Internet Groups
Internet groups allow you to gain knowledge, provide help to others or ask questions. There's plenty of activity going on and always someone who will try and answer the questions. The discussion covers topics from the elementary "my fermentation's stuck - help!" to the esoteric - "how much Alehoof in a 23-litre batch?". And, of course you can do all this from the comfort of your own home, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year! So, is this the end of CBA and Brewers' Contact? Not yet! You need to do a fair bit of sifting with a couple of dozen messages per day. Also, you will have to evaluate the answers you get - some contributors are more authoritative than others. Also missing is the opportunity for face-to-face contact, swapping brews, training etc that CBA branches can provide.
British Internet Groups
Jim's Home Brew Forum
Part of Jims Beer Kit, this is a UK craft brewing forum. Participants are mostly full-mash brewers with a fair number of kit- and extract brewers. An enthusiastic, knowledgeable and active membership has produced a mature forum with plenty of interest, levels of experience and even some experimentation documented in well moderated threads on most topics of interest. The forum is structured into topics of general and specialised interest.
Scottish Craft Brewers
The Scottish Craft Brewers also have a forum and we hear that there have been some interesting discussions - particularly if you live in Scotland or are interested in Scottish brewing - join via their website.
UK Homebrew
UK Homebrew is an email discussion group and forum for UK home brewers. To get an invitation to join, send an from the address you want to subscribe.
Other English Language Groups
US sites can be difficult because of the use of imperial units (called the same as our old ones but different sizes) and language differences - even simple words like 'sparge' and 'beerstone' are used differently there. Why not try some of the places where they use metric units?
Irish Craft Brewer
Wart Hog Brewers (South Africa)
Australian Craft Brewer
Real Beer (New Zealand)
Specialist
Home Brew Digest
If you can't find the answer to a question on craft brewing from a UK source, particularly on a scientific or advanced aspect, you can post a question to HBD. You don't need to register to post but have a look at a few issues first though - there is a very civilised etiquette for posting and replying.
Yahoo Groups
There's a Yahoo group on home Brewing Equipment. It concentrates very much on US equipment, suppliers and practice.
US homebrewer Bill Velek runs the Grow-Hops yahoo group. Just remember that when it's snowing in Heckmondwike , it might be 36C in Oven Chips, Texas.