Need some advice from brewers who are Dads of >2. Baby #3 is coming in Feb and I’m certain that this will cause me to go on hiatus from brewing for a few months. Question…when is it the right time to come back into brewing without me getting into some serious trouble. My wife is very understanding of my brewing and allows me to be at the craft most weekends, so it’s possible to start early, but I don’t want to push my luck. I’ve been a brewer for 10 years, but really hard-at-it (all grain) for 2. Help!
gosh, I don’t know. I brewed the first post birth batch about 1.5 months after the blessed event BUT I was on baby leave at the time and the batch was for the midwife.
Depends on your wife. Two weeks? Maybe a month? Whatever keeps her happy.
I’ve actually brewed the most in the shortest time in the weeks after both of my kids were born while my wife was home on maternity leave.
Don’t let something like having a kid deter you from brewing! I have three daughters 6,2 and 1. It’s crazy having the kids running around when you are brewing but I involve the whole family when we brew. My oldest usually gets to throw hops in when we are brewing. I try to take the stress off of my wife by keeping the kids with me. You could also try starting your brew around 7 at night like I do. Throughout the day I sterilize my equipment that way I can start brewing right at 7. Just work around having the new kid bro, don’t take a break!
I only have one kid so I can’t speak for juggling 3. But I do have less time for me so what I’ve done is streamline my process. I BIAB mostly nowadays. I can knock out a 5 gallon batch on the stove top in about 4 hours. I have everything ready beforehand and clean as I go. Sometimes I get up at 4 am and I’m done before everyone’s awake. Sometimes I brew after work while cooking dinner. Sometimes it’s a Saturday afternoon and I can play with my daughter during the mash and boil. If I brew on the Blichmann burner and trim the mash down to 45 minutes I can knock out a batch in about 3 hours. It’s all about time management, multi tasking, and preparedness. You can do it! Good luck and congratulations!
There is no “rule” that I know of. In my case, I didn’t start brewing until after our 3rd child was born.
I think I brewed my first batch after our 4th was born about 4 weeks after. Work it out with your wife. Be as helpful as you can post birthday and see how it goes. Every household has their own rhythms.
I can tell you it isn’t a good idea to have to leave on a business trip 6 days after your 4th kid shows up. I still catch it for that one now and then. :
Congrats and good luck!
Paul
I say right away, but I also say you’re asking the wrong crowd.
- Sent by my R2 unit
My sister in law is demanding I have three types of wine and at least four different beers ready for when she’s done with labor…so I’m gonna go with whatever the woman who is pregnant says and not ask questions.
I didn’t start brewing until my kids were in college, so I got nothin’ to say but “happy wife = happy life.”
I was self-employed, traveled a lot, and finished college through night classes when my kids were infants/toddlers - and my wife has always worked full-time. The key for us was to know when one of us needed a break from the mayhem, and to give each other the opportunity to get that break. Having my mom living nearby and happy to take the kids for an afternoon here and there helped a lot, too.
Best wishes, good luck, and brew on!
Giving this a +1 would be stating the obvious, kinda like the sun is bright, water is wet, etc…
Does the wife drink beer? Brew her favorite!
That’s what I was thinking… My first is 6 weeks old and I have been able to brew twice already. I think it will be harder as he gets older and my wife goes back to work but my goal is not to slow down. For the first time I have come up with a brewing schedule which helps as well. If you put a brew session on the calendar weeks ahead of time it might help.
Hops increase milk production in nursing mothers!
EDIT TO ADD
I AM NOT A DOCTOR, MIDWIFE, DUOLA, OR ANY OTHER PREGNANCY OR NURSING RELATED PROFESSIONAL.
By the way did you know that the plural of ‘midwife’ is ‘midwifes’ rather than ‘midwives’ because the word comes from the german for ‘with the woman’ or ‘with the wife’
I took off for a couple weeks after my 1st and 2nd were born. I had the time off, so what the hell. I brewed both times.
If time is tight, then either knock off a quick extract brew, or even better - make some mead.
6 weeks, in my opinion. I found that the first 6 weeks with a new baby was a time of maximum sleep deprivation. Once everyone was sleeping a little bit better, than normal “life” began to return including brewing, basketball playing and improved personal hygiene.
Wow, I was so tired. And my wife did most of the work!
On a related note: the new BYO has an article detailing a 2-hour brewday.
It might be a bit easier to find a 2-3 hour window than 8-12 hours…
+1
I made a batch of prickly pear mead a few days before my son was born. He’s 14 now. Still have 22 - 750mL bottles of it laid down in the cellar. I made them for him to have for special events throughout his life.
The prickly pears came from cacti growing on the dunes that front the beach along Playalinda at Canaveral National Seashore - in the shadow of launch pad 39B. It was a tradition of mine to go there on Labor Day weekend and pick pears for meadmaking. My son was born 9/9/99.
It was legal to pick the pears there as long as they were not used commercially.
I had no clue prickly pears grew in Florida. Now I need to convince my wife to take a road trip next time we go to Disney…