boys (3-1/2yo and 15mo.) on what I planned to be my brewday.

The key is prepping everything the night before.
The night before I milled the grains and put the enitre bill in a plastic bucket with a lid. I prepare the water and let it sit with campden a campden tablet. I measured the hops pellets and put them in snack size zip baggies labeled with the addition time. I have everything setup outside and in the fridge.
The day of I barricaded the bew area of the pation with my saw horses and lit the burners. then played tball and soccer with my sons in the yard. Mashed in and b pu the little one to sleep and watched the beginning of a moviewith my older son. Midway through I closed the baby gate and collected my runnings. the younger was up from nap by now so Lunch was outside on the patio while I boiled. Dropped the IC in and put them both down for their afternoon nap. By then it was chilled so I sanatized my racking equip and fermenter and did the transfer and pitched. I left all the stuff out to clean later that night.

Now that it is getting nicer out, I see that as my brewday routine for the foreseeable future...

 

[jpsloan]

I have a 19 month old, who is probably as active as your little dervish. However, I'm lucky in the setup of my house. I brew on my deck, and can close the screen door while I'm attending to the high detail parts, like sparging. When I'm busy, he stays inside the kitchen/living room either play with his toys or watching me. Sometimes shrieking to be outside with me, but that's just the breaks for him.

When I'm waiting during the mash, or during the calmer portions of the boil, I go inside with him, or sometimes when the weather's nice, I bring him out in his high chair to sit with me outside to make him feel involved. Also, I tend only to brew when the wife is home to fill in... but I very often find that she takes advantage of the moment to get errands done. All said, there's maybe forty total minutes of time that I'm fully engaged in activity, and the rest of the four hours is either watching, waiting, or cleaning up.

 

[Runyanka]

I'm in the same boat I have two boys, one how is 2 years old, and one that is 10 months old. This time, my wife is out of town with the kids, so I brewed up 3 batchs over the weekend :rockin: It was like a friggin brewing marathon in my garage.
Usually what we will do is what a lot of the other do, and that is swap out duties. I get up at 6am saturday morning, fire up the burner and am usually finished with everything by 10am. I swap that for letting SWMBO sleep in as long as she wants sunday, and getting a "girls night" once a month.

 

[nutty_gnome]

I do extract starting at about 9 or 10. From steep to pitch... its a late night. I plan on exploring no chill so that I can knock off an hour and a half or so (in-sink chilling and fermenter prep) and then pour and pitch into the fermentor the next evening.

My kids have a zero tolerance for the whole brewing process. But I'm sure my son will come around when he gets older.

 

[WheeledGoat]

But I'm sure my son will come around when he gets older.

ya know, it occurred to me that my kids are gonna grow up. probably sooner than i think. soon enough, they're gonna be in high school, having friends over, parties, etc...

and, oh look! beer on tap!

UGH.

now i'm on a different page than most of America, I think. I feel like alcohol is no big deal, and I will not refuse it to my kids, no matter what age. I'm hoping that attitude will diffuse the whole drink-to-rebel thing when the kids get older, but since it's against the law and all, I can't maintain that outside of my home.

What to do when the kids grow up and their friends come over? I don't expect other parents will appreciate their kids having 30 gallons of beer at their disposal when they visit my house, not to mention liability. Lock the keezer?

Anyone?

 

[beerkrump]

Lock the keezer?

You got it!

Either tap locks or a lock on the keezer lid and a valve for each beer line. If my kids are anything like me, I'm going to have to make more beer. My brother and I used to take my dad's beer and move the empties to the back until we could replace them. Worked until one hot summer day and my dad wanted more than two beers.

"BOYS!"

 

[sharpstick]

whenever i brew or bottle, i lock the cats in the bathroom. does that help?
duct tape?

 

[jay8s]

What a timely thread to see. My wife is due in October, so I am taking the last two weeks of my summer, I am a teacher, and Brewing. I have 7 fermenters that I need to get full. Three more kegs for a total of 7, and I should be good for the next 6-9 months, depending on how many times friends come over, which may be more than I think. Fortunantly for me I have afriend that just started homebrewing, so I am going to get him to help me when he can, he is a med student, so we will have to see what I can get outta him. I think the splitting of the brew will be good to know.

Jay8s

 

[Nostrildamus]

I have a 19 month old high energy toddler and have it pretty much figured out.

Setup and prep ahead of time. Prep refers to not only brewing but also to tending the the child. This means, food, a change of clothes close at hand, entertainment and a safe place to play.

All of the brewing needs to be in a place out of reach and out of access to the toddler. I like out on my patio with a baby gate across the door. That way, the kids can still see what is going on and not feel abandoned while you are tending to things.

Getting water up to temp over propane is really not a problem and doesn't involve much supervision. A quick hop over the gate and a peak at the temp takes less than a minute. Pouring in the grains and giving it a stir takes less than five. If you toddler can look at a book, play with a puzzle etc. for that long then you are set. Mash-in and give the temps a check at 5, 15, 30 mins and play with the kid in the meantime.

Setting water up to heat for sparging should be pretty quick as well. Prefill the HLT then set it on the burner when the time is right ( around the 30 min mash time).

If you fly sparge the sparge and lauter will be much easier. Match your flow rates and stand back and let it do the work.

The boil is the time I prefer to match with nap time as it tends to be the most dangerous with open flame and scorching sugary liquid. When the child is napping, clean everything that needs it and set it away if you will no longer be using it. If nap time lasts an hour plus then you will probably get in the boil and cooling but maybe not the clean up. No matter, everything should be cool to the touch by this point and your toddler may enjoy watching you pour the wort into the carboys.

Hope this helps. I know every kid is different so adjust as you see fit or simply get a buddy to help out for an hour. Talk him through it while you keep your child occupied.

 

[mattmcl]

Duct tape and the Disney channel. Works every time!

 

[Saint Aardvark]

One addition to this thread: I've recently started doing one-gallon AG batches, and this works well with the kids. Boiling/chilling takes less time (I save an hour, easy) and the small volumes mean that I can boil on my stove, or mash in a spaghetti pot on the counter. It's a great alternative to the propane burner, or the 10 gallon cooler; on top of that, it can be fun to do small experiments...makes up for the low yield on bottling day.

 

[Magic8Ball]

In 2008 a buddy named James talked to me about his quick brew days. This recipe was inspired by him. I use it whenever the pipeline is getting dry and Daddy Daycare can't handle a AG batch. Change the hops to what you have or like. Brew day, if everything is prepped is about 1.5hrs

Simcoe/Amarillo Gold 15 min Boil Ale. No need to boil extract for more than 15 minutes.

Five gallon batch OG 1.055 FG 1.014 ABV 5.4%
Add as water is heated and removed when temperature reaches 170°F
1 lb. 60L Crystal in steeping bag

@15 min: (start of the boil)
6 lbs. Light Dry Malt Extract
2.5 oz. Simcoe Pellet Hops
(add immersion chiller)
@10min add: Whirlfloc
@ 5 min add:
1.0 oz. Simcoe Pellet Hops

@Flameout
1 oz. Amarillo Gold Pellet Hops

Pitch rehydrated Safale 05
Dry hop with 1 oz. Amarillo Gold

 

[tjash]

Yeah, I'm breathing life into an already zombiefied thread, but the title caught my eye when it popped up in the similar threads box on something else I was reading. Second little one due to arrive in a few weeks, so it was great to read through some other folks' experiences and approaches to brewing while managing kids.

I especially liked Magic8Ball's revival post with the 1.5 hr. brewday recipe. Good to know that even if I can't squeeze in a full blown AG day, I can still keep the keezer full.

Bumping this for any other brewers out there facing the toddlerpocalypse.

 

[Glynn]

It may not be the best option but I stopped brewing until my son was old enough to entertain himself

 

[45thparallelhopper]

My buddy and me both have 2yo kids. We usually organize multiple batch brew days where our kids are not home or the moms watch them

 

[nutty_gnome]

Isn't the OP's kid in college yet? He started this thread in the last decade.....

 

[Oddball]

Do it at night after they go to bed or in stages like you mentioned. I have a three year old and now infant twins so I feel your pain. My brew time has severely decreased as of late and is very tricky to fit one into the schedule...

 

[Oddball]

Isn't the OP's kid in college yet? He started this thread in the last decade.....

Oops, didn't catch that...

It may not be the best option but I stopped brewing until my son was old enough to entertain himself

Not the best option? That doesn't sound like an option at all...

 

[geek_chaser]

I put on Yo Gabba Gabba to get things clean, then the SECOND i put my one year old down for a nap and my three year old on Skylanders, I start everything. Usually my husband is home when I brew, but if he is out for any reason, nap time for everyone. they only take one nap a day, so it will last for 3 hours give or take. if they wake while i am still brewing (boil or cooling) i make them lunch or dinner right away (sandwiches usually on brew days, or leftovers) and then they sit there and eat for a bit. my kids loose their minds if they dont have food in front of them and im not holding them. but check out yo gabba gabba. it is my life saver with my boys. all my nieces and nephews love that show too. keeps them all quiet and calm for up to hours!