Hi,
I thought I'd throw a post up here for people to introduce themselves. We get new members here on an almost daily basis but hear from only a very small fraction of them. Take a minute to introduce yourself, what you'd like to see out of a brewclub, if you're planning on coming out to any coming events, what you like to drink, what you brew, any other tidbits. Any questions you might have could be posted up here as well!
We also touch base with a lot of people and leave only our web address for contact info. If we spoke to you at an event or shop or on the go and under the influence let us know you're here!
Cheers!
Hey everybody, my name is Kevin Schwartzenberg and I just heard about this brew club from another new member, Andrew Fairgrieve. I have been brewing off and on for about 5 years but in the last 2 I have picked up the production and learning quite a bit. In 2011 I brewed only about 50 gallons but I'm hoping to hit at least 60 this year. I'm currently low on inventory due to a busy fall and a house party that wiped out a lot more home brew than I expected, but I have a Dubbel in the secondary ready to bottle, a brown ale on tap, and a Hefeweizen experiment on deck (splitting the batch 5 ways and adding a different fruit or spice treatment to each). I plan on stopping by one or both events the second week of February so hopefully I'll see you then.
Kevin Schwartzenberg
nice to see all the new introductions! Keep in mind that the wing night event can also be a good social introduction to the club if you enjoy wings. That's coming up on the 31st. We'll try and remind someone to wear the chaos shirt so people know who we are.
Andrew, would love to try any in progress or finished sour beers you have! I've got a bunch of sour stuff going (I cross-contaminated a lot of things on accident) and it's been exciting to taste the changes over the months, from boring to promising, etc...
Andrew, Timothy, welcome to CHAOS! Don't hesitate to jump into any discussions or to join any groups. We definitely look forward to meeting you guys at events/meetings.
Andrew, i think we will get along just fine - i too am in love with all things belgian and saisons!
welcome to CHAOS
...igz...
Andrew,
Be sure to bring some samples of your sours when you stop by! They sound awesome, and I am obsessed with all sour beers. Look forward to meeting.
Holy New Membership!
all ya new folks, hello!
...igz...
Drew Daniels, Brew Daniels, King of the Brews founder of Brewdiasm, are all acceptable ways to address me.
Bill said:
Hey everybody, I'm from the Rogers Park area which is pretty much far from everything (especially Brew and Grow on my bike) but I was very excited when I stumbled on this. I've been brewing almost a year 1-2 batches partial mash a month but am now travelling and have the bug. I'm hoping to step up to all grain in kegs when I'm back and saving my yeast. I'm looking forward to getting in on the group buys and learning more about brewing techniques. I'm more of an ale v. lager kind of guy, I dig big flavors from IIPAs, RIS, Tripples, etc. but don't mind a few pilsners everyone and then. I'd also like to see some big group brews/workshops to trade ideas and such. Won't be back in the states until May, but I'll be making it out to the first event I can.
I signed up this weekend after seeing the club's mention on New Chicago's blog.
I had my first experience homebrewing at a navy buddy's house while we were stationed in Japan. It was an awesome cycle: drink/bottle/brew - let ferment/condition while at sea - return to port and drink/bottle/brew - let ferment/condition while at sea... You get the idea.
I've been brewing on my own for about two years but have only produced one batch in the last 6mos. I've gone back to school and am a full-time student with a lot of free time on my hands. I'm looking for a club where I can learn more about brewing, how to produce full grain batches, and how to build a better brewery (I'm struggling with my own expansion).
I've moved up to kegging, but I still bottle batches that I intend to share, including an annual hard cider. This year, I brought home several gallons of cider from an orchard adjacent to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia.
I look forwad to meeting other members and getting involved with club events and projects.
-favorite beers>
-Porters
-IPA's
-Belgians
I'm Brian, was drawn in way back when the club started up but have been crazy busy with other stuff. FWIW, I'm a board member of HoPS in Bridgeport, another homebrew club. I've been brewing for about 4 years, all-grain from the get go. I'm also a certified BJCP judge, getting close to finishing up becoming a National. I am working my way through all of the BJCP styles right now and have brewed about half of them. My preference is towards English & German beers as I'm a bigger fan of small flavorful beers over big ones and I'm on a lager kick right now to keep my yeast going. Oh, and I live near Irving Park & California.
Welcome to all the new members who recently posted!
Craig: I too would love to see your setup and plans for an all electric system. I will be build the almost exact some thing in the brew house with a 5500w ULD element on a 30a circuit. Have all the major parts...minus a pump. Once I get a little more free time it is what I plan to tackle next.
Tommy: it was nice meeting you at the open house. And I look forward to meeting you again (and maybe even trying some of that milk stout)
Cheers,
Dave
Craig, I'm in the wicker park area as well and would love to see your setup sometime, sounds cool! Tommy! It's good to have a hobby while you're in grad school! I just drank in my free time. Hope to see you both sometime soon.
It's really great to see this thread continue to grow!
Nice to meet you new people, sounds like you will find a beer home with CHAOS.
Awesome Peter! We have a pretty good working relationship with the brewcamp guys. Nice to see someone float on here from brewcamp. Look forward to meeting you at a future meeting/event!
And Jake, hope to see you tonight at wing night.
Hi I'm Jay. I've started brewing about 14 years ago. Did extract for quite a while, then all grain for about the last 4 or 5 years. I got a kegerator a few years back too. I went to the open house Sunday, which was fun. Looking forward to hanging out and drinking some beer!
Hi. My name is Kelli. I'm one of the few women members of CHAOS, active ones anyway. Hello ladies...??? I know you're out there...!!! Is this thing on? Anyway, I'm more of a craft beer/home brew enthusiast than a brewer myself, but I have brewed once before and have the ingredients to brew again, just haven't had the time as of yet. My frist experience was with Extract, my next one, when I get the time, is all grain. I'm relatively new to brewing and to beer for that matter. I never drank beer because I just didn't like the stuff my friends drank (Bud Light, Miller Lite, etc.). I just assumed all beer tasted like that and therefore stuck to wine and mixed drinks...that was until I met my husband. He is a home brewer and craft beer enthusiast and slowly, but surely, has brought me around. I'm still learning my way around beer, but have discovered a love for darker, stronger, barrel aged varieties (Porters, Stouts, Barley Wines and Strong Ales). I make it to most events, so I look forward to meeting everyone at some point. AND LADIES...come out and join us sometime!
KMack
My name is Kyle and I have been brewing for around 6 months. I have done 4 extract batches and 2 partial mash batches so far. I heard about this club on twitter I believe and have been following the site for a few weeks. I plan on becoming a full member before the end of the month and hope to start coming to the events and meetings ASAP. I live fairly close (in Wicker park) and am looking forward to using the new space. I live in a tiny studio so space is definaltely limited, but I have been able to make do. I recently purchased a kegerator and have made the switch from bottling. Hope to meet some of the members soon at the next events. Cheers!
Agree with David. This is a place for EVERY kind of brewer: extract to all grain; bottler to kegger; even non-brewer to advanced brewer! There's no such thing as a stupid question in brewing. Either there's someone who's knowledgeable and can answer your question or someone is still learning. Plus, you can come to the brew house and see in action whatever you've asked about (mash tun, sparging, specialty grain/extract, bottling, kegging, &c.).
Definitely come out to the events!
I'm Ed, and I been brewing for a year...My first batch was a partial and been doing all grain ever since...I love to cook and I see brewing as an extension of that....My Dad use to homebrew, make wine, and soda pop in the late 70s and early 80s. So I think it was just natural for me to progress to homebrewing. I am a apartment dweller so I am faced with limited space, but that does not stop me. I want to build a single tier brew system. It would be cool if we could do a group buy and weld them up at the brew house. I already have the plans for the Brutus 10.
I am also interested in sharing brewing info and having a place to geek out on beer...
Once the new brew house is operational you can use any of the community equipment and get brewing on the cheap. It's a good way to figure out if homebrewing is a hobby you want to continue to invest in. Thanks for coming out to Ides. I know I had a damn good time.
Oh also, if you have any questions...as silly as you may think that they are...feel free to ask. There is a pretty good and knowledgeable and willing to help community here.
Awesome! Was hoping we'd have some people who've been sort've silent on the sight pop up because of the Ides event. Come out to a meeting, happy hour, or wing night some time!
welcome to the group kevin! Will be cool to meet you tomorrow night. Where did you hear about the group?
Hello, I'm Kevin, I have been extract brewing for a little over a year now. Joined the club so I could meet other brewers. I am actually from Northwest, Indiana (Merrillville) hoping to move to Chicago soon after I get some of these school loans paid off. I am currently working on making the switch to all grain brewing. Hopefully I can get some ideas for some DIY brewing system designs from the club for my all grain system. I'd like to make it to as many club meetings/event as I can but i work "shift work" so my work schedule might conflict. Favorite beer - Depends on the season, the colder it gets, the darker my beer gets. A style I have recently been introduced with is smoked beer or Rauchbier which is great for the fall season
Kevin Saberniak
I'm Jim. Given how much I've read and done re: beer in the past 9 months, it's hard to believe that I've been brewing less than a year. Five extract batches with specialty grain; two PM batches.
I'm in Ed B.'s boat. Just bottled the last beer I had fermenting and with school and tennis starting up, I'm taking advantage of some non-brew time to reassess the brew set-up, techniques, &c. To which end I've been looking into some ported Better Bottles/high-flow racking valve. Anyone have any experience with these as primaries? Would appreciate some feedback on those.
At any rate, I'm looking forward to making a mash tun in the non-brew time (BTW, Target has 17.5 gallon coolers for $55; 10 gallon coolers for $35) as well as reading anything I can get my hands on, maybe researching some styles and concocting more recipes of my own from scratch to test out when I get brewing again.
I got the kegerators on craigs list......cheaper then buying new...but more expensive then a old fridge.......I have a space issue that's why I went with two kegerators instead of old fridges...I got my controler from northern brewer prewired
Ed, hopefully we'll have a beer tasting event soon, it's always fun to bring some homebrew to those. What do you use to temp control your fermentations? I'm planning on doing some more belgians soon and need to think through how I'll regulate temp effectively.
Also, how is Zymurgy? Can you tell me more about the contents?
Also, Danny, where'd you get the fridges for the lagering and kegerator?
Hey......im a all grain brew in the bag brewer. I make apa's, ipa's, and german lagers. I have a pretty nice set up with a kegerator with three taps on it. I also have another one to control ferm temp's and make lagers. I have wanted to come out to a event but I have been working 16 hours a day almost all of june,july and half of aug. I should be able to come soon...my work should be slowing down
Al...All-grain brewer? Not exactly new here, but figured I'd start. I've been brewing for about 5 years - with the last two years doing All-Grain. My biggest reason for switchin over was the cost...with group buys that are done in this group, I can do a 5 gallon batch for around 15 bucks if it is a straight forward simple brew.
What I am excited about with this brew club is the barrel aged stuff we have been working on. I'd also love to see some interesting sour beers.
Favorite beer ...my favorite style to both drink and brew are big stouts.