Better! With practice and good advice from other SOBs you'll be brewing beers that are exactly the way you want them and much fresher than imports and some microbrewed beers.

If you are using malt extracts rather than mashing grain, you can make a batch of beer in 3-4 hours. Mashing grain would add about 2 hours, but there are several opportunities during the brewing process to do other things. Primary fermentation generally takes a week. If you bottle your beer, that takes about 2 more weeks. A kegged ale is ready to drink a few days after kegging. A lager may require several weeks to age properly prior to drinking.

The main ingredient in beer, other than water, is grain (generally malted barley or wheat). Malt extract is malted grain that has been processed into a sweet "tea". It is available in either syrup or dried, powder form.

Malted grain consists mainly of starch. During mashing, crushed grain is mixed with hot water in order to dissolve the starch and then convert it chemically into various types of sugar so that it can be consumed by yeast to produce alcohol and other beer flavors.

This list includes the basics. Most shops have pre-package this equipment and sell it as a kit, at a savings to the homebrewer. Additional equipment is required for mashing, kegging, but this will get you started.

Locally, supplies can be purchased at dedicated homebrew supply shops and many hobby shops. You can also mail-order supplies or purchase over the internet. Visit our links page for some good sources.

Sure, but why would you want to? Actually, it is very difficult to brew very light, flavorless beers at home. You can try, but be forwarned that your beer might be more flavorful.

Ales and lagers are brewed with distinctly different strains of yeast. Ale, or "Top Fermenting" yeast ferments at warmer temperatures of 65-75 degrees while Lager, or "Bottom Fermenting" yeast ferments at cold temperatures of 45-55 degrees. Ale yeast produces fruity characteristics while Lager yeast produces the crisp, dry and somewhat sulfury flavors.

Beers brewed with Lager yeast require aging at cold temperatures to naturally remove harsh flavors and make the beer smoother. The German word Lager means "to age". All lagers improve with a few weeks to a few months cold aging. Ales are generally best served fresh, within a month after fermentation.

SOBs like beer. We travel all over the world looking for great beer. When we can't find good beer at local stores, we make it ourselves. We also enjoy sharing our beers and recipes with others.

A 5-gallon batch of beer made with malt extracts can be made for about $25. An all-grain batch can be made for about $18. A five gallon batch will produce about eight or nine 6-packs of fine beer. That much imported or microbrewed beers might cost $40 to $50.

Bottling is the most convenient way to share your homebrew. However, many homebrewers now keg their beer in discarded 5-gallon soda kegs. Kegging is less work than bottling, but requires some expensive equipment like a carbon-dioxide tank/regulator, a refridgerator and kegs.

Anything blows up with enough dynamite. Actually, beer bottles rarely blow up. If you allow fermentation to complete before bottling and then carefully mix in the right amount of priming sugar before bottling, there will only be enough sugar in each bottle to produce a nice effervescence. Bacterial infections in the bottle can also cause over-carbonation.

You can make your beer as strong as you want, within the limits of the yeast. The more malt extract or grain in your beer, the stronger it will be. In general, homebrewers make their beer at a strength consistent with the style of beer their making.

No, but your friends might if you make them drink it. If you are not careful with your cleaning and sanitation bacteria or wild yeasts can infect your beer and render it undrinkable. In general, organisms that can hurt humans cannot survive in beer. The types that do survive are those that produce off flavors or high carbonation.

Beer is better when it's fresh, but there are exceptions. Lagers require a few weeks to a few months aging to mature properly. Very strong beers, like Dopplebocks or Barley Wines also improve with some aging. In fact, there are commercial barley wines that are "vintage dated" like wines.

Essentially a gimick invented and heavily marketed by Anheuser-Busch to counter a push by craft brewers like the Boston Beer Company to have freshness dating (i.e. "Drink Before" dating) on bottles. Beers age differently. Budweiser and Miller stay fresh longer than most all-malt beers due to the use of corn or rice sugar. A born on date tells you when it was bottled, but doesn't tell you if you can expect it to be fresh. And it guarantees the consumer nothing.

The AHA is an organization dedicated to the hobby of homebrewing. Based in Boulder, Colorado the AHA has been instrumental legalizing homebrewing in many states.

Hundreds! A great starter book is "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian. Others, such as George Fix's "Principals of Brewing Science" are quite technical. A great list of books is available from Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.

The SOBs number one priority is to have fun with homebrewing. In addition to our regular club meetings, we get together for brewery tours, parties and concerts. We're regular volunteers at area beer festivals, supporting local charities while we share our beer.

All you have to do is love great beer. We have several members who don't brew their own beer. We also have members who prefer making wine or mead.

There are approximately 40 active SOBs.

Most SOBs reside in the Oshkosh area, but we have active members from Green Bay, Appleton, Neenah, Menasha, Fond du Lac, Berlin, Omro and Ripon.

Annual dues are $20. For that you receive a monthly newsletter and discounts at local homebrew supply shops. You also receive all of the other benefits of membership, including the friendships, brewing knowledge and access to festivals and other club activities.

If it can be fermented, SOBs will ferment it! We have members who are experts in making wine, mead and cider, as well as beer, and we occasionally dedicate club meetings to related topics.