Question for parents that brew

[DuckBrown]

My 13 year old son and 12 year old daughter will help when asked and can be quite useful. I only started brewing a year ago, so they were 12 and 11 at the time. Back when I used to bottle, my daughter loved being in charge of the capping.

Neither has expressed any interest in sampling the finished product, but I don't think I'll mind them having a taste when they do. Making something forbidden draws a teen to it like a moth to a flame, often with the same results. I don't want them drinking all my beer because that means less for me!

 

[signpost]

My daughter is 3 and she helps me weigh out my grain. She loves it and also drops grain all over the place, so I have to clean it up. She doesn't help out with the other parts, but who knows if she might get interested in helping more as she gets older.

 

[TurnipGreen]

I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, both girls and they help. I brew in the kitchen and I do put the baby gate up when I'm moving hot or heavy stuff around, but it's a small kitchen and two girls and two dogs is a lot underfoot. Both girls help add the hops. My older girl helps stir the mash and she's a big help during bottling. All of us like to watch the actively fermenting carboys. Our oldest even knows that the "yeast eats the sugar and poops out beer."

Neither of them like the wort especially not once the hops is added.

It's sure nice to have helpers!

 

[BigPerm]

My daughters (3 and 5) love to help. They'll stir the mash, add hops and just watch and ask questions. I've let them try pre-fermentation gravity samples, and they love to have lunch at a local brewery and drink water out of tasting glasses. They both have small glass tasting snifters from which they drink juice and carbonated water. My kids understand that beer is an adult beverage and that it is my hobby, and I have no problems letting them be involved in it (just not the drinking)

Teaching kids to respect alcohol is a huge task of any parent. Teaching them that it is taboo is counterproductive.

 

[Joe61]

How old were your children when and if they started helping you?

Got into a small argument with my mother in law
<snip>
So, just because I'm a rebel, I make it a point to
<snip>

I don't know you but like you already. Nothing like pushing back against the nosy in-law.

I'm brand new to home brewing and my youngest is already 21, so I am not qualified to comment on the issue. However, common sense would seem to indicate it is a very good skill. Kids can learn many useful things - cooking, measuring, temperature, sanitization, organization, following instructions (a recipe) and patience. They also learn respect for heat, boiling liquids, etc.. All skills that easily transfer to many other activities. Going into grad-school science class understanding how to read a hydrometer (and what the readings mean) could only be a benefit.

As long as things are kept age-appropriate (e.g. don't leave a 2-year old to tend a boiling kettle) why would anyone have a problem with it.

Growing up in an Italian household, I was introduced to wine at a very young age. I completely understand the 21+ concept and am not recommending anyone serve any alcohol to a minor. However, I have found that alcohol, like many other things, becomes the sought-after "forbidden fruit" when completely denied. When thing are introduced to kids in the proper way and a controlled setting, they lose their mystery and are less likely to be experimented with in secret. All IMO - YMMV.

 

[Calichusetts]

3.

He helps with vorlaufing and hop additions mainly. Still loses interest quickly

 

[drgonzo2k2]

My daughter is 10. She lives full time with her mother but spends every spring break, summer vacation, and so on with me. When she came out last summer (she was 9) she told me she wanted to brew a beer together. She hadn't been much in to it prior to that. I let her pick the type of beer she wanted to brew with me - she said, "let's brew something with fruit, but something that's not sour because sour beer is gross." So we settled on a blueberry wheat. She pretty much enjoyed everything up until the mash when she asked me, "so now we have to wait an hour?" After which she disappeared to her room to play with Monster High dolls, and I didn't see a whole lot of her for the rest of the brew session.

I've let her have just very small sips of brews every once in a while since she was 8. So far she hasn't liked any of it and thinks that I'm a "weirdo" for drinking it.

My son is only 14 months, so he's not really helping with anything, but he does come out with mom sometimes and hang out a bit. He does thoroughly enjoy watching starters spin around on stir plates, and I think he could do that for hours one end.

 

[Stocktonbrew]

My Mother in law hates me and the idea that my son is my brew buddy. I have a lot of good memories of us brewing though. He would help make up recipes, taste grain, and hops. Then he turned sixteen and we bought him a car, he discovered girls, and if it's not dinner time, I never see the kid.