Going in the wrong direction, with Mr. Beer

Well, I'm four batches deep in all-grain brew now, but thought the best direction to move now is to doing Mr. Beer batches.


J/K, I received this kit from a co-worker. He got it as a gift and despite much encouragement from myself, he had no interest in trying it out (and no, I'm not the one who gifted it to him). Eventually, I offered to take it off his hands as the ingredients expire in a couple months anyway. I figured at the least I would get myself a small, spigoted vessel to use for cider or other very small batches, and some extract that, at the very least, could be used for yeast starters, or possibly I could make the beer according to the instructions just to find out what's what.

However, now I'm on the fence about what to do. Maybe the beer is worth brewing. Maybe I should try to find someone interested in getting into brewing (or is it likely to turn people off brewing)? This kit is the "West Coast Pale Ale." Anybody made/tried it? I've started this pole to get the recommendation of the HBT community. Other suggestions welcome.

BTW, I hope this doesn't come across as snobbery. I really know nothing about Mr. Beer brewing. I bet there are plenty of people on here that have started into brewing this way.

I started out with the Mr. Beer kit, but now I just use the keg to make small batches of cider. I say make a batch with it just because you can, why not? I think the biggest mistake people make with Mr. Beer is fermentation temperature. Two of my friends have used Mr. Beer and fermented 75F+ because they didn't know any better.

Re-gift it to one of your friends. It might get them on the path to real brewing and then you'll have someone else to brew with...

If Mr. Beer hasn't done anything else worthwile....it has gotten a LOT of people brewing.

You forgot option 4 on the pole. #4. Dedicate it to Apfelwein and NEVER let it go dry.

Just brew it. Then use the vessel as every one has suggested. dedicated Apfelwein if you like it.

+1 on using it for Apfelwein. It's what I have done.

Just brew it! Worst case, you'll have to dry hop later.

I'd say go for it... brew the pale ale. It won't be as good as your all grain batches, but it will still be beer.

You could use it as a tool to pass your beer making knowledge on the Mr. Beer users. I've always wondered if you don't follow their questionable directions, and use sound beer making principals, if could you make a better beer. You could write up a helpful hints sheet that could be passed on to the M.B. users. Of course, it would be a bit of work for you but it would be interesting to know if you could make something you (an experienced brewer) would drink.

In any case, you have to thing and it's a shame to waste it, so you could use it for cider, mead, or experimental batches.

Try something different with the pale ale as the base. Say a seasoning or extract. I would be interested in a vanilla pale ale. At the worst you are out a free kit.

You might as well brew it if you have it. A friend of mine still uses his Mr. Beer kit despite my encouragement otherwise and some of his beers are pretty decent.

Nurmey said:

I've always wondered if you don't follow their questionable directions, and use sound beer making principals, if could you make a better beer.

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That's how I got started....after reading around the internets I tore up the mr beer directions and did that very thing.

You could write up a helpful hints sheet that could be passed on to the M.B. users. Of course, it would be a bit of work for you but it would be interesting to know if you could make something you (an experienced brewer) would drink.

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That's what we've been doing here for awhile now;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=46360

I look at it as a small batch fermenter, especially for test batches.

Plus someone who doesn't have the space can do small batch full AG boils in only a 5 gallon pot, and a small cooler...

I way pass it on as a gift. Add some specialty grains and some quality ingredients.
Review the instructions and amend them as needed.
Describe how one might upgrade to better beer.

Give them a linky here.

Well, option three seems to be winning out and that's good because I think I found a friend who's interested. I think I will take olllllo's suggestion and improve on the kit, such as swapping the yeast with some safale-05 and give him 1/2 ounce of cascade to throw in near flameout or something. I'll study the directions this evening and mark up as needed.

Also, I noticed there's no true airlock on the fermenter, except that the lid is designed to not seal. Has this ever caused a problem for anyone?

I like Nurmey's suggestion, too. That would be fun, but I'd rather get my friend hooked.

I would give it to a friend and you have suggested. I started with Mr. Beer and if it was not for that little kit I would have never started down the path. I gave my stuff to a co-worker after I switched to AG and he is enjoying the hobby.

I'd brew it, just out of curiosity. I see these kits right by the door every time I go to BevMo, and I've always wondered exactly what one can expect from them. Not enough to buy one, obviously!

A friend at work got one for Xmas last year, but I can't seem to get him fired up enough to get it started. I may offer to brew it for him, and bring him the beer. That little plastic barrel would probably fit nicely on the compressor hump in my fermentation freezer.

BlindLemonLars said:

I'd brew it, just out of curiosity. I see these kits right by the door every time I go to BevMo, and I've always wondered exactly what one can expect from them. Not enough to buy one, obviously!

A friend at work got one for Xmas last year, but I can't seem to get him fired up enough to get it started. I may offer to brew it for him, and bring him the beer. That little plastic barrel would probably fit nicely on the compressor hump in my fermentation freezer.

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I'll let my friend brew it in accordance with my improved directions and then i'll get to taste the result.

Also FYI, make sure your coworker knows that the ingredients in those kits DO expire. I think the one I acquired was an X-mas gift as well and the extract expires in July of this year. Your friend had better [brew] or get off the [fermenter].

I say fill it with high explosive and detonate it from a safe distance.


For science.

I started with that very kit and the WC pale ale. It wasn't too bad after a month or so in the bottle.

More hops would be OK, but I wouldn't if your friend is a BMC kind of guy. Let him get his feet wet, and then move him on to bigger better.

cheezydemon said:

I started with that very kit and the WC pale ale. It wasn't too bad after a month or so in the bottle.

More hops would be OK, but I wouldn't if your friend is a BMC kind of guy. Let him get his feet wet, and then move him on to bigger better.

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Good to know. He's not a homebrewer (yet), but he's as much of a beer connoisseur as anyone here, so I don't want his first brew to be disappointing. I'll make sure to instruct him to bottle-condition the batch for at least a month. More bittering hop or more aroma hop? I was think of just adding in an aroma addition.

MrFebtober said:

Also, I noticed there's no true airlock on the fermenter, except that the lid is designed to not seal. Has this ever caused a problem for anyone?

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I brewed for 6-ish months in the dorms in Korea with one of those. As long as the temps are kept under control, it's OK. It's mostly about sanitizing - did you clean the fermenter and lid area? You *could* make a seal with weatherstipping, but I didn't need it. Me and my friends never had a bad batch from infection -- always it was too high of a fermentation temp. Then again, in the dorms, it's a bit hard to bring the degrees down much.
-keith