Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

Just rinsing with one step won't do much, if that's all you're using you definitely want more contact time. I fill a bucket enough to cover the bottles and soak a bunch at a time, drain them and let them drip in the dishwasher (stand them neck down on the racks) for a little bit before bottling. I've had best results with that technique, aside from using Iodophor, which kills everything.

Flogamocker said:

My last two batches (Cowgirl Honey Light and Bohemian Bronze) have both had a sour, citrusy taste on the finish that made it difficult to enjoy. The only new thing I'd tried with these two is the Avinatore bottle rinser. I'm wondering if the bottles are being properly sanitized - I'm using the packet that comes in the MB kits. Does the sanitizer need to remain in contact with the bottle longer than the few splashes provided by the rinser?

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Which yeast did you use? Were these the older cans (pre-Cooper's)? If so, the yeast would be getting pretty old by now and may have been slow to kick off? Regarding your sanitizing question, yes, you need longer contact time for the no rinse sanitizer to be effective. The Avinatore is a great little device for winemakers who use sulfur dioxide for sanitizing, but that is because the wine sanitizer is SO2 gas which remains on the bottles even after the liquid is gone. Not a great sanitizer for beer, unfortunately. I'd fill your beer bottles with the no-rinse sanitizer and let them set for 5 mins or so, then pour the contents into the next bottle. Hope this helps.

Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX
www.defalcos.com

Brewologist said:

Just rinsing with one step won't do much, if that's all you're using you definitely want more contact time. I fill a bucket enough to cover the bottles and soak a bunch at a time, drain them and let them drip in the dishwasher (stand them neck down on the racks) for a little bit before bottling. I've had best results with that technique, aside from using Iodophor, which kills everything.

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Excellent. Thanks so much. I really like the convenience of the bottle rinser, so I might check with my local supplier and see if he provide me with some better sanitizer. Do you recommend Lodophor?

Flogamocker said:

Excellent. Thanks so much. I really like the convenience of the bottle rinser, so I might check with my local supplier and see if he provide me with some better sanitizer. Do you recommend Lodophor?

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I like star San. I've never used iodophor, but people who use it seem to have good results with it. Star San foams a lot, but don't fear the foam. I think iodophor can stain things.

defalcos said:

Which yeast did you use? Were these the older cans (pre-Cooper's)? If so, the yeast would be getting pretty old by now and may have been slow to kick off? Regarding your sanitizing question, yes, you need longer contact time for the no rinse sanitizer to be effective. The Avinatore is a great little device for winemakers who use sulfur dioxide for sanitizing, but that is because the wine sanitizer is SO2 gas which remains on the bottles even after the liquid is gone. Not a great sanitizer for beer, unfortunately. I'd fill your beer bottles with the no-rinse sanitizer and let them set for 5 mins or so, then pour the contents into the next bottle. Hope this helps.

Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX
www.defalcos.com

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Thanks for the info. Great insight on the Avinatore. I feel like this is the source of my problems . . .

Flogamocker said:

Thanks for the info. Great insight on the Avinatore. I feel like this is the source of my problems . . .

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If the beer tasted good when you bottled it, but then went south in the bottles, you just might be right that poor sanitation at bottling was the problem. If the beer smelled &/or tasted bad at this stage (I taste the beer at every step), then it wasn't the bottles that let you down, it was probably the yeast. As for sanitation, Iodophor is excellent and I've never really had staining issues as you dilute it to 1 capfull to 2 1/2 gallons of water. In it undiluted form, it can stain. I've used Star San a lot, too. It foams like a sonofagun, which is why breweries like it so much. It gets into nooks and crannies that other sanitizers can't if you are not completely filling the vessel. Fortunately, for homebrewers, filling our vessels is not cost prohibitive as they are so small. Bewarned - Star San is murder on acrylic - things like racking canes and bottle fillers. Both of these products are excellent sanitizers, but are not good cleaners. I use different products for cleaning and sanitizing. Hope this helps.

Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX
www.defalcos.com

I'm becoming a little disenchanted with MrBeer. I started brewing in January, and like others, became obsessed. So I bought another "Little Brown Keg" fermenter. The first one quickly dented, and got infected. I replaced it. Now one warped while soaking with warm water (not too hot to put my hand in). So I've owned three, and two lasted less than six months. I'm not crazy about their HMEs either. I still think it's a great business concept, and an easy way to get started, but I may be over them.

JohnSand said:

I'm becoming a little disenchanted with MrBeer. I started brewing in January, and like others, became obsessed. So I bought another "Little Brown Keg" fermenter. The first one quickly dented, and got infected. I replaced it. Now one warped while soaking with warm water (not too hot to put my hand in). So I've owned three, and two lasted less than six months. I'm not crazy about their HMEs either. I still think it's a great business concept, and an easy way to get started, but I may be over them.

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It sounds like Mr. Beer has served its purpose: you've learned how to make beer at a very basic level and you've developed a passion to learn more. Now might be a good time to go to a more traditional set-up. If you still want to brew 2 - 2 1/2 gallon batches, you could opt for a glass or PET plastic 3 gallon carboy as a single fermenter. If you think you're ready to yield more beer for your time & effort, you might consider going with the standard double pail single stage set-up or the pail & carboy double stage system. Any local homebrew shop can set you up, if you think you're ready to move up in size and get more involved with the recipes. Hope this helps.

Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX
www.defalcos.com

defalcos said:

It sounds like Mr. Beer has served its purpose: you've learned how to make beer at a very basic level and you've developed a passion to learn more. Now might be a good time to go to a more traditional set-up. If you still want to brew 2 - 2 1/2 gallon batches, you could opt for a glass or PET plastic 3 gallon carboy as a single fermenter. If you think you're ready to yield more beer for your time & effort, you might consider going with the standard double pail single stage set-up or the pail & carboy double stage system. Any local homebrew shop can set you up, if you think you're ready to move up in size and get more involved with the recipes. Hope this helps.

Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX
www.defalcos.com

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Thanks Scott,
I've fermented a few batches in a 12qt enamel pot, and I bought a stainless one. I still like the flexibility of small batches, I brew every week. Easy to bottle when it's only one case. I've got three grain batches in bottles conditioning now, one extract batch fermenting, and three more extract cases conditioning.
-John

Need advice on first lager brew. Using Saflager 23 yeast and have keg in cooler with frozen water bottles. What are the necessary steps to brew a lager correctly? Do i ferment at 55ish for 2 weeks then bring up temp to mid 60s for a week to finish fermenting then bottle? Also for bottle conditioning should i carb at room temp for 3 to 4 weeks then put in fridge for couple of weeks to finish?

SulBruin3 said:

Need advice on first lager brew. Using Saflager 23 yeast and have keg in cooler with frozen water bottles. What are the necessary steps to brew a lager correctly? Do i ferment at 55ish for 2 weeks then bring up temp to mid 60s for a week to finish fermenting then bottle? Also for bottle conditioning should i carb at room temp for 3 to 4 weeks then put in fridge for couple of weeks to finish?

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Two weeks at 55°F + 3 - 5 days in the mid 60's should do fine. I would crash cool to 32° after that. Storage time in the fridge should be determined by the strength of the beer. As a rule of thumb, give it about a week for every 10 points of original gravity. i.e. 1.040 = 4 weeks, 1.060 = 6 weeks. Then bottle. You might want to save a bit of the yeast for bottling. Add some yeast with the sugar and bring it up to 55°F for a couple of weeks to ferment out and carbonate. After it is carbonated, you should bring it back down to 32°. It will not carbonate well at all at 32°F. Hope this helps.

Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX
www.defalcos.com

Thanks. Just a follow up. When carbing how much yeast should i add? Also, I used the full packet to brew this batch but I have extra Mr. Beer yeast. Could i use MB yeast to carb at room temp or do i need to use Saflager 23 to carb at 55?

SulBruin3 said:

Thanks. Just a follow up. When carbing how much yeast should i add? Also, I used the full packet to brew this batch but I have extra Mr. Beer yeast. Could i use MB yeast to carb at room temp or do i need to use Saflager 23 to carb at 55?

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You could use the Cooper's Yeast and condition at a reasonable room temperature for a week or ten days. I might argue that you might lose some of the "lager benefits" of conditioning at these warmer temperatures, but it might not make that much difference, especially if you refrigerate the beer after it carbonates. As to how much yeast, it will depend upon whether you are bulk priming the entire batch or just priming every bottle individually. If you are bulk priming, rehydrate the the whole packet of yeast in a 1/4 body temperature water for 10 minutes then mix into the fermented beer and priming sugar syrup. If bottling on a per bottle basis, just try to apportion the contents of the yeast evenly into each bottle. In 7 - 10 days they should hopefully be fully carbonated.

Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX
www.defalcos.com

Why did my first batch turn sour?

dvcraw said:

Why did my first batch turn sour?

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Several questions:
1) This was the "new" Cooper's can, right? Not the older New Zealand West Coast Pale Ale?
2) How long did you leave the wort in the fermenter?
3) Temperature of the room?

Regardless, you should flush the Little Brown Keg thoroughly with warm water, open up the faucet for a few seconds, rinse the lid, etc. Next pour 3 oz. of household unscented bleach into the LBK and top off to the brim with water. Again, run some of sanitizer through the faucet. Let stand for an hour or two, drain, and rinse with hot tap water. You'll still want to re-sanitize before your next batch. You don't want the "micro-critters" that spoiled your first batch to spoil the second. Hope this helps.

Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX
www.defalcos.com

Brewed last Saturday, made a pumpkin Oktoberfest lager, a clover honey IPA, and a blackberry cocoa stout. Right now im thinkin of letting them go for 3 weeks I the fermenters, and 4 weeks in the bottles before fridging for at least five weeks.

If I were to let them go 4 weeks in the fermenters, is it too much? I added extra dme in all of them and I really don't mind waiting if I have a fantastic end result.

Longer time won't hurt. But you can either take hydrometer readings, or just watch for when the beer clears. Hydrometer is better, of course. But generally with MrB, around three weeks and clear is fine. Some people have mistakenly left beer in fermenters for months, and it still works out, so four weeks won't hurt.

Well, this past Sunday was the end of my 3 week fermentation period. Took samples of both the stout and the light. And they tasted like they are supposed to, if not better than I expected. So I gathered up all of my supplies and bottled using brown 12 oz'ers that I stripped and sanitized. Now I continue to wait, and brew some more.

JohnSand said:

Longer time won't hurt. But you can either take hydrometer readings, or just watch for when the beer clears. Hydrometer is better, of course. But generally with MrB, around three weeks and clear is fine. Some people have mistakenly left beer in fermenters for months, and it still works out, so four weeks won't hurt.

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Thanks. I didn't think it was too long, but I have been adding more and more flavors and dme to recipes so I figure I'd like to go as long as possible to get best results.

Currently just brewing and bottling to fill up garage fridge for college football season and then im going to just continue having six fermenters rolling three at a time to stay stocked.

Touchdown.

Weird question:

So my first batch (Cowboy Lager + American Blonde kits combined) has been brewed for a couple months now. I've had 4 of the 8 1L bottles, and the other 4 are just sitting in my cellar/closet.

It's an incredibly mediocre, boring beer. Here's my question: what would happen if I opened the remaining bottles, put them back in my LBK (or 1 gal jug with airlock), and added some fruit or hops? I know it's just a gallon and probably not worth the trouble, but I don't have anything better to do right now.

Try it and see? I had an American light HME can and I added some peaches that I boiled and blended up. Airlock (I put it in a bucket I have, not an LBK) started bubbling alot, an hour after I added them. It is bottled now, week or two more and I will try it, see how it is.

If I was only brewing MrB I maybe wouldnt experiment, but I'm doing all grain now and so there isn't much to lose with a can of HME

That's my thought. I don't have much to lose by doing it, as I've since brewed a couple good AG batches.

Doob said:

Thanks. I didn't think it was too long, but I have been adding more and more flavors and dme to recipes so I figure I'd like to go as long as possible to get best results.

Currently just brewing and bottling to fill up garage fridge for college football season and then im going to just continue having six fermenters rolling three at a time to stay stocked.

Touchdown.

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Increasing time in the fermenter can help, up to a point. Most batches should be done in two weeks, and it's rare to need more than three weeks. With the passive airlock design of the LBK, at a certain point, you run the risk that the layer of co2 on top of the new dissipates and there is an increased risk of infection and/or oxidation.

jkn09 said:

Weird question:

So my first batch (Cowboy Lager + American Blonde kits combined) has been brewed for a couple months now. I've had 4 of the 8 1L bottles, and the other 4 are just sitting in my cellar/closet.

It's an incredibly mediocre, boring beer. Here's my question: what would happen if I opened the remaining bottles, put them back in my LBK (or 1 gal jug with airlock), and added some fruit or hops? I know it's just a gallon and probably not worth the trouble, but I don't have anything better to do right now.

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I wouldn't do it if I were you. It has finished fermenting, so there nothing to gain. It won't do anything in the LBK that it won't do in the bottles. In addition, it will be almost impossible to transfer the beer without aerating it, and you increase your chances of infection, as well. So there really no upside and plenty of options for downside.

jkn09 said:

Weird question:

So my first batch (Cowboy Lager + American Blonde kits combined) has been brewed for a couple months now. I've had 4 of the 8 1L bottles, and the other 4 are just sitting in my cellar/closet.

It's an incredibly mediocre, boring beer. Here's my question: what would happen if I opened the remaining bottles, put them back in my LBK (or 1 gal jug with airlock), and added some fruit or hops? I know it's just a gallon and probably not worth the trouble, but I don't have anything better to do right now.

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It's probably not worth the effort for a gallon. One thing to keep in mind is that Cowboy Lager & American Blonde are both the "old" New Zealand canned malts, so they're beginning to get a little long in the tooth (it's been a year and a half now since Mr. Beer was sold to Cooper's out of Australia). Your best bet is to let them age a bit. If the flavor doesn't reach the level that you hoped for, you might consider blending them with some more aggressive commercial beers. Perhaps a beer that is more bitter than you really like. . . and the resulting flavor from the blend could be more what you had in mind. Hope this helps.

Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX
www.defalcos.com

So I started into the homebrewing with cider and a 1 gallon glass jug. That went well for awhile, then the wife got tired of seeing it around the house. Then we cleaned house when we got a bigger storage unit. We finally had room for some more, experiments...

Birthday hits on Jul 28th, well wife bought me the Mr. Beer Bremasters Select kit with 3x All-Malt craft brews. Those being the Bewitched Amber, Northwest Pale Ale, and Diablo IPA. Ironic thing is the stupid thing was expensive enough to have bought a 5g kit, but I'm ok with the 2g kit at the moment, since it fits nicely in the dark under the bar. Still thinking about getting another fermenter though

Bad thing is, house stays at 75 in the day, 70 at night, and since we are still living with the in-laws not controllable by me, so hoping during the day no off flavors are produced.

I started with the Bewitched Amber as I'm not familiar with Pale Ale and not a fan of the hoppiness of IPA's. Question is for a guy on a budget what are some cheap ways to maybe modify the Pale Ale and IPA to make them more malty and less bitter? I was possibly going to use just the Pale Ale by itself and see if it was something I liked, but the IPA for sure is far more bitter than I usually enjoy, and wanted to try to balance it out.

Many thanks for all of you over the past 6+ years who have contributed to this thread, I just got finished reading EVERY page! Lots of good info, including the 2-2-2- rule (i know some of you do the 3-2-2 rule, I simply do not have the patience) (side note - the "craft" all-malt kits should be good to bottle at 2 weeks yes?) I plan on a minimum of 3 weeks in the bottles themselves + however long I can stand with them in the fridge. I drink enough that I will have 8l gone before the next batch is done so looking forward to doing 5g batches.

Once we move out, looking forward to using a true 5g brew kit, and using the LBK as a cider fermenter.

skitter said:

. . . I started with the Bewitched Amber as I'm not familiar with Pale Ale and not a fan of the hoppiness of IPA's. Question is for a guy on a budget what are some cheap ways to maybe modify the Pale Ale and IPA to make them more malty and less bitter? I was possibly going to use just the Pale Ale by itself and see if it was something I liked, but the IPA for sure is far more bitter than I usually enjoy, and wanted to try to balance it out.

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Of course, it is impossible to "remove hops" from a pre-hopped malt extract. Historically, this has not been a problem as most malt extract manufacturers tend to under-hop their malts (I'm guessing the logic is that you can always add more. . .). What you can do is add some unhopped amber malt extract to the hopped cans. While this won't lower the IBU levels, it will tilt the balance toward the malty end. I'd use 1/2 - 1 lb. of either DME or LME to each can. Of course, this will make the beer fuller-bodied and stronger in alcohol. For most folks, that's not an issue, but if it's not something you want, you could always add a couple of ounces of boiled cooled water to each bottle at bottling time. This will lighten the body back up and reduce the kick. A bonus is that you'll get more bottles this way, too. Just a thought. . .

Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX
www.defalcos.com

Thanks for the input, and as your in Houston as well, I plan on heading down your way some time, I'm up in Spring area though so a bit of a drive!

I may be there soon to browse through what you have, buy some more kits, and see what I can do to customize my beer

skitter said:

Thanks for the input, and as your in Houston as well, I plan on heading down your way some time, I'm up in Spring area though so a bit of a drive!

I may be there soon to browse through what you have, buy some more kits, and see what I can do to customize my beer

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By all means, come on down! We've got 7,000 square feet of goodies (including Mr. Beer Refills!) and a knowledgeable crew to help you out!

Happy Fermenting!
Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX
www.defalcos.com

Good to know, the more local HB shop doesn't have the Mr Beer kits, and while I would gladly use another brand, going to stay with what I'm comfortable with at the moment, but not worth paying shipping for

Random question... If I wanted to make more of an Amber with the IPA, while of course as you stated I cannot lower the Hop count, would I be using a light DME since I only want to increase the color by a small margin, or would I go full blown with what color I want, that being of the DME - Amber variety?

If you want something amber, you'll probably want to go with something a little darker than what you want. The IPA is probably light in color, so you'd have to mix something darker than what you want to get the color you want.

One thing you can do is download Qbrew or Brewmate and play around with them a bit. There is a database for Qbrew with Mr Beer refills in it at Screwy Brewer's website (and the executable is available there, also). You can use that to get a feel for how the additions you make will affect the final product. One thing to note is that Qbrew doesn't really calculate the IBUs correctly when you add unhopped extract to the hopped extract. It assumes you're using all the malt in a boil, and adjusts the IBUs downward as a result (some malt is needed for proper bitterness extraction, but after a certain point, too much means you get less bitterness). As defalcos pointed out, the IBUs are set in the can, but the relative (or perceived) bitterness is offset by the additional maltiness. Also, if you find a beer too bitter at first, you can let it age. IBUs drop over time (there's a formula for it, but I don't have the link handy at the moment).

One thing that you mentioned that hasn't been addressed is the effect of higher temperatures on your beer. I prefer to brew in cooler temperatures than the 75 your place will be during the day. Since fermentation is exothermic, your fermentation temperatures will likely be even higher.

There are some things you can do to ameliorate this. In Texas, you probably don't have a basement (my basement is significantly cooler than the level where my thermostat sits).

If it's fairly arid (or if the AC removes humidity), you can use a swamp cooler. Put the LBK in an aluminum roaster (the dollar store may have some) with a little water in it, drape a towel over the LBK so the ends are dipped in the water. The water will wick up the towel and evaporate, causing the temperature of the LBK to drop.

Another option is to stick some bottles filled about 2/3 with water in the freezer. Once they freeze solid, rotate them in the cooler, swapping out as they thaw. You'll get a feel for how many are needed to keep the temperature where you need it.

Thanks! So the following is what I gathered from your post BP:

1) Get the temp down (this is hitting day 5 of fermenting so is it too late?)

2) Add the Amber DME to the IPA to see if that will help balance it out more.

I take it that if I did that, the IPA would need at least the 3 weeks not 2 in the fermenter, and need closer to 1 month of conditioning if I understood what I read through the rest of this forum about fuller bodied and higher gravity beers?

Thanks!

skitter said:

Thanks! So the following is what I gathered from your post BP:

1) Get the temp down (this is hitting day 5 of fermenting so is it too late?)

2) Add the Amber DME to the IPA to see if that will help balance it out more.

I take it that if I did that, the IPA would need at least the 3 weeks not 2 in the fermenter, and need closer to 1 month of conditioning if I understood what I read through the rest of this forum about fuller bodied and higher gravity beers?

Thanks!

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No one has mentioned making a bigger batch where you dilute the bitterness. Add more LME to bring the malt and abc back up. Make sense?

Makes sense, but I have but 1 LBK

Does Anybody have issues using the 1L bottles when it comes to pouring multiple glasses from the same bottle? I would think the yeast would get pretty stirred up no matter how careful you were if the level kept going back and forth

skitter said:

Does Anybody have issues using the 1L bottles when it comes to pouring multiple glasses from the same bottle? I would think the yeast would get pretty stirred up no matter how careful you were if the level kept going back and forth

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I just move it from one glass to the next without tipping it back up. A little messy but it works. Any other ideas?

use a pitcher

skitter said:

Thanks! So the following is what I gathered from your post BP:

1) Get the temp down (this is hitting day 5 of fermenting so is it too late?)

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The first few days are when the yeast do most of the work, and are the most crucial for yeast influenced flavors. So most of the "damage" has been done. Some beers are intentionally brewed warmer, so you may like the result. You're most likely to get esters (often fruity flavors, sometimes bubble gum, etc). Unfortunately, if it got hot enough, you could get fusel alcohols. These can give your beer a hot "alcoholy" taste and can also produce worse hangovers. Given enough time, fusel alcohol will usually fade.

I like a beer that ferments more cleanly (more of the flavor from the malt and hops rather than from the yeast), but there are a number of beers that get a big contribution from the yeast.

2) Add the Amber DME to the IPA to see if that will help balance it out more.

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The DME will add ABV and body. Since some of the sugars in DME are not fermentable, so there will be some sweetness to offset the hop bitterness. The amber will also darken it a bit.

I take it that if I did that, the IPA would need at least the 3 weeks not 2 in the fermenter, and need closer to 1 month of conditioning if I understood what I read through the rest of this forum about fuller bodied and higher gravity beers?

Thanks!

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You'll want to aerate the wort really well to give the yeast enough oxygen to synthesize unsaturated fatty acids and sterols, but in my experience, if you pitch enough yeast and aerate properly, most beers only need two weeks in the fermenter. It won't hurt to give it three weeks, but it may not be necessary, especially if your fermentation temperatures are close to 70.

azmark said:

use a pitcher

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Great idea. Two 1L bottles in a pitcher and then you don't have to explain to everyone how to pour it.