Does anyone know anything about the "Beer Machine 200"?

It's the "Beer Machine 2000" not 200

I've never seen this before, it's on sale at JC Pennys for $99.99 and includes 1 beer kit($30 value). Now it says it makes enough for 28 - 12oz bottles, but that's 5.25 gallons which is impossible if you look at the pics of it sitting in the fridge.

http://www.beermachine.com/shop/product.php?productid=16134


I'd like to know how many gallons it holds and the process in making the beer. Ready in 10 days is pretty interesting but you have the option of waiting longer. If possible, which should be, I'd use it for expierimenting with various recipe's coming up with more of my own beer's.

Mr Bigins said:

It's the "Beer Machine 2000" not 200

I've never seen this before, it's on sale at JC Pennys for $99.99 and includes 1 beer kit($30 value). Now it says it makes enough for 28 - 12oz bottles, but that's 5.25 gallons which is impossible if you look at the pics of it sitting in the fridge.

http://www.beermachine.com/shop/product.php?productid=16134


I'd like to know how many gallons it holds and the process in making the beer. Ready in 10 days is pretty interesting but you have the option of waiting longer. If possible, which should be, I'd use it for expierimenting with various recipe's coming up with more of my own beer's.

Click to expand...

Your math is off quite a bit. 28 12oz bottles is NOT 5.25 gallons. A 5 gallon batch will fill approximately 48 to 52 12 oz bottles - at least when I bottle.

You didn't say how many gallons it is. It looks like a 2.5 gallon unit, which would be easy to epieriment with, and then double it for 5 gallon batches. I have 1 recipe I came up with so these expierimental brews won't be disasters.

I bought the Beer Machine 2000 in April of this year. We read all kinds of reviews and decided on the Beer Machine over Mr. Beer. It was a $100 mistake. Each "kit" costs $24 and makes 2 gallons of barely drinkable beer. We even bought the "bottling upgrade". After two batches, we took it apart and put it in the basement and started homebrewing. I'm thinking about putting it on Ebay, with the "bottling upgrade" and a mix. It's simple to use, but I think Miller Lite tastes much better than the "Dutch Lager" and Canadian Ale that came out of that Beer Machine. And I don't like Miller Lite at all.

The process is simple- you buy their kits (you HAVE to buy theirs, nothing else works because of the way it works). You add water to the line, add the powdered mix and then put it in a spot of around 70 degrees. After a week, you put it in the fridge. Then, you use the co2 cartridges they sell you to pump out the beer. Again, it's barely drinkable. We were very disappointed with the whole thing, and will never use it again.

It's cheaper and easier to buy a 7.5 gallon bucket, a Brewer's Best extract kit, and some cheap tubing. You get 5 gallons of good beer at a much better price.

Anyway, that's my experience with that.

Lorena

Anyway you can use this for a mini keg?

Boy, I don't know if it could be used as a minikeg. It is airtight, and you can add pressure with those little CO2 cartridges. That means it should work, right? But those cartridges are very small and you get maybe one or two beers per cartridge.

But, supposing you primed your beer before putting it in there- it might work. And the Beer Machine 2000 has a pressure gauge so you'd know if it was too high or too carbonated. It also has a pressure relief valve, so it shouldn't blow up if it was too high. I'd think there's a 50/50 chance it would work.

I'd be interested to hear what others think- I'm not experienced with kegging at all since I've bottled all my beer. But you've got me thinking, "Hmmmmm". I have a red ale in secondary now, and it would be easier to put 1/3 or so of it in there. I think it holds around 2 or 2.5 gallons. There's alot of headspace from the line (where you are supposed to fill up to) to the top. There's a defoamer disc in the cap, which sticks downward about 2 or 3 inches into the top. So, you have to leave a certain amount of headspace and not fill to the top. It's got a float assembly for serving, with the little tap handle.

This might work as a mini-keg. Maybe I'll give it a try, and not do ebay quite yet.
Do you think it'd work?

Lorena

"to get beer any fresher youd have to crawl inside a fermentation tank"
um yeah I've been there.

I use mine as a mini keg. I have ~ 1.5gallons of Kolsch in there now. WOrks ok, but it does tend to eat the CO2 pretty quick. Mine has a small leak near one of the fittings, but I am going to seal that fitting permanently when the Kolsch is gone.

Despite the leak and the CO2 issue, this is the best use for a Beer Machine!

-Todd

Todd- Do you think priming the beer would help? It'd save on those tiny co2 cartridges.

Or do you think it'd be over-carbed?

Lorena

lorenae said:

Todd- Do you think priming the beer would help? It'd save on those tiny co2 cartridges.

Or do you think it'd be over-carbed?

Lorena

Click to expand...

So you'd prime the beer as you would for bottling, fill the keg and bottle the rest. It souldn't be over carbonated, it should work.

I hope yeu get something out of this thread, because it doesn't sound like I can do what I want to do with it.

I did prime mine. The gauge on the top showed it was under 15psi after carbonating. After pouring two or three drafts, it dropped to ~5psi. Pour a few more..it dropped do nothing. I would charge it to 10psi with the cylinder. But it also has a slow leak. Once I finish off the Kolsch, I plan on giving it a thourough clenaing and then permently sealing some of the connecitons. it will require more vigilance in sanitation/cleaning, but will be worth it.

Overall, it worked well. I bottled ~2.5gallons and put ~2.5 in the beer machine.....draft beer for now...long term bottles/sixers to take to friends place. Just need to work the bugs out in terms of sealing. Again, this is the best use of a beer machine....making beer isn't.


-Todd

Consider getting a 3 gallon carboy for 1\2 batches. I would think this would be better than the beer machine and you could use your own ingredients.

I have used the beer machine to make a couple of batches that turned out pretty good. The post above about using a lot of CO2 cartriges is right. I bought some extra cartridges from another homebrew supplier and they dont really work with the beer machine. Something about the type of plug or cap on the cartridge not mating up with the beer maching CO2 piercing mechanism. Insuring the beer machine is airtight before you make beer will be manatory and you could run through some CO2 accomplishing that. The last batch I made the (American Blond) I racked off to a party pig and Im using that to dispense the beer. It has lots of carbonation and is pretty clear. I used the Insinglass as a clarifying agent after fermentation and before I racked off to the party pig. (I seem to be hung up on clarifying the beer) You can use a party pig as your fermentor also but you will need a stopper and a airlock. I like the 2-1/2 gal size since I dont want to drink 5 gal of the same beer (not to mention storage) and I am mostly the one thats drinks all the beer. I have a Haier frig (about 7 cu ft) that can hold a couple of party pigs and some bottles. I would rather have several smaller batches going than one big batch. The wife is only going to allow so much room for this stuff! I probably have a couple hundred bucks in equipment already and I have a list to buy more, this is becomming an expensive hobby. I plan on building a brewhouse out back as soon as I hit the lottery.