BrewinHooligan

Recipes 

Thanks to the 50% off sale after Christmas that Bed Bath & Beyond had, I have a few cans of Whispering Wheat and Canadian Draft. I am wanting to tinker a little and am looking for suggestions for specialty grains that would go well with these two. Any recomendations and reasons (I like to know why I am doing something) are greatly appreciated!

Mike37

Recipes 

I got a Mr Beer kit for Christmas from my sister in law and thought i'd share my experience so far as a first time home brewer. So the WCPA that the kit came with has been fermenting for 10 days. A little taste test at 7 days indicated that it was coming along just fine. It was very cloudy and yeasty, but it tasted like beer for sure. On days 1-5, it was quite foamy with about an inch of krausen. Now it's pretty settled looking and it seems to be starting to clear up. Can't wait to taste it after some conditioning and carbing!

SasquatchSmith

Recipes 

Question - I have moved on from my Mr. Beer kit to some more "advanced" extract brewing, but I still have some leftover Mr. Beer stuff...is there anything I can do with a couple bags of booster, a can of Blonde Ale HME and a pound of Cowboy Golden Lager HME aside from just the straight forward Mr. Beer recipes? Also, is the yeast that comes with the Mr. Beer kits decent?

Malticulous

Recipes 

With some steeping grains you can make about anything out of that hopped extract. Just use it as regular LME. You will have to calculate the IBU it contributes.

You can use the boosters as adjunct. 10% in a beer is barely noticable, 20-30% is more like cream ale/American Lager.

The only problem with the yeast is it's only 2 grams. It's not enough for a bigger batch, or even a high gravity Mr. Beer batch.

SasquatchSmith

Recipes 

Thanks, another question...since one of the HME cans I have left claims it's a Lager extract, is it OK to use it in Ales? I thought that Lagering just involved a different fermentation duration/temp and a different yeast.

Malticulous

Recipes 

They call it a lager but it's not. It comes with ale yeast. You can ferment at around 50, use lager yeast, and cold condition it for weeks if you want to but the extract is just extract.

firebirdude

Recipes 

I just got the Mr. Beer kit for Christmas as well. It came with the West Coast Ale and has been fermenting for 8 days as of today. Trub has built up along the bottom of the keg. I'm planning on waiting 2 weeks, placing the keg in the fridge and propping the back end up slightly (to help with bottling) for a 24-48 hour cold crash, and then bottling using the spigot and the 1L PET bottles the kit came with.

1)Is it ok to move from a cold crash, into bottles, then into warm conditioning for 2 weeks? Then cold conditioning for 2 weeks?

2)The instructions say use 2 1/2 teaspoons white sugar, but I've read on here that corn sugar is better. I'm sure my local homebrew supply sells corn sugar, so it's a 1:1 ratio? 2 1/2 teaspoons corn sugar per 1L bottle?

3)I've also read on here it's easier to dissolve all your sugar in a small amount of hot water, then add it directly to the keg just before bottling versus adding to the bottles individually. Adding more water to the mix is ok? And though it will blend with the wort some, I would need it to be well mixed to ensure each bottle receives the same amount of sugars. Is it ok to gently stir the wort after the sugar water is added? Won't that stir up the trub greatly?

I have read through the stickies some and also various other message boards. Quite honestly, most of them are still over my head. I have much to learn.

Malticulous

Recipes 

1- That's fine. Crashing will drop out some yeast. The last bottles will be from the top of the fermenter where there is less yeast. Those bottles could take longer to carb.

2- The difference between corn and table sugar for priming is not something that can be tasted. I use table sugar. The different amount needed is to small to measure for just one liter. If you bulk prime there is a measurable difference in the weight needed. It's much more precise .

3- If you bulk prime you add it to water and bring it to a boil before adding it. Most people will just siphon on top of the priming solution. I stir (not splashing at all) it so the sugar and yeast are more even from bottle to bottle. Your not bulk priming. Just putting granulated sugar in the bottle will work, but again it's less precise. You could look into carb tabs.

firebirdude

Recipes 

Thank you for your response.

I know the instructions want me to put the sugar into each bottle, but then it also says you're suppose to turn the bottles upside down a few times to help mix/dissolved the sugar. I know you're not suppose to aerate the brew at all, so this seemed like a less than optimal method. Dissolving all the sugar in boiling water first (bulk priming?) seems like a much better method to ensure all the sugar is dissolved. I just wanted to make sure each bottle gets the same amount of sugars in it though.

I may just use white sugar anyway, but what would be the ratio of white sugar to corn sugar? 20 teaspoons of white sugar (2.5 x 8) equals how many corn sugar?

Malticulous

Recipes 

By mass, you'd need 5% more dextrose than sucrose.