Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

beerocd said:

The first one I kept cuz it sounds funny.

Step 1 - is WAY false. Do a search on autolysis on the site. I've gone 2 months - no problems. Not on purpose - just life gets in the way sometimes.

Step 2 & 3 - good tips.


-OCD

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As a 21 batch Mr. Beer brewer, I agree very strognly with this. I ferment for 4 weeks, Bottle condition for 4 weeks to 6 months, let them chill for at least 1 week before drinking.

I know waiting is hard, but that is why I have a pipeline going.

As for other keys, your fermentation temp will be too warm in the mid to high 70's. Try a few things to cool your little cabinet if possible. Install a CPU fan to move the air, make a small swamp cooler, insulate the cabinet with foam, etc. Getting the temps down to 65-68 will be a great improvement.

Time is your friend. Others have said here that 2 or 3 weeks doesn't matter because of diminishing returns ..... This is definitely UNTRUE for Mr. Beer. Time continues to improve it for 6-8 weeks on the ales like WCPA, and much longer on some of there advanced recipes. I have been tasting at week and monthly intervals and keeping a log and can definitely prove without a doubt, MORE TIME IS BETTER.

Listen to Revvy that carbonation takes at least 3 weeks at 70deg. This is separate from conditioning in my mind. If you wait longer, you will be rewwarded. I believe 6 weeks is a minimum now gievn my experience.

I guess another way to put this is ...

Since size does matter, longer is better!!!!

Of course, more than a year is questionable. I know I can't wait that long.

It's kind of like the disclaimer with the little blue pill, if you experience the effect for longer than 4 hours, then seek medical attention,
so I guess you can wait too long!!

Thanks webnmar. Yes the temps did get too high... no worries, just won't be the best it could be. That cabinet was a temporary solution to a space problem. After the 'future mother in law' leaves... I'll be able to set up an ice water tub in the guest room. I also have a dorm fridge up there... maybe I'll start on some lagers.

I also noticed you are close to my current neck 'o' the woods... I'm in C'ville, a couple hours down 29.

jollytim said:

Thanks webnmar. Yes the temps did get too high... no worries, just won't be the best it could be. That cabinet was a temporary solution to a space problem. After the 'future mother in law' leaves... I'll be able to set up an ice water tub in the guest room. I also have a dorm fridge up there... maybe I'll start on some lagers.

I also noticed you are close to my current neck 'o' the woods... I'm in C'ville, a couple hours down 29.

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I just finished making the "Son of Fermentation Chiller" to control my temps better. I actually made it as a topper to a current wheeled cooler I have. This way I can move it in and out of my cubby space. This might work as well.

Can you put a new temp controller on the dorm fridge?

If C'ville is Centerville, then your only 30 minutes down 28/29. if its Charlottesville, well then it is a couple of hours. HeHe

I made a Mr. Beer recipe called Millenium Ale, I highly recommend it!! It was great in just 1 week, and has been getting better week by week.

Yeah, I'm planning on building a temp controller... I saw a thread around here somewhere... it's in my bookmarks.

I'll check into the Millennium Ale, I trying to go more towards what I can get at the LHBS instead of the MB site. If for no other reason than, I can get it faster (maybe cheaper considering shipping).

And the C'ville I referred to was the latter...

Been awhile since I've posted. Still Mr Beer brewing, but we're house hunting, which means soon I should have a basement to brew in and can upgrade to big boy equipment. First two batches are now just happy memories, the west coast pale ale that kept getting better and better as we went, and the pleasant Cherry Wheat that we just finished up the last bottle of.

Currently hanging out in bottles, waiting to get old enough, is a boysenberry stout. It's not something that I saw anywhere on their site, just something that I decided to throw together as I like both boysenberries and stout. It gave the bottling wand fits as the seeds got stuck, but I drew off a shot glass worth to give it a try, and it had both an aroma and aftertaste I could only describe as "mmmm, pie!" I'm being as patient as I can, especially because a wort spill meant one less bottle than usual. Probably start cold conditioning next weekend.

Sitting in the keg: pumpkin porter, bottling this weekend. Just in time to drink a vastly under aged bottle for Halloween, then letting it age more properly for Thanksgiving.

I've got IPA hanging out, waiting to go next. I might break my streak of three straight fruit beers, cause I just don't know what to put into an IPA.

So, have you guys ever had autolysis? If so how long does it take to be apparent? Or is autolysis something you have to let it sit on trub for a year?

I had one bottle with a bad seal and on trub for 6 months. Tasted better than the first one I opened.

Don't let my lack of posts fool ya. I've been around awhile. While what you said about 2 weeks vs 3 weeks may be true, especially considering my higher fermentation temp, autolysis will not occur for many months. Far longer than it will be in my fermenter. That being said, there is some truth to the fact that in this case bottling sooner and conditioning longer may be the way to go. Still 3 weeks isn't that much of a sacrifice, as I've got other beer to drink in the interim. I can wait.

johnmcc said:

Actually I prefer fruit beer, I've brewed Cherry Wheat, Raspberry Wheat (twice), Purple Daze, Spiced Lemon Wheat (favorite so far).. Just PUREE the heck out of the fruit and dn't forget to sanitize your blender. All batches were fermented 2 weeks.

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Mr Beer's directions are somtimes terrible.


Pour in the can of Fruit puree.... But wait.. they sent solid fruit. did they goof on the directions and mean Fruit from the can, or did they leave out a step saying to puree the fruit..

Or poor in the cooked puree, but the pumpkin puree never says cooked or not, can't find out online if it is cooked or not. Nor does Mr. Beer say how to cook it and how long.

This is my only gripe with Mr. Beers directions. Forgetting steps or valuable information.

A good scoop of hot wort and the fruit in a blender gets you good aeration and more useable fruit if you're adding it to primary. Pureed pumpkin - is cooked. Forget Mr.Beer instructions - use this site. If you're not doing secondary - adding fruit after the ferment dies down will probably get you more fruit flavor if that's what you're after.

-OCD

PseudoChef said:

I got started with Mr. Beer, but moved to all-grain brewing within 6 months.

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I brew AG with my Mr. Beer. It's perfect for smaller batches and doing lots of experiments. Done the Mr. Beer kits, other extracts, partials, and completely All Grain.

It's just a smaller scale AND you get to have more variety sitting in your fridge.

I was in K Mart last night getting packing tape and one of the end caps were loaded with Mr. Beer Kits. Ok so K mart might not suck after all since it was taken over by Sears

I've been a Mr. Beer guy for the past 9 months, but I just brewed my first 5 gallon batch. Wow, quite a bit more work than the Mr. Beer kit. It makes me glad I started there, and I'm also impressed they figured out how to design the kit so making beer is so easy.

However, I gotta say, the ingredients in my 5 gallon extract kit looked quite tasty and I can't wait to see the results. (Well, I guess I have to wait - several weeks, in fact.)

I'll probably keep playing with my Mr. Beer kit, though. Besides, I still have 3 more kits, and it'll be good for experimentations on smaller batches.

I am about to brew my 2nd batch of beer with Mr.Beer, but I'd rather not use the eight 1 liter bottles that came with the kit--I want to use smaller bottles, because sometimes I want just a single beer, not a whole liter Should I collect normal brown beer bottles, and purchase new caps and a tool to apply the caps? Or should I buy the 16oz glass swingtop bottles from the Mr.Beer site? thanks!!

I have about 200 crown top brown 12-oz bottles, and about 100 swing tops. I find I use the swing tops more often. It is easier, but you need to pay attention to the seals. Make sure you purchase some spare wire clips and replacement gaskets. No sense using the easy route and losing a beer because you have a bad cage or gasket.

That said, I have a bench capper instead of a wing capper for the other bottle. I would go that route, I have not had a failed beer due to a loose cap yet. (Yes, i do recap twist offs too, but I do not do a whole batch of twist offs, just some) Soon i will have all the crown tops I need and I will recycle the twist offs. Still working up my inventory.

I find that the 16 oz size is actually the right size for "one" beer. The 12 oz size (minus the 1/2 oz or so for sediment), just isn't quite enough :cross:

The 16oz swings are expensive to buy and ship, but if you go to a recycle place, or get some cheap on-line, then do that.

Happy brewing and drinking :rockin:

thanks! I'm assuming the swingtops are reusable? The bottles are expensive, like you said, so I might try to find somewhere near me that might sell them..thanks again for your help!

They are resusable!!, the gaskets should be replaced every 5 or so uses I have heard. I do not track it, I just inspect them each time I clean. If they are too indented, grubby, torn, or otherwise looking less than great, i replace them.

Watch craigs list, recycler, and others for anyone getting rid of them. Also, find a bar that sells grolsch or other siwng top variety and see if they will give their empties to you. Even brown crown tops for that matter. If you ever plan on entering your beer into a contest, plan on having 12 oz. crown tops with no marking on them. You can't use flip tops, or bottles with other names on them. ( I don't worry about this myself, but other might jump in on it).

I find buying the varieties of Sam Adam's I like, making the liquid go bye-bye .... leaves me with very nice brown crown tops (even if it still has Sam Adams on the bottle).

Why not just buy a bunch of Grolsch beer. That way you get beer AND bottles, all for the price of one.

Personally I buy the Belgian beers with swingtop caps, and leave the Grolsch for others.

all awesome suggestions, thanks!!

For my first few i used plastic pepsi and coke bottles (12oz). I did have one near-bomb. The Mr Beer 1L bottle that usual has an aggressive pitch change from neck to body of bottle... was smooth and straight. Now I am bottling in Grolsh and similar style ones. The Grolsh are kinda a pain in the ass to apply a label to due to the damn sculpted logos.

I am looking to get some yeast to use with my Mr Beer Refill kits. I would like a yest that works in well when kept in the low 60s. Any recommendations? and any recommendations on where i can pick it up? Thanks!

carndog said:

I am looking to get some yeast to use with my Mr Beer Refill kits. I would like a yest that works in well when kept in the low 60s. Any recommendations? and any recommendations on where i can pick it up? Thanks!

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I have used US-05 with good results. any online or local brew shop will have.

I have my Mr. Beer on it's way to me (should be here tonight actually).

Now I have never brewed anything other than bad coffee, so a newb I am. From what I'm reading here I need to keep my Mr. Beer at a steady temp somewhere in the ballpark of 65-68F to get something decent correct?

My apartment stays a steady 74F which is obviousl too hi a temp so I'm thinking of using a cooler to keep the temp down. Would a few ice packs changed regularly thrown in there get my temp where I need them, be too much overkill, or are there a million variables I need to consider?

I was also thinking the swamp cooler thing, but I'd need to raise the mr beer up a little to keep the spigot out of the water right? Or am I way in left field here?

Sorry if these questions are redundant or silly, I'm just a little overwhelmed by all the info I'm reading here.

And I know I know....RDWHAHB.

I'd go with a cooler and some ice packs. I think you'll probably be okay.

You can use a swamp cooler with Mr. Beer. You can do 2 things, put sanitizer in the water in the cooler and also snap a rubber band around a plastic baggie over the spigot. After fermentation, if you are going to bottle from the spigot, resoak the spigot in new freshly made sanitizer and wipe clean. Then draw an ounce or two from the spigot before bottling. This can be used for your hydrometer testing if you are doing that.

I have used ice packs too and it works fine, but the swamp cooler way helps hold temp better.

I am now using the "son of fermentation" chiller, plans can be found here http://web.archive.org/web/20070206150821/http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/chiller/chiller.PDF
It works very well and I can get temps down to 44 F. I couldn't get below 64 with ice packs.

Whew! 143 pages, what a read. But I got through it

I'm new to homebrewing, started with a MB WCPA. Unfortunately, I didn't find this site until after the brew was in the keg, so I followed the instructions pretty much verbatim. Now that I've read through this thread, I have a couple quick questions.

1) Are there any benefits to using bottled/spring water as opposed to tap water. I have a water filter attached to the kitchen tap, but didn't use it because I read somewhere that using carbon-filtered water deprives the wort of needed nutients.

2) Is it OK to use non-stick cookware for my wort boil. Just about everything I've seen says to use either aluminum or stainless steel.

3) I think my yeast-pitching temperature was over 100F. The Mr. Beer instructions didn't say anything about making sure temp was low before pitching. Could this have killed my yeasties?

After reading through this thread, I'm keeping the beer in the keg for 14 days. But it doesn't seem like I'm getting any fermentation right now. I have a smattering of bubbles on the top, and it looks like there is a ring where the krausen fell. Is it possible that I just missed witnessing the fermentation?

In any case, next weekend I am proceeding with my bottling, so I'll let you know how that turns out. In the meantime, I'll just RDWHA (Micro) B!!

Thanks!

dribble4all said:

Whew! 143 pages, what a read. But I got through it

I'm new to homebrewing, started with a MB WCPA. Unfortunately, I didn't find this site until after the brew was in the keg, so I followed the instructions pretty much verbatim. Now that I've read through this thread, I have a couple quick questions.

1) Are there any benefits to using bottled/spring water as opposed to tap water. I have a water filter attached to the kitchen tap, but didn't use it because I read somewhere that using carbon-filtered water deprives the wort of needed nutients.

2) Is it OK to use non-stick cookware for my wort boil. Just about everything I've seen says to use either aluminum or stainless steel.

3) I think my yeast-pitching temperature was over 100F. The Mr. Beer instructions didn't say anything about making sure temp was low before pitching. Could this have killed my yeasties?

After reading through this thread, I'm keeping the beer in the keg for 14 days. But it doesn't seem like I'm getting any fermentation right now. I have a smattering of bubbles on the top, and it looks like there is a ring where the krausen fell. Is it possible that I just missed witnessing the fermentation?

In any case, next weekend I am proceeding with my bottling, so I'll let you know how that turns out. In the meantime, I'll just RDWHA (Micro) B!!

Thanks!

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1. I originally was using carbon filtered water on my Mr. Beer kits. My understanding is that you can use distilled water with extract kits, because the extract has nutrients in it, I'm assuming from the original boil when it was reduced down.

2. Probably, can't say for sure, but that stuff is meant for MUCH higher temperatures than boiling water.

3. You run some risk, but you're probably okay on this one as well. The fact that there's some visible foam and a ring is a good sign. Yes, it's very easy to miss the most obvious part of the fermentation, but, stick with your instincts, leave it in there for the full 14 days before bottling.

Groovy. Thanks for the quick reply Shooter!

Dribble4all: It helps if you shine a flashlight into the keg to look for the really tiny bubbles. If your temperatures were hot the bulk of fermentation could have happened quickly so it is possible you missed the krausen. The scum ring around the top is a good sign.

Temperature is one of the most important things in brewing. Next time try to get the wort down into the high 60's or low 70's if you can before pitching the yeast. The act of fermentation will generate heat so you do not want to start hot. High temperatures can cause some bad flavors so really try to keep the temperature under control for the critical first 3-4 days.

Once you have poured your wort into the sanitized Mr. Beer keg and closed the lid you have some time to work with. You can put ice packs around the keg and wrap it with a towel or you can set it in a kitchen sink full of ice water.

If you follow the Mr. Beer instructions and turn off the stove before adding the extracts (room temp or mildly warm), and if your tap water is about 50f then you end up at a reasonable wort temperature for pitching the yeast. If you really warm your cans of malt extract or if you use bottled water that is at room temp (70-75f) then the wort ends up being warmer than it should and probably needs some cooling.

Good luck and have fun. It's your adult chemistry set.

dribble4all said:

1) Are there any benefits to using bottled/spring water as opposed to tap water. I have a water filter attached to the kitchen tap, but didn't use it because I read somewhere that using carbon-filtered water deprives the wort of needed nutients.

2) Is it OK to use non-stick cookware for my wort boil. Just about everything I've seen says to use either aluminum or stainless steel.

3) I think my yeast-pitching temperature was over 100F. The Mr. Beer instructions didn't say anything about making sure temp was low before pitching. Could this have killed my yeasties?

After reading through this thread, I'm keeping the beer in the keg for 14 days. But it doesn't seem like I'm getting any fermentation right now. I have a smattering of bubbles on the top, and it looks like there is a ring where the krausen fell. Is it possible that I just missed witnessing the fermentation?

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I did about 30 batches of Mr. Beer before making the big step into 5 gallon batches last week.

1. I tried tap water, spring water, and RO water. I couldn't taste any difference so decided to always use tap water (unfiltered). It probably depends a lot on the tap water in your city.

2. I used a non-stick pot for all my wort boils with no issues. I stirred with a metal whisk and had concerns about that rubbing off the non-stick material, but it never did.

3. There is a good chance you screwed up your yeast, but you won't know for weeks. Finish the process and see what you end up with. Don't get disheartened if your beer tastes like crap, though. Take notes on what you did wrong so when you taste it you know what happened when you brewed it. By the way, I only had 1 bad bottle of Mr. Beer. I let the rest of that batch sit in the fridge for another week and it was then OK. I initially always went 2-2-2, but once I got a nice pipeline going I skipped drinking my beer for a week and then went 2-2-3 just to give them a little more time to condition.

I am thinking of getting a Mr Beer for a co-worker. He loves his beer, but can't devote enough time to the hobby as he would like.

My question is, how the heck do these thing fermenet without airlock? I am confused. Doesn't teh CO2 need to escape somehow?


I must be missing something.

two small dimples/channels where the cap screws down. they provide the same function as the airlock.

It's like a clean room with positive pressure.

The small channels allow the co2 to escape and stop the ingress of nasties.

Orfy said:

It's like a clean room with positive pressure.

The small channels allow the co2 to escape and stop the ingress of nasties.

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Do we know theoretically how long that pressure lasts? Just curious is all

Well until the yeast Finnish farting. Then in theory you may get some degassing.

That could be anything from <a week to > a few weeks.

I don't think I'd want to leave anything in a MR. Beer for more than 2 weeks.

I have left beer in my Mr. B for three weeks but I think that was pushing it...

You may be able to leave it for may weeks but I'm not sure I'd risk it.

Well, my brew has been in the Mr. Beer for two weeks coming this Saturday, so it's time to bottle.

One thing has been bothering me. I've kept the Mr. Beer in a cooler with some ice packs and had it at a pretty steady 68° F.

Now my apartment stays at a steady 74°F. Once I bottle, will I be ok to keep said bottles at 74°F with no issues, or do I need to keep it at the high 60's?

Thanks!!