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dole21 · 03-09-2009, 09:06 PM

So finally after 2 weeks in the brew keg, and three weeks in the bottle I popped open a west coast pale ale.

Yuck...its like a cross between a high life and a old style. Was too cidery, yet way too bubbly

Its got almost enough carbonation like a pop or a bottle of champagne.

Rather dissapointed, but I used everythign with the kit it came with (booster that yeast etc and sugar for the carbonation.) lesson learned I guess.

Got in my keg now the whispering wheat from the sampler pack. I replaced the booster with a bag of DME, and got some better yeast. Hopefully this time around things will be better. Also, got the carb tabs instead of sugar to place in the bottles.

Overall, Its definitely a ton of fun to do it all and I can definitely see me upgrading to a 5 gal kit very very soon.

**Shooter** · 03-09-2009, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dole21

So finally after 2 weeks in the brew keg, and three weeks in the bottle I popped open a west coast pale ale.

Yuck...its like a cross between a high life and a old style. Was too cidery, yet way too bubbly

Its got almost enough carbonation like a pop or a bottle of champagne.

Rather dissapointed, but I used everythign with the kit it came with (booster that yeast etc and sugar for the carbonation.) lesson learned I guess.

Got in my keg now the whispering wheat from the sampler pack. I replaced the booster with a bag of DME, and got some better yeast. Hopefully this time around things will be better. Also, got the carb tabs instead of sugar to place in the bottles.

Overall, Its definitely a ton of fun to do it all and I can definitely see me upgrading to a 5 gal kit very very soon.

Ha, your experience is almost identical to mine! My first kit, the WPA, was cidery, that mellowed a little with age, and a little too carbonated. I have the hefe bottle conditioning right now and I also substituted DME for the booster and used a better yeast. I did use cane sugar to carb.

ifishsum · 03-09-2009, 10:59 PM

The cane sugar used for priming isn't a problem for the cidery taste IMO - after some experimentation I came to the conclusion that it's mostly the booster, greatly exacerbated by 70+ fermentation temperatures. Once I started subbing in 1 lb of DME in place of the booster, the cidery taste was pretty much gone. When I got my fermentation temps under control (read: below 70) I started making some really decent beer.

The final Mr. Beer batch I made, I had a booster package left so I decided to try it one last time - this time keeping temps at 65-67*F to see if I still got the cider taste. There was a hint of it there, but much improved - that batch (canadian draft w/booster) tasted every bit as good as your average BMC brew. Unfortunately once I got used to drinking good homebrew, the average BMC brew does not do much for me anymore

85 Haro Designs · 03-10-2009, 12:27 AM

Ha, I had the EXACT same thing happen to me (as you two, and probably many more) up until I got on here and Revvy set me straight.

I stopped using the booster and I trippled the malt extract in the recipes - finally tasted awesome even with the crappy little yeast packet that comes with it. I made a starter that sat in my fridge for 1 YEAR! I added a little more LME to "wake it up" and man did it take off in a growler.

This last batch (called my "wooly booger") tastes great so far (just racked to secondary tonight and tasted a bit).

OH yeah, and I stopped using table sugar too. I primed with LME or corn sugar.

rafa_f117 · 03-10-2009, 02:07 AM

Hello again! I am currently on the carbonation stage of my first beer-WCPA... I fermented using the same setup Revvy posted on earlier pages and it seemed to work fine. I controlled the temperature and got it to be <70F the whole two weeks. I tried the beer and it was good tasting, no off tastes but of course no carbonation. On saturday I primed with table sugar (hope it doesn't mess up the flavor) and to try something different I directly put them on the fridge. The avg. temp is 37F on my fridge. Will it hold the carbonation process? thanks!

Bombarde32 · 03-10-2009, 04:06 AM

Ok so I just bought MrB and I couldn't wait until the real brew shop opened later in the week so I fired away the first batch with enclosed ingredients only. Figured worst case it'll be a learning experience.

I did everything as instructued and got the wort ready. Then I blew the transfer BIG time. I spilled about 1/2 cup of the wort outside MrB. UGH. Dumb dumb dumb. I was in a hurry and Murphy took care of the rest.

Since MrB calls for 8.5 quarts of brew (water + wort) and I spilled some of the wort I figured I'd be ok if I reduced the water content and just brewed a smaller batch so I dropped 1/2 cup water and left it at 8 quarts total.

Was that wise? Dumb? Is there something I need to do to 'fix' it? I'm afraid I may have just brewed Bud Light. Or worse ... Nasty Natty.

llazy_llama · 03-10-2009, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bombarde32

Ok so I just bought MrB and I couldn't wait until the real brew shop opened later in the week so I fired away the first batch with enclosed ingredients only. Figured worst case it'll be a learning experience.

I did everything as instructued and got the wort ready. Then I blew the transfer BIG time. I spilled about 1/2 cup of the wort outside MrB. UGH. Dumb dumb dumb. I was in a hurry and Murphy took care of the rest.

Since MrB calls for 8.5 quarts of brew (water + wort) and I spilled some of the wort I figured I'd be ok if I reduced the water content and just brewed a smaller batch so I dropped 1/2 cup water and left it at 8 quarts total.

Was that wise? Dumb? Is there something I need to do to 'fix' it? I'm afraid I may have just brewed Bud Light. Or worse ... Nasty Natty.

[SIC]

Well... it's Mr Beer. You should be so lucky as to get Bud Light. I actually brewed the West Coast Pale Ale that came with my Mr Beer kit, and it was pretty darn close to Natty Light. That being said, many of the other ingredient kits (especially the ones that don't use that godforsaken Booster package) taste much better. I was especially impressed by the Irish Stout.

All Mr Beer bashing aside, it's not a terrible little kit. Hopefully it'll serve you as it served so many of us, and it will convince you to move up to 5 gallon batches with real ingredients, real equipment, real yeast, and proper recipes.

To answer your original question, you're probably going to end up with beer that's just a tad bit more watery than intended. Depending on your palate, you might not even notice the difference. I'm sure next time you'll use a funnel, but you're fine for this time. If you start to panic, refer to my signature. Read it 10 times out loud to yourself. If that doesn't calm you, read it 100 more times.

Thumper · 03-10-2009, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rafa_f117

Hello again! I am currently on the carbonation stage of my first beer-WCPA... I fermented using the same setup Revvy posted on earlier pages and it seemed to work fine. I controlled the temperature and got it to be <70F the whole two weeks. I tried the beer and it was good tasting, no off tastes but of course no carbonation. On saturday I primed with table sugar (hope it doesn't mess up the flavor) and to try something different I directly put them on the fridge. The avg. temp is 37F on my fridge. Will it hold the carbonation process? thanks!

It will be extremely slow to carb @ that temp. Preferred method is 3 weeks @ 70. You will be looking @ months @ that temp if if carbs at all.

Bombarde32 · 03-10-2009, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llazy_llama

[SIC]

Well... it's Mr Beer. You should be so lucky as to get Bud Light. I actually brewed the West Coast Pale Ale that came with my Mr Beer kit, and it was pretty darn close to Natty Light. That being said, many of the other ingredient kits (especially the ones that don't use that godforsaken Booster package) taste much better. I was especially impressed by the Irish Stout.

All Mr Beer bashing aside, it's not a terrible little kit. Hopefully it'll serve you as it served so many of us, and it will convince you to move up to 5 gallon batches with real ingredients, real equipment, real yeast, and proper recipes.

To answer your original question, you're probably going to end up with beer that's just a tad bit more watery than intended. Depending on your palate, you might not even notice the difference. I'm sure next time you'll use a funnel, but you're fine for this time. If you start to panic, refer to my signature. Read it 10 times out loud to yourself. If that doesn't calm you, read it 100 more times.

Oh, my palate will know the difference so that is a problem then. Perhaps then, this will be weak enough for SWMBO. She gits tipsy in a hurry!

yeoldebrewer · 03-13-2009, 07:05 AM

Not to worry. The WCPA w/Booster takes a long time to condition to the level of something like a Bud lite. Subbing a pound of UME or Dried Malt Extract will make a big difference. And there are better recipes.

Controlling fermentation temp is crucial. 65 deg F is about right. I'm guessing anything over about 70 is verboten for best flavor.

I put my Mr. B kegs in a cheapo ($13.00) styrofoam ice chest with plastic freeze packs and also a couple of 1 liter PET bottles of water to stabilize things. I have to watch the first 3 days or so of active fermentation pretty closely and change out the ice packs with this setup, because the keg is giving off heat during high krauzen. But it's cheap and it works.