do you brew alone?

[daksin]

Man, sounds like I am in the minority. I have brewed alone, but I prefer to brew with people.

I posted earlier that I usually brew alone or with my wife, but prefer to have folks over. I love talking about beer and brewing- distractions don't really bother me.

 

[LieutenantDan]

I brew with 2 other guys. We split bulk grain buys & some equipment costs. We rotate responsibilities each brew day, brewmaster picks the recipe & buys specialty grains, hops & yeast. We brew 15 gallon batches, but it still isn't enough. I like brewing with a group, we're good friends, all with young kids, so it is a good excuse to get together somewhat frequently.

 

[adiochiro3]

I generally brew with one or two partners -- just because I like to brew, I like to try different styles, and I can't drink all I would like to brew.

I am looking at doing BIAB small batches solo to play with different yeasts and ingredients by breaking down 2-3 gal. batches and breaking them down to ferment in 1 gal jugs. I love to brew, and I think this will give me more opportunities to brew and experiment without winding up with too much beer.

 

[Soup4you2]

So far it's only been myself and the dog.. the woman will come outside to check up on me from time to time, but i like the peace and quiet.. I've offered to have several friends stop by for a brew day, but no takers so far..

But the dog seems to make a great brew buddy, she's quiet and stays out of the way..

 

[OhioBri]

I like to brew alone too. I do, however, look for a hand now and again when transferring to a keg or secondary. Since my dog doesn't have opposable thumbs, I usually commission one of the kids to hold the tubing as I carefully start to siphon.

 

[hio3791]

I brew alone, yeah, with nobody else. You know when I brew alone, I prefer to be by myself.

 

[DrunkleJon]

I generally brew solo but that is because I am the only of my friends who really brews. I am happy to invite friends by to help me brew/keep me company/introduce them to the hobby. Generally though I will brew on my Friday morning/afternoons while everyone is at work and I am off though then have people come by and hang out while I finish up the boil/cool/cleanup while they help me drink on previous batches.

 

[pacman]

I prefer to brew alone. I also prefer when I'm the only one home while brewing. No distractions that way.

Yeah! Me too.

 

[Paul_Aris]

I mainly brew alone. If I need my wife will help. Somtimes a friend will stop over. I am usually. At it for about 8 hours because I do back to back 10 gallon batches.

 

[Sheldon]

Solo mostly and have great conversations with myself. Usually no agruments My son or fellow home brewer sometimes stop by to chat and help pass the time and of course, have a couple during the process. I usually stay busy during slack times preping or cleaning as things progress. All grain brew days are now down to about 5 hours from heating mash water to finish cleaning.

 

[jglazer]

Another alone here. I love the time to myself and I can get everything done in about 4-5 hours, but with someone around I feel like I need to let them do stuff which I generally don't like to do, and it slows down the overall process because instead of cleaning while brewing I feel like I have to entertain which is not always the easiest

 

[ThreeSheetsBrewing]

I'm an alone brewer as well. Mostly because I like to brew in the early morning, before 5 A.M. I always offer to show folks how things are done, but don't get any takers because of the time of day.

 

[Piratwolf]

I've brewed with a small group, and it was a blast but it was also a beer I've made a lot so I couldn't mess it up too badly.

I've brewed demonstrations for buddies who want to see the all grain process, but I find it hard to talk and focus on process at the same time.

In short, to misquote the song, "When I brew alone, I prefer to be by myself!"

 

[matt08wrx]

Me and a couple of my buddies get together and brew on one of our days off, either at my place or theirs. Of course we always have special cellard beers to drink during.

 

[hunter_le five]

SWMBO has no interest in brewing, nor do I have any friends with more than a passing interest in beer (at least not that live near me).

 

[Mozart]

I brew alone for the most part.

I've brewed with the friend that first introduced me to homebrewing a few times. I've also invited a different friend over on a brewday, but mainly we just chatted while I did the brewing.

 

[Anelda]

I've never brewed alone and can't imagine being by myself. I always brew with my husband, he likes to help out and be apart of the process.

 

[Spartan1979]

I brew alone. A neighbor may come by to have a beer or two while I brew, but that's it. I've found that when I brew with others, it seems that one of the brewers ends up dominating the brew and it's really his beer, the other guy is really just along for the ride. I've been on both sides of this.

The other advantage is that I can brew when I want and start when I want. Recently, I was planning on brewing first thing in the morning, but something came up and I brewed in the afternoon. That could have caused a problem if there were other brewers.

 

[Nummey]

"I brew alone....yaaa with nobody else. You know when I brew alone....I prefer to be by myself"

 

[locusta]

I always brew with my husband (he does the heavy lifting), although I tend to be the one who keeps a close eye on things. We've had people join us a few times but I think the waiting time is a bit dull so they don't come back.

I can imagine brewing on my own but I imagine bottling solo is tough.

 

[ajwillys]

Like most, I usually brew alone. Occasionally I'll invite people over and make a big event of it. Alot of people have mentioned screwing something up with people there. Anytime I brew with others, I always make sure I'm prepared in advance. When alone, I'll do things like mill grain, measure hops, etc... during the downtime. When I brew with others, I do all of this in advance. I show up to brewday with a bucket of milled grain, ziploc bags of hops that just say "60", "15", etc... If the event is at my house, I get the burner, pots, etc... ready and in place the night before (in the garage). I also measure my water in advance and set my electric HLT to the proper temperature. Also, as soon as the boil starts, I set reminders in my phone at each hop drop and flameout.

When I do all this, the downtime to hang out really is downtime. It's SOO much more relaxing that way.

 

[JeepDiver]

Usually just me and the dogs

 

[cosmo]

I've invited friends over several times, but rarely does someone take me up on it. Usually they are either only interrested in drinking and not brewing, or they are so into brewing that they are brewing at their place whenever I'm brewing. Most of my friends have families of their own, so it's hard for them to justify sitting arround all day watching someone else brew.

Anyhow, I have become quite anal about being organized after so many screw ups (even without distractions). Some things I do to ensure a successful session is: 1) make a list of all brewing equipment down to the measureing spoon for measuring salts. I make the list in the order that I need things and usually get everthing set up ahead of time so I'm not searching at the last minute for something. 2) Make a checklist of each task that needs to be done in order so I don't forget something. 3) use two timers. One for the mash or boil or whatever and another one to remind me of when it's almost time to do my next task (like putting the imersion chiller in the boil before flameout). 4) measure out the hops and label them (60 min, 10 min, etc.) while the mash is going.

When I brew alone I overlap tasks like preheating the mash ton while milling the grains. When I do have people over I try to do as much as I can ahead of time.

 

[DPBISME]

...all by myself....

Who would have me... that's why I drink...

 

[MNBrewDad]

Solo brewer here too! Although solo is a bit of a misnomer with 3 kids under the age of 6 in the house. Felt kind of bad for blowing off visitors from out of town on Saturday but once I get clearance from SWMBO to brew it's on! Definitely enjoy the 'me' time since I don't get much of it these days.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Usually alone, but have a couple friends who are into it, one of whom is a budding brewer himself. I really wouldn't want non-brewers over, or folks who weren't truly into the process. My buddies though, they are fascinated and are very into every step. And I'll take any and all help on bottling day, ha ha.

 

[Nightshade]

At work strictly by myself, in fact I don't like anyone brewing with me at work. Had to have an assistant for two weekss due to doctors orders following surgery and although he is a good kid and was good company I wanted to do everything myself and not divulge my secrets to him. I suppose it is a territorial thing mostly.

At home I brew with my neighbor or my daughter, don't much care who brews with me at home and I think because it is a less threatening environment in my mind.

 

[BamaProud]

We brew alone. All by ourselves. We get in our way a lot.

 

[LandoLincoln]

I've brewed mainly with a partner, but about 1/3 of the time I brew by myself, because he's got a hectic schedule and I don't. I prefer to brew with someone, to help with the carrying and stuff, but things do tend to get messed up more when we're brewing together because each of us is thinking that the other guy is watching this or taking care of that.

I prefer to brew with others but brewing alone is still better than working.

Bottling sessions, however, are never done alone. God, how I hate bottling by myself. Such a pain.

 

[McBrewskie]

I brew with Walt the brew dog.

 

[MaxStout]

We brew alone. All by ourselves.

Sees what you did there...

 

[DirtyPirate]

I brew alone. I have 3 boys so my brew times start when the kids go to bed. I enjoy the quiet time alone just to relax and brew. No distractions in the late night hours. I couldn't imagine trying to brew while the boys were awake they keep me and the wife very busy. If someone approached me wanting to get into the hobby I would be more than glad to show them the process.

 

[the_trout]

Alone, naked and afraid... oh wait wrong forum.

I go solo. Ive had friends come over but they get bored and I get distracted.
Brewing for me is almost zen-like and meditative. I have to concentrate enough that I forget about my daily troubles but not so much that I feel like Im working. Kinda like playing music or art.
Drinking is the social end of brewing and for that the more the merrier.

 

[chezhed]

That's the only way I've ever brewed that wasn't alone, except for the one time my Dad watched....hardly said a word and just wandered in and out of the area (85 years olds are good for that ).
But I found that while doing the "teaching" I paid more attention than usual and actually had my act together even better.

 

[Nicegirl]

I always brew with either my youngest son, who is now 27 years old, or my significant other. Makes brew day a lot more fun and it's always nice to have a strong pair of arms around on brew day. Always something heavy to tote around.

 

[igotsand]

I brew alone..me and my stainless beauty..

 

[Quaffman]

I brewed with someone for the first time last week. My brother was in town so we made a batch of evil twin. I usually brew alone though.

 

[biochemedic]

I'm an alone brewer as well. Mostly because I like to brew in the early morning, before 5 A.M. I always offer to show folks how things are done, but don't get any takers because of the time of day.

Yeah, it's usually just me, a cup of coffee and the mash. I do like having people over to brew, but I almost always brew first thing in the morning and it's hard to convince people to show up before daylight...

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Solo brewer here too! Although solo is a bit of a misnomer with 3 kids under the age of 6 in the house. Felt kind of bad for blowing off visitors from out of town on Saturday but once I get clearance from SWMBO to brew it's on! Definitely enjoy the 'me' time since I don't get much of it these days.

You sound like me!

I do a lot of evening/night brew sessions b/c I know the kids will be asleep for half of it.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I usually brew alone, with just my wife present and usually on the other side of the apartment. But I'll brew with others every once in a while.