What can making beer teach your kids?

If you've spent any time at all hanging around here you've noticed we're kind of obsessed with beer; the making of it, the consumption of it, etc. That may seem like an odd subject for a father-centric blog, but we think beer gets an unfair rap. From Al Bundy to Homer Simpson, everywhere you look beer is the poster child for the bad-dad. Instead, let's see if we can turn making beer into an educational process (let me know if anyone can make the consumption side educational).


Here we have just a few of the things that can be taught to any inquisitive kid during the beer making process. However, don't expect even the most patient to stick around for the entire time, long boil times and sanitizing 54 bottles takes a while.

Biology and Chemistry The majority of beer making is biology and chemistry, and while it can certainly get complicated it doesn't have to be. The basics are that we're using special sugars (usually barley malt, which is a great biology subject on it's own) and a tiny fungus called yeast to eat the sugar and produce two things, gas (Carbon Dioxide) and alcohol. In order to accomplish this you have to create an environment that's clean enough (sanitation vs. sterilization) and the correct temperature for the yeast to multiply into the billions. Check out this experiment to show off just how much gas yeast can produce. Also think about making some bread at the same time so that they can enjoy their own yeast colony.


Gravity and Physics Moving a liquid volume from one container to another, fermentation tank to bottle or tank to tank, won't be new for any child with a fish tank who is charged with cleaning it out by siphon. For those not familiar show how the siphon is started via suction and continues through gravity (raise one bucket above the other to stop flow, then lower again to get it going). When bottling, show off the little rubber ring on the inside of the bottle caps then point out the same on the cap of their favorite soda, both are designed to seal in carbonation gases and that those gases create a higher pressure inside the bottle than outside.


History For the older student that shows any interest in US or World History the events surrounding beer and alcohol in general make an exceptional subject. The US alone has a wealth of history both political and practical from which to draw. From the earliest settlers to our founding fathers ("Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."  --  Benjamin Franklin) beer has held influence. The most obvious subject is Prohibition and the world of gangsters and speakeasys that it helped to create. 


As you can see beer and beer making can be used for education and fun, just don't tell your wife that you need to order beer kits solely for education, it's just not going to fly.