diff --git a/broker/hosts.py b/broker/hosts.py
index 93a9f7c2..ccffa8bb 100644
--- a/broker/hosts.py
+++ b/broker/hosts.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ def __init__(self, hostname=None, name=None, from_dict=False, **kwargs):
         self.port = kwargs.get("port", settings.HOST_SSH_PORT)
         self.key_filename = kwargs.get("key_filename", settings.HOST_SSH_KEY_FILENAME)
         self._session = None
+        self.socket_connect_timeout = kwargs.get("socket_connect_timeout", 60)
 
     def __del__(self):
         """Try to close the connection on garbage collection of the host instance"""
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ def session(self):
         return self._session
 
     def connect(
-        self, username=None, password=None, timeout=None, port=22, key_filename=None
+        self, username=None, password=None, timeout=None, port=22, key_filename=None,
     ):
         username = username or self.username
         password = password or self.password
@@ -63,6 +64,7 @@ def connect(
             password=password,
             port=_port,
             key_filename=key_filename,
+            socket_connect_timeout=self.socket_connect_timeout
         )
 
     def close(self):
diff --git a/broker/session.py b/broker/session.py
index e3552dc4..3f4cee3a 100644
--- a/broker/session.py
+++ b/broker/session.py
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         sock.settimeout(kwargs.get("timeout"))
         port = kwargs.get("port", 22)
         key_filename = kwargs.get("key_filename")
-        helpers.simple_retry(sock.connect, [(host, port)])
+        socket_connect_timeout = kwargs.get("socket_connect_timeout", 60)
+        helpers.simple_retry(sock.connect, [(host, port)], max_timeout=socket_connect_timeout)
         self.session = ssh2_Session()
         self.session.handshake(sock)
         if key_filename: