I go at it alone and that’s how I like it. I typically shoot for early on a Sunday morning well before the rest of the house is awake. I set up the night before so come morning, grab some coffee and start heating up the strike water. Brewing is my time, it’s a time when I have to focus on nothing else but brewing, no distractions, no multi tasking. I keep things easy, but streamlined so I am constantly on the move once I am on to the boil. The only “chill” time is during the mash.
I used to have a brew night once in a while with a few buddies over but I quit doing that years ago. We would order a pizza, have some beers, drink too much, get to lax with the beer I was trying to make. It was fun here and there but I found that I couldn’t fully enjoy myself either way. There’s just too many things going on with the brew session to sit down and fully relax and enjoy the company nor did I feel like I am enjoying the brew session. I used to always feel rushed or distracted or worry I was forgetting something. On the flip side, if I had company that was truly interested in the brew session, it would probably be a lot easier to manage and it might be different but it’s not usually the case. However I do have a friend that used to brew and wants to come over for a brew session soon and check out my new system. That I can probably handle and we will be good.
It is rare that we have anyone over to our house now, so I tend to drink with my wife as she loves the Fuller’s London Porter we made. Sometimes I’ll wander to the upstairs bar and have a pint alone, and simply pull several samples of the beers on tap just for comparison.
Extra eyes, hands, and brains on brew day has proven a benefit.
But my last brew day was solo, with a little help from my wife. I think this is better, more manageable, and more comfortable.
Previously the brew day was a long BS session…talking about airplanes. And beer, and politics.
I brew solo as well 99% of the time. Once a year, I get together with one of my buddies and we make a 5 gal. batch of barleywine (I don’t need two cases of barleywine here because I don’t drink it that quickly). We have a vertical going back to 2014.
That said, brewing with someone leads to the possibility of making more mistakes because of a) the conversations going on and b) because usually some consuming is involved. When I brew alone, I do not have a beer until the brew day is done. I have enough things I have to keep track of on a brew day to let alcohol interfere with it.
My wife and I usually brew together. We each have our own recipe. We help each other out. I really enjoy it! Occasionally we have a friend brew with us. She will come up with a recipe and I will usually be her brewing partner while my wife brews her own beer. I like to start around 8am. My wife will usually start around 10. As many others have said, when having friends over during brew day the drinking usually starts much earlier. In that case, it’s more about the socializing than the beer.
I used to brew alone almost all of the time unless it was brewing for a club event, except for brewing with a son very occasionally. Brew time has been “me time” - I’m quite happy in my own head all by my lonesome and if I don’t get adequate time alone (I lean towards introvert) I get grumpy. Brew day has been a time to relax where I can sail along nicely listening to music and sipping a beer or two while I brew, a respite from the world. That said, my wife has gotten more interested in becoming a brewer in the past 2 years so has begun to help more and wanted to brew her own beers with my guidance, so brew days are now split it seems - some solo, some shared with my best friend.
Nothing better than a Sunday afternoon where I can go from football to soccer to hockey on the TV (usually muted) with my brewing playlist playing in the background (a wide, wide range of music) all by myself. I have a dedicated basement electric brewery so it can get a little crowded with more than one other person down there. It’s my place of solitude and it’s easy to forget everything else going on in the world at that time.
I’m sure it was mentioned already but trying to schedule a brewday requires a number of things to line up properly… if TWO people needed everything to line up properly, it would be even tougher. I know a lot of brewers but schedules, you know? When my kids were young I would brew very early in the morning (5am or so) like some others here. Now it’s usually Friday evening, Saturday or Sunday. I have brewed with other brewers and also with people who just wanted to see the process. But 99.9% of my brewing is just me.
Definitely solo. I don’t want someone over at my house for 5 hours.
I like to start the boil on a weekend afternoon at three, add bittering hops, then go to the bar for a couple of pints. Come home 1.5 to 2 hours later, at later additions and finish up in 15 minutes. That has only bitten my a$$ a couple of times, when the propane runs out or if the wind comes up and snuffs out the flame.
It’s a long story, and no need to go into detail here. Suffice it to say she cleans up all of the areas where my friends have been, starting with the bathrooms.
This year has been all solo brewing. Previously I would have one, or at most 2, assistants on some brews. I have one who has helped me many times and knows what to do without causing any distractions. If I have another person I use those 2 to entertain each other while I focus on the brewing.
I generally brew on a day when my wife works and the goal is to get everything finished and cleaned up by the time she gets home, so the only clue that it was a brew day is the smell. The absolute worst case would be for her to come home and find me mopping the floor or wiping down the cabinets. I occasionally have to do one or both but she never knows.
The friends that brew with me are novice / rookie brewers. So they follow my guide as to what to do, and when to do it.
Not a problem really.
My wife is willing to help, but much of the brewing process is a solo-act.
The clean up is where you benefit from extra hands to assist.
95% of my brewing is alone - minus the dog pack and they wander in and out to make sure I haven’t dropped any food. The once or twice a year that I brew with others is less about making beer and more about having fun with other like minded knuckleheads.
I brew alone. The only time anyone else is there is when I’m teaching someone to brew.
My day starts the night before prepping water and then resumes around 5AM the next morning. I brew two beers each day I get to brew, so it is a very busy/long day and isn’t conducive to being a social event.