Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

I used to think that it didn't really help to give a beer more than a day or two in the fridge, but I had some sitting in the fridge when I went out of town and now I always try to give them at least a week in the fridge.

+1 on another week room temp, and another week in the fridge.

With the notable exception of hop-heavy beers (*cough-cough* IPA, gumballhead *cough-cough*), the last one you drink will be the best one. The longer you can cold-condition them, the better.

With hop-aroma beers, try to finish them all within six weeks of bottling for best flavor... but they also benefit greatly from a week in the fridge.

Hey everyone, I have been brewing a lot of very hoppy IPAs and Imperial IPAs for the last 4-6 months. I want to try something else but I am having trouble deciding. I really want to stick to what I have on hand so I though I would post my supply and ask for suggestions.

I am fermenting in a Mr. Beer keg so the batch size is 2.25 gallon (approx.) and I can boil up to 1.5 gallons in my brew pot. I usually steep grains and extract brew.

Supply
LME: Northern Brewer's Gold (2 lbs)
DME: Briess Amber (6 lbs) and Pilsen Light (4 lbs)
Steeping Grains: Crystal 60, Belgian Caramunich, Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal, and Roasted Barley.
Hops: Chinook, Centennial, Nugget, Warrior & Willamette (4-8 oz of each)
Dry Yeast: Nottingham, Safbrew T-58 & Safale US-05
Also Available: Honey, Coffee (ground, whole bean, espresso or drip brewed), and anything that can be purchased at a grocery store.

I'm just fishing for ideas, I really like most styles of beer so any thoughts are welcome. Thanks in advance!

You could use some of the Pilsen DME, maybe a little bit (4-8 oz.) of cane sugar, and steep a tiny amount of the CaraMunich (maybe .25 oz or less). All of your hops except Williamette lend themselves well to an IPA, so go with whichever one(s) you like best. For yeast I would use either Nottingham or US-05. Those 2 are pretty much interchangeable in my book,

I don't know them well... but I'd think you have the stuff for a decent stout or porter.

I would use the LME first; it seems to go stale faster than DME.

Been brewing all grain for a while now doing 10 gallon batches. I recently sold almost everything. Im going to be brewing with a mr beer fermenter from now on and going back to tje basics og home brewing. Ill keep everyone informed on how it goes.

cheesecake said:

Been brewing all grain for a while now doing 10 gallon batches. I recently sold almost everything. Im going to be brewing with a mr beer fermenter from now on and going back to tje basics og home brewing. Ill keep everyone informed on how it goes.

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You can still do all grain with the Mr Beer fermenter if you want. The process is the same as with your 10 gallon batches, only the quantity changes. The drawback is that other than the time it takes to bring the pot to a boil, everything takes the same amount of time, but you're only getting 2.125 gallons instead of the 10 you got before.

For something different, why not whip up an amber? Not sure off the top of my head if the hops you have are "in style" for an amber, but who cares?

bpgreen said:

You can still do all grain with the Mr Beer fermenter if you want. The process is the same as with your 10 gallon batches, only the quantity changes. The drawback is that other than the time it takes to bring the pot to a boil, everything takes the same amount of time, but you're only getting 2.125 gallons instead of the 10 you got before.

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Thats the plan. Going to break all my recipes down and do them all grain

i started out homebrewing with the mr beer stuff. now that i brew 5 gallon batches, i'm now planning to use the mr beer fermentor to make my own cider.

Hello All,

What a nice long thread. I thought I would throw in my 2 cents. I got a Mr. Beer setup for Fathers Day from the wifey and kids. I brewed the WPA by the "MrB" book. It turned out ok. I feremented for 10 days and bottle primed. Left in the cupboard for 14 days then hit the fridge. I found pretty much as expected, not bad, not great a little cidery and uneven carb between bottles.

One thing of note: the few bottles (the first and last 3) that had the most cloudy beer go into them. Some trub sediments that were free floating at the top and bottom of the barrel? These carb'ed the most. It seemd to me that getting a little bit of this material into the bottles was actually condusive to carbonation.

My next batch I am planning on batch priming with a bottling wand and second MrB barrel. I think at this point I will make sure several ouces of "cloudy" beer make into the secondary unit to help promote carbing.

I plan on getting deeper into the hobby a bit at a time so my second batch (currently at 10 days fermentation) I went a little heavier. I esentially took the "Bills Brew" recipe from the MrB site and tweaked it as follows:

2 x Can of Classic Blonde Ale
1 x Cup of Honey (.75 pd.)
1/2 x booster (.203 pds. or 1/4 booster packet)
1 x package US-05 (Rehydrated before pitch, pitched into wort at 70 degrees)
1/2 ounce Willamette hops (put into boost boil for 5 mins then left in barrel)

So far this batch is looking and smelling nice... very fermenty ATM (<-I know thats not a word) I have a few other recipes ready to brew soon. I will eventually get into LME,DME and grains... but I figure I can learn by taking baby steps!

Congrats on making beer.

First, I'd toss the MrB instructions as they relate to timing. They are great for making beer, but not for making great beer.

Recommended normal times:
Ferment for 2 weeks
Carb for 2 weeks at room temp
Condition for 2 weeks at room temp
Fridge for anywhere from 1-7 days (brewer's choice)

With the ingredients that you've listed above, I would suggest pushing three weeks on the fermentation unless you have a hydrometer to ensure that fermentation is done (although that 05 does a hell of a job).

The basic kit is designed to do exactly what it did: show you how easy it is to make beer and get you hooked.

As for pouring some trub into the bottles to help with carbing - that won;t really help. It's the yeast that carb the beer and the trub is mostly settled out proteins. Unless you like cloudy beer and the flavor that the trub can contribute, there's no NEED to put it in the bottles.

Cheers.

Kealia said:

As for pouring some trub into the bottles to help with carbing - that won;t really help. It's the yeast that carb the beer and the trub is mostly settled out proteins.

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I agree with Kealia.

Potentially some extra yeast were clinging on to some of the junk you bottled, and potentially they could have helped carb your beer faster. Still, I don't think I'd add trub to my beers *on purpose*... it just seems, wrong.

More time will solve your carbing problem, but it has to be time spent at about room temperature. Sometimes it just takes the li'l buggers extra long to carb a beer up -- some people have reported as long as 6-8 weeks to fully carb for high alcohol beers or with extremely floccululent yeast. Carb time depends on a lot of factors, but it is mostly a factor of temperature.

Batch priming will fix your uneven carbing issue. Then you'll be able to open a beer after two weeks as a "surveillance beer", to see how the carbing is going for the batch as a whole.

Kealia said:

Congrats on making beer.

First, I'd toss the MrB instructions as they relate to timing. They are great for making beer, but not for making great beer.

Recommended normal times:
Ferment for 2 weeks
Carb for 2 weeks at room temp
Condition for 2 weeks at room temp
Fridge for anywhere from 1-7 days (brewer's choice)

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What's the difference in the two steps:

Carb for 2 weeks at room temp
Condition for 2 weeks at room temp

Are you doing anything different in carbing than what you do for conditioning?

The only thing I would add is a +1 to your comment on modifying MrB's timing suggestions. For the higher abv beers the conditioning time s/b much longer than what MrB recommends. If they say 4-6 weeks conditioning I've found that 6 weeks is a minimum and 8-10 weeks is better. Although I do have a couple batches conditioning that MrB lists a 6 month condition time and I don't think I'll be able wait any longer than that.

I started in February and have brewed 13 batches. Favorite so far is the Scottish Wee Heavy (use amber DME instead of the booster & 5 tablespoons of butterscotch schnapps - up from the recommended 2 tablespoons)

SociallyDistorted said:

What's the difference in the two steps:

Carb for 2 weeks at room temp
Condition for 2 weeks at room temp

Are you doing anything different in carbing than what you do for conditioning?

The only thing I would add is a +1 to your comment on modifying MrB's timing suggestions. For the higher abv beers the conditioning time s/b much longer than what MrB recommends. If they say 4-6 weeks conditioning I've found that 6 weeks is a minimum and 8-10 weeks is better. Although I do have a couple batches conditioning that MrB lists a 6 month condition time and I don't think I'll be able wait any longer than that.

I started in February and have brewed 13 batches. Favorite so far is the Scottish Wee Heavy (use amber DME instead of the booster & 5 tablespoons of butterscotch schnapps - up from the recommended 2 tablespoons)

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There's no difference in what you're doing for those two steps, but there's a difference in what the yeast is doing. Actually, it may finish carbing in less than two weeks, but it's easy to remember 2-2-2. Some people like to do the last two weeks in the refrigerator. I used to refrigerate for only a couple of days, but I now try to give a beer at least a week in the fridge (and usually a couple of months at room temperature).

Yeah, what he said ;-)

bpgreen said:

There's no difference in what you're doing for those two steps, but there's a difference in what the yeast is doing. Actually, it may finish carbing in less than two weeks, but it's easy to remember 2-2-2. Some people like to do the last two weeks in the refrigerator. I used to refrigerate for only a couple of days, but I now try to give a beer at least a week in the fridge (and usually a couple of months at room temperature).

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Okay, thanks. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on doing something. I agree w/ your post and those a couple pages back about refrigerating at least a couple weeks. I was only cooling for 1-3 days but found that 1 week minimum is really needed.

Once the beer is carbed, the cooler you store it the better. I saw an experiment in BYO magazine, I believe it was, and basically the maximum cumulative time in cool storage was the best, with the more cold-time, the better.

That's only one experiment, of course, but you could always do your own.

Beer likes to be cold.

SociallyDistorted said:

Favorite so far is the Scottish Wee Heavy (use amber DME instead of the booster & 5 tablespoons of butterscotch schnapps - up from the recommended 2 tablespoons)

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Uh, DANG. I gotta find that recipe...

Here it is: http://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/product_id/123/nm/Scottish_Wee_Heavy

So it's a mix of an amber and a red, spiked with butterscotch schnapps. I could totally do this as a partial mash... Hmm... Color me intrigued! :fro:

Thanks for mentioning this, I'm going to try to develop a recipe here!

Hey there - I've been lurking for a couple of weeks, but this is my first post (be gentle)...

I've brewed up 8 or 10 Mr. Beer kits, but on this last one I noticed there was something like a solid white cap on top of the wort in the fermenter (in addition to the normal trub at the bottom), and some greenish/blackish build-ups around the edge at the top of the wort. Two questions:

1. Does that sound like an infection? It was a pilsner kit, if that matters.

2. I've already bottled it up... should I simply dispose of it (if it is an infection), or should I let it carb and take a chance on tasting it (and possibly ruining my love for beer forever after just one sip)? Or should I taste it now?

Thanks in advance.
DJG

laddg said:

Hey there - I've been lurking for a couple of weeks, but this is my first post (be gentle)...

I've brewed up 8 or 10 Mr. Beer kits, but on this last one I noticed there was something like a solid white cap on top of the wort in the fermenter (in addition to the normal trub at the bottom), and some greenish/blackish build-ups around the edge at the top of the wort. Two questions:

1. Does that sound like an infection? It was a pilsner kit, if that matters.

2. I've already bottled it up... should I simply dispose of it (if it is an infection), or should I let it carb and take a chance on tasting it (and possibly ruining my love for beer forever after just one sip)? Or should I taste it now?

Thanks in advance.
DJG

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The white on top could be pellicle, which may be a sign of infection. However, that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a bad beer. Somebody on another forum had some and he said it turned out to be a really good beer.

The green/black may be hop particles that were floating and wound up in the krausen.

Did you taste it at bottling? If so, did it taste good?

If it's an infection and bad, you'll know it in a hurry. If I were you, I'd let it carbonate and see how it tastes.

laddg said:

some greenish/blackish build-ups around the edge at the top of the wort.

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Greenish-blackish doesn't sound like yeast.

1. Does that sound like an infection? It was a pilsner kit, if that matters.

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Sounds like mold, possibly. It does matter which recipe it is, because sometimes batches have weird ingredients that can change the color of the kreusen. Pilsner is not one of those beers.

2. I've already bottled it up... should I simply dispose of it (if it is an infection), or should I let it carb and take a chance on tasting it (and possibly ruining my love for beer forever after just one sip)? Or should I taste it now?

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The S.O.P. (standard operation procedure) for mold on the top of the beer is to rack out from underneath it and hope you can save the beer. Sanitize the EVER-LOVING CRAP out of your equipment, though: maybe use very high proof ethanol to do so, like everclear, or even 95% ABV if you can get your hands on it somewhere. (You could also use boiling water, or UV light, but those methods may damage your equipment.)

If the beer is clear when you open it and pour it, I'd say give it a sniff. If it doesn't smell like grandpa's jockstrap, give it a sip. If it doesn't taste like grandma's lucky sweatsocks after a long day of mall-walking, then it's fine.

There shouldn't be anything permanently harmful in beer.

Naturally, if it's unpleasant, pitch it.

If you are using the MrB "loose top" version of an airlock, well, it may be time to upgrade to a setup with a proper airlock... especially since you may have had an infection. (Infections are a good time to evaluate an upgrade in equpiment, since you might need to dispose of everything to be truly rid of an infecting organism.) A 3-gallon food grade bucket with a sealing lid can be drilled in the lid to accept an automotive grommet and therefore a proper airlock. Also, invest in proper Star-San, instead of the MrB cleanser, maybe.

Congratulations! This is a major experience, and you are a better homebrewer for having experienced it.

Quick questions, is there any harm in letting my beer ferment up to 3 weeks? And what would happen if I bottled half at 2 weeks and the other half at 3 weeks? I know the longer I ferment (to an extent) the better the beer, but I'm looking for a sort of baseline for this new addiction of mine.
Thanks.

3 weeks is pretty regular for me actually. if you bottled some now and some later you would have to split your priming sugar. also that means you have to expose your beer to the scary outside environment an extra time. it would probably work fine, but no real reason to as far as i can tell. welcome to the forum!

No issues with a 3 week ferment.

Let me ask this: Are you using a MrB keg? If so, I would advise against bottling half at a time due to the lack of an airtight environment.

With the idea that a layer of CO2 is in place to protect the beer while in the keg, you'd be sucking a lot of oxygen into the keg when bottling the first half, leaving the second half exposed to that air while sitting for another week.

COULD you do it an get away with? Yeah, it *might* not be a problem.
WOULD I recommend that you do it? No.

Hello all,
I've been reading the wealth of information on this forum as ive been learning to brew with the Mr Beer kits. My first brew was the WCPA as per the Mr. Beer instructions which is bottling now. I have since bought a second fermenter and am fermenting the HCCD with the Golden Wheat UME and Booster pack and the Whispering Wheat Weizenbier with 1.25 lbs of Bavarian Wheat DME (i bought 3 lbs and couldn't commit to 1.5 lbs as the concensus here is 1 lbs, call it unique) and I have Edwort's Alpefwien fermenting in a modified Slimline w/ an airlock. Anyway, I bought a 3 lbs pack of Amber DME, 1 lb. of which (or 1.25 lbs) will go with my can of Oktoberfest HME. Here in lies the rub. What to do next. I have 1.75 lbs of Bavarian wheat DME and 2 lbs. of Amber DME sitting around with an empty 2 gal. Mr. Beer fermenter (additionally, I have an old-style 1.5 gal fermenter unused with an airlock). Where do I go? I'd like to start brewing with hops and other ingrediants, but due to the crazy amount of options out there I am unsure of where to start. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Justibone said:

Uh, DANG. I gotta find that recipe...

Here it is: http://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/product_id/123/nm/Scottish_Wee_Heavy

So it's a mix of an amber and a red, spiked with butterscotch schnapps. I could totally do this as a partial mash... Hmm... Color me intrigued! :fro:

Thanks for mentioning this, I'm going to try to develop a recipe here!

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A couple other notes if you decide to try this malty treat:
1) I used White Labs WLP 028 yeast - I highly recommend it over the Fromunda. I've experimented and dome it with a whole vial of 028 (best batch yet) and also tried half vial + a Fromunda (good but not great)
2) I've have done this brew w/ and w/o the brown sugar. I personally liked it better w/.

So the best combo is whole vial of 028 + the brown sugar. I gotta say I'm liking going to two MrB kegs to help go into Mad Scientist mode!

If you brew something similar please post a post-brew review. I'm anxious to hear what you think.

staffordnn said:

I have 1.75 lbs of Bavarian wheat DME and 2 lbs. of Amber DME sitting around with an empty 2 gal. Mr. Beer fermenter (additionally, I have an old-style 1.5 gal fermenter unused with an airlock). Where do I go? I'd like to start brewing with hops and other ingrediants, but due to the crazy amount of options out there I am unsure of where to start. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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Rule of thumb: 1 lb of sugar per gallon equates to roughly 5% ABV. Since DME doesn't ferment completely, it's a bit less than that in reality, but roll with me.

There is no reason you have to "use up" your ingredients. You can just use them as you need them. If you want to use them up, though, I do have a suggestion...

If you want to use up all your sugar, you could make a "Grand Cru" style beer in your MrB fermenter. It's basically a double-strength witbier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_beer#Witbier), flavored with citrus, coriander, hops and potentially other things.

I whipped up a quick recipe for you... I have no idea if it's any good or not, but it's a place to start.

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator?item=9976

Good luck!

rycov said:

3 weeks is pretty regular for me actually. if you bottled some now and some later you would have to split your priming sugar. also that means you have to expose your beer to the scary outside environment an extra time. it would probably work fine, but no real reason to as far as i can tell. welcome to the forum!

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thanks... Now I'm torn. Silly me, I shouldn't have told people I would be bottling tomorrow. Bollocks. Maybe I can make it air tight... Or set up an argon or nitrogen blanket... But that's a bit excessive for a little MrB keg, dont you think?

Yes, an argon or nitrogen blanket would be excessive.

Just bottle it; it will be fine. Make sure you give it plenty of time to carbonate, and cold-condition it for a week in the fridge before you drink it.

Next time, think about giving it three weeks.

Turns out I'm not bottling tomorrow. Pros, cons, exploding beer, oxidized beer, I'll wait, just to be safe.

i've been talking about homebrewing for a while and apparently some family members got the hint. while I was knee deep in research about starter kits/etc my parents bought me a Mr. Beer.

It wasn't what I was looking for but it was 100% better than what I had (which was nuthin). So not knowing much about Mr Beer I hopped on this site and found this rather extensive collection of Mr Beer wisdom. I've yet to plow through it all but the information I've gathered so far has be helpful. an excellent forum.

I brewed my first batch nearly 2 weeks ago (2 wks this saturday) and plan on bottling around week 3. I brewed the West Coast PA that came with the kit (my folks also bought me the Irish Stout mix...).

My question/concern is more for my peace of mind really. I read here and elsewhere (though not extensively) to essentially save the Booster and use some sort of equivillent such as honey/brown sugar. Then all giddyness took over and I brewed. I nixed the booster and went with 1 cup dark brown sugar (realized it was 'dark' after the fact...i didn't even know there was a difference...) and 1 cup honey.

My fear is that I put way too much brown sugar and honey than I should have. From what I've read, I should't be majorly concerned but should give it time. I've not tasted anything yet and don't plan to until week 3 when I bottle.

am I being overly paranoid or is my concern valid?

Well, the prevailing wisdom is to use malt extract in place of the Booster, I'm not so sure about brown sugar or honey. Not that either is "wrong", you will just end up with a drier, thinner beer. The brown sugar or honey is nearly completely fermentable and won't lend a whole lot in terms of residual flavor at that concentration, nor will it be able to provide body. The Booster is supposed to help supplement (cheaply) the LME (or HME I guess) and provide unfermentable sugars to keep the FG higher - thus, provide body.

Next time I would suggest using dry malt extract instead of sugar or Booster.

Bmorebrew said:

Well, the prevailing wisdom is to use malt extract in place of the Booster, I'm not so sure about brown sugar or honey. Not that either is "wrong", you will just end up with a drier, thinner beer. The brown sugar or honey is nearly completely fermentable and won't lend a whole lot in terms of residual flavor at that concentration, nor will it be able to provide body. The Booster is supposed to help supplement (cheaply) the LME (or HME I guess) and provide unfermentable sugars to keep the FG higher - thus, provide body.

Next time I would suggest using dry malt extract instead of sugar or Booster.

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thanks.

what's LME? Liquid Malt Extract?
and what's FG? is that Final Gravity?

Even if that's what those terms are i'm still kind of lost in the woods in this great big forest of homebrewing. Maybe since Mr Beer doesn't discuss or deal with Final Gravity is one of the reasons I was so cavaier about the honey and brown sugar.

ealu-scop said:

thanks.

what's LME? Liquid Malt Extract?
and what's FG? is that Final Gravity?

Even if that's what those terms are i'm still kind of lost in the woods in this great big forest of homebrewing. Maybe since Mr Beer doesn't discuss or deal with Final Gravity is one of the reasons I was so cavaier about the honey and brown sugar.

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LME is Liquid Malt Extract. Both HME and UME from Mr Beer are LME, but most other vendors use LME to refer to both. Typically, they'll just refer to it as LME and the assumption is that it is unhopped unless they say otherwise.

FG is Final Gravity. You can check the OG (Original Gravity) and FG with a hydrometer (Mr Beer now sells them). A hydrometer is really the best way to tell whether your beer is finished.

ealu-scop said:

am I being overly paranoid or is my concern valid?

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Well you got something different. ...and a learning experience. These good people have told you about LME - use that next time or DME or or another can (or 2) of Mr. Beer extract (either a can with hops (HME) or another can of non hopped extract (Mr Beer's LME).

Read a lot here to learn about the difference between the extracts and sugars and how they effect things ...join the discussion boards at community.mrbeer.com as well ...you'll learn a lot there.

The best thing about Mr. Beer is that batches are smaller ...great for learning!

Enjoy - and don't give up.

Mr. Beer brew days are very short, and cleanup is easy. That's the great part. The downside of the brew you made is that it will be dry with little mouthfeel and no hop aroma. The upside is that you made it yourself, and it will probably get you good and buzzed.

If you wanted to go to the homebrew store and buy even just .25 oz. of Amarillo or Citra or even Cascade hops, and then dry-hop your beer (soak the hops in there), then you might enjoy your pale ale a lot more. Then again, you could leave it like it is and just enjoy it.

Welcome to the hobby! Hope you didn't like spare money or spare time too much... you won't see those again for a while.

Justibone said:

Hope you didn't like spare money or spare time too much... you won't see those again for a while.

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...maybe the truest words I've ever heard spoken....

Welcome ealu-scop!
Reading around the forum is a great thing for you... BUT there is a TON of info and it can get quite confusing. When I started I found it very helpful to keep one window open to this site:
http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

it is the most straight forward and accurate overview of the brewing process out there, and it's free to boot!

It makes a great reference for when you are reading a thread on here and get lost as to what part of the procedure folks are talking about, or what a particular term means.

Justibone said:

Mr. Beer brew days are very short, and cleanup is easy. That's the great part.

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Very true and to echo what everyone else said....you can use 1 pound of DME (dry malt extract) in the place of booster....but do not be totally afraid of the booster. I recently did the hop head red recipe and that uses two cans of extract...Bewitched Red HME, and Pale UME, packet booster and I used 1 ounce of williamette hops (pellet) instead of the 1/2 ounce the recipe called for.....booster played a part not a big one...but still in there...

Cleanup very easy compared to the first time you do a recipe that's a little more advanced or when you have your two kegs and your make a 5 gallon batch and your siphoning from the brew pot to the LBK....and your assistant doesn't move the empty LBK to ya quick enough while watching a little wort head down the drain

Keep it up it will get easier and better and a lot more fun and a lot more work...but enjoy and welcome to the hobby...