Mr Beer

I was given a Mr Beer last Christmas by one of my sons and his girl friend. I will admit that I have never brewed a Mr Beer kit with out at least steeping grains and using a decent yeast. I made an American Pale Ale that I brewed using a High Country Canadian Draft HME as a starting point, added steeped grains, DME and Centennial hops at 20 and 10 minutes and dry hopped. I thought it came out pretty well. They guys at work liked and it got a thumbs up from the staff at the local brew shop. They suggested that I enter the beer to be judged. The brew shop guys don't know that I am using a Mr Beer keg or supplies. The typical reaction if you mention Mr Beer is not very positive. I also have split kits from Austin Home Brew Supply into two 2.5 gal batches. I am the only beer drinker in the house, so the 2.5 gal batches are perfect for me. I typically yield a full case of 12 oz bottles. I drink some and take some to work. I like the fact that I can do everything on the stove top in pots that I already had, no propane burner, 6 gallon stainless steel pot, mash tun, wort chiller, etc. It's a pretty low budget operation. I did make a modified version of the Son of Fermentation Chiller that is sized to fit two of the LBKs side by side , using one of the cheap Chinese temperature controllers. I also made a stir plate and wash and propagate fresh liquid yeasts. I am using BeerSmith to design and brew my own extract recipes, as well as modify Mr Beer kits. I have just started to do partial mashes. Extract brewing fits easily into my schedule. A couple of hours and LBK is full and ready to go. I have just started to do partial mashes. I also keg into the Miller and Coors home draft kegs that have been modified to use an external co2 tank. You can fit three of them on a fridge shelf. You can do all the big boy things, just on a smaller scale, (in my case, read smaller and cheaper). I picked up the second keg and some kits during the after Christmas sales. The prices were 50% off or better.

You can make decent beer in a Mr Beer keg, a fermenter is a fermenter. You can even make a decent beer using a Mr Beer kit as the basis for a recipe. I say give it a shot. Keep reading, asking questions and trying to better your knowledge and techniques. You won't be sorry.

I apologize for being long winded, but don't let anyone discourage you because you have a Mr Beer kit. I am happy I have one.

Tim

I started with MrBeer and you can make great beer with it. I recommend adding some DME to the stock kits. But I've done some really good beers by ordering from there advanced recipes. Some great info can be obtained about brewing with the LBK from the forum linked on their site. I haven't done MrB batches for quite sometime as I do AG 5 gal batches now. But if I do run out of fermentors, I'll pour wort in two LBK's and ferment in them. MrBeer is a great product to get people into brewing that normally never would have. But you don't have to just use their ingredients. The LBK can be used to ferment any extract or AG recipe you can conjure up. Good luck with that brew!

Hey guys...I peeked in with the flashlight and the liquid in there is flat with no bubbles and looks decently clear. Is it time to bottle this puppy? Also, I have been reading where people would boil water with the amount of sugar that you need per bottle and then mix it in with the fermented beer before bottling. How would I do this? Would I just pour it in and give it a shake? Wouldnt that mix the sediment in the brew?

You would need to use a separate container to mix the priming sure using that technique. I did this in the past when I had my Mr. Beer using a lemonade jug.

How long has it been cookin away in the tank? You could probably bottle. I tend to let mine go for 2-3 weeks.

Cheers!

It's been in there for at least 2 weeks now. I don't have a seperate container so ill just do it in the bottle this go round. I want to upgrade to at least buckets next batch so I can get into it more serious.

i did their "add sugar to bottle" method. Crude? kinda, but it did work. LIttle risk of bottle bombs assuming u r using the mr beer bottles.

Oh, I will be using the Mr Beer bottles for sure...they are all I have.

Give it 3-4 weeks to ferment and another 3-4 weeks for bottle conditioning.
Something that may work would be to boil a cup of water for 10-15 minutes, add your priming sugar, let cool, pour some of your wort into the pot and cautiously pour it into your fermentor, and then give it a gentle stir. Wait 5 minutes or so and get to bottling. It seems as though it ought to work. Anyone?

All of my Mr. Beer batches had the sugar added directly to the bottle.
It works, but it used to baffle me with all the talk of sanitization, and even sterilization, that here I was, at this critical moment, dumping table sugar into my bottles. But it always worked. Not remarkable beer, but good home made beer with carbonation and alcohol!
Congrats, almost done!

Im all bottled up now! Cleaned the LBK and am now going to really BREW a beer. Check my other thread on "Screw it...Im moving up!"

I run into this with my other hobbies....someone tries to get started only to be shot down by "experts" who like to kill enthusiam in a newbie.

To the OP, have fun! I am bottling my first Mr Beer this weekend, and just bottled my first meads. In the end we're all just making the Yeasties love our Sugars....and supposedly having fun with it right?