My Introduction

Hey everyone,

I'm Eric Ruuska, and I've been brewing since 2002. I took a hiatus of a couple years, but I've gotten back into brewing in the last few months. I've made the jump to all grain brewing, and now I find myself looking for all sorts of ways to improve my beers while bringing down my costs.

I live down the road a ways in Rensselaer, but I'm glad to have found a group of like-minded guys (and gals) who can get together and help each other improve the brew and have some fun.

Oh, and thanks to Bob for putting out the signup sheet, and for the Admin here for setting up the group!

Happy Brewing,
Eric

My wife calls me an asshole, my friends call me dumb, and my parents call me a liability...I think they're all-right.

The one thing they do NOT call me is 'tater salad, even though I do like scotch.

I been brewing for bout 18 months, and haven't given up yet, so I think it'll stick. I'm about 25 batches in if you count being an active participant in batches brewed by friends at my place, if you don't then I'm at about 20 batches.

I started doing partials, and after the first three batches went all grain using extract for fortification purposes only.

I'm 1/2 Dutch, therefore I'm pretty cheap, but I have amassed quite a decent inexpensive, half-assed rig setup...so if you're frugal, and interested in making the all-grain jump on the cheap, seek me out. I can point you in the direction I went, and where I found the best deals.

I've only made the same recipe twice, so if you'd like to talk about possibly brewing some off-the-wall or extreme beers...I'm down for that, but I do love a good standby, too.

I'm also known as

Evil Ben

Wow...don't everyone talk at once.

I hope we get more than two people in this club...

Haha, It will pick up. Those of you that were at last nights meeting got to hear me run my mouth for quite a while so you know who I am. I am happy to help anyone that needs it.

Cheers!

Greetings and salivations! I finally found out about this forum last night. I'm looking forward to a long and prosperous affiliation with this forum, and the club, and making myself a better brewer.

BTW, I'm the one who brought the Kolsch last night. I hope you all enjoyed!!

Last night was my first meeting. As I'm just diving into the wonderful world of homebrew, I found the presentations and discussions very informative. With the people I had a chance to talk to last night, and all the others in the group, I feel confident that I will be producing great beer from the start. I've only done 2 batches so far, (Extract kits), and I'm still waiting to taste my own homebrew that I can share with everybody.
Chris

My Name is Don G., I am from Lowell and I've been brewing for about 18 months. My first batch was made from a Mr. Beer kit that my kids bought for me, it was from there I was hooked. After one batch of Mr. Beer, I knew that was not going to cut it, I needed more. I started to study on line and bought a couple of books (I really learned the most from John Palmer's "How to Brew") I bought a starter kit and started brewing kits bought on line, I progressed from DME and LME to steeping specialty grains, then about 3 moths ago I went all grain. I have done a 1/2 dozen all grain batches and have started construction on a double burner, three tier brewing stand capable of brewing both 5 and 10 gallon batches.

I have brewed many different styles and recipes and currently have a couple different American Ales bottled but nothing at the moment in my fermenters. I will be brewing an Irish Red today out in the garage using some newly aquired equipment and ingredients I got yesterday from Bob at Kennywood.

Thanks for the help Bob. I look forward to maybe catching your next next meeting.

Hello, My name is Ben and I live in Kouts. I am new to home brewing, yesterday I bottled my first batch a Black Lager from a kit and brewed an American Pale Ale.
Have only used LME up to this point. I look forward to learning more about home brewing and sharing successes / failures. I missed the first meeting but hope to attend the next one. I would like to thank Bob from Kennywood for the invite to the group. Ben

Hi my name is keith i am new to the whole brew scene hopefully in march my first batch will be brewed and i also cant wait for the meeting in march i hope to learn alot of things from the veterans in this wonderful hobbie

cheers

My name is LeRoy, and I live in Lowell. I have been brewing off and on for about 4 years. Got interested by Matt from Flossmoor Station while he was there. Started with all extract(ugh!), but have brewed about 12 batches with extract(mostly pre-setup kits), and have done 2 partial mash batches on my own so far. Unfortunately with working shift work, it has been difficult to make the club meetings so far. Looking forward to meeting everyone and learning more--especially about how to tell different tastes in the beers to understand the brewing styles more.

I'm Rusty
I'm part of Sandy Bottom Brewing in Munster IN. We have 5 guys total that brew together (All Grain). Cy and I have been coming to the meetings since January and it's been great. Dave (our other brewer) will be joining us next meeting in April. Anyway, we've been brewing together for 9 years now. We have two conical fermenters (32 gal, 24 gal) so we're able to do a stagered double batch and fill both fermenters on the same night. Two complete different recipes...

Anyway, brewing as a group is a great way to go. Share the work/cost/fun and then later split the proceeds... If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend brewing together with friends/family, instead of by yourself.

We met Bob (Kennywood) about 6 years ago and we've been buying our supplies from him since. He's also a regular visitor to our brew sessions. When he told us about the new Brew Club, we were excited to attend and now look forward to every meeting.

Thanks

OH, I forgot to share our Sandy Bottom Logo:

"Buy a man a beer and he wastes a hour, teach a man to brew and he wastes a lifetime"

Cheers

My name is Calvin, and I'm from Chesterton/Valpo. Been brewing for almost a year now, and will be brewing my 10th next week. I do partial mashes, and hope to gather up the parts later this year to switch over to all grain.

Randomly enough, because I couldn't find much going on in the area at the time as far as homebrewing groups and whatnot, I had started a brew group.

Looks like your group is much more active than ours, so I'm thinking I may disband ours and get everyone over with you guys. Don't expect an influx of people or activity - only a few people have ever been able to make it out to any meetups since I started our group late last year.

I'd definitely be interested in knowing more about your group - meetings, events, etc. Would also like to offer to help in any way that may be needed.

Look forward to meeting you all !!

Welcome. I think we average about 30 attendees each month. Our meetings are getting really organized. Alan has stepped up, and kudos to Bob.

Hey everyone my name is Ryan. I am originally from Munster and now I hail from Merrillville. I have been homebrewing for about a year now with about 5 batches under my belt. I just recently switched over to all grain brewing which was the German Style Kolsch that I brought to the last meeting...that and now I think my neighbors are convinced that I am making "bathtub gin" with all of my new equipment.
It is great having a club like IBRU, I did not realize the number of home brewers out there...that and it is great having an excuse to get out of the house on a monday to drink great brew! I also have to thank Bob from Kennywood for the invite to the group as well. Which also brings me to my final point, I just wanted to thank Bob for taking the risk and having the store. When I first started brewing I was getting my supplies from another supply store around the corner from where I work in Elmhurst and I have to say that had I continued to go to that store I probably would not have made it past my second batch. Bob is always so helpful, has fresh ingredients, and most of all really makes you feel welcome. Look forward to meeting everyone and tasting some fine brews.

Hey guys,

Looking forward to meeting all of you, i have been brewing for a little longer than a year now and just met one of your members when he came into my store. My name is Tom Klekot and i live in Lansing IL and work at Barley and Hops. They specialize in micro brews and just added onto the store with supplies for homebrewing. Pm me if you ever need any thing and i can hetlp you out.

Tom

Welcome!! We have a meeting tonight at Crown Brewing at 7:00 pm. Hope you can make it.

i have been planning on making it, i will bring some ipa and porter for all to enjoy.

Tom