homebrewandbeer.com

Does anyone here brew all grain and have 2 kids under 3 and work full time and have a yard to mow and play sport etc.......and are not divorced.

I don't know where you all get the time from?

Would love to see how you fit this all in.

Maybe I just need to wait 20 years before I start all grain???????

It's all a question of priorities. Do you value your partner/kids/house/job/career/etc more than your beer? If you do, you're not ready.
Seriously, I have no trouble finding the time, but then I retired last year at age 58.

my mate reckons it takes him about 8 hours from go to whoa when brewing all grain. He does do larger volumes, but he tells me there isnt much in it between doing a 50L brew and a 1200L brew.

Hence why i havent begun doing it. I dont think my girlfriend would let me have the kitchen all day....

warra48 wrote: Do you value your partner/kids/house/job/career/etc more than your beer? If you do, you're not ready.

Gold.

Cheers,
Greg

the 2 i have done so far have taken 5-6 hours but i dont spend much time watching it - mow lawns, wash car, and normal household chores. Its actually quite a relaxing hobby unless things goes wrong........

that said, i dont have kids (and wont be), have a huge backyard and equally massive shed to brew in and a partner who accepts this addiction/hobby and is happy to have me drinking at home instead of living in a pub!

and yes, i do work full time and play sport.

Cheers
DrSmurto

James L wrote:my mate reckons it takes him about 8 hours from go to whoa when brewing all grain. He does do larger volumes, but he tells me there isnt much in it between doing a 50L brew and a 1200L brew.

Hence why i havent begun doing it. I dont think my girlfriend would let me have the kitchen all day....

I have done a fair few ( only single batches) and it would take me about 5 hours from start to finish

WSC my advice would be to wait until your kids are a little older. As in old enough to help. Kids can be a great source of free labour, you just need to make it appear fun to them.

Iron-Haggis wrote:WSC my advice would be to wait until your kids are a little older. As in old enough to help. Kids can be a great source of free labour, you just need to make it appear fun to them.

Charlie`s the name- Charlie Dickens

Nice one Ryan. Subtle. Noice, noice.

Cheers,
Greg

Iron-Haggis wrote:WSC my advice would be to wait until your kids are a little older. As in old enough to help. Kids can be a great source of free labour, you just need to make it appear fun to them.

I second this. Once your kids are old enough to start school, they are old enough to help you brew, even bottle ( no keg system- yet ). I have 5 year old daughter who loves to help mix the wort in the fermenter, and pass bottles to be sterilised and so on.
She is daddys little beer assistant..

2.5 yo is old enough to hand me caps when bottling but might wait a few years until I introduce hot water in the equation.

I think beer comes down my priority list for a while..............not too far down.

Yeah my 3.5 year old helps handing caps out and filling the bottles - can get messy.

I also have a 2yr old, a 5 month old, a 9 month old Lab, full time work, two interstate moves coming up and 6 months of work retraining (changing paths) in the next 12 months....and I plan on going AG in a few months !

Well maybe not full on AG but I plan to use the BIAB method to get me into it and see how I go whether I want to keep with that method or move on to a full set up.

Funny thing is the two older kids recognise a bottle of beer ina second.
I bring out a bottle to open with dinner and its a chorus of..."Daddy's Beer!"

I guess it all comes down to a little planning and making sure I get some of the "other stuff" done too, but sometimes there doesn't seem to be much time to brew, so then I sit on the forums!

I'm married and I don't have kids yet - work full time and then some

I find doing two brews in one session the way to go - you do need 2 burners (although the second doesn't need to be anything flash - and two gas bottles) - I'm also thinking of getting a handheld immersion element to speed things up

Basically while the first batch is starting to boil I mash in the second - I can get 2 batches done in under 6 hours. This means fewer brew days and only 1 lot of cleaning up instead of 2.

I usually spend 30 mins setting everything up the night before - crush grains for the first batch and measure the mash in water - ready to boil the next day.

I have a very understanding wife and the double batches means I'm brewing every 1.5-2 months - which seems to be a happy balance.

Also I have had some 6am starts which means I'm done before lunch - I don't mind the early starts - and I usually try and do something else productive while brewing - once you understand your system - it doesn't require your full attention

As long as the passion is there it can be done - but with children and other commitments - time organisation, prioritisation and balance must be achieved - as with any other hobby or interest

Also a keg system means less time doing brewing things - which is good - bottling is sooo time consuming

Cheers

Bah. I work full time, broke my collar bone recently, and somehow haven't managed to fully recover my free time reserves. Perhaps it's the completely non-beer-approving girlfriend, spending a rather large chunk of my spare time fixing friends' computers, orchestra rehearsals, trying to lose the weight that I gained while lying in bed with said broken collar bone, or, or, or.

I'm starting to think I have a priority problem.

I have a kegging system which is pretty much the only thing that allows me to keep brewing these days, though I'm finding it hard to keep the damned kegs full, what with two housemates who "help" me empty them (they do a very good job).

I just do a mix of all brew types, K&K, All Extract and All Grain. Mostly K&K at the moment though.

Oh hey! Beer related story: I went over to Grain and Grape the other day, when I walked in, there was only one guy there Rod I think his name is. They'd had a power failure, so all their computers were down. Being an IT guy, I got their system back up and running in a few minutes; the guy was very appreciative and gave me 20% off on my purchases.