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Hi, fellow homebrewers! CHAOS Brew Club is having its 3rd annual Cinco De Mayo member appreciation party which we're calling "Cerveza De Mayo." Join us at the CHAOS community brewhouse for our 3rd annual home-brew and taco fiesta! Over 30 homebrews from CHAOS members (full menu at...

Cinco de Cerveza, A Celebration of National Home Brew Day and Cinco de Mayo Damas y Caballeros, join our club as we celebrate the craft of beer making along with the Mexican holiday celebrating the victory at the Battle of Puebla. Enjoy free artisan beers and feast on free authentic...

Don't really consider myself a beginner anymore but just wanted to post this for the beginners. I made a pretty volatile batch of IPA (fermentation started within hours and was still actively going three weeks later). Once I thought it was finished, I started taking gravity readings to...

"Attenuation" is getting the best of me today; thoroughly confusing; having a tough time wrapping my brain around it. DISCLAIMER: Yes, I've tried to sort through all the posts on attenuation for the answer to my question but I can't seem to find one to help me understand. It's seeming to...

I use DME because it's easy to store and measure out at brew time. I, however, HATE how DME clumps at the edge of the bag because of the steam rising off the boil. I've even tried adding the DME after the boil and - again, because of the steam - it still clumps at the edge of the bag. So...

I had done four batches of extract with steeping grains. My 5th batch was with a buddy and (as per his recipe) we used 2.25 lbs of 2-row and 1 lb. Pale Cyrstal; steeped trying to keep it between 155-170 and then poured the sparge water over the grains into the pot. We got a ridiculously high...

yesterday I used about 2-3 inches of sludge from an old batch (which I don't think I washed quite right, hence the reason I called it "sludge" and not "yeast") to make a starter. Approx. 10 hours later, it's releasing some CO2 when I shake it but there's not nearly as much kreusen on the top...

I've tried my hand at some yeast washing a couple batches ago; I've been doing starters since my second batch. For washing, I've read some posts (including the sticky) which explain very clearly up until the point they say something to the effect of, "just pour off" the top layer(s) so that...

This is my very first recipe from scratch ever. I did all of the calculations all by hand and using a combo of "Designing Great Beers" and "How to Brew." Please, do not be afraid to critique or constructively criticise this recipe. I want to know what looks weird and what looks okay. I...

I'm at the point where I'd like to buy some ingredients to have on hand for a spontaneous brew day when I get a free afternoon. I'm wondering, however, what are the kinds of ingredients one can always have on hand and produce a variety of beer. So, for example, I've read numerous recipes and...

I've found that, before I started brewing, I used to smell "beer." If some spilled on the floor and I forgot to mop it up, I smelled "beer." If I opened a beer and started pouring, I would smell "beer." Now that I've had my nose in more than a few different kinds of grains, malts, and hops...

I have a couple 5 gal. glass carboys; I was thinking of switching to Better Bottles and instead of the - what is it? - 1.25" hose for blow-off use a carboy cap with a smaller blow-off hose (.5"?). I am on Austin Homebrew and it says that the carboy caps do fit plastic carboys. So, what do...

I have a gas stove but unlike many I've seen with a small burner, two medium burners, and a large burner, mine has four small/medium burners. This means I haven't been able to get a really hearty boil going. To put it in perspective, I have to cover the pot to get the boil going; once going I...

I brought my beer to a friend's party this past weekend (the first three batches I ever made) and it went over pretty well. :D My lager, however, has a bit of a burnt caramel/brown sugar taste to it. A friend of a friend distributes beer and he claims that the burnt caramel/brown sugar is...

I thought I had read that drinking the entire bottle of home brew (remaining yeast at the bottom included) makes you sick. I'm a bit worried because all of my batches have a layer at the bottom (my latest two have quite a bit it seems). I'm bringing 12 of each batch to a party this weekend...

I have three batches bottled and while friends/family say they're pretty tasty for my very first few home brews, they taste more than a little off - at least to my palate. Any Chicagoans want to get together and sample each other's home brews and offer each other some constructive criticism...

I have a smack pack of California Lager yeast in the fridge and I thought it was about time (after four kits) to see if I can concoct my own recipe. From Palmer's HTB, the "specs" for Steam Beer are OG = 1.048-1.054 and FG = 1.011-1.014. I was thinking about hitting the 1.052 mark for OG...

My girlfriend always says I have a pretty good palate (we love to explore new/interesting restaurants) and so I was thinking about acclimating it to different IBUs. I was wondering if there's any IBU list for commercial beers (just short of going on each of their web-sites and trying to find...

If I use of my jars of washed yeast and there is only minimal activity, how do I up the yeast count? Do I add another jar of my washed yeast AND more boiled water/DME? Do I add just one or the other (another jar of washed yeast OR more boiled water/DME)? Does it mean my yeast isn't viable...

I've done three kits and I'm itchin' to move on. My next step will be to do a recipe out of a book and so I'm looking through "How To Brew." If you have it handy, I want to try the recipe on pp.220-1. When a recipe includes malt, does that mean it's a grain to be steeped in 150-170dF water...