Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Hey, just wondering how legal it would be to donate homebrew to a silent auction to benefit a hospital/charity/nonprofit. I tried to make sense of the iowa homebrewing laws, but they are about as clear as mud. obviously i can't be selling from the trunk of my dodge neon, but i thought a sixer or two...

Well, according to the instructions that came with the kit, the SG should have been 1.040-1.044; after adding a pound of honey during the boil, the hydrometer reading I got was 1.052. I figured this wasn't too bad considering I started the boil with 5.5 gallons of water (extra 1/2 gallon of water to...

Hi, I'm going to be doing a boundry water wheat extract kit from Midwest tonight, and I was toying with the idea of adding a pound of honey at the beginning of the boil to boost the ABV a bit, and hopefully not add a lot of actual honey flavor to it. I was wondering if anyone else had any experience...

Hi, being quite new to homebrewing (1st batch bottle conditioning, second in primary fermentor), I have a very basic question about fermentation time. My second batch is an oatmeal stout extract kit that I got from Midwest supplies. I used a dry yeast packet, rehydrated according to John Palmer's in...

so, after reading all of the replies to my initial post, i've decided to play it safe and go the star-san route. mr. brownbeard, you mentioned that you are a "sprayer." am i to understand that you mist your equipment after cleaning and prior to use? do you just let it dry and then use the ...

Hi, so I am finally starting to brew beer after salivating over Midwest and Northern Brewer's catalogs for close to 2 years. I even got the wife on board and she is (almost) as excited as I am. She was not impressed, however, after we did our first batch and she found several bleach spots on her clo...

hey, thanks for all of the great responses! I would love to come out to the meeting this month, but unfortunately, I have to work Thursday night. Fortunately, I don't work every Thursday night, so hopefully I'll be able to make it to one in the next couple of months. Meanwhile, my wife and I are fev...

Hi Derek, thanks for the quick reply. I actually already have Midwest's website bookmarked - having been in school the past 3 years, it is a pleasant escape to drool over all the gear and recipe kits they have to offer. I finally have the wife onboard after bringing her to the Iowa Festival of Beers...

Hi, I am new to this forum, actually new to brewing in general (i.e. I am still in the planning/gathering equipment stage). I understand that the 5 gallon buckets that can be cheaply had at Menards and other home improvement stores are not good for brewing purposes due to chemicals leaching into wha...