diff --git a/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md b/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
index 89d73f612c..5339372844 100644
--- a/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
+++ b/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
@@ -316,6 +316,12 @@ Some sample commands ship with Homebrew and are enabled by default.
     If set, Homebrew will not remove files from `share/info`, allowing them
     to be linked from the Cellar.
 
+  * HOMEBREW\_MAKE\_JOBS:
+    If set, instructs Homebrew to use the value of `HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS` as
+    the number of parallel jobs to run when building with `make`(1).
+
+    *Default:* the number of available CPU cores.
+
   * HOMEBREW\_SVN:
     When exporting from Subversion, Homebrew will use `HOMEBREW_SVN` if set,
     a Homebrew-built Subversion if installed, or the system-provided binary.
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/extend/ENV.rb b/Library/Homebrew/extend/ENV.rb
index 931f69271b..8ca166ac07 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/extend/ENV.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/extend/ENV.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ module HomebrewEnvExtension
     delete('CPPFLAGS')
     delete('LDFLAGS')
 
-    self['MAKEFLAGS'] = "-j#{Hardware.processor_count}"
+    self['MAKEFLAGS'] = "-j#{self.make_jobs}"
 
     unless HOMEBREW_PREFIX.to_s == '/usr/local'
       # /usr/local is already an -isystem and -L directory so we skip it
@@ -309,4 +309,13 @@ Please take one of the following actions:
   def use_llvm?
     self['HOMEBREW_USE_LLVM'] or ARGV.include? '--use-llvm'
   end
+
+  def make_jobs
+    # '-j' requires a positive integral argument
+    if self['HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS'].to_i > 0
+      self['HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS']
+    else
+      Hardware.processor_count
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/share/man/man1/brew.1 b/share/man/man1/brew.1
index 896e741051..3b6a9ef84d 100644
--- a/share/man/man1/brew.1
+++ b/share/man/man1/brew.1
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 .\" generated with Ronn/v0.7.3
 .\" http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/tree/0.7.3
 .
-.TH "BREW" "1" "June 2011" "Homebrew" "brew"
+.TH "BREW" "1" "July 2011" "Homebrew" "brew"
 .
 .SH "NAME"
 \fBbrew\fR \- The missing package manager for OS X
@@ -351,6 +351,13 @@ HOMEBREW_KEEP_INFO
 If set, Homebrew will not remove files from \fBshare/info\fR, allowing them to be linked from the Cellar\.
 .
 .TP
+HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS
+If set, instructs Homebrew to use the value of \fBHOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS\fR as the number of parallel jobs to run when building with \fBmake\fR(1)\.
+.
+.IP
+\fIDefault:\fR the number of available CPU cores\.
+.
+.TP
 HOMEBREW_SVN
 When exporting from Subversion, Homebrew will use \fBHOMEBREW_SVN\fR if set, a Homebrew\-built Subversion if installed, or the system\-provided binary\.
 .