"Water on wood, no good", my Mom used to say. I can almost hear it when I don't have a coaster handy. The worst part is that I've said it to my kids!!!  

To prevent these words from being uttered, here are some great DIY coaster ideas for your bar or coffee table. 

GusWatab has the right idea with these coasters cut from the center of vinyl records. There are so many great album colors and designs to consider! He doesn't mention it, but I would think a piece of clear adhesive cut to size would help protect them.

Check out a few more coaster ideas in the link below. 

p.s. If you ask what a vinyl record is I'm gonna slap you!

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I sure hope this is real (and it must be...I found it on the Internet), because most of the photos that I've seen circa 1900 have such long exposures that people can't smile or it would be a blurry mess. Here's a shot of some old dudes drinking beer from 1844 and the image actually turned out great!

After looking into it, I learned that the calotype was invented by William Henry Fox Talbot and was a technical breakthrough that helped stimulate the world-wide spread of photography. Here he is (right) in his own calotype taking part in the purported oldest known photo of men drinking beer.

One of the men is the son of a Scotland brewer and they are drinking Edinburgh Ale. According to a contemporary account, Edinburgh ale was "a potent fluid, which almost glued the lips of the drinker together, and of which few, therefore, could dispatch more than a bottle.

Read more about the photo here and if you like, download the fullsized image in the link below.

Tap handles can be made from all kinds of materials. We've seen screw drivers, billiards balls, antlers, and even a yeast vial filled with barley! The most common material by far is wood and for good reason. It can be cut and sanded into many different shapes and sizes, often with a logo carved at the top. Another alternative is to apply labels to the shapes like Ken has done in this article he shared with us. Be sure to click the link for more pictures.

"I have started playing with ways to make some sturdy, one-piece tap handles. Most of the ones I made earlier are in good working order but some have taken a jolt either from poor construction or drunken pirates pulling on them too hard. 

Although I have admitted to having little-to-no skill, I have found that I can handle a coping saw pretty well and that combined with a good power sander can get you pretty far. So I have fashioned some new handles and used a chrome ferrule with a screw instead of the larger faucet adapter I used in the past. Here is a sampling of some in various stages of construction. The "T"-shaped ones will probably have a different label on each side and also use the chrome finials I found at Kegworks and the others will probably just have a label on one side. These should be infinitely more solid than the others..." [Read More]

I know what you're thinking...  I could play the part much better than this dude!!  I thought the same thing but then realized that I don't have an agent, head shot, or uncle who is a casting director.

Thank you Natalie Clausson for this throwback infographic illustrating all of the people who appreciate beer.

Somewhere trumpets blared. If you haven't heard already, The White House has released two of its homebrew recipes after a month of clamoring from a very excited homebrew community.

Here they are listed for your brewing pleasure! More about these recipes can be read here on the official White House blog.

We see a lot of amazing DIY keezer builds online and up until now, have not posted any of them here on BrewGeeks. To many brewers, the frigidaire 7.2 is considered the standard in affordable freezers that can easily be converted to hold kegs for serving. You can fit three 5 gallon and two 3 gallon cornies without a collar (like we did at BrewGeeks) or a collar can be added as Quaffer has done in his post below to hold even more. This is easily one of our favorite keezer builds so be sure to check out all of the pictures in the link below.

"I was inspired by several freezer conversions and I decided to build my own collared freezer conversion with the following goals:

• At least four taps. I expect to have several brews going at once, plus a soda tap for the kids from time to time.
• Two different CO2 pressures so that I can carbonate at high pressure and serve at low pressure at the same time.
• It needs to be portable since I cannot dedicate a specific place in my home to this thing.
• It should be easy to build. I don't have the skills nor time to take on an epic woodworking project. Anyone with basic DIY skills can build this project. Really.
• It should not be ugly. I want to be able to have this in my living room without being embarrassed. You be the judge.

So let's start at the end with the finished project. Here's a closeup of the collar and taps." [Read More]

[Original Thread]

We got emails asking what gives...why no posts over the past few days??  As one of the slackers in charge, I appologize.

It comes down to the time we have to find and write good posts. I don't want to put BS up here (unless it's funny of course) so you may see the posts lull every once in a while. Don't be alarmed if this happens and I sincerely appreciate people like you who read our site. 

On that note, we would love to find a few guest writers to fill in from time to time. If you have an interest in this and would like to write an article on something in your process, please shoot us an email! Hell, if you want to join the team to help find homebrew or beer related articles for the blog, let us know!

Cheers!