Buying too much at once?

Hello,
I'm a complete newbie on brewing but am excited to get started. I have read about everything I can on the process and am going to be starting with a Mr. Beer kit, then possibly move to something more advanced if I find a niche with it. I will likely just stick to their "refill" beers, but will also like to venture out one day.

My question is this: Amazon is having a pretty good sale right now, by 3 get 1 free. I've already planned on getting 1 or 2 additional refills that are not included in the starter kit, and am contemplating buying a third just because I would then get a fourth for free. Is it safe to buy the refills this far in advance? I will only have 1 kit, meaning every 4-5 weeks I will bottling a new brew. I'm concerned with 2 things: 1.) Is it safe? and 2.) Will I notice poor quality as I get to the last refill that I brew?

One of the 3 that I will be buying is actually a 3 pack, so in all I would be looking at getting 7 different beers, which includes the one in the starter pack. With just me and my wife, it would take a awhile to drink it, but we would easily drink a case every 4 weeks (or I would store it away, since I've read it will keep for as long as I need it in a cool, dark place). Thoughts?

I don't think there should be a problem with buying a few different recipes at one time. My wife bought me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas last year, after I brewed the 2 that it came with it, she asked me if I was really into it. I told her that I was and she went nuts on the Mr Beer website...I think she ordered about 10 more refills at one time. It took me a better part of a year to finally use them all. I didn't notice any spoilage at all with any of the batches. They all came out ok.

toast said:

I don't think there should be a problem with buying a few different recipes at one time. My wife bought me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas last year, after I brewed the 2 that it came with it, she asked me if I was really into it. I told her that I was and she went nuts on the Mr Beer website...I think she ordered about 10 more refills at one time. It took me a better part of a year to finally use them all. I didn't notice any spoilage at all with any of the batches. They all came out ok.

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Awesome! Are you still using the Mr. Beer? I have feeling it won't take me long to upgrade, however the simplicity factor is nice (refill packs). But I know they likely aren't as good as recipes with better equipment.

No, I've eventually moved on from Mr Beer. It was an excellent starting/learning platform though. You can brew beer the easiest way possible with it. I learned the basics of homebrewing with it, but eventually moved on to a 5 gallon kit, did a few partial mashes and then moved on to all-grain brewing.

I've never used the Mr. Beer, but since the ingredients are canned, I would think you'd be OK buying several at once. Or....If you want to brew more frequently, you're not limited to your Mr Beer fermentor. I've gotten a bunch of 5 gallon buckets free at the bakery depatments in grocery stores like Sams or Wal mart. Clean up good with dish soap and hot water. You don't really even need the lids. Just rubber band a piece of plastic over the top. Something like a new clean kitchen can liner would work. 5 gall bucket is great for small batches (2-3 gallons)

As a nice aside, Basic Brewing video, CURRENTLY (today Jan7) had a Mr Beer video where the guys took a kit and did their modification of it. Check it out HERE

I've never done Mr. Beer, but it seems very expensive.

My recommendation would be to skip it altogether and go for a basic starter kit for 5 gallons and get a couple of kits.

I think the kits are also expensive, but it gets you started, and you get the right equipment to move on. Once you get serious about brewing, you are never going to use that Mr. Beer barrel again.

Calder said:

I've never done Mr. Beer, but it seems very expensive.

My recommendation would be to skip it altogether and go for a basic starter kit for 5 gallons and get a couple of kits.

I think the kits are also expensive, but it gets you started, and you get the right equipment to move on. Once you get serious about brewing, you are never going to use that Mr. Beer barrel again.

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I said that too, I was almost going to give my fermenter away...but then I thought that since I want to come up with a few of my own recipes, they could be used for small experimental batches. My Mr. Beer fermenter just might see some action again.

Looks like there are multiple recipes on the mr. beer site that call for more than one of the hopped malt extract "refills". Check them out here: Mr.Beer - beer kits, home brewing systems, and microbrewery supplies - Strong Recipes

Perhaps you can get a couple of the 7 to match up with a recipe?

toast said:

I said that too, I was almost going to give my fermenter away...but then I thought that since I want to come up with a few of my own recipes, they could be used for small experimental batches. My Mr. Beer fermenter just might see some action again.

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Awww come on. No guts, no glory! Just do a big batch of the experimental beer. Surely you can sucker somebody into drinking it.

Seriously, I have done a few half size experimental batches too but without the Mr. Beer fermenter I just put them into my 6 1/2 gallon fermenter. Once the yeast start producing CO2, the beer is protected from oxygen exposure anyway.

The more I've thought about it, the more I will likely stay away from Mr. Beer. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting a true beginners kit and starting with some beer "kits" to make specific types of beer - will then graduate and purchase actual hops, malts, etc.

Here is a definite newb question. The beginners kits (like this one: Welcome to Bull City Homebrew) comes with a 6.5 gallon fermenter and 6.5 gallon bucket with spigot - do I really need both unless I am doing a secondary fermentation? I figured everything would just go into the spigot bucket and then bottle straight from there. I'm not even quite sure (yet) how to do the transfer. I suppose it would be nice to speed up the in-between-beers process by transferring the batch and starting a new one.

toast said:

I said that too, I was almost going to give my fermenter away...but then I thought that since I want to come up with a few of my own recipes, they could be used for small experimental batches. My Mr. Beer fermenter just might see some action again.

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For small batches I use glass gallon jugs, or 2.5 gallon HDPE hedpaks that I buy bulk LME in (modified to take an airlock).