Brewing Solo, The best thing since sliced bread

I always avoided brewing by myself, having thought it couldnt be done with all grain not having pumps and such untill i picked up a trusty pitcher to transfer strike and sparge water.
I have to tell you the best brew day i have had, no mistakes, relaxing, took way more notes than usual, and didnt end up wasted by the end dont get me wrong love brewing with friends but for me at least usually ends up in disaster in some way
Who agrees??

I almost always brew alone. I like to brew in the morning. For example, this morning I started about 8 am, while heating up my mash water I siphoned a batch to my bottling bucket. While the mash was going on, i bottled. After that I could just take it easy during the boil. Nice easy brew, done by early afternoon.

I've never brewed with anyone else, always solo. I think I'd dislike having someone else there, it's nice to have alone time.

I brew alone usually. I start heating water around 5:30 ish and mash in around 6-7 ish -- whenever I feel ready. I love it.

Brewing with friends is fun but I usually end up making mistakes or missing notes. I do enjoy my alone time brew days. They usually go so much smoother. I do the early morning brew day as well. It's great starting that strike water before anyone's up in my house. Just me and my dog!

trent said:

I brew alone usually. I start heating water around 5:30 ish and mash in around 6-7 ish -- whenever I feel ready. I love it.

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Same here.

Early morning brewing FTW!

trent said:

I brew alone usually. I start heating water around 5:30 ish and mash in around 6-7 ish -- whenever I feel ready. I love it.

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I agree with the early start, but not that early haha, tho with previously relying on friends to help didn't happen too often. I live by myself so i crank my hot water heater up, not having to worry about someone burning themselves, it usually comes out of the tap at 150, so whenever I wake up I am basically at strike, helps with sparge too, so if I start by 8 I can be done by noon

I get better focus when I'm brewing alone. I don't have other people asking me questions and I'm focused on the task and process.

I always brew alone and I really like it. However, I brewed last week and about halfway through the boil my friend from out of town showed up at my place. This friend of mine brews commercially for Epic in SLC. Let me tell you it was a treat. As soon as I emptied the boil kettle into the fermentor, he grabbed the hose, ripped down my single tier, and started cleaning everything correctly without directions. We had the system cleaned out and put away in just a few minutes. Normally my after brew clean takes about 45 minutes. Having helpful hands is amazing. Having non-brewing friends around can definitely be annoying...

TommyTbar said:

I agree with the early start, but not that early haha, tho with previously relying on friends to help didn't happen too often. I live by myself so i crank my hot water heater up, not having to worry about someone burning themselves, it usually comes out of the tap at 150, so whenever I wake up I am basically at strike, helps with sparge too, so if I start by 8 I can be done by noon

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off-topic, but:
If you ever seen the inside of a hot water tank, you may want to reconsider the practice of pulling your brew water from it.

I've never brewed with other people. Maybe I'm just a hermit?

I guess the cat helps sometimes. If you can call that help :fro:

I miss brewing with friends, but I've worked out solo brewing to a science. After my buddy moved out of town, I invested in pumps, plate chiller, etc to make brewing "easier." What I discovered was it made brewing less homebrew-y (for me) and clean up was a PitA. I sold a bunch of stuff, bought a fantastic IC (thanks to JaDeD Brewing), and simplified my process. About 80% of the time I make two 5 gal batches per brew day, while the other 20% is 10 gal batches. I usually start around 4:30am (later than I wake up for work) and am all cleaned up by 9am, just in time for breakfast with the family. Two KAB-4 burners on natural gas really helps move things along

Brewing is like sex. It's great with the right people, but always good by yourself. And less chance of infection.

Homercidal said:

Brewing is like sex. It's great with the right people, but always good by yourself. And less chance of infection.

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:cross: LOL

I always try to brew on the weekends my fiance is working (which is every other weekend).

I prefer to do it on Friday or Saturday so that I can relax on my Sunday, but she works until 7PM Sundays and only 3:30PM the other days, so it makes it a bit easier to have everything done by the time she gets home. I have yet to really brew with someone though, but have invited people to come over (need someone to clean up for me).

I only brew solo!! I have a process for making great beer and if people come over it just jacks up the process since I can't be in the "zone"!

I usually brew solo and have found that I like it better that way. I don't have any fellow brewers who live near enough to make it practical to get together for a brew day, so the few times I have had someone over to brew with me it was because I was teaching them to brew. I imagine brewing with a fellow brewer would be a pleasure since they already know what to do and I don't have to spend half the time teaching them about the process. The two times I've had someone over learning to brew they ended up doing something I didn't want them to do, like trying to stick something unsanitized in chilled wort. Thankfully I caught it in time, but just makes me nervous having a non-brewer around.

I've brewed for over 20 years and I've always brewed solo. I may have occasionally had a neighbor wander over and ask me about the smell from my backyard but that's the extent of their participation in the process.

Brewing solo is relaxing. I used to brew with friends, but at the end of it, I had an empty keg, lots of cleaning, and too many brews along the way. When I brew solo (or with my assistant pictured below), notes are more detailed and the beer usually is better because I paid much more attention. Additionally, I usually wait until.the boil for my first beer... With friends, usually crack one as soon as the grains are being crushed.

One final note, I've found great ways to study and write papers when I brew (solo). There is so much down time that I can multi-task and brew a good beer AND get my homework done.

I always brew alone, and love every minute of it.

Saturday morning, with "NPR News", "Car Talk", "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me", and then some good music, I love it.

Every once in a while a neighbor may show up, I find that I am doing more talking and more drinking, then mistakes are made.

I feel as if there needs to be an oppsing viewpoint. I haven't brewed one batch myself. My buddy and I have his older brothers old setup so it kinda makes sense that we always brew together. Especially cuz half our stuff is usually at his place and the other half of mine. But, I gotta say its wonderful going at it with two people. Espesially because we have pretty much the same amount of experiance/expertisr. I can say "sean, throw the sparge water on" or "an oz of galaxy at 60, 1.5 of citra at 30, an oz of amirillo at 15, 10 and 5 and .5 of citra and an oz of chinook at flameout" and not have to worry while I run to the packie so we can celebrate the new brew. And I can tell my SWMBO the same with the same outcome. Which is wonderful. Not to mention that brewing a batch while having a few people over to hang out had pushed, So far, 3 of our friends from craft beer lovers to homebrewers so.... I'm a fan of brewing with people.

I go either way. So does that make me a bi-brewer? I tend to brew solo, usually on Fridays (my day off) while most people are at work. These are relaxing, smooth brewdays. On occasion I can arrange for a friend to brew with me. These days are fun for the social aspect of it. The mash time flies by, and cleanup does too. If somone wants to brew with me I can usually count on them to be slightly intimidated about the process and ask before doing anything. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. It is really nice having that extra set of hands though.

Grossy said:

I always brew alone, and love every minute of it.

Saturday morning, with "NPR News", "Car Talk", "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me", and then some good music, I love it.

Every once in a while a neighbor may show up, I find that I am doing more talking and more drinking, then mistakes are made.

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Pretty much this. Most of the time the people I have over are not brewers, really. If they were, I could probably count on them focusing on the brewing AND knowing what they were doing.

I like showing brewing off to people, but since I don't have my process down yet (still upgrading) it's too easy to distract.

When I'm alone I can usually keep my mind on what I'm doing and only sometimes wish I had an extra hand to help hold something.

I brew by myself some times but brewing with friends is more fun to me. My buddy Brandon is gettin to the point where he more or less knows what to do with out me telling him and that's a big help to me

I've never brewed with anyone else. I consider it "me" time.

I Hear you...Mostly brew with friends. But occasionally do solo AG batches right in my apartment kitchen. The solo brews are so relaxing and my focus is way better

+1 to brewing alone being less distracting. It's what I always do.

Brew alone, but drink with friends!

Kal

I enjoy brewing alone. Lay out my schedule on the white board, NPR or Pandora on the speakers and enjoy the process. I have had people over before but have found that if you wait on others to brew you may never get to it. I upgraded to a ten gallon setup because all these guys and gals were wanting to do split batches, but its all blow and no go. Haven't split a batch yet, but have done some bigger batches for parties so its nice to have the ten gallon setup. The pump in a box was a welcomed addition.

TommyTbar said:

I always avoided brewing by myself, having thought it couldnt be done with all grain not having pumps and such untill i picked up a trusty pitcher to transfer strike and sparge water.
I have to tell you the best brew day i have had, no mistakes, relaxing, took way more notes than usual, and didnt end up wasted by the end dont get me wrong love brewing with friends but for me at least usually ends up in disaster in some way
Who agrees??

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I always brew by myself. It's awesome.

beergolf said:

I almost always brew alone. I like to brew in the morning. For example, this morning I started about 8 am, while heating up my mash water I siphoned a batch to my bottling bucket. While the mash was going on, i bottled. After that I could just take it easy during the boil. Nice easy brew, done by early afternoon.

Click to expand...

The problem with brewing in the morning is my body isn't ready for alcohol consumption. I generally like to start brewing around 11:30 a.m. so that I can hammer brews while I am brewing one.

I have brewed alone, and with others. I don't mind the latter, if the other people are also brewers or at least have an interest. Nothing's more annoying than trying to keep track of things while the nosy, chatty neighbor is unleashing a barrage of stupid questions. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

That said, I enjoy having a "brew day" with fellow brewers. We can share ideas, lend a hand at critical times, split costs of materials. I do write up a "schedule" beforehand, so that I'm less likely to screw up or miss something along the way. Having everybody stagger their start times helps avoid a bottleneck of multiple brewers needing to do the same thing at the same time, like using the hose for chillers, etc.

But sometimes I just like having the brew time to myself. Get the kettle going, crank up some good music....

When I first started brewing I couldn't understand why none of my buddies had the same passion I did. They love to drink what I brew but only on a couple of occasions have they helped out. I quit worrying about it since I prefer to brew early in the morning & can't expect others to work according to my schedule. I brew 5 gallons batches using gravity to move wort to other vessels but would love to move to 10 gallon batches, which I don't want to even try without help or pumps. After I said all that, I do enjoy brewing alone as it gives me time to hit my temps & times like I should. Also, a nice time to just enjoy some quiet time with just me!

smokinop said:

When I first started brewing I couldn't understand why none of my buddies had the same passion I did. They love to drink what I brew but only on a couple of occasions have they helped out.

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I think you explained the reason pretty well ... they don't need to brew if you're going to do it anyway!

I have a lot of friends that absolutely love the beer I make (or so they tell me, it may be just because it's free) but none of them have any interest in learning about how it's done or lending a hand. I have no issues with this as it's actually easier brewing solo.

Kal

I used to like having a few people over when brewing, to be social and share whatever was just bottled. I always end up with sloppy notes, missing targets, and getting frustrated at a complete lack of understanding of cross-contamination (sanitation and allergies). Now, I mostly brew alone, but I'll allow a guest during on day.

I lied, I don't brew alone anymore. Fiance's cat Bear helps out now (by attacking me). I call him Beer-Cat on brew days (the next beer is named after him: Bierkatz Altbier).

gometz said:

I lied, I don't brew alone anymore. Fiance's cat Bear helps out now (by attacking me). I call him Beer-Cat on brew days (the next beer is named after him: Bierkatz Altbier).

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Doesn't count if they can't stir the mash (or drink beer).

Kal

Alone. I don't like distractions. I like to brew very early. I'm not so social anyway.

I stopped inviting friends to hang out while I brew. Now I invite friends to "help" brew. Most are exited to have a responsibility like keeping track of hop additions or carting water to the hlt. It gives me time to take better notes and have a smoke.

Solo brewer here

Usually brew solo. I've only brewed with a friend once who is also a home brewer but he sat around most of the time and bailed 15 minutes before the boil ended, so I essentially brewed solo anyway. Eh, haven't had much experience with other people around to know if I hate it or not but I don't mind doing it alone. Easier to blame a bad batch on myself too, lol.

I brew alone or with my dog staring at me from the porch. I put on some music around 10:00 AM after the wife takes off and start heating up water. When friends come over the consumption seems to crank up which leads to getting drunker than I should while working. Solo, I sip on a sessionable brew and just work the process, solving problems, etc.