The Waiting Game: Brew Day Edition

The dreaded waiting game. Most of us in the adoption world have had to play this game at some point, be it waiting for paperwork, placement, court proceedings, literally sooo much waiting! Like Homer says, "the waiting game sucks." See the original clip here from the classic episode Mr. Plow.

Most adoption facilitators and experts tell you to stay busy to help the time pass without losing your mind. Many of us have waited years to become parents, so waiting months (our agency averages 18 months for placement) to complete your family can be excruciating. Our social worker told us to take a vacation, which is a fabulous idea if you have the means to do so. We are determined to adopt debt free (more on that later), so a vacation isn't likely to be in the budget, but we've found other ways to occupy ourselves (including starting work on our nursery!).


So, what does beer making have to do with adoption? Well, nothing really, other than it's a hobby that has helped us stay sane during our waiting game. Hubby received a beer making kit for Christmas from his parents, and since we're both craft beer connoisseurs (I originally misspelled that so badly that spell check threw its hands up in the air haha), he asked me to help him brew the beer. When Brian and I started dating back in 2007, I worked at a local brewpub, so an appreciation for good beer has always been something we've shared.

Cleaning. So much cleaning

Beer making is a very involved process that requires a LOT of cleaning and patience, and from start to finish takes about 5 weeks, depending on the beer. Hubby and I started our first brew in February 2018. It was a team effort from the start, measuring temperatures, reading instructions and watching every home brew YouTube video known to man, consulting local brewers (thanks Craig of HopLabs Brewing, we're bringing you one tonight I promise), stirring, pouring, measuring, more cleaning...

Bottling day! Drying after more cleaning...

Here's a simplified version of our brewing schedule:

•  Brew day: Sanitize, steep grains, boil, add hops, boil, add more hops, boil, cool, add water, add yeast, transfer to fermentor.
• Primary fermentation: One week in fermentor (aka carboy).
• Secondary fermentation: Transfer the wort to another carboy. This takes two weeks.
• Bottling and bottle conditioning: Move beer to large bucket and add priming sugar. Then transfer to bottles (most brewers hate this part, but I found it fun once I got the hang of it). Wait two more weeks.













• The payoff: Enjoy the fruits of your labor!

And voilá (dorky English major side note here)! Five weeks later Maple Street Brewers presents our inaugural Pale Ale. And it was good--all that cleaning and consulting paid off big time! It was actually such a fun process and delicious product (if I do say so myself), that we're already discussing our next project (maybe a NE-style IPA?).

Credit to hubby for photo :)

Finding a hobby you can enjoy with your partner, (or a friend or family member for single-parent adoption) can not only help the time go by, but bring you closer to that person as you prepare for your new arrival.

Stuff to consider

• What are some of the ways you played your waiting game? 
• Did you know so much goes in to beer making?
• Should you invest in Maple Street Brewers before we become mainstream? (haha)