Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

FreshZ said:

After reading the instructions and "how to brew", I was wondering about boiling. Since I had no booster, I basically just boiled water, then added the HME. Did I even need to do that or is it still good for sanitation purposes?

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Yes, you needed to boil. For sanitization/sterilization purposes you should always boil for at least 10 minutes. Boils for longer than 10 minutes are used to either cause reactions to sugars that make them less fermentable (like in Dogfishhead 120 Minute), or to extract more bitterness from hops.

Theoretically the HME should be sterile-ish, and theoretically your water should be as well. However, there are no guarantees, and boiling for ten minutes to preserve the flavor and integrity of a couple gallons of beer is a pretty small price to pay.

Another question. I have 1 more HME and 3 packs of booster. Could I use 2 or more packs of booster in 1 batch with 1 can of HME? Is this going to bring down the flavor or otherwise ruin the beer? Thanks.

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+1 to what Kealia said.

RTPalmer said:

So a follow up question, thanks a bunch for answering previous question btw. I used a tab of the whirfloc in my first 5gal batch, a red, and I was told it was okay to not filter while putting the wort into the primary, justification being in that it will settle into the yeast cake. I'll be racking the primary into the secondary this week. Your opinion on filter/no filter?

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Filtering alters the flavor of beer by removing proteins. You will notice this more readily in partial mash or steeped grain recipes. If you wish to filter the beer, and have that capability, it is completely up to you. Many people make perfectly clear beer without filtration, however, so YMMV.

As for "filtering" in-between cooling the wort and placing it in primary: that is your own call. If you are using MrB as intended, i.e. bottling from it, then you will lose a lot of stuff to the yeast cake anyways, and I agree that "filtering" it before putting it in the fermentation keg is probably not essential. If you are using a bottling bucket, and if you are the type to try to get every last drop of available beer... your clarity will suffer. Then again, if you are bottle carbing your beer, then there will be yeast in your bottle anyways so why stress it?

I think that unless you are 1) kegging or 2) willing to "waste" some beer, you will never achieve a commercial level of clarity. That's just my opinion, though... I could be wrong about that.

Justibone said:

Yes, you needed to boil. For sanitization/sterilization purposes you should always boil for at least 10 minutes. Boils for longer than 10 minutes are used to either cause reactions to sugars that make them less fermentable (like in Dogfishhead 120 Minute), or to extract more bitterness from hops.

Theoretically the HME should be sterile-ish, and theoretically your water should be as well. However, there are no guarantees, and boiling for ten minutes to preserve the flavor and integrity of a couple gallons of beer is a pretty small price to pay.

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Adding the hopped extract to boiling hot water will pasteurize it (but it does not need it.) Boiling hopped extract will boil off the aroma and flavor from the hops. So don't boil it unless your adding hops or don't want any hop aroma.

Boiling will not effect fermentablity. That is set in the mash at the extract's brewery.

Malticulous said:

Boiling will not effect fermentablity.

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https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/long-boil-4929/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/120-ipa-question-225155/

I was under the impression that a longer boil changes the nature of the sugars to be darker and also less fermentable.
Darker? Yes, noticeable.
Less fermentable? Yes, but not necessarily noticeable.

I don't think this matter is completely settled, but for extract brewers I think it is sufficient to say that longer boiling equals darker color, and not worry about a few points of gravity per hour of boil or whatever it actually turns out to be. Unless you are making a barleywine or doing 5-10 gal. AG batches, it is probably not relevant.

A boil will not caramelize wort. It's not hot enough. It can cause maillard reactions when boiled at excessively high gravities, thus the use of a late extract addition--even at flameout. I've never seen it's effect on fermentabilty tested. My decoction mashes do have some but if anything are more fermentable.

It is true dark extract tends to be less fermentable but again that goes back to the brewery that made it.

Justibone said:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/long-boil-4929/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/120-ipa-question-225155/

I was under the impression that a longer boil changes the nature of the sugars to be darker and also less fermentable.
Darker? Yes, noticeable.
Less fermentable? Yes, but not necessarily noticeable.

I don't think this matter is completely settled, but for extract brewers I think it is sufficient to say that longer boiling equals darker color, and not worry about a few points of gravity per hour of boil or whatever it actually turns out to be. Unless you are making a barleywine or doing 5-10 gal. AG batches, it is probably not relevant.

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That would be news to me, too. I also understand that the fermentability of the wort is set during the mash and that boiling it later would only darken it. Of course I would expect some of it to get carmelized by getting stuck to the pot somewhere (likely the bottom), but as you noted, not enough to notice or be measurable to the average home brewer.

When dealing with MrB (or any hopped extract for that matter) you would definitely be changing the hop profile. You'd lose the aroma to the flavor, and the flavor to bitterness I'd think as the times for each of those additions would be increased with an additional boil time (past what the manufacturer has already done).

I'll be bottling my first Mr. Brew batch this weekend. I want to batch prime instead of bottle prime because I want consistency and I will also be using a combo of 12/16oz bottles. My plan is to rack out of Mr. Beer fermenter, clean/sanitize Mr. Beer, and rack back into him on top of boiled sugar/water priming solution. My goal is to still use Mr. Beer for bottling, as I don't have a bottling bucket yet.

I have two questions. First, as i don't have any other fermentation vessel other than Mr. beer, does anybody see a problem with racking out of Mr. Beer into a big (sterilized) pot for the 10 minutes it takes to clean Mr. Beer, and then rack back into him for bottling? I'm worried about oxygenation.

Second, does anybody see any problems with this process as a whole? Id really like to stick with batch priming for consistency. I don't want to just dump boiled water/priming sugar into Mr. Beer and then mix it because I see more opportunity for oxygenation there than my ideal plan, and, i want as clean a beer as possible.

Any insight?

NCGrayson said:

I'll be bottling my first Mr. Brew batch this weekend. I want to batch prime instead of bottle prime because I want consistency and I will also be using a combo of 12/16oz bottles. My plan is to rack out of Mr. Beer fermenter, clean/sanitize Mr. Beer, and rack back into him on top of boiled sugar/water priming solution. My goal is to still use Mr. Beer for bottling, as I don't have a bottling bucket yet.

I have two questions. First, as i don't have any other fermentation vessel other than Mr. beer, does anybody see a problem with racking out of Mr. Beer into a big (sterilized) pot for the 10 minutes it takes to clean Mr. Beer, and then rack back into him for bottling? I'm worried about oxygenation.

Second, does anybody see any problems with this process as a whole? Id really like to stick with batch priming for consistency. I don't want to just dump boiled water/priming sugar into Mr. Beer and then mix it because I see more opportunity for oxygenation there than my ideal plan, and, i want as clean a beer as possible.

Any insight?

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I think it will work fine, but your right oxidation could be an issue. Be careful not to splash or let on air in the siphon lines and it will be alright. Normally oxidation shows more with age so drink them fast.

Bulk priming will more evenly distribute priming sugar and the remaining yeast.

Malticulous said:

I think it will work fine, but your right oxidation could be an issue. Be careful not to splash or let on air in the siphon lines and it will be alright. Normally oxidation shows more with age so drink them fast.

Bulk priming will more evenly distribute priming sugar and the remaining yeast.

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Thanks. I weighed my options, and both options have some risk of oxidation, (but doesn't just about everything?!?), I think it'll be about 15 mins at max from the time I rack to a pot until they are in bottles either capped or ez-flipped. Now....to calculate my priming sugar...

There are a number of priming sugar calculators out there like this one.

I assume you know, but just to make sure: Make sure to cool the sugar/water before adding it to the beer.

Kealia said:

There are a number of priming sugar calculators out there like this one.

I assume you know, but just to make sure: Make sure to cool the sugar/water before adding it to the beer.

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Thanks! I have seen and used that calculator. My batch is the west coast pale ale, fermented at 68 degrees. I calculated 2.2oz of sucrose or 2.3 of glucose...someone care to check me? Also, just to be sure, I can't remember if I boil that in 6-8 oz of water or 16-18 oz of water...I saw something like that in one of these 300+ pages

I don't cool. I put it in the bottling bucket and rack the beer on top. Some of the yeast will die () but the shear amount off beer will cool it off fairly quickly.

Just got one a couple days ago for 15 dollars at Bed Bath and Beyond. They also had refills for half off as well. Only wish the beer had a higher abv from the kit. I think the three deluxe beers (one from kit, two from refill) will be the last I buy from them before moving to all LME (all grain is years down the road). I think I might start with either the pale ale or the Canadian since I have never had the Canadian style (not a very popular style where I live).

Can I get away with just filtering water with a Brita? The water already is safe enough to drink from the tap, but I want to double purify to be on the safe side. I don't ecologically agree with buying water from the bottle.

I don't have the bottles...if I use empty 2-liter soda bottles (yes clear, lucky for me, I don't much sunshine in my house that would cause skunkiness), would I be able to ensure a seal tight enough for two weeks of carbonating and 1 month of conditioning?

NadoHawk said:

...wish the beer had a higher abv from the kit. I think the three deluxe beers (one from kit, two from refill) will be the last I buy from them before moving to all LME...

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What refills do you have? Might be possible to get you brewing up a tastier and higher ABV brew.

I have West Coast Pale Ale, High Country Canadian Draft (don't want to do too much to this one to preserve original flavor), and the Weizenbier (was thinking of adding coriander or cloves and orange peel...maybe a little brown sugar, but not too much to avoid off flavors).

NCGrayson said:

Any insight?

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Carbonation tabs might be a good option for you until you get another fermentor. I've never used them, but it is something you could consider.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/coopers-carbonation-tabs-141008/

I don't tend to worry too much about oxygenation in beer as much as I worry about it for wine, and there are a few reasons for that:
1) bottle carbing - the yeast multiply and use up some of the oxygen
2) kegging - CO2 pressurization decreases the relative concentration of oxygen
3) I drink my beers pretty quickly

YMMV.

(And now someone will commence to telling me why I'm an idiot...LOL. )

Malticulous said:

I don't cool. I put it in the bottling bucket and rack the beer on top. Some of the yeast will die () but the sheer amount of beer will cool it off fairly quickly.

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16 oz. super-heated water @ approx. 110C

256 oz. room temperature beer @ approx 25C

272 oz. @ approx. (.058*110)+(.942*25)= (6.38+23.55) = 29.93C = 84.79F

I think the yeast would be fine without cooling the sugar solution before racking the beer on top, and that's even assuming a high osmotic pressure from dissolved sugar (I just assumed 110C, I didn't do the calculation). Yeast actually prefer higher temps. It's brewers who prefer lower temps for them, but that's really only during primary fermentation.

Based on the instructions that come with MrB, I would be more concerned with potentially damaging the MrB fermenter with hot liquid... but not too concerned.

Cheers.

NadoHawk said:

Can I get away with just filtering water with a Brita? The water already is safe enough to drink from the tap, but I want to double purify to be on the safe side. I don't ecologically agree with buying water from the bottle.

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Absolutely. I've used a Brita many times, but only for beer. I don't use it for wine because bacteria or spores can survive in the filter. That's harmless in drinking water, because the pH of your stomach kills most everything off, but adding a microbe-load to a fermentation is a bad thing. Beer you boil, though, so it kills the little bugs off before they can start their monkey-business.

I would not add un-boiled Brita water to a fermentation, though.

I don't have the bottles...if I use empty 2-liter soda bottles (yes clear, lucky for me, I don't much sunshine in my house that would cause skunkiness), would I be able to ensure a seal tight enough for two weeks of carbonating and 1 month of conditioning?

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Yes.

Watch out for off-flavors from the used soda bottles. Some people report that root beer bottles are unsatisfactory for that reason.

Opaque shrink wrap or some kind of pigment (Sharpie?) on the outside of the bottle might reduce your risk of sun-skunking, but if you're not worried about it, then no need. Remember that some fluorescent lights also have sufficient energy to skunk your beer, so watch out for those as well.

NadoHawk said:

I have West Coast Pale Ale, High Country Canadian Draft (don't want to do too much to this one to preserve original flavor), and the Weizenbier (was thinking of adding coriander or cloves and orange peel...maybe a little brown sugar, but not too much to avoid off flavors).

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I don't think that Canadian is a true style. I think it's a brand-name, basically.

Beer Styles - BeerAdvocate

Most homebrewers would probably suggest: go easy on the cloves.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/too-many-cloves-148218/

I've always loved craft brew (which is why I like crafting my own), but I found the HCCD to be a bit too much like a BMC for my taste. I replaced the Booster with 1lb LME and it was just too light and thin for my taste. My in-laws (who enjoy my beer) did like it so I bought a refill cheap at BB&B after Xmas to brew up for them again.

This time around I'm using 1lb DME + 1/2 pack of Booster with a 20 min boil of Centennial hops to try to kick it up a bit. I still plan on giving the batch to them but:
1) I want to see what this does to it
2) The entire batch is going to cost me less than $10, so why not play around a bit

I have a Canadian draft. This is what i have planed for it.
Hopville . "AAA Mr. Porter" Robust Porter Recipe
I'll brew it for my MIL at her house.

NadoHawk said:

I have West Coast Pale Ale, High Country Canadian Draft (don't want to do too much to this one to preserve original flavor), and the Weizenbier (was thinking of adding coriander or cloves and orange peel...maybe a little brown sugar, but not too much to avoid off flavors).

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I don't see anything that stands out using a combo of those HMEs.
You can check out the Mr. Beer Recipes to see if anything looks good to you.

If you have a LHBS you can pick up any extra hops and sub DME for the UME.

I might have a unique situation here - I stupidly opened the Mr Beer keg after 12 days of fermentation for about 20 seconds. I was planning on bottling on Monday but now since I found out that one should not open the keg at ANY time during fermentation, I'm wondering if I should go ahead and bottle tonight.

Should I go ahead and bottle today (didn't taste sweet) because I opened the lid? Or is it alright at this point because it's mostly fermented?

JMath said:

I might have a unique situation here - I stupidly opened the Mr Beer keg after 12 days of fermentation for about 20 seconds. I was planning on bottling on Monday but now since I found out that one should not open the keg at ANY time during fermentation, I'm wondering if I should go ahead and bottle tonight.

Should I go ahead and bottle today (didn't taste sweet) because I opened the lid? Or is it alright at this point because it's mostly fermented?

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With the lid closed there is a nice CO2 blanket over the beer that keeps out oxygen. Opening the lid lets some of the CO2 out and you may possibly introduce a contaminate. That said...opening the lid does not automatically ruin your beer.
You can bottle today or Monday as you wish.

The_Professor said:

With the lid closed there is a nice CO2 blanket over the beer that keeps out oxygen. Opening the lid lets some of the CO2 out and you may possibly introduce a contaminate. That said...opening the lid does not automatically ruin your beer.
You can bottle today or Monday as you wish.

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Thanks. After looking over a few other posts, it sounds like I am okay to wait, as I'd rather let it go a little longer.

Hey, I'm ready to make my first batch (ENGLISHMAN'S NUT-BROWN ALE) and I read in the instructions that there may be green leaf particles that won't dissolve. Should a put a sterile cheese cloth over the MR. BEER and filter out these or will they dissolve as it is fermenting?

Greetings all,

Have a question, I've got a Mr Beer Kit and got my first batch of High Country Canadian ale bottle conditoning atm. I was wondering if for my next batch if I can throw a can of Pale Ale and a can of Vienna Lager together instead of doing each one seperately with the booster. I'll be looking to make an ale type batch since i keep my house at consistent 68 degrees. Also was thinking of adding some brown sugar to primary or some molasses. Any thoughts?

I just did my first batch with my new Mr. Beer kit. I used the included HME West Coast Pale Ale but added a few touches to it after talking to a friend at the LHBS.

Here's what I did, let me know what you think:

1 Can HME West Coast Pale Ale
1 Cup Mr. Beer Booster
1 Cup Orange Blossom Honey
1/2 oz Willhamette Hops

I added the hops to the boil and boiled 10 minutes

One problem, I was not able to strain the hops out when I put the wort into the fermenter. Is that going to cause issues?

Thanks!

No it not a big deal. They probably will have settled into the yeast by the time you bottle.

I actually just bottled a kit that said the same thing about leaf particles (hops). I didn't use the sack and let the hops settle into the yeast cake, it was fine. However, I talked to them on the chat and they advised using the sack and actually leaving the hop sack in the fermented. Hope this helps.

Gonzo437 said:

I just did my first batch with my new Mr. Beer kit. I used the included HME West Coast Pale Ale but added a few touches to it after talking to a friend at the LHBS.

Here's what I did, let me know what you think:

1 Can HME West Coast Pale Ale
1 Cup Mr. Beer Booster
1 Cup Orange Blossom Honey
1/2 oz Willhamette Hops

I added the hops to the boil and boiled 10 minutes

One problem, I was not able to strain the hops out when I put the wort into the fermenter. Is that going to cause issues?

Thanks!

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Not what you want to hear but that's going to take some time to condition into a decent beer. What you have is a lot of sugar compared to the amount of malt which means your beer is going to be pretty 'thin' in terms of mouthfeel and somewhat cidery for a while.

This would have been fine if you had used some more malt to offset the sugar/adjuncts, but as it stands you just need to know what to expect.

I'm not saying that it won't be good and you won't like it, but if you are expecting a hefty craft brew feel you're not going to get it. And don't be surprised if takes about 2 months in the bottle before you like it.

Conleth said:

Greetings all,

Have a question, I've got a Mr Beer Kit and got my first batch of High Country Canadian ale bottle conditoning atm. I was wondering if for my next batch if I can throw a can of Pale Ale and a can of Vienna Lager together instead of doing each one seperately with the booster. I'll be looking to make an ale type batch since i keep my house at consistent 68 degrees. Also was thinking of adding some brown sugar to primary or some molasses. Any thoughts?

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Can you? Sure.
Is it the West Coast Pale Ale (hopped extract) or the Pale unhopped extract?
Using a can of the unhopped is just adding some more light malt to the brew which would be good. If it's the WCPA then you are mixing two hopped extracts with somewhat unknown profiles. You can do it for sure - but it's going to make the beer "hoppier" than if you just used one can - and use a mix of hops.

I've never mixed those two together so I can't tell you if that's going to be a good mix or a bad mix. But, it's easy to do so you certainly can experiment.

Gonzo437 said:

I just did my first batch with my new Mr. Beer kit. I used the included HME West Coast Pale Ale but added a few touches to it after talking to a friend at the LHBS.

Here's what I did, let me know what you think:

1 Can HME West Coast Pale Ale
1 Cup Mr. Beer Booster
1 Cup Orange Blossom Honey
1/2 oz Willhamette Hops

I added the hops to the boil and boiled 10 minutes

One problem, I was not able to strain the hops out when I put the wort into the fermenter. Is that going to cause issues?

Thanks!

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Next time, you should cut the Booster to half when adding a cup of honey.

Just finished all 316 pages of this post and feel like I have made quite the accomplishment! I bottled my first batch (the WCPA) today and immediately started my next batch which is the Whispering Wheat Wizenbier. I was smarter about this batch using a pound of DME and some better yeast thanks to all the advice in this thread. I am hooked for sure and am anxious to learn more advanced techniques and drink lots of homebrew!

First Post... figure it should go here...
i too, got a mr beer from woot, b/c well, i was on christmas break from work and thought, "I like beer, i like to learn how things are made, why not make some beer?"

I work with a guy who is a longtime homebrewer, and his stuff is great, but I felt the cost was "prohibitive" to getting started. (sounds familiar i realize, after reading 300+ pages of this thread)

I am very glad I found this place before brewing my first kit, which arrived yesterday. I was able to get some UME from my coworker, and replaced the booster. It's currently in the fermenter, bubbling away...

i'm now shopping for supplies for my second brew.

i have extremely limited space, to brew/ferment in and am considering a northern brewer 2 gallon bucket, so i can alternate the mr beer and then the brewbucket, and still produce smaller batches. anyone tried one of these? pros/cons?

my first "drewbrew" recipe at the moment i think, will be this.
NB Gold Malt Extract
Cascade Hops
dark brown sugar
Muntons brewer's yeast.

any "gotchas" in my first batch outside of the mr beer? thanks in advance, and thanks for the hundreds of awesome ideas i've gained from reading this entire thread. (not to mention the hours i spent)

drew

I have a batch in the fermentor and am bottling soon. I don't have a bottling bucket and was considering just placing the priming sugar in the bottles as per instructions. Would mixing the sugar in water and adding it directly to the mr beer keg stir up too much trub? I'm buying my 5 gal kit this weekend so I won't have to worry for too much longer, because I can add the sugar to the secondary with that kit. Any advice? I know I read a similar post earlier but cannot find it.
Thanks

Just brewed a lager myself bottled it a week ago and just cracked open a bottle tastes like vegemite it was horrible I should of waited I'm not opening another one for two more weeks

Walzenbrew said:

I have a batch in the fermentor and am bottling soon. I don't have a bottling bucket and was considering just placing the priming sugar in the bottles as per instructions. Would mixing the sugar in water and adding it directly to the mr beer keg stir up too much trub? I'm buying my 5 gal kit this weekend so I won't have to worry for too much longer, because I can add the sugar to the secondary with that kit. Any advice? I know I read a similar post earlier but cannot find it.
Thanks

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Priming per bottle Always worked really well for me and was easy because I had the Mr. Beer measure and only used 500ml or 1 litre bottles so I'd say it is a good method BUT, if you are going to be using lots of different sized bottles, batch priming will be more convenient.

You probably could get away with adding a sugar water mix to the Mr. Beer LBK but in order to get even distribution you'd have to swirl the keg around to the point that you'd have a helluva lot of yeast in suspension again.

What I'd suggest is to get a cheap, 10 litre, plastic water tank with spigot from Kmart, or somewhere similar sugar water solution into it and rack your beer onto that. Should give you a nice, even, carbonation throughout your bottles.

mrpscr1 said:

Hey, I'm ready to make my first batch (ENGLISHMAN'S NUT-BROWN ALE) and I read in the instructions that there may be green leaf particles that won't dissolve. Should a put a sterile cheese cloth over the MR. BEER and filter out these or will they dissolve as it is fermenting?

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The leaves won't dissolve, but as Malticulous said, they will probably settle.

If they don't settle, then you can either try to fish them out at bottling, let them into your bottle and drink around them, or just don't bottle that last bit of beer where they are floating.

Most things that go into beer don't float, though, so I wouldn't worry just yet.

OClairBrew said:

Just finished all 316 pages of this post and feel like I have made quite the accomplishment!

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Yes. Yes, you have. :fro:

I bottled my first batch (the WCPA) today and immediately started my next batch which is the Whispering Wheat Wizenbier. I was smarter about this batch using a pound of DME and some better yeast thanks to all the advice in this thread. I am hooked for sure and am anxious to learn more advanced techniques and drink lots of homebrew!

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Stick around and you'll learn a lot! I'm still learning, and I think that it's all about the attitude -- about not being too proud to take advice and change things you thought you knew.