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dogfishandi · 02-11-2009, 01:53 AM

i just finsihed brewing my 3rd batch of beer with my mr beer keg. i brewed an ipa with products from my local homebrew store. i boiled 3lb. amber malt extract for 50 minutes with 1 oz. columbus 50 minutes
1/2 oz. simcoe 15 minutes left
1/2 oz. cascade 5 minutes left
then i cooled it in a sink of ice water. this took a lot longer than i thought, upwards of 20 minutes. once it got to about 74 degrees, i pitched the yeast. im using a 7 grams of coopers dry ale yeast. its about an hour later and its still at 74. do you think that was a good yeast pitching temperature?

Henny · 02-11-2009, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dogfishandi

i just finsihed brewing my 3rd batch of beer with my mr beer keg. i brewed an ipa with products from my local homebrew store. i boiled 3lb. amber malt extract for 50 minutes with 1 oz. columbus 50 minutes
1/2 oz. simcoe 15 minutes left
1/2 oz. cascade 5 minutes left
then i cooled it in a sink of ice water. this took a lot longer than i thought, upwards of 20 minutes. once it got to about 74 degrees, i pitched the yeast. im using a 7 grams of coopers dry ale yeast. its about an hour later and its still at 74. do you think that was a good yeast pitching temperature?

Yep, you'd be suprised, Yeast is sturdy!

**nvr2low** · 02-11-2009, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dogfishandi

i just finsihed brewing my 3rd batch of beer with my mr beer keg. i brewed an ipa with products from my local homebrew store. i boiled 3lb. amber malt extract for 50 minutes with 1 oz. columbus 50 minutes
1/2 oz. simcoe 15 minutes left
1/2 oz. cascade 5 minutes left
then i cooled it in a sink of ice water. this took a lot longer than i thought, upwards of 20 minutes. once it got to about 74 degrees, i pitched the yeast. im using a 7 grams of coopers dry ale yeast. its about an hour later and its still at 74. do you think that was a good yeast pitching temperature?

74 should be fine, you should be in the mid 60's for fermentation so you will be ok.

rafa_f117 · 02-12-2009, 02:44 AM

Hello all beer lovers and fanatics! I am new to the forum and new to the beer brewing hobby/magical experience. I dont have to say a lot, I just love beer. I recently bought a new MB kit and I'm almost ready to begin my first brew. I've been reading this forum for a few days but I'm not sure on a couple of things. Starting by: -what type of sugar should I use for carbonation? white sugar, brown, corn sugar, or has anyone had any luck with maple syrup? ive read it is also better to make the conversions and mix the sugar with water and add it to the fermentor before bottling instead...? Also, I live on Puerto Rico, the temp. right now is avg. 82, where can i maintain a temp from 65 to 75?? I was thinking of an air conditioned room where temp can go to "60" but at the same time it will not be on all day... haha maybe I have a bigger problem than I thought... That's it for now, Ill be sure to keep on reading. Thank you all for your help and good luck with your brewing!

yeoldebrewer · 02-12-2009, 10:08 AM

Yep. 74 should be fine for a pitching temperature. But you really want the keg in a location no warmer than about 65 deg F by the time fermentation starts cranking. Active fermentation can cause the wort to run much warmer than ambient.

Quote:

where can i maintain a temp from 65 to 75?

82 is definitely too warm for most beer styles. You might try either a picnic cooler with freeze packs; or a water bath with the fermenter covered by a wet cotton cloth (old T-shirt). Seems like Revvy has some good pics of this posted here someplace. If you immerse the keg tap, don't forget to allow for good sanitation. I like to put some iodine solution in the water bath.

KerryD · 02-12-2009, 10:27 PM

Anybody have problems with the Mr Beer plastic bottles?

Mine seem to be nice and firm before i put them in the fridge and then they go soft. I bottled a couple in 12 ounce glass bottles and they all came out fine. Only the very first plastic bottle held and it was on in the fridge 12 or so hours. These were batch primed and the caps are on so tight I'm struggling to get them off.

dogfishandi · 02-12-2009, 10:44 PM

my IPA was fermenting crazy the next day, blowing foam out around the cap of the keg. now its settled down, but still a lot of bubbles and such. the only proplem i can see is that there looks like a very tiny bit leaked out by the spighot. not even enough to make a drop and fall on the table. you can just see a tiny bit of hard crust around the edge on the one side. i plan on fermenting for 3 weeks and this is only day 2, but its so small, i dont think it would just start leaking really bad.

**Shooter** · 02-12-2009, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dogfishandi

my IPA was fermenting crazy the next day, blowing foam out around the cap of the keg. now its settled down, but still a lot of bubbles and such. the only proplem i can see is that there looks like a very tiny bit leaked out by the spighot. not even enough to make a drop and fall on the table. you can just see a tiny bit of hard crust around the edge on the one side. i plan on fermenting for 3 weeks and this is only day 2, but its so small, i dont think it would just start leaking really bad.

My first batch had a very small amount leak out of the spigot. It was just a few drops and had dried to a syrup consistency by the time I found it. It never developed into a drastic leak. I find that the spigot tends to loosen up as I'm sloshing beer around in the thing on brew day and develop a very slow leak. I have to retighten it several times before it will stop.

spinoza · 03-02-2009, 06:14 PM

Re: Mr Beer Priming Sugar Problem:

What is the best priming sugar to use when using the 1 liter bottles?

**Shooter** · 03-02-2009, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinoza

Re: Mr Beer Priming Sugar Problem:

What is the best priming sugar to use when using the 1 liter bottles?

Probably corn sugar, but I've been using regular table sugar for my Mr. Beer batches.