I used to think that it didn't really help to give a beer more than a day or two in the fridge, but I had some sitting in the fridge when I went out of town and now I always try to give them at least a week in the fridge.
Been brewing all grain for a while now doing 10 gallon batches. I recently sold almost everything. Im going to be brewing with a mr beer fermenter from now on and going back to tje basics og home brewing. Ill keep everyone informed on how it goes.
bpgreen said:You can still do all grain with the Mr Beer fermenter if you want. The process is the same as with your 10 gallon batches, only the quantity changes. The drawback is that other than the time it takes to bring the pot to a boil, everything takes the same amount of time, but you're only getting 2.125 gallons instead of the 10 you got before.
As for pouring some trub into the bottles to help with carbing - that won;t really help. It's the yeast that carb the beer and the trub is mostly settled out proteins.
Congrats on making beer.
First, I'd toss the MrB instructions as they relate to timing. They are great for making beer, but not for making great beer.
Recommended normal times:
Ferment for 2 weeks
Carb for 2 weeks at room temp
Condition for 2 weeks at room temp
Fridge for anywhere from 1-7 days (brewer's choice)
What's the difference in the two steps:
Carb for 2 weeks at room temp
Condition for 2 weeks at room temp
Are you doing anything different in carbing than what you do for conditioning?
The only thing I would add is a +1 to your comment on modifying MrB's timing suggestions. For the higher abv beers the conditioning time s/b much longer than what MrB recommends. If they say 4-6 weeks conditioning I've found that 6 weeks is a minimum and 8-10 weeks is better. Although I do have a couple batches conditioning that MrB lists a 6 month condition time and I don't think I'll be able wait any longer than that.
I started in February and have brewed 13 batches. Favorite so far is the Scottish Wee Heavy (use amber DME instead of the booster & 5 tablespoons of butterscotch schnapps - up from the recommended 2 tablespoons)
There's no difference in what you're doing for those two steps, but there's a difference in what the yeast is doing. Actually, it may finish carbing in less than two weeks, but it's easy to remember 2-2-2. Some people like to do the last two weeks in the refrigerator. I used to refrigerate for only a couple of days, but I now try to give a beer at least a week in the fridge (and usually a couple of months at room temperature).
Favorite so far is the Scottish Wee Heavy (use amber DME instead of the booster & 5 tablespoons of butterscotch schnapps - up from the recommended 2 tablespoons)
Hey there - I've been lurking for a couple of weeks, but this is my first post (be gentle)...
I've brewed up 8 or 10 Mr. Beer kits, but on this last one I noticed there was something like a solid white cap on top of the wort in the fermenter (in addition to the normal trub at the bottom), and some greenish/blackish build-ups around the edge at the top of the wort. Two questions:
1. Does that sound like an infection? It was a pilsner kit, if that matters.
2. I've already bottled it up... should I simply dispose of it (if it is an infection), or should I let it carb and take a chance on tasting it (and possibly ruining my love for beer forever after just one sip)? Or should I taste it now?
Thanks in advance.
DJG
some greenish/blackish build-ups around the edge at the top of the wort.
1. Does that sound like an infection? It was a pilsner kit, if that matters.
2. I've already bottled it up... should I simply dispose of it (if it is an infection), or should I let it carb and take a chance on tasting it (and possibly ruining my love for beer forever after just one sip)? Or should I taste it now?
Uh, DANG. I gotta find that recipe...
Here it is: http://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/product_id/123/nm/Scottish_Wee_Heavy
So it's a mix of an amber and a red, spiked with butterscotch schnapps. I could totally do this as a partial mash... Hmm... Color me intrigued! :fro:
Thanks for mentioning this, I'm going to try to develop a recipe here!
I have 1.75 lbs of Bavarian wheat DME and 2 lbs. of Amber DME sitting around with an empty 2 gal. Mr. Beer fermenter (additionally, I have an old-style 1.5 gal fermenter unused with an airlock). Where do I go? I'd like to start brewing with hops and other ingrediants, but due to the crazy amount of options out there I am unsure of where to start. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
3 weeks is pretty regular for me actually. if you bottled some now and some later you would have to split your priming sugar. also that means you have to expose your beer to the scary outside environment an extra time. it would probably work fine, but no real reason to as far as i can tell. welcome to the forum!
Well, the prevailing wisdom is to use malt extract in place of the Booster, I'm not so sure about brown sugar or honey. Not that either is "wrong", you will just end up with a drier, thinner beer. The brown sugar or honey is nearly completely fermentable and won't lend a whole lot in terms of residual flavor at that concentration, nor will it be able to provide body. The Booster is supposed to help supplement (cheaply) the LME (or HME I guess) and provide unfermentable sugars to keep the FG higher - thus, provide body.
Next time I would suggest using dry malt extract instead of sugar or Booster.
thanks.
what's LME? Liquid Malt Extract?
and what's FG? is that Final Gravity?
Even if that's what those terms are i'm still kind of lost in the woods in this great big forest of homebrewing. Maybe since Mr Beer doesn't discuss or deal with Final Gravity is one of the reasons I was so cavaier about the honey and brown sugar.
am I being overly paranoid or is my concern valid?
Hope you didn't like spare money or spare time too much... you won't see those again for a while.
Mr. Beer brew days are very short, and cleanup is easy. That's the great part.
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