Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
Titch
Piss Artist
Posts: 251
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:45 pm

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by Titch » Mon May 23, 2011 4:31 pm

so far ive nto done my all grain
kits so far for me, the wife joins in

all grain will start when we return from disney

all my kits so far have been in the evening with the wife helping couple hours mixing etc then TV and a brew.

the AG will be saturday AM the 2 girls go swimming till 11:30 youngest lad can run around with me while she is at the gym
have dinner when they get back and finish off

well thats the plan anyway ;)

can't wait till the 10th June when we get back ;)

User avatar
Naich
Under the Table
Posts: 1120
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2009 9:55 pm
Location: Cambridge, UK
Contact:

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by Naich » Mon May 23, 2011 6:58 pm

fego wrote:I've often felt guilty about doing a brew all day and saying stuff like 'I'm at a crucial stage - so I can't help do so and so'. And even though experience means you can squeeze cutting the grass in or putting washing out etc, I still feel guilty and detached, almost selfish.
I know that one. I try to get most of the work done after bedtime and before anyone gets up.

Rick_UK

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by Rick_UK » Mon May 23, 2011 7:47 pm

I have the same problem and have solved it by doing the mash, sparge and boil in the evening. Cooling overnight with the FV in bath of cold water and pitch the yeast the following morning.

If you get everything ready and prepared you can get the mash on for about 7pm get kids to bed and stuff while the mash progresses. Sparge and lauter between 8:30 and 9:00, boil from 9:00 - 10:30 and get to bed by 11ish.

I save a lot of time by using hot water from the combi boiler which comes out at about 60'C so it only takes 10 mins or so to reach strike / sparge temp. If you opt for a 60 minute boil and mash you can cut another hour out.

If your SWMBO is anything like mine she won't care a fig that your having fun brewing rather than spending time with her, but will inflict incessant mental torture if she has to occupy the kids on her own for any longer than 10 mins!

Rick

liquidman

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by liquidman » Mon May 23, 2011 8:50 pm

f your pushed for time have you thought about trying brew in a bag? I did my third this weekend in under five hours (incuding cleaning up and general faffing around).

Andrew

alfie09

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by alfie09 » Mon May 23, 2011 9:34 pm

makes me laugh reading these thought i was on my own. i make a beer 40litres every 4-6 weeks and when its brewday the missus turns into somone who suddenly doesnt like doing stuff on her own and she turns into the devil full of hell!. but i just carry on regardless and i seem to get away with it upto now! i have often thought i would be coming home to barrels and buckets rolling down the road lol.

1. oh its lovely ouside and because of you were stuck inside? (well piss off then ?) :D
2. the little one wants to go out (well bloody take him) :D
3. ohhh that STINKS your making me feel sick :x
4. how much longer i need to clean the kitchen, wash the pots, hoover, polish, dust, mop :twisted:
5. you never want to do anything with the family :twisted:

any other weekend its fine. oh hang on here she comes haven't got permission to be on here. coming now love :shock:

ha cant live with them cant live without them [-X

User avatar
Horatio
Under the Table
Posts: 1214
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2009 3:07 pm
Location: Stanford le Hope, Essex. UK

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by Horatio » Tue May 24, 2011 12:08 am

Reading all of this has made me realise how fortunate I am! I brew every two to three weeks and have two young children; 2½ and an 8 year old, both girls. They both love to help me prepare for a brewday; the oldest has helped me since she was about two. They weigh out the grains, water treatments and hops etc. The 8 year old has been doing it for so long now that I can leave her alone to get on with it and she always gets it right! If I get all the stuff together without them they get upset with me now. They are kept well away from any of the hot stuff and know that it is not safe for them so they leave me alone when I go into the brewery (utility room) during the day. Once the wort has been cooled they help again by opening the tap for the run-off and pitching the yeast. They really enjoy checking the FV every mornings to see the yeast head too. I’ve tried to involve them in the whole process, even if just by telling them about the boil etc and they really seem to love the whole concept of brewing. I’m very lucky that their mum loves real ale and is keen for me to brew beers.

Time wise I often set up the HLT the night before on a timer, get up for about 8am to get the mash on and am all packed away by 1pm at the latest. That is with the girls weighing everything out for me the day before and me setting all the kit up the night before.
:D
If I had all the money I'd spent on brewing... I'd spend it on brewing!

WishboneBrewery
CBA Prizewinner 2010
Posts: 7874
Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:06 pm
Location: Keighley, West Yorkshire
Contact:

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by WishboneBrewery » Tue May 24, 2011 7:29 am

To speed things along I weigh out my malts the night before, next morning get up start heating Mash liquor and bugger about on computer, Mash for 60mins, batch sparge, boil for 60mins, Stirring while cooling helps a fair bit.

I always find I take ages, with 80c steeps, sometime longer Mashes depending on the beer, breakfast, dinner, cups of tea, washing up etc :D

EccentricDyslexic

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by EccentricDyslexic » Tue May 24, 2011 8:01 am

Do wot i did...build an automated brewery! Only needs 1/2hour to set it up (fill HLT, hop hoppers, conect the hose etc), 15mins at mash in time(pour in the grain, stir and press the go button!) and an hour to clean up the aftermath at your leisure.....the rest is done automaticaly, all you have to do then is pitch your yeast!

Steve

raiderman

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by raiderman » Tue May 24, 2011 1:26 pm

I'm not knocking your approach, but doing it "properly" take longer. You can mash and boil in the boiler quite successfully and in half a day. I don't worry about sparging and just do a 20m remash in fresh water. You can still plan to use all your shinny kit when time permits but if you simplify the process you can brew more often without pissing SWMBO off! :D :D

fullclaret

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by fullclaret » Tue May 24, 2011 8:39 pm

I've got 4 kids under 9, including a 3 and 1 year old and I sympathise big time, brewing and family don't mix. Here's some tips I've picked up in the 18 months since I started AG brewing.

Get everything ready the night before:
- water in boiler, any CRS or gypum done.
- Grains weighed.
- kit cleaned, ready to use.
- Timer set to heat water

Start early. My youngest get up around 5:30am so we take it in turns to get up with them at weekends. If I'm brewing my wife gets 2 lie-ins. Start heating water by 6, mash by 6:30, finished by 12pm.

Do stuff with kids while mashing, boiling etc, including cleaning mash tun.

I always clean the kitchen floor after I'm done. Partly because the dust from the grains covers everything, partly 'cos it's the last word after a brew morning.

Last thing, try & spend quality time afterwards. I always sky plus the footie after brewing.

Cheers,
Steve

User avatar
k1100t
Piss Artist
Posts: 223
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:59 am
Location: Cambridge, UK
Contact:

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by k1100t » Wed May 25, 2011 3:41 pm

Thanks for all the replies has made fascinating reading hearing how everyone tries to fit it all in. I've tried brewing in the morning, afternoon and evening and the main complaint isn't that it's takes long, it's that I seem more excited about brewing beer than spending time doing stuff with her. The next brew will be a split effort, evening, following morning, after that I can take stock and agree with her which one worked the best and proceed from there.

Cheers,

Bob.
I like beer --- Currently rebuilding the brewery, this time with stainless...

danbrew

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by danbrew » Wed May 25, 2011 4:51 pm

Just another 2p worth.

I get the mash on from about 6pm then get the kids ready for/ in bed. Then continue from where I left off. I'm doing brew in a bag so don't really sparge but may bucket sparge if I feel like it. I'll cut the boil down to an hour (adjusting the hops) if I need to then chill with an immersion chiller. Clean up using the heated water from the chiller. Pitch the following morning...

Finished for about midnight last time but hopefully another brew coming up in a week or two so we'll see how it goes...

Lewy

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by Lewy » Thu May 26, 2011 6:59 am

2 kids, 4 and 3, same problem, last 3 brews have been done overnight, and let's face it for most of the 6/7hrs it takes as a whole you can just leave it be and get on with other stuff. I have mashed for almost 20hrs once, my MT retains heat v well, and apart from whopping efficiency (90%+) and therefore higher OGs, haven't noticed much wrong (I think). So on a Friday evening weigh, treat water and switch HLT on. While this is going on do some chores and get make dinner for wife (bank the brownie points). Mash-in fairly quick then done. In the morning get up with the kids, switch HLT on, play with kids and do chores etc, then when wife has had lie-in begin sparging. When that is done and the boiler is moved to the shed (kids cannot get to) and switched on you can leave it to go about its business for a couple of hours apart from an occasional check up, and adding hops etc at the right times. crash cooling and pitching maybe 30mins break from family again.

I find you don't need 7hrs break from the family at all to indulge your hobby, there are just selected periods in that time when you have to be left alone to get on with it (sparge, and cooling/pitching). I'm sure technique-wise there are much better ways of doing it, but it is better than not doing it at all!

smbenn
Piss Artist
Posts: 132
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:05 pm

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by smbenn » Mon Jul 18, 2011 9:45 pm

Just a quickie on this popular post: has anyone done an overnight midweek AG, with mashing, sparging and transfer to copper (and seal) the first evening, then add hops and commence boil the second evening? Would anything happen to the wort in this time (c. 20 hours)?
Researching ... by drinking ...

critch

Re: Fitting In All Grain Brewing With A Young Family

Post by critch » Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:12 am

4 kids ages one to seven, i just dont get time to brew at home anymore. mind you i do enough of it at work :D

Post Reply