People who hear about BEER dad often tell me I choose a strange combination of topics when I say I write about beer and parenting.

I think there’s nothing wrong with these topics, because from what I have experienced homebrew is a lot like raising a child.

Granted, our baby isn’t even here yet, but preparing for him is a lot like making beer too. Plus, doing that right is already more than what most parents do.

How making beer is similar to parenting

• Preparation is important

Homebrew: Before you make beer you have to make sure everything is clean and sterilized. You need to make sure everything is ready, because once you begin you can’t stop. There are no do-overs if you forget something or make a mistake once you have started.

Parenting: If it’s your first child, or even not, you are going to have to make a lot of changes to get ready. You need to plan and prepare for when your baby arrives. If you don’t already have a crib, car seat, bottles, and such you will need to get all that before he comes. Everyone says it’s hard to get these things if the baby is already there, and you can’t go back and re-prepare if it’s too late.

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I tried some of my amber ale Thursday and Friday night and it’s still not ready. Waiting for beer is always the hardest part.

For now it has a bright orangish-red color, similar to the orange in the BEER dad logo above. I can tell it’s not ready because you can still taste the sugar when you drink it.

I am already convinced I will not like it as much as my last two beers, because I’m not a big fan of light beer. I don’t plan to let it go to waste either though. It should be done by Wednesday at the latest.

The wife and I brewed up a batch of homemade cream soda last night so we will be sampling some of that around the time my Amber Ale gets done.

Making homemade cream soda is very easy and doesn’t require a lot of time or ingredients, but if you are making a large enough batch it helps if you have brewing equipment.

We researched recipes and found you can easily make homemade cream soda using things you already have in your kitchen, but since my beer usually makes 6 gallons, we decided to buy ingredients so we could make plenty of our own.

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I noticed last night that my fermenter was done bubbling so me and BEER mom bottled the Amber Ale. It will be ready in a little over a week.

I rinsed and sterilized each of my bottles, which took about 30 minutes. Then we gave each one 1 tsp of corn sugar.

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As I mentioned yesterday, we made our Amber Ale last night. I did most of the work, but BEER mom helped a lot by holding the spoon and adding the yeast, so let’s give her credit too.

It seems like this batch took less time than the other two, but I suppose we are becoming more experienced. We started around 11pm with the extract pictured in yesterday’s post, and finished just after midnight.

As with the other brews, I had to prep and sanitize everything first, like our brew pot, fermenter, spoons, and measuring cups.

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BEER mom and I will be making some of this tonight:

We had to go with a malt extract again because the glass carboy I inherited didn’t make it to our place yet. There is also a hops shortage going on, so this is a cheaper route and tastes just as good.

I plan on taking pictures again as we brew, and I will post them tomorrow. We will bottle it next weekend and it will be ready the week after that.

BEER mom also picked up some ingredients to make her own style of cream soda, so we will be starting that in a few days too. It needs to ferment and will have a very slight alcohol content when it’s ready.

I have heard people say they are afraid to try homemade beer or think it would be gross.

Feel free to discuss in the comments.

It looks like I will be brewing up some Amber Ale in a few weeks.

I still have 30 bottles of espresso stout that need to be emptied before I start the next batch, and I won’t begin until I have about 12ish left.

BEERmom and I will probably pick up the ingredients next weekend though.

Photo Credit

There’s not a whole lot to report on at BEERdad since the baby won’t be here for another three months, and I’m only about 1/4 of the way through my espresso stout.

The only interesting thing I can say is that the coffee beer is still turning out nice, and I got BEERmom’s mom (who hasn’t had a drop of alcohol for 20+ years) to try one. My mom and aunts will be in town this weekend so they will probably try some as well.

Because of this downtime (while I wait for my coffee beer to dry up so I can begin the next batch), I decided to embark on a few side projects. My first one was an insane/ingenious idea I came up to create the world’s largest brewing company. This project is still a work in progress, so more on it later.

The other project I started serves a bit more of a purpose but also drives my wife crazy, which means I only get to work on it on weekends. It involves karaoke, searching, and a lot of other websites. I should be done or nearly done with it this weekend or next, so I will share more on it later too.

In the mean time, I am also trying to decide what to make for my next batch of beer. I am a fan of dark beer, but not very many of our friends are, so this time I am thinking along the lines of a pale ale or wheat beer. If you are 21+, and plan on being around to try some, vote below on what I should make.

I might be inheriting a glass carboy and brew pot here soon, so the next batch may actually be from scratch.