For the Dads

[Beerisgud]

I have a 10 month old and I haven’t brewed since she was 1 month. It’s been difficult to find the time. What are some great time saving tips for a new dad so I can have a bottle with my babe?

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Extract batch???

 

[Novacor]

Overnight mash. Start the brew day after she goes to bed, then pick it up again in the morning.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

No worries brother. Yeah things get easier and time eventually becomes more available. I started this hobby when as I had my daughter as a way to distract myself from life (more then just being a first time dad) but I was a single father for many years and finding time to brew was scarce. As my daughter grew I found ways for her to help and enjoy the brewing time together. Even just having her hold a siphon hose made for a different bonding experience. Now she is 10 and I've been brewing for 10 years, she helped me weigh brewing salts and measure acid additions for my water for my last brewday. All that said, for now enjoy the time with the little one, maybe try to plan a play date or something where the little one goes off for a while and you can brew during that time.

 

[murphyslaw]

I think you want to achieve two things. One is taking less time to brew--or at least less time while the kids are awake. The other is to make sure your brew day is as simple and stress free as possible so that you can give some attention to the family throughout the day.

A big help to me was brewing stupid early in the morning and doing everything i possibly could the night before to get ready. HLT full, grains & hops measured, everything in place, etc. It made the day shorter and smoother.

AIO systems like the Grainfather also help. You can set it to warm the water before you wake up. Once you mash in you can basically walk away for an hour and trust it to keep temp. Less stuff to clean up afterwards.

 

[BigJay13]

Going electric so it’s in my basement helped me a ton. I’ve got a 10, 8, and 5 year old. Now they want to know when I’m making beer again. Having the brew system outside so I wasn’t able to help with the kids at all did not fly with the wife. If I could do it against (which I can’t and won’t for now) I would get a BIAB all in one system and pump out a batch in 3 hours. But I’ve got PIDs that hold temps and safety measures in place so I can walk away during mash and sparge.

 

[Sammy86]

I'm a Dad of three (5 yo and twin 2 yo). Time is definitely of the essence! There are three options that I've seen from the young children dad crowd.

1. Early Morning Brewers (Me!) I have an AIO so I set everything up the night before...i wake up at 6 AM crush the grain and mash in by 6:30 AM. I'm done and cleaned up before lunch/nap time and usually pitch yeast later that evening.

2. Late Night Brewers: Start the mash around dinner time...get everyone in bed, boil and chill (or don't) pitch yeast pr wait until the next day.

3. Multi-Day Brewer: Overnight mash as stated above, boil and chill (or don't), pitch yeast the next day.

With my day job being early morning waking up early one extra day to brew isn't going to kill me. All options are viable as long as you plan everything out and don't sweat the little things (and oh yeah don't plan a brew day 3 weeks before your first born due date and have your wife go into labor and have to hold off that brew day for 6 weeks!)

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

And also talk with your partner, in a relation with kids involved, it's really important to give eacother a few hours off every once in a while. My wife really likes baking, so when she is doing baking stuff I have to be the main parent for a while, and vice versa come brewday.
Do you brew in the house? There is plenty of down time during a brew where you can be avaiable to give a hand with parenting stuff.
And do not forget the importance of from a young age, teach your kids how to entertain themselves for a while.
/Parent of a 8 month old and a little over 2 year old.

 

[RevA]

Hi also a Dad,

Mashing late at night and brewing early in the morning works. Extract is fast and easy. Using a no chill cube can save a bit of time.
You might also want to look at Brulosophy's short and shoddy method.

That said as the kids get older you have more time, and as others have said kids start helping. My seven year old gets highly upset if he doesn't have a job to do on brew days.

Good luck in the meantime, you kinda miss this time later.

 

[RickyBeers]

Also a dad. #2 coming in May. I still brewed a decent amount when #1 was under 1 year.
Grain father prepped night before with heating element switched on at 3am to have mash in temp ready at 4am… try 30 min boils, and simple grain bills/minimal techniques. If I focus on being efficient, I can get done by 7(ish)…
Not saying you end up with much, if any, sleep but in a few weeks you have beer!

 

[madscientist451]

Downsize to 2.5/3 gallon batches, using BIAB and your kitchen stove. Smaller batches take less time for you to heat up your strike water, less time to achieve boil and smaller pots are easier to clean up. Getting your grain ready and the actual boiling time is basically the same, but you can shorten that if you'd like. As said above, start your mash at night and go to bed. Get up early, pull the bag and fire up the pot for your boil. You can do a dunk sparge in a side pot if you want to, heat both pots for quicker ramp up time and combine them when you can. Weigh out your hops the night before and have them ready. If its cold in your area, when the boil is done, put the lid on the pot and set it outside, It will be chilled later in the day and you can dump it in your fermenter. You can get a brew done in between all the other stuff you have to do if you just split up/simplify everything. A steeping grain/extract brew saves the most time, extract doesn't need to be boiled, you can boil a hop tea and add that. I've done 15 minute boils, raw ale, short and shoddy and some other methods, and they all work, you'll have to see what works for you.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

I have 3 kids(11,8,5)

Working from home has really helped ALOT

I dabbled with overnight mashing but have started doing that regularly my last couple batches. 10 point jump in efficiency has pretty much solidified it as SOP for me going forward. It's really nice breaking up the brew day into 2 shorter segments.

Before the pandemic I would brew a lot in the evening/nighttime after work, because weekends could be so busy. I ferment in kegs and am able to mash/brew on the stovetop so I could do it while helping with the kids in the evening. I'd get to bed pretty late but was able to get them in. Sometimes if it was too late I'd just leave the batch cooling overnight and then finish the last few steps and pitch yeast early next morning.

 

[Novacor]

My seven year old gets highly upset if he doesn't have a job to do on brew days.

My 5 year old scoops the grain from my Vittles Vault while I'm weighing it out. He also needs to smell all of my hop additions before they go in the pot. Lately he's starting to ask me "Can we make beer today?"

 

[JohnSand]

My kids are all grown, but when I lack time for a full brew day, I use the 15 Minute Pale Ale process. It's extract with a short boil, and it's not limited to pale ales. I'm brewing smaller batches as I drink less. There are other options too: partial mash or short mash/short boil. I rarely mash or boil longer than 40 minutes anyway. No sparge BIAB takes less time than traditional mashing. Kegging less time than bottling. You might even invite a friend to help you brew so there always one person to tend the brew and one to tend the baby. I think you can find a way. You do have your priorities straight.

 

[Spivey24]

I have a 4 and a 1 yo now. I kept brewing since the first one was born. I definitely agree with the multi day brews. Get the water collected and adjusted, the grains crushed, and everything pulled out and set up a day or days ahead of time. Then split the mash, boil, transfer, pitch, and cleanup over 2 or 3 days however you like. I would often boil and chill, then wrap the kettle lid with Saran Wrap and leave it til the next day to transfer.

- Do dry yeast and skip the starters.
- Get to kegging if you are not already.
- Go electric as it’s safer and easier to manage, and doesn’t waste a ton of propane reheating if you mash overnight.
- Stick with a simple setup like BIAB. The less to clean the better.
- Get some software like brewers friend or Grainfather connect that will remind you of every step. It is so easy to miss and forget something with kids running around.

Learn to brew by the seat of your pants and don’t stress over the recipe. Expect every step to be interrupted, and for something to go wrong. This is when I started doing house recipes that I didn’t have to think too hard about. More like cooking a familiar meal. Plan your steps around nap times. I brew in the garage near where the kids like to play so I can be out there with them while watching the brew. Safety first of course.

 

[Wuggly Ump]

I’ve got 4 kids with one on the way. I started brewing when I had a 4 and 2 year old and the third on the way, and I’ve kept up with the hobby the whole time through smaller batches (1.5-3 gal), mashing and collecting wort the night before (for 5 gallons), and planning carefully to maximize naps and bedtime. I truly believe that for the vast majority of brewing parents if there’s a will, there’s a way.

 

[lumbergh]

I used to brew when I had a WFH job on the slow days where I didn't really have much to do.

Also, take a day off from work to brew?

 

[Brewdoddy]

I am a dad of four. I tried to interest all four in brewing. The three boys were more interested and two of them developed a long term interest. My daughter showed little interest but graduated from Edinburgh University with a BSc in biochemistry. She works in the pharmaceutical industry. One of the boys eventually followed me into brewing as a profession. I still brew with one or other of the boys (occasionally two of them) when we can meet up and we have the time. Brewing tends to be at the weekend on my 100 litre traditional setup but there is also a 30 litre single vessel brewhouse set which rarely gets used. All the equipment is to my own design and either built at home or by a fabricator I have done design work for.

 

[jerrylotto]

You can do what I did and just wait 21 years...

 

[Drewch]

What are some great time saving tips for a new dad so I can have a bottle with my babe?

Dad of two here.

Small batch - 3 gallons boil a lot faster than 7-8.

Short-n-Shoddy - 30-minute mash and 30-minute boil. Adjust your recipes to account for the change in efficiency.

Extract - skip the mash step entirely.

No/Passive Chilling - walk away and come back when the wort is cool.

 

[HB2 HughBHomeBrew]

You can do what I did and just wait 21 years...

I ended up doing that too. Brewed from about 1994-1999 then picked up again in 2019.

 

[Drewch]

Oh, another thing that pairs well with small BIAB batches is to mash in your oven. Set your oven to "keep warm" or its lowest setting. Heat to strike temp on the stove top, add the grain, stir well, turn the oven off, stick your kettle in the oven, leave it til you're ready to move on to the next step. I've heard of people even leaving it as long as overnight.

 

[2bluewagons]

I’m a primary parent for a 3.5 and 1.5 year old, my wife works full time, I watch the kids full time and work part time. So YMMV, but another vote here for going electric, if you’re open/able to invest a bit in automation. If I had to start over I guess I’d go with an AIO, but I was already pretty deeply invested in my Unibrau V1 120V setup. I changed out the PID for the newer DSPR 320. It can be programmed with 8 mash steps and 8 boil steps, and has two relays for controlling a pump or whatever can be plugged in. I also added a solenoid for chill water. With all that, I can walk away from brewing at any point in the process and the system will either do what it needs to or wait for me to proceed, depending on what I programmed in for that brew.

All that said, extract is another huge time saver. Boil short and you can be done in less than 2 hours.

 

[Beerisgud]

Just want to say thank you everyone for the great advice here! You are all awesome. I love the thought of sharing the experience with my daughter. Even if she doesn’t want to brew with me in the future, it’s a fun hands-on learning experience and may inspire her in other ways. I have lots of homegrown hops in my freezer and I’m excited to use them up and fill the kegs again. Cheers!

 

[Gorm]

Well, depends on your partner. My wife really wanted to handle most of the baby duties early on and was equipped to do so. So brewing the first 2 years was reduced but not ended. True reduction was when 2 years on when i was watching the kids, while running the farm. Kinda tough to work, watch, teach and play with toddlers while the wife is away working let alone brewing, so every other weekend, nights etc.

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

I'll just chime in with not bothering to boil. Heat to 80ºC, kill the fire, toss in some whirlpool hops and come back a couple of hours later to run off into the fermenter. Leave that to cool to pitching temp and chuck in the yeast. Combined with an overnight mash and it you'll find the actual work time is less than it takes to cook lunch.