Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

Hmm i saw the book on amazon and it seemed like a big reference guide for water ph levels in different cities grain types and other confusing things that i don't feel ready to tackle yet. But if you really think so.. i'm going to check out the how to brew online deally first though.

Alright i'm not really all that interested in kegging beer at this stage in the game. And honestly i think i'd rather stick to those kits they got at the home brew store with the instructions for awhile. Instructions are my friend especially with something that gets this complicated.

Definitely going to look into the "keggle" later. Sounds like a neat method. Oh yeah you said there were like 3 different methods, Mr. B, Bucket, Carboy, and sometimes a keg. I've been to the Budweiser factory a few times... probably under 20.. Anyway they have these giant fermenter's with wood chips in them. What would you call those?

Thanks guys you've been extremely helpful.

Oh and Frankfurtvr4 congratulations on making beer! there's a lot of things that can go wrong but the beer can turn out amazing if you get it right.

EDIT:
Dad wants to borrow my Mr. Beer kits and make something, seems like we're going to use it for awhile so any ideas on a different sanitizer, like starsan or something? and a better yeast to use in the beer? Might as well get prepared for the long haul i don't think i'm going to stop any time soon.

Anyway, off to go get some bleach the swamp cooler water is starting to bug me.... OK Got the bleach and threw it in.. Do i need to rinse everything a million times when i'm done now? with the bleach and all.

Ringmaster said:

Anyway they have these giant fermenter's with wood chips in them. What would you call those?

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This would be the homebrewer equivalent of their setup, IMO. Of course if one is going to balk at $100 for a kit, that's pretty much in the realm of unicorns and candy-trees as far as budgetary concerns go...

Those huge things at the commercial breweries are just called fermenters, AFAIK. Not very imaginative, but plenty informative.

Wait a minute.. are you telling me unicorns don't exist? Don't tell me santa clause.. nah.. He definitely exists.

When i was a toddler my dad used to brew beer but then gave it up. Plus we used to stop by the beer factory every time we went to six flags so it's kind of nostalgic/fun making beer. I really do enjoy it but i don't want to get ahead of myself with gear. I just kind of want to take my time as i get used to everything.

It's not really scoffing so much as i don't really want to invest into a hobby until i've found a job. Economy ravvle ravvle ravvle.. Although i have an interview today so i'm looking forward to that. Sounds like it'll have steady hours to so i don't have to worry about college. Kinda curious do chemistry classes help with a hobby like this?

If i get it i'm probably going to upgrade but it might just be to some buckets. Although i think i just might keep a look out on craigs list for a beer set.. Sounds like one of the easier/cheaper ways of getting a bunch of gear fast. Although as far as the big fermenter goes wouldn't it be more efficient to just make 4 10 gallon batches? Atleast then you can have different beers.

Oh my swamp cooler is at like 68 degrees and i'm still not seeing a whole lot of activity.. in fact there's barely any white foam at all.. it's a little unnerving. Should i just keep it at this temp for awhile, or should i try to bring up the temperature in hopes of the yeast kick starting back into work?

If it's not doing anything at 68 then raising the temp won't help. How long has it been fermenting? It might be done.

only like 4-5 days, it only looked like it was working for a couple of days, i'm really worried about it. Keep in mind this is Mr. Beer Yeast i'm using, it isn't some special superman variety of yeast.

i'm planning on leaving it in the fermenter for 2 weeks i'd like to think it was doing something that whole time. I thought i'd do it for 3 weeks since i had the temp down to 50 at one point.

The best you can do at this point is keep it at about 68 and hope for the best. Give it another week or so. Keep in mind that maintaining the temp between 65 and 75 is extremely important when fermenting any ale. And the less the temp fluctuates the better.

Aye aye Cap'n

I actually poured out all the water earlier today and the temp was probably just under 80 for a short period. This beer is going to suck >_> The bleach was getting to me, kept having to dig the thermometer out of the chest. Besides getting bleach on the spigot sounds scary.. some might have touched it O_O

But i brought the temp back down to 68-ish pretty quickly. Just one more week till i bottle.. What do i do about the spigot? should i just open the top and find a different way to pour beer into the bottles?

This batch has been pretty nerve-wracking.

Thats tough! If you have a clear plastic food grade hose I would say to just siphon it into bottles out of the top of the fermenter, but without a rigid racking cane that could be a long and messy process. I personally would probably just use a little of the No Rinse sanitizer that came with the Mr. Beer kit, mix it up in a sandwich bag and use a rubber band and try to sanitize the nozzle that way for about 15 minutes before bottling. At this point, I think there is not too much more that could go wrong anyway.
You seem very enthusiastic about your beer, which is great! I would spend the 35 bucks and go to you Local Homebrew Supplier and get a food service bucket drilled for an airlock and with a spout already attached. While you are there pick up an airlock, racking cane, and siphoning hose. It'll be cheap for all that and the supplier should be able to show you how to use it. You could even brew Mr. Beer in it and the differences in the process will be so subtle.
If that isn't in your budget or your plan for now, I would avoid submerging the Mr. B fermenter in water again. A great solution to keep it cool without submerging it is to fill a bowl or pan with cold tap water, wrap a wet shirt around the fermenter and stick a sleeve or corner of the shirt into the bowl of water while it is wrapped around the fermenter, and keep a small fan blowing on it. The shirt will stay moist and keep the whole thing cool. this will work if you are only trying to cool if 5 or 8 degrees without worry of contaminating your spout.

Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew (or, since this is your first batch, a craft brew).

Yes, chemistry and biology classes will help you brew better, but only marginally so. I believe the benefit from cooking (understanding temps, tastes, smells, combinations, etc.) is probably higher than the benefit from chemistry.

The craigslist plan is a good one. Good luck on getting the new job!

hmm i think i'll do the one step solution.. I actually wrapped the spigot in a bunch of plastic bags and rubber bands this time, i only had one bag over it last time.

Kind of curious though can i use bottles from major beer companies? I kind of like the idea of giving bottles to friends without having to worry about getting the bottle back or buying more. Or is this something where i should really buy more bottles each time?

Thinking about getting one of those growlers from Mr. Beer with the little tap with it.. seems like it'd be neat.

Thanks for all the advice and support guys!

You can use any bottles, as long as they are not twist off. I think most people just use the same bottles over and over. Just rinse them thoroughly after you drink them and then sanitize them before filling them.

Cool thanks, i got a bunch of alcoholic friends and it seemed like a waste to buy a whole bunch when i could get them for free.

EDIT:

Umm.. a thought occured to me. If i get a kit, would Mr. Beer work as a good bottling bucket?


This seemed neat. And useful for bottling..

... just read up why conical fermenters are so awesome.. and well.. they seem kinda.. awesome..

Keep your eyes open on Craig's list for bottles as well. You can get them for free sometimes or close. I paid 15 bucks for 7 cases. I was pissed that I missed the 50 free Grolsch bottles by an hour, so I just bought some.

AlbuquerqueJoe said:

You can use any bottles, as long as they are not twist off. I think most people just use the same bottles over and over. Just rinse them thoroughly after you drink them and then sanitize them before filling them.

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You can use twist off. They are inferior for several reasons:

1) The force required to cap them with a handheld capper is enough that sometimes it shatters the neck of the bottle.

2) Sometimes the threading can interfere with the cap, potentially creating a route for oxygen or infection to enter your bottle of beer.

If you have a benchtop capper, and not the handheld kind, then threaded bottles are NBD. Also, if you have a brew helper to hold the bottle while you cap it (SWMBO did this for me) you are less likely to spray glass and uncarbonated beer all over your brew area by shattering the bottle's neck.

Non-twist-off bottles are certainly the best, and the cheapest brand that has them is probably the Michelob one-step-up-from-swill varieties.

easy way I did it was to go to my local distributor, and ask what comes in returnable bottles and I bought a case of Yuengling for 13 bucks plus 1.50 deposit on the bottles and then I had my friends over and we kicked the case. Additionally I got a case of empties as I was leaving because I told the clerk what I was going to use them for and he gave me a case from the back room that was not being returned to the company as they didn't use returnables anymore, so I got a case of 12 oz ers for 1.50 and a case of 16 ozers for nothing.

Ringmaster said:

Umm.. a thought occured to me. If i get a kit, would Mr. Beer work as a good bottling bucket?

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I use the Mr. beer fermenter to match experimental 2 gallon batches, as a bottling bucket for smaller batches, and to propagate yeast, so it is a useful thing to have around.
Odd thing, after I started brewing partial mash, none of the old Mr. Beer kits I had laying around would work anymore. I made the last can I had, an IPA, about three days and used Wyeast Dry yeast with it. It doesn't seem to doing anything.

Ringmaster said:

Aye aye Cap'n

I actually poured out all the water earlier today and the temp was probably just under 80 for a short period. This beer is going to suck >_> The bleach was getting to me, kept having to dig the thermometer out of the chest. Besides getting bleach on the spigot sounds scary.. some might have touched it O_O

But i brought the temp back down to 68-ish pretty quickly. Just one more week till i bottle.. What do i do about the spigot? should i just open the top and find a different way to pour beer into the bottles?

This batch has been pretty nerve-wracking.

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Your temperature fluctuations are really going to impact the flavor of your beer. I would try making the "son of fermentation chiller". That removes the water and sanitizer problem. Plans can be found on this site, costs about $45.

Also, I recommend you go buy an auto-siphon and bottling wand. You can siphon out of the top of the Mr. Beer keg and put the bottling wand on the end of the auto-siphon and bottle from there rather than the keg spigot.

I have brewed 28 batches of Mr. beer since last February 2009. I invested in an auto-siphon, bottling bucket with wand, and a hydrometer first. These are the best first things to buy as you improve your gear and process. You siphon from the Mr. beer keg into the bottling bucket on top of your priming sugar, then bottle with the wand attached to the spigot on the bottling bucket. Problem of sanitation of water outside keg during fermentation is solved. Hope this helps!

it might in the long run, i decided to just get a kit in a couple of months. Until then i'm going to keep doing batches in the mr. Beer. They have a list at the LHBS and it has everything i could possibly want short of a keggle, a single tier system, one of those distribution things with the taps, a fermentation chamber, conical fermenter.. and a bar.. but there's already a bar in the house, no one uses it, i could be the first

But anyway i was thinking about just upping my equipment piece by piece but it seems like it'd be cheaper and easier to just get a kit. In the meantime i'd like to do a few more batches with the Mr. Beer. Should be fine as long as i throw plastic around the spigot during fermentation.. i'll probably santize the spigot every time anyway.

You know i've kept my temperature pretty steady except for the first day, and half an hour on like the fourth day. I'm not expecting this batch to be as great as the first one but i'd imagine it shouldn't be in to bad of shape. Oh yeah and there was that time it was at 50 degrees..

Either way i'm not ready for a fermentation chamber, once i get the kit i'm probably going to go out and get a bigger ice chest. Current one rocks for the mr. beer because there's enough space for a 2 liter of soda next to it... but when i put it in the temperature plummets low enough for Lager.

I would say, even if you wait for a kit, you should still get a hydrometer, bottling bucket w/wand, and an auto-siphon. They will help a great deal even with this batch. You can never have enough buckets, you will most likely break a hydrometer, and you can always use 2 siphons for bigger batches. So no loss in getting that stuff now.

As far as the 2 liter being too cold, try smaller bottles, maybe a 20 oz bottle would work, also you can drop your water level a little to compensate for it getting too cold as well. Temperature control is not discussed enough with respect to quality, and I think it is a very big factor from what my experience has been.

Yeah as far as i can tell the major things that can go wrong with beer are either sanitation or temp control. I've actually defected to smaller soda bottles. Which work for bringing the temp down 5 degrees and the blue ice packs keep it steady.

So i got a system down. The giant 2 liter has it's place to, when i put water in the cooler i need to drop the temp to the right temperature right away and it helps.

Luckily my dad used to brew and the only things he kept were a couple of hydrometer's and thermometers.. I don't even know how to use the hydrometer, doesn't that thing sit in the fermenter or something?

I'll give the rest of the stuff some thought.

Temp matters most for primary fermentation. When you are bottle conditioning you want a temperature of about 70F, so the yeast can do their work. If it is much lower than that then the beer might never carb.

Hydrometer gives a measure of density. Sugar dissolved in water is more dense than alcohol dissolved in water, so as the sugar gets turned into alcohol, the little floating thing sits lower in the water. Beer gravity never really gets lower than the density of water itself (1.000), but if you brew wine it will go lower than the density of water (.998 is a common spot for it to stop, but I've gotten wine down to .992 before).

To use a hydrometer make sure you wash it, then sanitize it. Often people will use a wine thief (or a turkey baster, doesn't matter as long as it is clean and sanitized) to fill a "test jar", which is pretty much a test tube without the markings on the side. Then you float your hydrometer in that -- spinning it to detach any bubbles that might make it float higher than it should -- and read the numbers off the side. Good recipes will have starting gravities (density measurements) usually labeled as 'OG', and then they provide a final gravity that you should target. An example for a lighter beer might be OG=1.045, FG=1.014.

Remember that all hydrometers are not exactly calibrated, so it is helpful to test your hydrometer in water at room temperature, and it should be pretty close to 1.000. If it isn't, just see how far off it is and subtract that number from all future measurements. If yours reads 1.004, then subtract .004 from all future measurements. If it reads .998, then subtract -.002 (same as adding .002) from all future measurements.

It's pretty simple really, but if you just start out not knowing what it is then it can confuse.

hmm it sounds like it could be simple yet confusing at the same time.

Alright well i bottle in a few days so i'm a little worried. the house has been up to 80 degrees at the hottest point in the day. So should i leave all the bottles in the swamp cooler during the bottling process?

I'm pretty sure they'd all fit in there, still using those PET bottles. Should i stay on the warmer side of 70 or keep it under 70?

I got 2 more batches of beer from Mr. Beer yesterday.. and... *drum roll* a bottling spigot thingy with the wand.

oh and thanks for all the help! Learn something new everyday.

Once the primary fermentation is done, i.e., the first few days, temperature is far, far less important. The by-products have already been made, if they are going to be made, and now the yeastie-beasties are just cleaning up after their little sugar-orgy... so temp is not necessarily to be feared. There's also far less sugar around for them to eat and heat things up, so it's not as big a deal at this point.

The exception is, of course, you don't want your bottles to explode. You also don't want your bottles so hot that the yeast die off. A comfortable room temperature is fine for bottle conditioning, AFAIK -- the mistake most people make is keeping the bottles too cool so that the yeast can't do a proper job of carbing and cleaning up the waste products.

So, should you swamp-cool your bottles? In most cases, no. If you live in GA and the AC is out... then you might wanna.

Umm.. i live in california but it's been in the 90's for the last few weeks. Luckily recently it's only been in the 80's but that's higher then it's supposed to ferment.. Can the yeast still do their job in the 80's? Should i just not worry about it? Ordered a couple of more batches and i'd really rather get them going instead of using the swamp cooler for bottling.

I've been kinda paranoid about the temperature since i started.

Oh and i kept hearing about how much cheaper homebrewing is but i keep finding cheaper beer.. Given the beer i'm making is a lot better.. But i'm kind of curious, is this because i'm using the mr. Beer packets? Is extract brewing more expensive? or is it the type of beers i'm making?

Just got a Mr. Beer refill thing for $20 and saw a 24 pack at bevmo for $15 so i was a little taken back. I mean either way i still really enjoy this and i don't plan on quitting i'm just curious. And i'm kinda curious where the breweries profit margin comes from.

When using the standard MB dry yeast that ships under the can lids, you'll want your wort temperature somewhere between 68-78ºF as an optimal pitching temperature. After brewing 27 MR recipes I've found that filling the 2 gallon keg halfway with cool filtered tap water, adding your extracts after boiling the 4 cups of water and then topping the keg off to the 8.5 quart mark with more cool filtered water will leave the wort right in the 68-78ºF range.

In a small fermenter such as a 5-gallon (19-L) carboy the difference between the air temperature and the beer temperature is usually within about 5 ºF (3 °C). So if you have a yeast strain that produces the best beer when fermentation is held at 70 ºF (21 °C) the surrounding air temperature should be around 65 ºF (18 °C). You can periodically monitor this by inserting a thermometer into the fermenting beer.

I've used this method exclusively to produce some of the best tasting and varied beers and I don't even own a thermometer yet! In the warmer months I keep my 6 fermenters and carbonating PET bottles in a small room with a window air conditioner set to 68-70°F and I have never had a problem with fermentation or carbonation, plus it keeps my home office cool.

Screwy Brewer

Ringmaster said:

Oh and i kept hearing about how much cheaper homebrewing is but i keep finding cheaper beer.. Given the beer i'm making is a lot better.. But i'm kind of curious, is this because i'm using the mr. Beer packets? Is extract brewing more expensive? or is it the type of beers i'm making?

Just got a Mr. Beer refill thing for $20 and saw a 24 pack at bevmo for $15 so i was a little taken back. I mean either way i still really enjoy this and i don't plan on quitting i'm just curious. And i'm kinda curious where the breweries profit margin comes from.

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Check this: Austin Homebrew 50 cent beers

Extract is more expensive than all-grain. Mr Beer is more expensive than other extract. There is absolutely no reason in the world that you *must* keep using Mr Beer recipes just because you have a MB fermentor. In fact, the small size of the MB fermentor is pretty much ideal for going to AG with Deathbrewer's BIAB method (brew-in-a-bag).

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/

Once you get addicted to fresh beer, though, you won't want the commercially bottled stuff anymore. I can't say what exactly it is about fresh beer that I love, but I really don't enjoy the BMC stuff anymore. I can't explain it, that's just the way it is. *shrug*

So, if you want fresh beer, cheap, then try DB's stovetop method. Just size down the 10 gal. AG recipes to 1/4th, or the 5.5 gal. recipes to 1/2 and go to town!

Cool thanks for the heads up!

I was planning to do a few extract brews on the next step.. I was hoping to make ed's apfelwein sometime.. sounds simple and straight forward.

I'm a little worried about All Grain being all scary and confusing.. i'm kind of easing my way into the cold pool instead of just jumping in.

Although i hear you can make your own recipe's when you do all grain I'll have to make a lot of beer before i'm ready for that though.

The natural progression is from Mr. Beer to extract brewing, which is basically just like Mr. beer but you add your own hops. Then you go to partial mash, which is adding hops and specialty grains to the extract syrup. Thats really when you get to make your own recipes. After that is all grain brewing.

Ringmaster said:

I was planning to do a few extract brews on the next step.. I was hoping to make ed's apfelwein sometime.. sounds simple and straight forward.

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Edwort's apfelwein is super easy. It doesn't taste like beer or cider, though... it tastes like wine. The version I made was backsweetened with juice and apple schnapps, then I added sorbate (but not k-meta -- I wanted to prevent the yeast from reproducing, but I didn't want them dead). When it was carbonated 2 months later I put the bottles in the fridge (to halt the fermentation) and it is SWMBO's favorite thing I've brewed so far.

I'm a little worried about All Grain being all scary and confusing.. i'm kind of easing my way into the cold pool instead of just jumping in.

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Yeah, it can be a bit confusing, but if you read Deathbrewer's thread and look at the pictures (linked above) it is pretty encouraging. Starting with small batches also makes it lower risk (less beer to spoil) and easier (less weight and water to lug around). You'll try it when you're ready.

Like the poster above said, the usual progression is MrB --> Extract --> Partial Mash (specialty grains) --> All Grain... but people pretty much stop in that progression anywhere they want, or they skip around. It's totally up to the individual.

Although i hear you can make your own recipe's when you do all grain I'll have to make a lot of beer before i'm ready for that though.

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You can make your own extract recipes. My third brew was my own recipe for wheat beer and it turned out fantastic (SWMBO's second favorite thing I've brewed so far). It's just like cooking -- when you know how to do it, it is easy to experiment.

You're well on your way now! Just keep at it.

Oh i was hoping it'd be closer to cider..

I'm really not a fan of wine, although i guess i can still give it a shot. It's so simple i want to atleast try it once..

If you want something closer to cider, try this:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/graff-malty-slightly-hopped-cider-117117/

I hear i can put priming sugar into the fermenter before bottling, but i forgot how much to use? anyone know? It's like 2 gallons right?

So I'm still pretty new to this whole gig, and have a question. I brewed my next batch of beer today, and as I was sanitizing my Mr. Beer fermenter, I noticed a small scratch on the inside. I've heard this is a bad thing, because bacteria will nestle in the crack and could harm the fermentation.

Can anyone tell me if I'm doomed or not? It's just a small scratch.. not sure if this batch is toast, and/or if I'll need to buy a new fermenter.

Ringmaster said:

I hear i can put priming sugar into the fermenter before bottling, but i forgot how much to use? anyone know? It's like 2 gallons right?

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Generally it's 1oz. per gallon.

DonutMuncher said:

So I'm still pretty new to this whole gig, and have a question. I brewed my next batch of beer today, and as I was sanitizing my Mr. Beer fermenter, I noticed a small scratch on the inside. I've heard this is a bad thing, because bacteria will nestle in the crack and could harm the fermentation.

Can anyone tell me if I'm doomed or not? It's just a small scratch.. not sure if this batch is toast, and/or if I'll need to buy a new fermenter.

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Yes, you need a new fermenter.

Is this batch toast? Not necessarily. Neither is the next. But someday, one of them will be.

Sorry.

Ahh crap Well I figured as much...

I guess now I'll have to decide whether I want another Mr. Beer fermenter, or to change to something like a glass carboy. Might be a good time to upgrade..

Thanks dfc and Justibone, think i'll stick with the traditional apfelwein the first time around though.. sounds like a hit and i have to admit it's peaked my curiosity.. Not a big fan of wine but i know many people who are.

DonutMuncher said:

Ahh crap Well I figured as much...

I guess now I'll have to decide whether I want another Mr. Beer fermenter, or to change to something like a glass carboy. Might be a good time to upgrade..

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Fermenting beer in a glass carboy is kind of overkill. My recommendation is go for a food-grade plastic bucket with a seal-able top. Drill a hole in the top, buy one of those "universal" bungs with an airlock (~$5 for both) and you're good to go.

You can sometimes get a free food-grade bucket from Wal-Mart or your grocery store bakery (or another bakery). They ship cake frosting in them! You can also get the buckets from restaurants, but avoid pickle buckets unless you like pickle beer.

All homebrew stores sell the buckets... so that's easier. Your life will be better and easier if you get two buckets: a fermentor and a bottling bucket with a spigot. (Don't try fermenting in your bottling bucket... it's not a pretty picture.)

If you will be making wine (even apfelwein) or really big beers (9%+ ABV), then a carboy would be a good thing. You can use the glass ones (that last forever, unless they break and send you to the emergency room) or the better bottles. The glass ones, when full, are majorly heavy.

So, look around for a good, 7 gal., food-grade plastic bucket... my $0.02

Ahh.. I guess I figured carboys seemed popular among a lot of brewers. Why do you think it's overkill... because it's really heavy and expensive for just fermenting? If that's the case, I think I do see your point - it's much cheaper to get some plastic buckets.

One thing.. I do like smaller batches (2.5-3 gallons). Can you ferment a 2.5 gallon batch inside a 7 gallon bucket? Is that too much headspace.. or does headspace in the fermenter not even matter?

I recently gave up on Mr Beer refill kits and getting better ingredients has made all the difference. Can you veterans give me a few recipe suggestions that is 2.5 gallons?