Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

So you guys who use grain in your MrB batches, do you allow more empty space in there to contain blowoff? Or do you use Fermcap-S or something?

I just picture someone using grains, getting more head proteins, and then watching kreusen erupt out of the non-sealed cap.

Justibone said:

So you guys who use grain in your MrB batches, do you allow more empty space in there to contain blowoff? Or do you use Fermcap-S or something?

I just picture someone using grains, getting more head proteins, and then watching kreusen erupt out of the non-sealed cap.

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I don't really do anything differently when I use grains. I generally try to keep my fermentation temperatures below 65, which probably helps keep the krausen down a little. I've only had a couple of batches overflow, and those were only slight overflows, not blowoffs.

Agreed. I think the the keg will hold 2.5 gallons to the brim and I typically brew somewhere between 2.3 and 2.4 gallons in it so there's not a LOT of headspace but I've only had one overflow a bit (average gravity pale ale with a full sachet of US-05).

Knock on wood.

Whoa, I've read 176 pages of the thread so far and still more to go !

several recommended to disregard the mr. beer directions when priming the bottles and instead add the entire amount of sugar (I used corn sugar, to (A cup of) boiling water and then let it continue to boil for a few minutes.

I followed those directions for the first time on my last batch and the sugar solution became a solid state (almost rock hard) seconds after taking out off of the stove. When I put into my bottling bucket, it was pretty difficult for the sugar mixture to separate as I mixed it into beer. (the beer turned out fine, in the end).

Is this (rock hard sugar) normal ? Should I use more water for the sugar solution when I bottle my 5gal next batch tonight (it has been conditioning for 18 days)

skorasaurus said:

Whoa, I've read 176 pages of the thread so far and still more to go !

several recommended to disregard the mr. beer directions when priming the bottles and instead add the entire amount of sugar (I used corn sugar, to (A cup of) boiling water and then let it continue to boil for a few minutes.

I followed those directions for the first time on my last batch and the sugar solution became a solid state (almost rock hard) seconds after taking out off of the stove. When I put into my bottling bucket, it was pretty difficult for the sugar mixture to separate as I mixed it into beer. (the beer turned out fine, in the end).

Is this (rock hard sugar) normal ? Should I use more water for the sugar solution when I bottle my 5gal next batch tonight (it has been conditioning for 18 days)

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Sounds like you cooked the sugar and made candy. You don't want the sugar to crystallize; you want it to dissolve.

skorasaurus said:

Is this (rock hard sugar) normal ? Should I use more water for the sugar solution when I bottle my 5gal next batch tonight (it has been conditioning for 18 days)

Click to expand...

Use more water.

I got started with a kit someone gave me, too. May have been my parents, who, after I graduate from college, were trying to get me to do anything other than sit on my ass all day long. I think it was Mr. Beer, but I can't even be sure. The kit didn't have the fancy plastic brown barrel, more of a translucent orangish drink dispenser/jug. Saw it yesterday, neglected, in the basement next to the kitty litter trays. Definitely had the plastic bottles, though.

I followed the instructions verbatim: table sugar and all. I remember how horrified I was at the result (and disappointed). Nothing in the world like that cidery cane-sugar finish to a beer! I'll give credit to the beer kit, though. As soon as I failed I wanted to figure out how to make beer that was like what I drank in college. (A senior in college--not the cheap crap I drank in all the years leading up to that point.)

Yeah, I think that was a Cooper's kit, maybe?

My first MrB batch put me off brewing for twelve years.

I received a Mr. Beer for christmas last year, somehow, I skipped it and went straight to apple cider in a carboy. I'd like to think my priorities are straight, but some may disagree! I'm very excited about this first batch of home brew!

This conversation has sparked my interest in these homebrew kits, though. I might try to find a cheap one somewhere and brew up some stuff just to see what it's like. I'll replace the sugar with dme. I saw in one of these threads where someone was using them for test batches or experiments, which is a pretty interesting notion. Obviously, there will difference when 1) you scale the recipe and 2) move it to all grain. At least if you create a really crappy beer you're only down a gallon or two and not five. There's actually a book out now that talks about brewing small batches.

I have read through quite a lot of the pages in this thread and it seems that Mr Beer is a good starter option (especially if you don't want to brew much at a time). I tend to only drink a few beers each weekend so brewing 5 gallons at a time seems a bit excessive. So my question is:

What are the disadvantages of using a Mr Beer?

(the answer may have been posted but by the time I get through all 293 pages I could have ordered, received and started brewing my Mr Beer!)

I don't see one except the lack of beer. I had a decent all grain setup that I sold and I'm going to be brewing stove top all grain Mr beer batches because I don't need 5 gallons of the same beer

The only disadvantage, IMO, is the somewhat lack of control. They rely on HME (hopped malt extract) which sets the hop profile for your beer. You mix this with UME (unhopped malt extract) to get different flavors, beers, etc.

There are a lot of choices they provide to mix and match, but if you want to brew their IPA (for example) and want to make it more bitter, etc. you don't know what style of hops and what amounts they used so you're stuck with either using it as-is, or having to guess to make any adjustments.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of their products as they make great beer. Just calling out what I see to be a "limitation". Mind you, it may take you a while to reach that point - or you never may.

For the price to get started, you really can't beat it.

I think you can get much better beer ingredient kits.

Malticulous said:

I think you can get much better beer ingredient kits.

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I think it might be helpful if you explained WHY you feel this way.

Steeping you own grain, boiling you own hops and using no adjuncts can make a better beer. Hopped LME from a can is the lowest level in (real) hombrewing. There is nowhere to go but up. It's not a "feeling.' it's fact.

Malticulous said:

Steeping you own grain, boiling you own hops and using no adjuncts can make a better beer. Hopped LME from a can is the lowest level in (real) hombrewing. There is nowhere to go but up. It's not a "feeling.' it's fact.

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I disagree. If you're saying that it's the "easiest" way to brew beer, I'll agree.
If you're saying it produces the "lowest quality" beer, I disagree 100%.

There's no reason you can steep grains to add to the MrB LMEs - many do, in fact.
There's no reason you HAVE to use adjuncts. Only their basic kit includes the Booster pack, everything else is all-malt.

You can easily do a hop boil with the UME to change the hop profile, too.

As an acquaintance of mine often says: The only thing you CAN'T do with a MrB kit that you CAN do with another kit is brew 5-gallons at a time.

I brew some MrB kits straight up, modify some, do all grain and some partial mash with great results across the board.

TiredBoy - don't let the little brown keg fool you. You can make quality beer.

The first time I went to my LHBS, I was nervous about telling them I used Mr Beer because I had heard that Mr Beer is looked down on. But I thought it was more important to get the right advice. The guy I was talking to shrugged and told me that the only thing he could do in his 5 gallon setup that I can't do in my Mr Beer setup is to make 5 gallons at a time.

I made one of my best beers in Mr. Beer keg, an all grain dopplebock.

My thought is this: if you're going to brew beer why not really BREW beer? When your use syrup from a can 50% of the brewing has been done for you. You're not really brewing beer so much as re-hydrating someone else's brew. Sure, you get beer out of it; and perhaps it's good beer. I guess, to my mind, it's a question of goals and purpose. Brewing is a part of a long history and in our fast-paced world it is a point at which to slow down and do things fully and completely and enjoy a process. That doesn't mean that should or is everybody's goal.

You make a good point. I like MrB for beginning brewers because it allows you to "walk before you run". Because you don't have to worry about mashing, sparging, etc. you can focus on sanitizing, fermenting temp and recipes.

I know that I wouldn't have started without MrB. Having to absorb mashing, sparging, wort chillers, racking, HLTs, etc. can be very overwhelming to somebody who wants to get into the hobby.

After reading through this thread I decided to keep my mr beer going for small batches of beers I wont drink much of like a Porter and such plus I live in a town home so I am VERY limited on my brew space so its nice not having to worry about 5 gallon buckets right now although I did order a 5 gallon kit from Midwest that I will start using once I get a way to cold condition two and half cases worth of beer. I ordered some of the premium kits today and will be replacing the yeast with some US-05 and might even try to throw some hopping into the mix once I can get my basic crafting skills down. Only made one batch so far with it and it was really flat but I have learned from my mistakes and only can come up from here!

People do lots with the Mr. Beer LBK'sClick Here!

Or here:http://www.mrbeerfans.com/ubbthreads/
You can brew anything in a MB fermenter you can brew in any other fermenter
including 5 gallon batches of any recipe, you just need 2 fermenters and
it's a great way to introduce new people into the hobby. Sure it's a novelty
gift thing and recipe kits are a little high but it works and it's easy to move
forward from there. Once you learn fermentation control and sanitation the
sky is the limit. I have since moved on to 5 gallon and now 10 gallon batches
but at the moment I have a cider in one LBK, a wine in one and just kegged
a 2.4 gallon batch that I used to grow a wlp 300 starter for a 10 gallon
hefeweizen brew.

Doing smaller batches just seems like it's easier in many ways. No need for a huge boil kettle. Easy to rig up and locate a smaller swamp cooler. Easy to have a few small fermenters on the go at the same time for a nice bit of variety in beer styles (plus that makes it a little easier to be patient9 less time bottling per batch, no worrying about mash temps and hop schedules (although you can get into those methods if you choose) so, as others have mentioned, you can concentrate more on other things like the sanitizing, maintaining beneficial fermentation temps in the attenuation and conditioning stages. Less beer in a batch to get ruined if something does go wrong.

Establishing the basics and being comfortable in the process then getting into more advanced techniques seems like the sensible way to go to me. But then again, what do I know

TL;DR - the fermentor is fine. The recipes are limited. End of discussion.

The arguments about MrB kit quality and what you can do in a MrB fermenter are different arguments. You are talking apples-and-velcro, people; it just doesn't make sense.

Pre-hopped malt extract *is* the lowest common denominator in homebrewing. That cannot be argued. It is the easiest, and you have the least control. You get the most uniform results (ideally), but that is both its strength and its downfall. You cannot make a Belgian, or a weissbier, or any number of other styles with pre-hopped extract and dry yeast -- it's just not possible.

Those of you who argue that MrB makes great beer are citing your all-grain versions. The MrB site has *zero* all-grain kits available. Until the actual MrB site sells all-grain kits with liquid yeast, then you cannot argue that their ingredients are as good as anything else. That's just a fact. Flexibility is very limited. Yes, you can steep or partial mash. Yes, you can add hops to the boil, or dry hop, or secondary on fruit, etc. Yes, you can make *very* good beer with MrB ingredient kits, but you *cannot* make any kind of beer at all. That is false.

Is the MrB fermentor just as good as any other? Sure, why not. I prefer an airlock, in general, but there you go. It's just fine. If you do all-grain in it, all the better. No one is arguing that it is a bad fermentor -- just that the ingredient kits are limited in scope. You can do a LOT, especially if you try some of the recipes on that forum and on this one... but you cannot do everything. If someone posts a link to MrB's "Lambic" ingredients, I might change my mind, but until then... nope. You're wrong.

To be fair, Mr Beer did send out some feelers about a year ago asking if
we wanted bigger fermenters, all grain kits, liquid yeast ect.. I just don't think
there was enough interest to justify them trying to compete with the big brew
supply stores. Most likely the biggest percentage of their customers brew a
certain number of batches using their ingredients and move on to other
hobbies while a smaller % move on to larger batches/ all grain ect... and some that
live in apartments just stick with the MB because of space issues.
MR Beer has a nice little niche market and a full time brewing hobby is
just not for everyone that gets a MB kit from santa.

Justin a little harsh in the response ultimately the Mr. Beer for most people does what it intends to do in my case it brought me into the hobby in a non intimidating fashion. They do have recipes that allow a casual user to experiment with different styles and flavors yes they are pre hopped cans but it is better than a bottle of miller lite. I ended up buying another fermentor and using that for a bit to do five gallon batches split.

I still have the two Mr. Beer kegs and have added two five gallon buckets and going from the Mr. Beer kits, to the five gallon extract kits, to extract with steeping and now to looking for my first partial mash.

Mr. Beer introduced me to the hobby and has helped me grow in the hobby while I understand the approach to your statement it was almost a snobbish reply.

Justibone said:

TL;DR - the fermentor is fine. The recipes are limited. End of discussion.

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I think on the whole, this is a good summary. But I will point out that you are incorrect in terms of what you can brew with their recipes. You can do belgians, etc. although I will give you the fact that I have not seen a lambic But, they do sell liquid yeast, too.

Look, I'm not affiliated with the MrB guys, but like others it is where I got my start and I hate to see a good product (and a top-notch customer service team) get bashed (not speaking to you directly, mind you).

I think that for 95% of new brewers, MrB is going to work great and give them a lot of flexibility in the recipes (pale ales to stouts to barleywines). It's a great "learn to brew kit" that many find they are able to grow with (steeping grains, partial mashes, etc.). They sell unhopped malt extract so you can do your own hop boils, too - you don't have to use just the HME.

In the end, I guess it's hard to know that the original question referred to: The quality of the fermentor/kit - or the quality of the recipes - or the flexibility in the recipes.

In any case, I think there's plenty of information here to make an informed decision. Now, I need to go have a beer.

Oh wait, it's only 10:00am....damn.

I didn't say you couldn't make great beer, or make most kinds of beers. I just said you can't make *all* beers, and you can't make them to *exact* specifications if you use their kits. You can't control the mash temperature or volume (but that's the same for any extract). You can't make very low SRM + very high IBU beers. You can't do a proper lambic or saison. You can do almost everything else, I'd imagine.

The fact that they offer liquid yeast is nice, and I didn't know that. That alone makes their kits greatly more versatile. The simple fact is, though, that the system is limited.

Does that mean it's bad? No. No way. Award-winning beers have been made from MrB kits (with a few extra ingredients). If you get good at MrB you will make *awesome* beers, probably better than what I make. Your brew day will be shorter. But you will always be Spud Webb, a.k.a., (formerly) the shortest guy in the NBA.

Pre-hopped extract is just that way, and it can't be any different until they start selling low-attenuating/high-attenuating variable extract, and extract with varying IBUs in various colors and attenuation levels. They could do that, but they won't, because there's not a market for it.

MrB is a great thing, but it's not the method that gives you the most control. It's like an automatic transmission -- convenient, easy and safe. My wife would prefer it. But if I ever buy a Porsche, bet your sweet patootie that I'm gonna get a stickshift.

That's all I'm saying.

Viva Senor Cervesa!!

LOL, well said sir.

Cheers.

I thank Senor Cerveza for getting me back into this obsession and HBT and Coopers for leading into the next step. I'd say that none of the kits I made (12 all together), with the exception of one, was noteworthy. I've heard people talk about being able to make great beer with Mr. Beer kits (and as justibone said additions). But never with just the kits. It's a good place to start...

I have had my mr. Beer fermenting for a week now. I followed the directions as closely as I could.

How do you tell that it is working properly? Its difficult to actually see into the container and there is condensation covering the inside aswell....is this normal?

I was planning on letting it ferment for 12-14 days.

bwookie said:

I have had my mr. Beer fermenting for a week now. I followed the directions as closely as I could.

How do you tell that it is working properly? Its difficult to actually see into the container and there is condensation covering the inside aswell....is this normal?

I was planning on letting it ferment for 12-14 days.

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The best way to tell if MrB is working properly is by smelling around the lid (don't open it). If it smells bready/beer-y, then all is well and no worries. The condensation is also perfectly normal.

The smell is strongest in the first few days, so if you don't smell anything, don't panic, it's still just fine.

Ok it does smell like bread/beer thanks!! From what I can see in the keg it looks flat (I know there's no carbination), I guess I was expecting more activity....

I've been doin a lot of research to get started and may be getting ahead of myself thinking mr. Beer is supposed to be doing things its not lol.

Thanks!
B

I'm sure it's fine. What temperature are you fermenting at? If you don't have a stick-on thermometer you can expect it to be a few degrees higher (as much as 5) higher than ambient room temp.

Assuming this is your first batch and you don't have a hydrometer, let it go 14 days.

I have a temp gauge sitting next to the fermenter it averages 68-73 depending on the time of day.

Ya ill let it go 14 days, seems like that's the way to go.

bwookie said:

I have a temp gauge sitting next to the fermenter it averages 68-73 depending on the time of day.

Ya ill let it go 14 days, seems like that's the way to go.

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I have had better luck at about 3 weeks or more but that is up to you

bwookie said:

I have a temp gauge sitting next to the fermenter it averages 68-73 depending on the time of day.

Ya ill let it go 14 days, seems like that's the way to go.

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If you have an Igloo(tm) cooler that's big enough to hold your MrB, you can put it in there and switch out cooler packs or frozen water bottles to keep it a bit cooler. It's tough to lager like that... but it's good enough to keep ales nice and cold.

If your MrB ingredients sat on the store shelf for a while, then your yeast can be old and they can get a slow start. They might have trouble finishing those last few points of gravity. Fresh yeast should be able to finish the fermentation at ~70F within two weeks, under most circumstances. Still, you need a hydrometer.

If you don't have a hydrometer, you can make a crude one using a shot glass and a Sharpie. Float the shot glass in half-gallon pitcher, see where the water is, and mark it at the water line. (If it doesn't float properly, you can add "ballast" of a few nickels or quarters.) Fully dissolve a half-cup of sugar in the half-gallon of water, then float the shot glass again and mark the line. Do that with 1 cup, 1.5 cups, and then 2 cups. That gives you lines at 4 oz, 8 oz, 12 oz and 16 oz of sugar per half gallon.

Plain water is 1.000, your second line is about 1.023, your third line is about 1.046, your fourth line is about 1.069 and your fifth line is about 1.092 gravity. You can use a ruler to estimate gravities between those lines. (These numbers are if all the sugar is dissolved, and if you used the specified measurements.) There's your own jury-rigged hydrometer! Cool, huh?

POSTSCRIPT: If you use ballast for your shotglass, you must ALWAYS use the SAME amount of ballast, for calibration and also for taking readings. The hydrometer works off of buoyancy, and since weight vs. displacement is buoyancy, varying the weight varies the buoyancy... so if you change up your ballast, your readings will be off.

Quick question.

I have a Beer Machine, and it has some liquid saturated discs that fall under the realm of "defoamer". Any clue what they are, what they do, and how I can resuscitate one or more?

I'm being cheap here, since my car and furnace went belly up, leaves me with little extra $$$ for buying more through the website.