Mr. Beer Brew's......

Just drank a Mr. Beer brew and I agree with others in the forum....... Had a sweet cidery taste. I guess due to the granulated sugar used for priming the bottles. How much corn sugar would you use to prime 2 1/2 gallons prior to bottling? Any other alternatives to corn sugar?

With the Mr. Beer kit, you add the sugar directly to the bottle and then dissolve. Not like the norm of a bottling bucket.

pa-in-utah said:

Just drank a Mr. Beer brew and I agree with others in the forum....... Had a sweet cidery taste. I guess due to the granulated sugar used for priming the bottles. How much corn sugar would you use to prime 2 1/2 gallons prior to bottling? Any other alternatives to corn sugar?

With the Mr. Beer kit, you add the sugar directly to the bottle and then dissolve. Not like the norm of a bottling bucket.

Click to expand...

That's was the same experience I had with my 1st Mr Beer. "West Coast Pale Ale"

Your beer is too young. The yeast hasn't eaten up all the cane sugar yet. Wait awhile this will fade out. It takes about a month. It also helps to shake the bottles every few days for up to a week to help get the sugar completely disolved. It'll clear after you quit shaking them. This is one down side of carbing this way.

You can carb your beer with corn sugar at the rate of 1 oz "by weight" per gallon. Boil it 1st with an equal amount of water. You'll need a bottling bucket, splitting it up for adding it directly to bottles isn't easy or accurate. Add the priming solution to the bottling vessel then siphon your beer over, it'll mix as it siphons. I use a 3 gal carboy for fermenting and use the MRB keg as a bottling bucket. Mr Beer recipes are not really 2.5 they usually closer to 2-1/8 or 2.13 gal. Unless you top-off that much.

My 3 gal carboys are PET bottles from Lowes. You can get them at the grocery store too for less than $5 w/ water. A standard carboy cap fits on them. They must be PET. Look on the bottom of the bottles. They will have a triangle with a 1 or 01 in the center and a PET or PETE marking nearby. You can't beat it for the price. Buy an auto siphon too when you pick up corn sugar, carboy cap and an airlock at the LHBS. I have four of these w/ only spending ~$30. With this many you can be a brewing maniac!

Be patient - The beer will be much better shortly. You'll kick youself if you drink 3/4 of it before it gets better.

I have all the necessary equip for racking. My buddy bought me the mr. beer kit for x-mas and I thought-- what the heck, I'll try it.

Thanks for the corn sugar amount for bottling. And the carboy info from Lowes or the grocery store.

You'll hear many people slam on Mr Beer, but I have always made decent brews with their kits. I wait until they are ready to drink. I think too often the negative comments you hear are from people who are drinking beer that isn't fully conditioned.

I do think the boiled priming solution is the better route.

I also have about 16 gal of homebrew that's ready to drink so I never am temped to drink young beer. I also have some micros in the fridge too.

guess I will kick back and wait to DAHB.... I am getting ready to bottle a belgian wit, so more waiting..... Guess that is the downfall of just starting. I don't have any "stock" to pull from. In time my friends, I too will be drinking home brew!!!!

Get yourself some good micros so you're never temped to break into them and keep brewing like a fiend. :rockin:

I like Ernest & Julio's old marketing saying, " No Wine Before Its Time!" or was that Paul Mason?

Revised: No Beer before its time.

I am a huge micro fan (that is why I started to brew)..... Just tired of paying the prices for good micro's.

I actually need to restock, the fridge is almost empty.