do you brew alone?

Curious if most of you brew solo or have brewing buddies. How do you handle the day when all your buddies want their own rigs, do you all still brew together? Just wondering how to handle that day when everyone wants their own blichmann setup. Do you rotate? Share batches? Draw straws?

I do both- my wife brews about as much as me but she prefers to have others around. We brew together most of the time, but I'll make some beer by myself if she's out of town or doing something else that day.

I brew alone. Never brewed with anyone else present other than my girlfriend who is usually there just reading or playing words with friends. I like it - alone time!

I brew alone, but invite a friend to come over some times.. I can't stand when focus goes off the homebrewing .. that's when times, temperatures etc are missed and things go wrong.

This weekend it was great brewing alone, didn't have to focus on anything but the beer, very serene.

Agree with the above. I brew alone but most times I have to keep an eye on our toddler. You can imagine what challenge that is! For me brewing is also a mix of serenity and relaxation but also stressful at times when things don't go as planned

Alone mostly

241 said:

I brew alone. Never brewed with anyone else present other than my girlfriend who is usually there just reading or playing words with friends. I like it - alone time!

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This. I don't like distractions. I was making my starter and my mother in law showed up. Boiled over because she was talking to me.

another mostly solo brewer here. if SWMBO is around i'll ask her to help me dough in, but otherwise i prefer doing everything myself... again, it's that "me time"/serenity thing.

Brewing is the classic example of, "hurry up and wait." When there's someone there I tend to get distracted and forget to stop waiting. :cross:

Although I hung out with a friend who was brewing this weekend. Even with several brews consumed, he didn't miss a beat. Some people can focus better than others. I have to work at it.

Mostly alone. Sometimes friends come over, sometimes my girlfriend is there too but for the most part it's just me. I like it that way TBH.

AnOldUR said:

Brewing is the classic example of, "hurry up and wait." When there's someone there I tend to get distracted and forget to stop waiting. :cross:

Although I hung out with a friend who was brewing this weekend. Even with several brews consumed, he didn't miss a beat. Some people can focus better than others. I have to work at it.

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This ^^

I started brewing w/ my BIL and we only brewed together for a couple of years. It wasn't until we both had kids that we started doing our own things. I now brew almost completely alone (while helping as I can w/ the kids), but do have the occasional friends over if it's a late night brew session.

I always brew alone, unless you count my dog. Once in a while my wife helps me dough in but generally I do everything. (Okay, sometimes I have one of my adult sons carry the full fermentors to the swamp coolers for me.) I find brewing alone to be very therapeutic.

almost always alone, occasionally someone comes over to watch. Have one other brewer (college buddy) that I brew with 2-3 times a year.

As others have indicated, more people=more distractions for me. Nearly every mistake or screwup I have had in the last couple years has been when I was brewing with others (and the taste-testing that usually goes with brewing with others I generally do a better job by myself.

One more for alone. I am the only one among my friends who home brews But I do enjoy it quite a bit. Could see how having people around could be distracting, I get caught watching tv sometimes

I almost always brew alone, but have had a friend over to brew with me a few times. I "taught" a couple of friends how to brew, so they were there for that, but normally I brew by myself.

If other people are around it seems like we talk and don't brew. Or rather, don't brew very well, as I've overflowed the MLT and had massive boilovers when distracted.

Nearly always alone. I like the "me time" and, like others have said, I tend to make errors when distracted by other stuff.

There's a club in my area, which I've been thinking about becoming involved in, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I figure if it's another brewer that I'm hanging out with, I'm much more likely to make everything happen right, as opposed to with a nonbrewer.

I almost always brew alone. SWMBO does not like beer, and is an obsessive clean-freak, so she ducks out when I brew, worried she might have to witness some messy catastrophe. Once in a while I have a brewer friend or two over for a brew day.

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

I have only brewed solo but wouldn't mind having a brew buddy. My girlfriend got me started brewing and said she wanted to help. I didn't realize she only wanted to help when it came time to drink the finished product! This week I scheduled a brew session so my brother who is visiting from Raliegh can take part in it. I think he would really enjoy it. He is a chemical engineer and really enjoys working in the lab. Heck, maybe I can get him hooked! It'll be nice to be able to take some of the finished beer we made together down to him when I visit later this summer.

I have always brewed alone, I am surprised that I am in the majority on this though.

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

I am suprised at all the solo brewers but it makes sense. Its nice making it an event and having company, but yeah we can screw thing up. I get the feeling I have passed on the knowlegde and my friends are anxious to have their own setup and their own brew time. Sad though if we don't have a rotation or something because I doubt we will see much of each other outside of a brew day, its a great excuse to hang out.

I scheduled a brew session for when my brother in CA came to visit me in FL. He's an avid beer drinker, so I just assumed he'd enjoy hanging out with me while I brewed, kinda seeing 'behind the scenes', as it were. Dead wrong, I was. He sat around on his laptop the whole time, barely registering anything I was doing during brewday. I was disappointed. I think that's why I prefer to brew alone; much easier to avoid disappointment, or disinterest, or feigned interest, if others are involved.

And easier to hide mistakes when you screw up; there's no one to hear you curse.

Alone usually... With kids, I rarely have much time to plan brew days in advance, often do it at night after work, and thus may get home from work and immediately reschedule to the next day depending on what sort of day I've had

My 5 year old will usually help weighing and milling grain, and often up to dough-in, but gets bored quickly thereafter. Then I'm on my own...

ajlee said:

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

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I really like brewing with others..... but, I brew "better" alone. Now, qualiy control - there is where i really like a crowd

I mostly brew alone. It's nice to have an extra hand at times like for the dough in or if you need a beer or a pee, but last time I had a friend over, I put an extra gallon of water into my MLT because we were talking too much. It's much easier to stay focused alone, but you need to be more organized.

I do both. I tend to hit all my numbers when I brew alone. Usually it's 6am on the weekend, cup of coffee and some nice tunes while the wife sits in the parlor. I've been brewing with a buddy for the past 6 months or so and it's great brewing with him cause he does all the lifting and cleaning! I get all the product, recipe and its all my equipment. We split the ingredients so its beneficial for the most part. I really do love brewing alone though. So every now and then I swing by the store and scoop up my own ingredients and love my mornings to myself. Since its summer now and the sun rises around 5:40am, I've been planning a sunrise pale ale. It's nice to see the moon and the sun in a brew session while staring at a 10 gallon batch that you don't have to split!

Cheers

Both as well. Five gallon partial mash at home alone, 15 gallon all-grain with the club, which can turn into a loud drinkfest when many members show up to fill bottles or just socialize. Both are good times!

I always brew alone. I like having a few hours to myself to enjoy my hobby.

I have always brewed alone as well.

Preferably alone in the house, certainly alone in the kitchen.

I feel like brewing is really pretty boring unless you're the one brewing. Even then, it really isn't all that interesting. At least in my opinion. I don't invite people over to watch me read a book, and I imagine that would be almost just as fun to observe for most people.

When I brew alone I prefer to be by myself.

Alone mostly. Before I moved to the 'burgh my next door neighbor in Tennessee became very interested in brewing and came over for a few brew days and even talked me into a partigyle BIAB. I don't know many people here so mostly alone but I have brewed with another doctor from work once.

Alone 90% of the time. I've had people present a couple times and I almost always screw something up. Last time I was brewing a wee heavy and forgot to check the gravity after the 90 minute boil. As it turns out, I should have boiled it for another half hour. Missed my gravity by a wee bit.
I'll usually turn on the tube, or listen to some podcasts (Adam Carolla, Dave Dameshek, Dan Patrick). I'm extremely fortunate to have a garage that is set up for all things male. I'd call it a "man cave", but I find that phrase to be ridiculous and overused.

Alone usually.... sometimes my wife will participate with me! She likes to do it but our schedules rarely coincide!

Jon73 said:

Alone 90% of the time. I've had people present a couple times and I almost always screw something up. Last time I was brewing a wee heavy and forgot to check the gravity after the 90 minute boil. As it turns out, I should have boiled it for another half hour. Missed my gravity by a wee bit.
I'll usually turn on the tube, or listen to some podcasts (Adam Carolla, Dave Dameshek, Dan Patrick). I'm extremely fortunate to have a garage that is set up for all things male. I'd call it a "man cave", but I find that phrase to be ridiculous and overused.

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My cousin has an uber-brewing setup, table and chairs, beer fridge/keezer, and a big tv. He doesn't call it a man cave, either. It is the Garage Mahal.

signpost said:

My cousin has an uber-brewing setup, table and chairs, beer fridge/keezer, and a big tv. He doesn't call it a man cave, either. It is the Garage Mahal.

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If your cousin is Bill Goldberg, he can call it whatever he wants!

Yep always alone if I have company we get to drinking and that leads to boil overs, forgetting to add ingredients. Waking up in strange places ......