do you brew alone?

[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.

 

[DaNewf]

I always brew alone.

I schedule brew nights for evenings my wife (she's a nurse) is pulling a night shift. I may start the mash before my kids are in bed but they are asleep before the boil begins.

 

[cheesehed007]

I'm still using kits (have my 1st PM waiting in the wings) so nothing too exciting going on other then watching water boil. I did have my son help on a Cream Ale. Fun having him help but pretty sure he got bored with it. I do prefer to do it myself. I crank the tunes and don't worry about anything but the brew. But I can see as I move toward all grain where help would be nice.

 

[Bulls Beers]

I also usually brew alone. I start early and nobody wants to come over..Good..

 

[yewtah-brewha]

Lone wolf here! I would like to find some brew buds, but I find it hard with work family and sleep. my last batch I started at 11 pm and finished at 6 am. not too many takers on that schedule. lol

 

[grem135]

I brew alone while SWMBO is at work. She doesn't like the smell. In fact i haven't even bottled with anyone home. The only bad is that i work evenings so i cant drink while brewing

 

[atoughram]

I brew alone..... yea, with nobody else.....

 

[Clonefan94]

I have a neighbor who started brewing 1 gallong batches. So, he's been over for my last couple of brews to watch me do my 5 gallon batches. His wife an he were over this weekend both Saturday and Sunday drinking, so I kept throwing out there how we need to invest in a larger system where we can do 10 gallons at once and split the bounty after a brew day.

 

[bobmcstuff]

Brew alone except for the GF sitting in the living room yelling at me to tidy up before I've even started

 

[badgerbrew14]

When I was posted overseas, I used to host "Brewfests" to teach people how to brew. Always simple stuff (extract with specialty grains) so the process wasn't too long. It was fun for them (and often completely new), as I was teaching I was highly organized, and I made everybody stir a bit so they all had a hand in making the beer. Most of them would wander in and out of the kitchen but spend the rest of the time socializing in other rooms, where my husband was in charge of the rest of the party. But when I am doing all-grain it's just me and the old man. I completely hose things up if I have people over for the event.

 

[LowNotes]

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.

I am exactly like this. Pretty much always brew alone, and almost always early in the morning on teh weekends. Nice alone time, get to relax without any thoughts of work, chores or errands, no hurrying at all, just thinking about beer and brewing.

I have had my brother over once...and I ended up messing up my hop additions because we were talking/drinking. I've had a friend over once or twice too, but usually just for the last part of the boil and wort chilling.

I thoroughly enjoy losing myself in the process, always thinking about the next 2 or three steps, and using downtime to read HBT, work on recipes, or update my brew journal. Sigh...now I wish I was home brewing instead of at work.