Beermachine, any good?

First off, just saying hi, im new here.

2nd, I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the "beer machine". If you don't know what it is, just check out beermachine.com . I just bought one brand new for $60, along with the canadian red mix. Has anyone had any luck brewing with it? Any tips or tricks that I should know? Any input would be greatly appreciated. thanks

It works. Only real complaint is that it makes 3 gallon batches rather than the standard 5 gallon kits.

Looks pretty much like a fancy Mr. Beer. The good news is you have a response that it works.
The bad news is that you can get a (very) basic 5 gallon brewing setup for around $60. But if a self contained 3 gallon setup works better for you, then you're set!

I actually started with a beer machine 2000. Unfortunately, I didn't have good luck with it. I didn't get any drinkable beer out of it. I still have it in the basement, along with a couple of mixes.

Good luck with it! You may have better luck than I did.

Lorena

I knew coming into beginner brewing that I would need something to see if I wanted to commit to it as a hobby, the pilot brewing systems (fancy name for Beer Machine & Mr Beer) would make an excellent way to get fundamental experience.

From what I've researched, Mr. Beer is a little more true to the process most others are doing with their 5 gallon systems but the Beer Machine is not much different.

I've brewed with it and found the beer, well, drinkable. Now, maybe it's just that my taste is not as eloquent as others but I did not spit it out and trash the batch. On the other hand, it was my first time brewing beer so maybe because it was mine, it tasted pretty good. It lacked "depth" and charecter but the truth be told, I could have bought beer as "good" and probably could have bought beer worse than it.

Many experienced brewers are critical of the closed systems but I think it's a "gateway" that most novice brewers are finding less intimidating and not everyone wants to brew 5 gallons. As I used my Beer Machine, I researched online for my future upgrade to intermediate systems. You can experiement with yours. Make a batch exactly as the directions indicate. Bottle some, drink some, then try altering the fermentation time to seven days rather than five. When that's finished, cold condition it in the fridge for two weeks or better before you drink or bottle, rather then the five days indicated.

Rehydrate your yeast instead of pitching dry. Buy a $10 Mr. Beer fermenter and use is as a secondary fermenter. There are beer kits sold from Mr. Beer that are a little more authentic to home brewing than the dry packs from Beer Machine.

Bottom line, it has potential if you use time honored theory and practice. It's a neat way to see the process at a low risk vantage. Let me know how it turns out.

I tend to be just a bit suspicious of hype - as in:

"The Beer Machine is the single biggest leap forward ever made in the brewing process. It took 5000 years before anyone had this type of experience brewin' beer, but who's countin'?"

But it seems like a reasonable and simple starter set. The process can be a bit intimidating for people who are new to it. It is what kept me from brewing my own for many years after I realized that I wanted to try it. Good luck with it and enjoy the hobby!

The Beer Machine is also how I got into the home brewing hobby. Got it for Christmas and have now brewed four batches in the Beer Machine and bottled two five gallon batches made with the Normal Homebrew Method.

I do like the normal homebrew much better but I still think that the Beer Machine is useful for making small batches and experimenting with. It is easy to take apart and clean, at least I think so, and it is pressurized with a guage to tell just what PSI you have going on in it. Ferment in it for 7 days stick it in the fridge for another 7 to 10 and you end up with about 2 drinkable gallons of beer total, carbed to your taste and on tap.

I am going to try splitting up a Munton's Gold pack and using one of the cans just on the Beer Machine and the other can along with a few pounds more DME and some grain for a 5 lb batch this next weekend. I really hope the "wet" ingredients make a difference in the taste, because there is still a noticeable off flavor common to all the beer I have made in the Beer Machine.

That is my experience with the Beer Machine so far, hope it helps.

I will update as soon as I have the next batch ready to drink.

I just purchased a beer machine off of eBay for 38.00 new. I had to order a new seal and have some premix ready to go. I have never brewed beer before and am excited about trying it.

Any tips or suggestions for me? Is it going to be gross? It seems as though some others have said it doesn't even make "drinkable" beer?

Should I not even bother?

Joopster said:

I just purchased a beer machine off of eBay for 38.00 new. I had to order a new seal and have some premix ready to go. I have never brewed beer before and am excited about trying it.

Any tips or suggestions for me? Is it going to be gross? It seems as though some others have said it doesn't even make "drinkable" beer?

Should I not even bother?

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I think you should go for it. Heck you have already spent the cash. Hopefully it will turn out great!
Cheers!!!

Me and my brother bought a beermachine years ago. the first batch we made turned out great, but after that first batch we could not get the thing to seal up properly again and the 2nd batch turned out horrible. im not sure if you need to replace the rubber seal after each use, but if you check procudt reviews, you will see this is a common experience, it is just poorly designed. But it is better than nothing and if you have fun with the beermachine, you'll be itching to move to full 5G batches soon enough.

jjmadden08 said:

Me and my brother bought a beermachine years ago. the first batch we made turned out great, but after that first batch we could not get the thing to seal up properly again and the 2nd batch turned out horrible. im not sure if you need to replace the rubber seal after each use, but if you check procudt reviews, you will see this is a common experience, it is just poorly designed. But it is better than nothing and if you have fun with the beermachine, you'll be itching to move to full 5G batches soon enough.

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That's interesting. I saw in the instructions to put it in warm water and then freeze the seal and it would return to it's original dimensions. Did you use the Co2 catridges? I hope it works. I would like to do 5G, but I don't even know where to start or understand exactly all the equipment needed.

Joopster said:

That's interesting. I saw in the instructions to put it in warm water and then freeze the seal and it would return to it's original dimensions. Did you use the Co2 catridges? I hope it works. I would like to do 5G, but I don't even know where to start or understand exactly all the equipment needed.

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Congrats on making the first move into your new brewing hobby. You'll find that some brews turn out very good, and others taste horrible. Don't let the latter trick you into quitting, because your next one will be the great one. While you're brewing with the "machine" start reading this website, and come back here often with questions (you'll have a million of 'em). Soon you'll be itching to do bigger, more complex brews and we'll be glad to help you along

www.howtobrew.com

shafferpilot said:

Congrats on making the first move into your new brewing hobby. You'll find that some brews turn out very good, and others taste horrible. Don't let the latter trick you into quitting, because your next one will be the great one. While you're brewing with the "machine" start reading this website, and come back here often with questions (you'll have a million of 'em). Soon you'll be itching to do bigger, more complex brews and we'll be glad to help you along

www.howtobrew.com

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Very good, I have this site bookmarked.

And do you have a honda pilot? Or are you a pilot? I have my SEL Private, working on instrument right now.

Joopster said:

Very good, I have this site bookmarked.

And do you have a honda pilot? Or are you a pilot? I have my SEL Private, working on instrument right now.

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SEL private and working on my instrument as well. I'm having trouble keeping instructors lately cause they keep getting hired by charter outfits and airlines. The last one is now with Delta Elite. I guess we need to hurry up and get certified before this hiring trend stops

Joopster said:

That's interesting. I saw in the instructions to put it in warm water and then freeze the seal and it would return to it's original dimensions. Did you use the Co2 catridges? I hope it works. I would like to do 5G, but I don't even know where to start or understand exactly all the equipment needed.

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Yeah, we tried that and it just couldnt get a good seal after the first use. the CO2 worked good during the first batch but without a air tight seal on the 2nd batch, the C02 was pretty ineffective, we couldnt keep the pressure up, it just leaked right out. keep in mind this was about 4 yrs ago, hopefully they improved on the design and maybe fixed these issues since then.

The beer machine is definitely not the way to start out brewing. I think that it hurts more than anything since you are going to get frustrated when your beer turns out poor. Getting started in 5G batches is extremely easy. If you go to any Homebrew shop site like my own ( got to plug the site) they have homebrew beginner kits that are easy and include most of the time instructions. If you have any questions you can email me through this site or my own and I would be happy to answer any questions you have.
Thanks

How many newbies get anything right the first time?


We learn from our mkistakes. mistakes.

shafferpilot said:

SEL private and working on my instrument as well. I'm having trouble keeping instructors lately cause they keep getting hired by charter outfits and airlines. The last one is now with Delta Elite. I guess we need to hurry up and get certified before this hiring trend stops

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Thist hiring trend has ceased...

jjmadden08 said:

Me and my brother bought a beermachine years ago. the first batch we made turned out great, but after that first batch we could not get the thing to seal up properly again and the 2nd batch turned out horrible. im not sure if you need to replace the rubber seal after each use, but if you check procudt reviews, you will see this is a common experience, it is just poorly designed. But it is better than nothing and if you have fun with the beermachine, you'll be itching to move to full 5G batches soon enough.

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I am a Beer Machine owner with the same problem. I had 2 good batches and the rest had problems with leaking. I had a batch in the fridge that was ok and then I pumped some co2 and **** started leaking. When I moved to the new apartment I wanted to give it another shot and bought new mixes (3pack) but once again I had a fermentor problem with the pressure. I think BM is nice if it didnt have seal problems. I dont even want to use it as a keg since I am afraid it will leak.

The Pol said:

Thist hiring trend has ceased...

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indeed. and my flight school is acting like it's about to go belly up: selling training aircraft, advertising new maintenance services to owners at the airport, etc... then again, are ANY industries in a hiring boom?

The seal is a known problem with the beer machine. Some people have advocated using food grade lube on the gasket ( In the case of a newbie brewer - you could put a very very light, almost nonexistent, film of clean vaseline on the gasket.)

Best of luck

shafferpilot said:

indeed. and my flight school is acting like it's about to go belly up: selling training aircraft, advertising new maintenance services to owners at the airport, etc... then again, are ANY industries in a hiring boom?

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No, but regardless of the economy, the airlines will be contracting for a while. There will be no net gain in seats, but there will be a shift in domestic capacity from the majors to the regionals. Majors are just not profitable on these domestic routes anymore.

Looks pretty good but this is the first time i have heard of it. I watched the videos and read a lot about it and seems pretty nice

I almost went with the Beer Machine way earlier this year. It looked like a good way to get my foot in the door. But then I found the Cooper's Kit: Fermenter big enough for 6+ gallons, 30 740ml PET bottles and caps, and you get the pre-hopped lager mix (not great but not bad). All for a price cheaper than I saw the Beer Machine anywhere (when you include the bottles). Now that is a great starter kit for home brewing IMO. Get your feet wet with some pre-hopped extracts (similar to what MrBeer and Beer Machine use) and then when you're ready for the real thing you have an excellant fermenter (blows away my bucket) and enough bottles for a 6 gallon batch of beer.

I got into homebrewing thru a Mr.Beer Kit on sale for $7 this last christmas, which I've used to cook up a few batches by now - some iffy, some alright... Now today I found a (old model) Beer Machine Kit in a thrift store for $5: seems to have all the pieces with it, including CO2 capsules and two "powdered" beer mixes hard as bricks.

From what I've been reading on this thread, the Beer Machine has three main drawbacks: the beer sits in the starter yeast for good, the non-boil mixes are questionable and the seals tend to fail.

Two real simple questions to the experienced brewers on the site:

One - I could use my Mr. Beer as a primary and then use the Beer Machine as a secondary/priming/keg... does this sound like a good idea?

Two - I foolishly bought a Wyeast Activator liquid ale yeast, but I don't have a 5 gallon fermenter. I can just pitch this into two batches (mrbeer + beermachine) right?

Three - What's a good & easy way to be sure that the seals on this Beer Machine are
tight and I won't ruin a batch by using it? I'm poor enough at the moment not to afford to waste beer mixes...

These questions might be real elementary, but I'm still pretty stupid with this new hobby! Thanks.

I want to try the beer machine now!

I have 3 beermachines and the big flaw is the seal. I have even put my beer from my carboy in it, I bottled half and put the rest in the beer machine with a half cup of sugar.The problem with the seals is that you can never get enough pressure on the beer without it squirting out the sides. It never seemed carbonated right.But, good luck.

riteandritual said:

Two - I foolishly bought a Wyeast Activator liquid ale yeast, but I don't have a 5 gallon fermenter. I can just pitch this into two batches (mrbeer + beermachine) right?

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That one pack of yeast would be best used in one batch. It could be tricky to split it evenly and then both batches would probably be underpitched (not enough yeast). If you're up for it, you could use the Activator in one batch, then reuse the first batch's yeast for the second batch.