Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

Just got my Woot Mr. Beer kit yesterday. I've been reading through "How to Brew" online while waiting for it to arrive, and now I'm comparing what I learned to the Mr. Beer instructions.

The Mr. Beer instructions say to fill the keg with cold water, then add the wort, then add more cold water to bring to final volume. Nowhere does it mention boiling the water that you use to initially fill the keg prior to wort addition. I'm planning to boil the initial water and let it cool, then add it to the sanitized keg, unless this is somehow an unnecessary step.

Am I fussing over nothing?

It depends. If you use tap water, boiling is is recommended to get rid of chlorine. But if your utility uses chloramine for disinfection, you can't get rid of it by boiling and need to use a filter or campden tablets instead - or buy bottled water.

Infections from unboiled tap or bottled water are pretty rare, but many people still prefer to boil just to have one less thing to worry about.

I'm another part of the big woot influx. First batch is fermenting, and though I lost about a tablespoon to a leak in the spigot, it seems to have stopped. I've been reading through this thread in bits and pieces over the last few days, both before the kit arrived and after, and would just like to thank everyone who's ever answered a question in here over the last few years.

And in advance for people who will end up answering my questions. Cause I will eventually have plenty, I'm sure.

Another Mr Beer Noob from Woot here, my beer has been fermenting for about 5 days, the beer looks full and cloudy and there is a bit of foam forming at the top but today I took a little sniff of it and it smelled very skunky. I keep it in my garage where it is almost always pitch black, is the skunky smell normal or did I screw up already?

JHendrix said:

Another Mr Beer Noob from Woot here, my beer has been fermenting for about 5 days, the beer looks full and cloudy and there is a bit of foam forming at the top but today I took a little sniff of it and it smelled very skunky. I keep it in my garage where it is almost always pitch black, is the skunky smell normal or did I screw up already?

Click to expand...

Which beer kit came with it ?

flylock_jac said:

Which beer kit came with it ?

Click to expand...

west coast pale ale with booster

JHendrix said:

Another Mr Beer Noob from Woot here, my beer has been fermenting for about 5 days, the beer looks full and cloudy and there is a bit of foam forming at the top but today I took a little sniff of it and it smelled very skunky. I keep it in my garage where it is almost always pitch black, is the skunky smell normal or did I screw up already?

Click to expand...

With Mr Beer, it's a toss up. What you're smelling probably isn't skunking, at least not in the technical sense. Skunking is generally a reaction of hops and sunlight, and since the Mr Beer kit is dark amber colored, and contains almost no hops, skunking isn't very likely. Fermentation generally doesn't smell like a bouquet of flowers, as it's basically one step away from rotting.

Your beer will be fine, or as fine as Mr Beer can be.

Good to hear, thanks for the quick response

JHendrix said:

Good to hear, thanks for the quick response

Click to expand...

I are ninja.

I got my woot! kit last Thursday, and started brewing the pale ale it came with along with some honey for flavor. To use up the coupon I got the makings for an oatmeal stout and a wheat, with a spare DME to avoid the booster and some cider yeast to try that. I figure after that I'll move to more adventurous work with more varied ingredient sources.

I've been reading through this thread from the start but have a couple questions:
First, after that post on a kit exploding from the lid being on too tight, I wonder how tight -should- it be? I don't want to have that problem, but I don't want it loose enough that air can get in at the beer.
Second, I'd like to make the wheat a strawberry wheat especially with the season not too far off. My question is, what do I need to do in terms of cleaning/cooking/preparation to toss fresh fruit in there without worrying about bacteria or wild yeast spoiling the batch? And how much is a good amount to add a strong flavor to the end result?

As far as the lid is concerned, I screw mine on by hand until it snugs up, but don't try to force it much beyond that.

Killer_Robot said:

I'd like to make the wheat a strawberry wheat especially with the season not too far off. My question is, what do I need to do in terms of cleaning/cooking/preparation to toss fresh fruit in there without worrying about bacteria or wild yeast spoiling the batch? And how much is a good amount to add a strong flavor to the end result?

Click to expand...

The usual plan to keep a fruit character is to add the fruit to a secondary fermentation. It's difficult to do that with a Mr. Beer as your only fermentation container, because you need a secondary to rack to. What I might recommend is to get a 2.5- or 3-gallon PET (#1) water bottle from the grocery store, and use that as your primary fermentation vessel (affix an airlock to the top). When the first week of fermentation is up (bubbles have slowed considerably), sanitize the Mr. Beer keg, add the squashed fruit to the bottom, and rack the new beer from the PET bottle onto the top of the fruit (avoiding bringing too much trub from the primary). Let it sit in the secondary on the fruit for at least a week, more like 2. Then bottle as per usual, directly from the Mr. Beer keg.

As far as fruit preparation, you should get a packet of Campden Tablets from your LHBS, and sprinkle a crushed tablet over the freshly squashed fruit and give it an ample stir with your sanitized spoon. The Campden Tablet is potassium metabisulfate, and it is used by winemakers to sterilize fruit by killing the naturally-occuring yeasts present on the exteriors of fruit.

So here's your shopping list:

LHBS: Campden Tablets, airlock, drilled rubber bung to fit your water bottle, racking cane and tube

Grocery Store: 2.5 or 3 gallon PET water bottle (#1 plastic)

Of course, this is all a wild-a$$ guess, good luck.

Thanks for the advice. I've also run into some other tips on fruit deep in the middle of the thread. It's a couple batches away, so plenty of time to prepare between now and then at least.

So I used Mr. Beer for the first time. I'm still new to this hobby, but I had another bag of yeast sitting around (Safbrew t-58?). I'm assuming it was intended for a 5 gallon batch, since it came with a 5 gallon recipe kit.

Did I screw things up by adding the full bag to the Mr. Beer kit? or does that just mean it'll ferment really quick? God, I hope so. I'd hate to have wasted perfectly good yeast.

knob said:

So I used Mr. Beer for the first time. I'm still new to this hobby, but I had another bag of yeast sitting around (Safbrew t-58?). I'm assuming it was intended for a 5 gallon batch, since it came with a 5 gallon recipe kit.

Did I screw things up by adding the full bag to the Mr. Beer kit? or does that just mean it'll ferment really quick? God, I hope so. I'd hate to have wasted perfectly good yeast.

Click to expand...

Your beer will be fine! Techinicaly you over pitched, but you won't be able to tell it. I have also used a full packet of dry yeast on my MB batches. No worries.

knob said:

So I used Mr. Beer for the first time. I'm still new to this hobby, but I had another bag of yeast sitting around (Safbrew t-58?). I'm assuming it was intended for a 5 gallon batch, since it came with a 5 gallon recipe kit.

Did I screw things up by adding the full bag to the Mr. Beer kit? or does that just mean it'll ferment really quick? God, I hope so. I'd hate to have wasted perfectly good yeast.

Click to expand...

Like Thumper said, you'll be fine. I always buy better yeast for my Mr. Beer batches and just pitch the whole packet.

I just got my first Mr Beer and plan to brew this weekend, I read in alot of places though not to use the included booster and to use something else.

The question is...what's something else lol?

Thanks in advance!

-Eric

What I did (with great taste sucess) is to replace the booster pack with 1 pound of light DME and pitch a whole package of Nottingham yeast. Try it! You'll like it!

thegame310 said:

I just got my first Mr Beer and plan to brew this weekend, I read in alot of places though not to use the included booster and to use something else.

The question is...what's something else lol?

Thanks in advance!

-Eric

Click to expand...

A 1 lb bag of extra light dry malt extract is what I normally used, or 1.2 lbs of light liquid extract. Their deluxe recipes actually use 2 cans instead of 1 can + booster and that's the same thing. If you want to change the character of the beer somewhat you could also try amber or some other extract variety. One of the best Mr. Beer batches I made was the Oktoberfest Vienna Lager and 1 lb of Amber DME.

If you have a local homebrew supply store they'll have the extract.

So im already on my third Mr. beer brew and I just ordered a 5 gallon kit. I think I am officially addicted and I haven't even tasted my first beer yet.

JHendrix said:

So im already on my third Mr. beer brew and I just ordered a 5 gallon kit. I think I am officially addicted and I haven't even tasted my first beer yet.

Click to expand...

I just did the same. While waiting for my first Mr. Beer to finish brewing, I went and got a five gallon kit so I could give some cider a try. I figured, I had use for everything in the kit but the buckets anyway.

This will be my 3rd beer making attempt.

I'm making a Red Lymon Pilsner (attempting on the 2nd), a summer beer I hope.

I'm gonna: Use 7LBS Pilsner malt extract and steep some grains for 40 min prior to the boil.

My grain bag has 2LBS of a Pilsner 2L, 1LB of a Cara Red 20L and 1/10 of a pound of Chocolate (hopefully to impart a redish hue to the wort).

Peel and blend 3 limes (soaked in vodka for a week to kill off of any beasties) then add them in a hop bag to my boil for 60 minutes.

Hops with a 10+ AAU at 60, 30 and 5 minutes.

*My real question is can I (after soaking in the vodka) place in a secondary fermenting-vessel an infuser with the lime peels (julienned) and the lemon grass and get a predictable result?

*I am also gonna use a San Fran Pilsner Lager Yeast. What temp is best for fermenting? Will a normal 65 degrees be adequate?

*Also, where can I pick-up and/or download those posters that have the types of yeasts to use as well as one of those poster that has all the terminology, formulas, definitions and equations on it?

Thanks much.

[email protected]

-CR

doublehelix68,
This thread is a Mr. Beer thread. I imagine that none of us noobs using Mr. Beer can help with your question. I would recommend either moving the thread to the Beginner's Beer Brewing threads or to the General Beer discussion threads. You may get a response here out of luck, but better chance in one of those places. Sorry I can't help you more. Good luck and happy brewing.

My first Mr. Beer batch should be ready for bottling in a few more days: my next planned is one of their recipes: all-malt stout with some pellet hops, brown sugar, and flaked oatmeal, so it should have some more complexity than what came with the kit. I have an 11g pouch of dry Nottingham yeast: would that be a good fit for the style? And if I use that, should I use the whole pouch or just part?

Killer_Robot said:

My first Mr. Beer batch should be ready for bottling in a few more days: my next planned is one of their recipes: all-malt stout with some pellet hops, brown sugar, and flaked oatmeal, so it should have some more complexity than what came with the kit. I have an 11g pouch of dry Nottingham yeast: would that be a good fit for the style? And if I use that, should I use the whole pouch or just part?

Click to expand...

Nottingham is a fairly flavor neutral yeast, so it should work fine. Plus, it's tough as hell, and dirt cheap. Notty is one of my favorite yeasts all around.

Go ahead and pitch the whole thing. Honestly, it's almost impossible for a homebrewer to overpitch yeast to the point of off flavors. It's much easier to underpitch. Just toss it in there, it'll be fine.

doublehelix68 -

You posted...

*My real question is can I (after soaking in the vodka) place in a secondary fermenting-vessel an infuser with the lime peels (julienned) and the lemon grass and get a predictable result?

Click to expand...

I wouldn't use the whole peels of citrus fruit. Try zesting the peels instead. I'm thinking that the white pithy part is bitter.

Pogo

ifishsum said:

One of the best Mr. Beer batches I made was the Oktoberfest Vienna Lager and 1 lb of Amber DME.

Click to expand...

People (snobs, trying to make themselves feel superior) dog Mr. Beer, but I recently tried a friend's Octoberfest using Mr. Beer's HME, and I preferred it to Warsteiner's Octoberfest. While the Warsteiner is very smooth, the Mr. Beer was maltier and gave that wonderful aroma usually only found in Doppelbocks like Salvator. Warsteiner has been brewing since 1753, considerably longer than most Mr. Beer brewers.

I find Mr. Beer's fermentation kegs to be genius in their simplicity. I still use them for 1/2 size AG batches. Much easier to bottle from that spout than a siphon.

My advice to all Mr. Beer people is to slowly incorporate ingredients (from your local homebrew store, not the expensive Mr. Beer Website) until you are doing all-scratch extract recipes.

Then try partial-mash or all-grain at least once using Deathbrewer's stovetop method. You can still use your beloved little kegs.

Brewinator said:

My advice to all Mr. Beer people is to slowly incorporate ingredients (from your local homebrew store, not the expensive Mr. Beer Website) until you are doing all-scratch extract recipes.

Click to expand...

My first batch bottles tomorrow, which is exciting. I couldn't help myself, and poured a shot-glass worth, and by god, it tasted like beer. Not great beer, and certainly flat beer, but beer I made.

I've got two more recipes waiting in the wings. One is one of their two-can recipes, but I've got another that's an HME-plus-booster recipe, since that's how the two-for-one coupon I got worked. So I would like to start the whole process of gradually adding ingredients with that batch, since I know the thing people dog the Mr. Beer for the most is that blasted booster.

So. If I was looking to upgrade my experience, what should I be looking to do it with. A trip to a local home brew store is certainly something I would consider (got one just a few miles from me in Seven Corners, VA), but really I'm just looking for a way to upgrade my experience with their Whispering Wheat Weizenbier. I've seen suggestions of replacing some or all of the booster with honey, or with DME. Is there something that would work particularly well with a Weizenbier for someone still taking baby steps?

The best upgrades depends on the style. For wheat, see if your LHBS has any fruit extracts in the fridge (cranberry, strawberry, etc), and use 1-2 ounces of it at flameout. Forget Mr. Beer's actual fruit, those only work well with secondary's, IMO.

Booster is probably OK for American-style pale lagers, but other types will benefit from malt. The first logical upgrade for beers other than pale lagers is malt extract. I prefer liquid, others prefer dry. Dry is easier to measure, but I find it clumps and is more likely to boil over (never walk away from boiling wort, especially in the first 5 minutes). Use both and decide for yourself.

Hops are an obvious upgrade for pilsners (a particularly weak formulation by Mr. Beer, IMO), pale ales and IPAs. I think the lack of hops is the main reason some Mr. Beer recipes come out mediocre. WCPA is 14 IBUs? Sierra Nevada is 37. Pilsner is 18? The style guideline is 35-45, so you can assume Pilsner Urquell is somewhere in there.

Dry yeast would be a good choice too. Mr. Beer yeasts should be thrown into the wort at flameout as yeast food.

At some point, by an extract recipe book called Brewing Classic Styles and brew an all-scratch recipe (scaled down to 2.125 gallons, of course). It is written by two of the best-regarded homebrewers around.

thurdl01 said:

If I was looking to upgrade my experience, what should I be looking to do it with. A trip to a local home brew store is certainly something I would consider (got one just a few miles from me in Seven Corners, VA), but really I'm just looking for a way to upgrade my experience with their Whispering Wheat Weizenbier. I've seen suggestions of replacing some or all of the booster with honey, or with DME. Is there something that would work particularly well with a Weizenbier for someone still taking baby steps?

Click to expand...

Awesome. I was planning to go in this weekend and grab a bottling wand (and just to look around), I'll see if they've got a nice fruit extract.

thurdl01 said:

Awesome. I was planning to go in this weekend and grab a bottling wand (and just to look around), I'll see if they've got a nice fruit extract.

Click to expand...

Be careful, now. I went in for a siphon and hydrometer and came home with a new five gallon kit.

Well, right now I'm in a small apartment, so by joint decision of myself and my fiancee I'm limited to the amount of brewing supplies that'll fit in a small end table I emptied out. It basically fits a Mr. Beer and eight liter bottles with a little room left over for the in-waiting HME cans. So that'll keep me from going too crazy on buying stuff.

Though when I have a basement and/or spare bathroom in a few months, all bets are off.

Edit: However I am already thinking "hmmm...a hydrometer might make sense". So even if I don't end up buying a 5 gal. kit, I might still turn into a kid in a candy store.

I replaced the booster in the included WCPA with a pound of honey, and pitched new yeast (I used Lalvin K1-V1116). It's been in the barrel for 13 days now, and I'll be able to bottle on day 16. I plan to crack the first one open on May 21, which is three full weeks of carbonating and conditioning. I look forward to the tasting!

I don't have a Mr. Beer kit, and my 3-gallon carboy has Apfelwein in it, or I would try a Mr. Beer sized batch using a Premier Malt Extract kit (without the sugar booster) from the grocery store @ $5-$6.

One 2.2 lb. can, with 5 cups of sugar, makes a great 5-gallon batch!

I'm thinking that one can of this LME in a 2 1/2-gallon Mr. Beer keg, without adding any sugar, will probably make a great beer.

See the Premier Malt Extract thread in the Extract Forum.

I'll try this myself when my 3-gallon carboy frees up!

Pogo

thurdl01,
Welcome from another NoVa brewer. I currently am space limited as well and am doing Mr. Beer. I find I like the small batch size because I can do more batches and get more variety going to see what works and what I like. I highly recommend you substitute the 1 lb of Dry Malt Extract for the Booster. Another idea is to get recipes from the Mr. Beer site and then go to myLHBS at 7 Corners and ask Derek for some assistance. (He can be grouchy, so give him a few chances). Eventually he can be quite helpful. I also highly recommend a hydrometer. Because you are fermenting in a container that does not have an airlock, is dark to see through, and has a tap on it, you will be best to drain a sample out to test with your hydrometer. Then drink it, do not put it back in the keg.

Also, I recommend that you really work on temperature control. Everyone dogs Mr. Beer and the booster, when I bet the bigger (Like 75%) issue is fermentation temperature. Try to keep your keg at 65 deg ambient and you should be good.

I have made quite a few batches now and know you can make tasty beer with Mr. Beer. I even took 3 different samples to the NoVa HomeBrew Club meeting last week and shocked everyone with what I made for my first three batches.

Congrats, welcome to the addiction and this site full of great info.

webnmar said:

Everyone dogs Mr. Beer and the booster, when I bet the bigger (Like 75%) issue is fermentation temperature. Try to keep your keg at 65 deg ambient and you should be good.

Click to expand...

I agree with this...after I started making 5 gal batches, I made my last two Mr. Beer batches with the booster just to use up the ingredients. Both fermented at 65-66 and the cidery taste I had before had almost disappeared. At that point I became 100% convinced that fermentation temperature is Step One in the quest for better beer.

Best I can probably do is a 63-70 degree ambient range, since it's in my living room. But at least the end table it's in is out of the sunlight. I know temperature control is one thing I'll have to work better on, but probably also something that'll have to wait until I've got more space. Right now I'll be working on my method, so that when I have a space more conducive to brewing, I'll be able to take full advantage of it.

My husband got one for Christmas - actually got it for 10 bucks! I know this is blasphemy, but I don't care for beer myself ::ducking:: except for a lovely pear ale I got in Chico, CA on tap at a place called the Bear - and they didn't have it all the time and it's been about 5 years since I had it last. He's offered to make a batch for me if I can find a recipe for it (Bless his heart!). So far - no luck! Please help him convert me!! Recipe, anyone??

Agreed that 68 and below temps are key. It's one of Jamil's "secrets."

thurdl01, the Mr. Beer kegs are small enough to fit into a 10-gallon storage tub (although a cooler is best). Put blue ice or frozen plastic water bottles into the tub and put on the lid and you'll find you can even lager in the summer! Just keep those water bottles frozen and rotate them in, using however many you need for what temps you want. A couple of the .5L Arrowhead bottles keeps my temps around 66.

Also, pre-chill your keg top-off water overnight in the fridge (I used Arrowhead bottled water, but if you use tap, be sure to boil it first). That way, your ferment starts in the 60's before you even add the frozen water bottles.

JD

thurdl01 said:

Best I can probably do is a 63-70 degree ambient range, since it's in my living room. But at least the end table it's in is out of the sunlight. I know temperature control is one thing I'll have to work better on, but probably also something that'll have to wait until I've got more space. Right now I'll be working on my method, so that when I have a space more conducive to brewing, I'll be able to take full advantage of it.

Click to expand...

Ahleevee8,

Mr Beer also makes cider, which most girls who don't like beer like. I made a pear cider once, which was good. Consider flavored beers (using fruit extracts) with some steeped crystal malt for sweetness. Your local homebrew store should have both. Just do a regular Whispering Wheat and add 2 oz or so of your favorite fruit flavor at flameout.

There is a beer out there for you.

Ahleevee8 said:

My husband got one for Christmas - actually got it for 10 bucks! I know this is blasphemy, but I don't care for beer myself ::ducking:: except for a lovely pear ale I got in Chico, CA on tap at a place called the Bear - and they didn't have it all the time and it's been about 5 years since I had it last. He's offered to make a batch for me if I can find a recipe for it (Bless his heart!). So far - no luck! Please help him convert me!! Recipe, anyone??

Click to expand...