October 2025

The Great American Beer Festival is only a couple days away. Who else is getting excited! For those who plan to attend the event on Saturday October 11th, we will take a club photo. Plan on meeting by the Old 121 booth around 2PM. 

Monthly Meeting

• Date: October 18th

• Time: 11 am – 6 pm

• Location: The Brew Hut

• Address: 15120 E Hampden Ave, Aurora, CO 80014

Our October meeting will be at the Brew Hut for the Colorado Homebrewer Conference. There will be guest speakers, a club beer showcase, raffle prizes, and more. This is a great time to get together with the other clubs to socialize and even learn from each other.

Old 121 Brewhouse Scale Up Quarterly Challenge

For this quarterly challenge, Old 121 has let us know they will be doing a scale up! The winner of this challenge will get to brew their winning entry at Old 121. The only limitation to this challenge is that it has to be something fruity! It doesn't matter if you use fresh fruit or a fruit extract. Just make sure there is an addition of a fruit flavor. Entry form and drop off details can be found here.

Education Corner

5 Things I Wish I Knew Earlier

1. Keg as soon as you can. Kegging is so much simpler and quicker.  Yes, it is costly. But I could have started with one used keg with a picnic tap, a C02 tank, and free/cheap fridge.

2. Plan ahead with equipment purchases. I remember my first 5 gallon brew pot. Three months later I wanted to do all-grain and had to think about getting a larger kettle. This was true with many homebrew purchases. Thinking ahead will save money and frustration.

3. Don’t over worry. If I missed a mash temp, a pH target, or forget a hop addition, good beer was still made.

4. Expensive equipment doesn’t make better beer. I watched a great video last year of a homebrewer who won a medal in every state. His equipment: Two white, plastic buckets to mash in and a cheap fermenter.

5. Patience and slow decisions are the best route. I remember items like  missing a mash temp and making quick decisions about adding more mash water (and going the other extreme in temp) or wanting to ferment and bottle a beer in a week. As I’ve brewed more, I’ve learned to take my time fermenting (and brewing) and to slow down when a decision needs to happen.