Who started this hobby with a Mr. Beer kit?

I first learned about brewing beer from "Good Eats" and was talking to a friend who told me there was a LHBS right in town. So i went there and started talking to the guy in the store and he suggested that i buy The complege joy of homebrewing first and read the book and see if i still want to brew beer after i finish it. So i went back 2 days later and got a complete kit from http://www.heartshomebrew.com w/ a IPA and have been brewing ever sence. Have 5 carboy's and working on a all grain set up and a 3 keg set up.

Allright. I just found this site, and I can tell I've opened a new can of worms. I have brewed probably 20 batches with Mr. Beer, and can say without a doubt I have been VERY pleased with the results, except one bottle (not batch), a priming issue.
This method of brewing is more than likely considered "Tonka Toy" brewing by the folks on here, but it has worked for me. Have done quite a bit of experimenting already. While looking for new recipes, I stumbled upon this site.
I'm not opposed at all to going to the next level of brewing, I just like the simplicity of the Mr Beer gig. Downside? Volume.
Thanks for having me.
Comments welcome.

I had never even heard of Mr Beer until after I had bought an ale pail kit and found this site. I had been thinking about homebrewing for years and about 6 months ago I decided it was time to give it a try. I did some reseaching and found a LHBS not too far from me. Brewed my first batch on 4/23/08. Ran into all kinds of little problems but loved every minute of it. I have since switched to all grain and will be making the 999 Barleywine next week.

Yuri_Rage said:

Your standard Ale Pail starter kit here.

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+1. Bot I Gotta admit...I'd have gotten the Mr. Beer if it was available.
Great packaging...great marketing....very good price level...Ya, I'd have been suckered in.

Me too. I made many decent extracts w/ mine. Once I started steepin' grains its all she wrote...

Now I'm buying Professor Allgrain Kits!!!

I did. I never used their ready to go can extracts, I did extract with steeping grains and all that. I actually made a decent beer with it. The way I see it it's just a fermenting vessel so it depends on ingredients and the process if it comes out good or not. I then moved on to buckets and carboys and later all grain with friend's equipment. I know there is allot of controversy with mr beer but if it gets people brewing who cares.

I brewed with Mr. Beer in college. I had one almost drinkable batch because I didn't know what I was doing.

Last spring I remembered my old Mr. Beer (which I still have, by the way), and over at the local beer shop I asked him where the local home brew supply store was. The next day I picked up a starter kit, and 13 batches later here I am... my beer is already great, so I really can't wait to see how good it gets after 10 or 20 more!

Prost!

RichBrewer said:

So far about 1/3 of the people who voted started with a Mr Beer kit. That is a significant number. We like to dish these kits but they serve a good purpose. Many a home brewer would not have been exposed to the hobby without them.

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My first reaction was "That's legal? Cool!"

Not me, but I did get my son a Mr. Rootbeer kit for his B-day. Pretty bad rootbeer btw. Not horrible, just not good.

capahab said:

Allright. I just found this site, and I can tell I've opened a new can of worms. I have brewed probably 20 batches with Mr. Beer, and can say without a doubt I have been VERY pleased with the results, except one bottle (not batch), a priming issue.
This method of brewing is more than likely considered "Tonka Toy" brewing by the folks on here, but it has worked for me. Have done quite a bit of experimenting already. While looking for new recipes, I stumbled upon this site.
I'm not opposed at all to going to the next level of brewing, I just like the simplicity of the Mr Beer gig. Downside? Volume.
Thanks for having me.
Comments welcome.

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Welcome to the forum. And all I can say is if you are brewing beer that you like then who cares what anybody else thinks? You're making stuff that you like, and that's all that matters.

As for me, I had some friends who brewed several years back, and then they quit, so they had all their equipment sitting in a basement just collecting dust. I had casually brought up buying the equipment from them a couple of times, but had never really done anything about it. Finally one day they told me just to come by and take the stuff. So I got pretty much all of thier old extract equipment and have gone from there. Getting the stuff together to go all grain soon, and loving every little part of this wonderful hobby.

I imagine I'm the only one with this story (haven't had time to read all responses): I ASKED for a Mr. Beer for Christmas, but my wife got me the big-boy beer equipment instead. I wrecked my first batch so bad by using soap when I put the bottles through the dishwasher that I didn't get back on the horse until 14 years later. I certainly don't look down my nose at Mr. Beer brewers; I'm more like jealous.

Started with an Ale Pale kit and "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" back in '02.

Been having a good time ever since.

I bought my Mr. Beer fully intending to do partial grain kits with it. (It was all I could afford at the time) When I got it, I made the Extract kit it came with, and shortly after went to the LHBS and baught a partial grain kit. A week later I bought a 5gal kit. I'm slowly collecting all of the items and tools I need.

I like the suggestion about using Mr. Beer for Applewein.

I started with Mr. Beer. Made two of their kits. Then I went extract with grains for about 3 months. Now I'm doing all-grain. I still use the brown barrel for quick-turnaround brews like wit's and hefe's and bottle right from the keg. Thanks a lot Mr. Beer... that stupid 40$ present turned into a hobby that involves a 2nd refrigerator, buckets of grain and my pile of equipment grows weekly. But I am making pretty freaking good beer at this point!

I started with a Mr. Beer kit 2 months ago, I've made 5 batches with their kits. The first one just finished bottle conditioning last week and I've already decided to move on - bought ingredients for EdWort's Haus Pale Ale yesterday (partial mash). Made my own primary from a bucket and plan to use the Mr. Beer as a bottling bucket for now. I'm already hooked on this hobby!

started with Cooper's kit - hated the first batch, but was so excited about the prospect of good beer that I moved on.

2nd batch was Cooper's prehopped LME and LME extract - been extract with steeping grains since.