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Author Topic: Wife and Homebrew?  (Read 15755 times)

Offline corkybstewart

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #45 on: November 01, 2010, 11:03:41 pm »
This is as close to a "old style" pub as I ever get anymore.
Life is wonderful in sunny White Signal New Mexico

Offline punatic

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #46 on: November 01, 2010, 11:13:19 pm »
Here in Hawaii we are in time zone UTC -10.  That means the World Series started at 2PM here.  So lucky me I set the DVR, get home from a good day at work, pop a homebrew and turn on the big game.  Life is good!

Bottom of the third inning I hear the wife's car pull in, pause the game and go out to say hello...

"Welcome home honey!  How was your day?
"Good! How was yours?"
"Good too."  
"What are you doing?"
"Watching the World Series on TV."
"Hey that's great the Giants won ay?"

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
« Last Edit: November 01, 2010, 11:22:06 pm by punatic »
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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #47 on: November 02, 2010, 12:52:36 am »
 ;D

You need to train her better.  When I tell my wife I'm watching the game she always asks how much I've watched and if I know the result.  I rarely get to watch games live, so it's old hat for her.  :)
Tom Schmidlin

Offline bluesman

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #48 on: November 02, 2010, 04:50:58 am »
Ron Price

Offline majorvices

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #49 on: November 02, 2010, 05:51:00 am »
Here in Hawaii we are in time zone UTC -10.  That means the World Series started at 2PM here.  So lucky me I set the DVR, get home from a good day at work, pop a homebrew and turn on the big game.  Life is good!

Bottom of the third inning I hear the wife's car pull in, pause the game and go out to say hello...

"Welcome home honey!  How was your day?
"Good! How was yours?"
"Good too."  
"What are you doing?"
"Watching the World Series on TV."
"Hey that's great the Giants won ay?"

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Living in Hawaii isn't going to get you many sympathy points from me.

Offline phillamb168

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #50 on: November 03, 2010, 07:08:55 am »
I'm actually kinda glad this topic came up - I've run into some of the same things you guys are talking about, like being told that I talk too much about beer. For a while it was the only thing I talked about, but then we had A Talk and we've broadened our conversation.

My wife loves beer, and since we've been brewing more often has taken to reminding me that our HOUSE has a better beer selection than most bars in Paris. She also tells our friends this, so I think it's safe to say she likes what I'm doing with the hobby.

One thing, though. I really want to get her more involved. It's fun to sit in the basement by myself listening to Phish and soldering pipe or crushing grain, but my commute means I don't get a huge amount of time to spend with her, and so the weekends are an important time to be together. I still want to make beer, so the best thing I can think of is to get her down there with me.

Trouble is, I can be a bit of a perfectionist, and so the last few times she's tried to help I think I sounded a bit like an arrogant asshole. I know, I know, RDWHAHB, but I know I'll blame myself if the beer comes out bad and who wants bad beer? But that's kind of an aside I guess, something I need to fix on my own.

So, what would you recommend for getting her to come down and brew with me? We've got the baby too, and I'd love for him to brew with me once he gets older, so this would be good for everybody, really. One thing I had thought about doing was getting a couple Erlenmeyer flasks and some cheap grain bags so she could do small-batch experimentation. Any recipes you could recommend that are Erlenmeyer-friendly, or should I just scale down my existing recipes?
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Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #51 on: November 03, 2010, 08:00:13 am »
My wife loves beer, and since we've been brewing more often has taken to reminding me that our HOUSE has a better beer selection than most bars in Paris. She also tells our friends this, so I think it's safe to say she likes what I'm doing with the hobby.

One thing, though. I really want to get her more involved.

She likes the beer you make.  If she has favorite recipe or a style that she wants you to brew, ask her to help make "her" beer.  Relax, and make it an enjoyable experience.  You can use it to talk about beer - errr the brewing process, endlessly.  :)

     
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Offline akr71

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #52 on: November 03, 2010, 08:01:54 am »
I'm actually kinda glad this topic came up ...
Trouble is, I can be a bit of a perfectionist, and so the last few times she's tried to help I think I sounded a bit like an arrogant asshole. I know, I know, RDWHAHB, but I know I'll blame myself if the beer comes out bad and who wants bad beer? But that's kind of an aside I guess, something I need to fix on my own.

So, what would you recommend for getting her to come down and brew with me? ...

I think you've mostly answered your own question.  Even as a perfectionist you can still relax a bit when the wife is helping brew.  You can still make good or even great beer when you slack off a little, it just may not be your best beer ever.

Let her choose the style and brew that with her.  Or come up with an experimental recipe together.  If it is horrible, you can laugh about it together - if it is brilliant, congradulate each other and give her the lion's share of the credit for adding that secret ingredient.

You'll learn to relax somewhat as the baby gets older and helps int he brewhouse.  I was starting a batch of wine for the mother-in-law the other day.  Before I knew it, my 2 year old son had his hand in it, trying to help stir - I've seen where else those hands have been  :o  I'm glad I don't drink wine.
Andy

Amherst, NS - Canada

Offline phillamb168

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #53 on: November 03, 2010, 08:16:47 am »
I was starting a batch of wine for the mother-in-law the other day.  Before I knew it, my 2 year old son had his hand in it, trying to help stir - I've seen where else those hands have been  :o  I'm glad I don't drink wine.

Heheheheh. Hope the MIL enjoys the wine ;-)
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Offline MrNate

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #54 on: November 03, 2010, 08:47:42 am »
I was starting a batch of wine for the mother-in-law the other day.  Before I knew it, my 2 year old son had his hand in it, trying to help stir - I've seen where else those hands have been  :o  I'm glad I don't drink wine.

Heheheheh. Hope the MIL enjoys the wine ;-)

Wine was invented long before toilet paper. Just something to think about.
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Offline akr71

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #55 on: November 03, 2010, 09:32:10 am »
Wine was invented long before toilet paper. Just something to think about.

Yeah, I'm not overly concerned.  In some areas, they still crush the grapes by foot and let the naturally occuring yeast ferment it.  A few boogers should eventually drop to the bottom of the fermenter.  ;D

But back to Phil's question... A craft brewer near me sponsors a competition every spring.  This past spring my wife said she wanted to be more involved in my entry, or at least attend the judging with me.  I suggested we brew 2 and enter them both jointly.  Her face lit up.  My point being that if she's engaged in the recipe and process from the start, there is a better chance she'll understand (or at least put up with) the perfectionist tendencies.
Andy

Amherst, NS - Canada

Offline halleyscomet

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #56 on: November 03, 2010, 09:38:08 am »
My wife has explicitly reminded me that I don't need to make sure she's likely to like everything I brew. That said, she has asked me to make cranberry wine and never complains about there being more hard cider in the house. I might even convince her that a fruit press is in our future.

We've talked about the prospect of starting a brewery or brewpub and have agreed that before I take any concrete steps in that direction I need to enter my brews in a few competitions first to get feedback on my beers.

boulderbrewer

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #57 on: November 05, 2010, 08:50:48 pm »
Well dealing with life gives you such little time for the forum.

Weaz we are still brothers.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2010, 08:52:21 pm by boulderbrewer »

Offline weazletoe

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #58 on: November 05, 2010, 09:48:55 pm »
Weaz we are still brothers.

Woohoo! Hey, need you to shoot me a text. Had to reset my phone, and lost all my numbers.
A man works hard all week, so he doesn't have to wear pants all weekend.

beveragebob

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Re: Wife and Homebrew?
« Reply #59 on: November 06, 2010, 03:02:59 pm »
Things were a little easier for me with the wife. We met at my beer company kickoff party at the bar where we got our first kegs on draft. She was coming to visit her son who was bar tending at the time. We started talking and were dating a week later. She's not a hop head like me but, being I brew most beer styles, she discovered she loved stouts, porters, wits, saisons etc. The past year if she has a beer with me it HAS to be my pumpkin ale. This past week I brewed 10 gallons of Pumpkin and 5 gallons of saison. She's a cook and a chocolatier so, she handles the food side and I handle the beverages and it is pretty harmonious.  It's fun when we entertain and collaborate on food and beer pairings. We've had a good thing going for a long time and were in business together that didn't work out and went through some rough times but, our attitude was that it is us against the world.