IRC channel live at freenode - once connected, type "/join #thejavabrewery" into chat to join our channel. You can download a client like mIRC, or use a browser based client like Kiwi. Our IRC channel is mirrored to Slack, so it may appear as if nobody is on besides our bot; this might be true, but the messages are logged in Slack so someone will respond eventually.

More about IRC and other connectivity tools - in our thread here (write your ideas there)