[hopfenundmalz]

Solo for me, with help from my wife as needed. She helps with lifting, cleaning, and anything where extra hands and eyes are a plus.

[Andy Farke]

Solo, but often with drop-ins from the (3 and 7 year old) kids. Brewing is my "quiet time"...I don't mind brewing with others, but I often feel like it's not a ton of fun for many, because half of my focus is on the timer, etc., or worrying about taking refractometer readings and cleaning and such. Now when it comes time to *drink* the beer, the more the merrier in my book! (although my beer social time is down to pretty much zero these days outside of time with my spouse, for all of the self-evident reasons!)

[mainebrewer]

Put me down as another solo brewer.
I usually start my brew day around 6A, so not many people want to come over to my house at that time (and I'm not sure I'd want them here then either).
As others have noted, I'm pretty busy during the brew session, getting a process underway, staging for the next one, cleaning, taking notes and measurements, etc.   

[HopDen]

Learning from past mistakes is crucial for me in the learning phase, not that it ever ceases. I am a voracious reader but I learn best by observation and obviously, experience.  I found out early on that "participants" are distractors and they make cause for a poor brew day.

I brew alone! No friends, neighbors or family and that means my wife too!!

Brewing is honestly therapeutic for me. I very much desire to be alone in my own thoughts and brewing is one of those rare times that allows me to be alone.

[ynotbrusum]

I prefer to brew solo, though I participate in group events for fun.  I listen to brewing podcasts, so I never feel alone - thanks to guys like Denny and Drew!

Saturday I had three different people show up at varying times during the end of the brew day, so I was just chilling the wort.  They got to see the racking into the fermenter and repitch of slurry, while enjoying the homebrew on tap.  I soaked everything overnight and cleaned up Sunday morning.

[PORTERHAUS]

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.

[majorvices]

Brewing Solo. I'm too easily distracted when someone is around. Drinking with friends though!

[Bel Air Brewing]

Brewing Solo. I'm too easily distracted when someone is around. Drinking with friends though!

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.

[goose]

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.

[chezteth]

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.

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[ravenwater]

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.

[Kevin]

I have always been a lone wolf. Even the brief time I was in a club I would go assist other brewers but at home I have always brewed alone.

[waltsmalt]

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.

[Semper Sitientem]

I don’t play well with others

[Village Taphouse]

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.