UKG Social Afternoon at Skeleton Key Brewing, 8102 Lemont Rd in Woodridge. A consistent friend of beer education and supporter of UKG, they typically have around 15 beers on tap. No food is served, but you can bring your own.
UKG Social Afternoon
UKG Social Afternoon at Church Street Brewing, 1480 Industrial Dr in Itasca. A perennial supporter and host of UKG events, they typically have 30+ beers on tap. Their kitchen (in the main taproom) serves sandwiches, salads, and pizzas.
Anyone who brewed beer on Big Brew Day, please bring a bottle or two to share. We’ll be in the Steeple Room, next to the loading dock; please don’t enter the main brewery! Friends are welcome to join us as well.
Brixtoberfest
Judging of the Brixtoberfest competition, sponsored by Brixie’s Brewers. Entries open July 14, max 250 paid entries. Judging will be at Imperial Oak Brewing, 9526 Ogden Ave in Brookfield (not the Willow Springs location). There will be additional judging sessions on the preceding Sunday and Wednesday.
UKG Social Afternoon
UKG Social Afternoon at Goldfinger Brewing, 513 Rogers St in Downers Grove. Goldfinger is a German lager specialist, with a decoction brewhouse and horizontal lagering tanks. Their flagship beer is an American/international pale lager, and they have about 6 lagers on tap. No food is served, but you can bring your own, or check here for their constantly changing food truck schedule.
CHAOS BrewBQ
Annual CHAOS BrewBQ, 2:00pm-7:00pm, sponsored by the CHAOS homebrew club at their unique clubhouse, 2417 W Hubbard St in Chicago. This event brings together all of the Chicago area homebrew clubs, with clubs providing and pouring kegs of their own brews, and CHAOS providing all the food (though donations are accepted).
Ray Nonnie’s Jock(ey)Zilla will be on display and needs to be supplied. If you can provide a beer, cider, or mead, please indicate what can bring here.
The CHAOS Throwdown chooses the club with the best beer in a specified category. This year it’s focused on Catharina Sour (BJCP style X4), and Mica Zaragoza will be representing UKG. Good luck Mica.
Wortapalooza
Judging of the 3rd annual Wortapalooza competition, sponsored by Club Wort. Entries open April 21. Judging will be at Phase Three Brewing, 932 Donata Ct in Lake Zurich. There will be additional judging sessions on Mon, Wed, and Fri; the Monday night session is at Church St. Brewing in Itasca.
Equipment Swap and Bottle Share
Equipment swap and bottle share, sponsored by Brixie’s Brewers but members of other homebrew clubs are welcome. Bring your own surplus equipment, or come empty-handed and see what you can find. Buy, sell, swap, barter, or just give stuff away. And bring homebrew to share, of course.
Location: Dave Dayhoff’s house, 5124 Wolf Rd in Western Springs. Parking is available in the church parking lot, just south at 5140 Wolf Rd.
Webinar: Hopsteiner
Free Webinar: Darren Stankey from Hopsteiner. Topic TBA.
Hopsteiner is a grower and supplier of hops, hop oils, and other hop products.
Registration is required! Reservation and login details will be provided on Slack.
Kane County Cougars Game
POSTPONED! Reschedule date TBA.
The UKG is going to the Kane County Cougars game! The Cougars will play the Sioux City Explorers beginning at 6:30pm.
Buy tickets along the 3rd base line so we can sit somewhat together. Plus, the Beer Cave is along the 3rd base line and where we’ll be spending most of our time.
The Cougars’ stadium is of Kirk Rd. in Geneva, 5 miles north of the I-88/Farnsworth Ave exit. Parking is to the south of the stadium.
Big Brew Day
UKG Brew-In for the AHA’s Big Brew Day at Church Street Brewing, 1480 Industrial Dr unit C in Itasca; map here. (This event will be held after the AHA’s Big Brew Day due to a conflict at Church Street.)
Church Street will mash and lauter the wort for us in the brewery’s equipment. Participants will get 5 gallons to finish as they please. (No more than 5 gallons per person this year.) Bring your own burners, kettles, wort chillers, racking equipment, folding chairs, and anything else you’ll need (hoses and hose splitters recommended). Steep with specialty grains, add extract if you like, and add your own hops.
The wort will be similar to Itascafest Märzen/Oktoberfest (pils malt, Munich malt, Carahell, and Caramunich), at around 12 Plato (SG around 1.050). Remember the gravity will be higher after you boil off some water. There will be some Andechs lager yeast available; bring a sanitized jar if you want some.
IMPORTANT BREWERY SAFETY RULES:
This is a manufacturing environment. Closed-toe shoes and safety glasses are required. Bring your own safety glasses (and extras to share) if you have them. Wort and cooling water are supplied; we are responsible for other ingredients and supplies (burner/propane, hops, garden hoses and fittings, chillers, yeast, etc). You will be transferring your wort home when it is completed, so bring a PLASTIC fermenter or bucket for transport. NO GLASS.
Doors will open around 8:00am for those who want to see the mashing process. Wort will be available 10:00am or until it runs out. Everyone needs to be finished by 4:00pm.
If you plan to brew, please RSVP to Tim Devitt.