Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

Justibone said:

The best way to be sure it's done is to use a hydrometer.

If you have a strong palate, maybe tasting it would be good enough.

The second best way to be sure it's done is to wait long enough. For an ale, when it turns clear (most of the yeast are out of suspension) you know it's getting close, though there can still be some activity.

Your patience will be rewarded, as will be reading the stickies.

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Ya I've been reading for a couple hours now.

I tasted it and I think i'm going to trust my taste buds and go ahead and bottle it today. Actually been 9 days. It's def. clearing up. Kinda want to get another batch going!:cross:

AR-Josh said:

I don't think the trub at the bottom can give an indication of how far along it is in the fermenting process. The only good way to tell that that I know is to use a hydrometer. If I'm wrong please correct me.

I have bottled my first Mr Beer batch so I'm only a little ahead of you in timeline. There doesn't appear to be any good way to use a hydrometer on the Mr Beer setup without a lot of risk to the beer. I just followed the instructions to the letter so I'm hoping that does a good enough job.

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Here's a simple trick: After 7-10 days draw a sample into the hydrometer from the spigot and measure the SG.

Take that sample and pour it into a clean bottle and stuff a paper towel in the neck (think molotov cocktail). Use this "satellite fermenter" for future gravity readings so you are not constantly drawing more beer from the keg and you're not tempted to open the keg and pour it back it.

Without a hydrometer you can rely on taste. It should be flat beer, but not sweet. People were brewing by taste long before tools like hydrometers were around (not to downplay their importance, I swear by it).

If you're really not sure, let it go 21 days to ensure a clean, full fermentation.

The way I figure, if you rush your first few batches and end up with drinkable beer, you will be officially hooked and you are MUCH more willing to invest more time into letting it ferment for longer.

I rushed my first batch (well, I did what the Mr. Beer directions said to do) and ended up with a pretty tasty beer. Not a great beer, but good enough to get me hooked and committed to waiting longer on my next batches!

got my Mr. Beer for Christmas and now fermenting the west cost that came with
it. I have brewed beer before with a 5 gal home brew kit with a new castle clone. it came out perfect. im a low on cash so affording anything better is out of the ?. it can't taste as bad as store bought so why not huh? i have read the entire thread and all of the info is useful. thanks to everyone that has put in their 2 cents. wish me luck! jackrussell of jack russell brewery, the taste like dog crap beer. tee hee hee

Telling beer virgins to wait is about as pointless as telling *ahem* virgins to wait...

Waiting really is best, I promise. However, I totally understand the impatience.

jackrussell said:

got my Mr. Beer for Christmas and now fermenting the west cost that came with
it. I have brewed beer before with a 5 gal home brew kit with a new castle clone. it came out perfect. im a low on cash so affording anything better is out of the ?. it can't taste as bad as store bought so why not huh? i have read the entire thread and all of the info is useful. thanks to everyone that has put in their 2 cents. wish me luck! jackrussell of jack russell brewery, the taste like dog crap beer. tee hee hee

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Are you speaking of Jack Russell brewery in Apple Hill, CA? The "Dodger Hater" is amazing brew!

Justibone said:

Telling beer virgins to wait is about as pointless as telling *ahem* virgins to wait...

Waiting really is best, I promise. However, I totally understand the impatience.

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I'm sure I will find this out in time...

Uh, oh.... I just read that when corn sugar is used to prime in lieu of cane sugar, you need more corn than cane. I used the spec for cane sugar in my 1 liter PET bottles(2 1/2 tsp cane sugar). Added 2 1/2 tsp of corn sugar to each.

Am I going to have a problem?

jackrussell said:

got my Mr. Beer for Christmas and now fermenting the west cost that came with
it. I have brewed beer before with a 5 gal home brew kit with a new castle clone. it came out perfect. im a low on cash so affording anything better is out of the ?. it can't taste as bad as store bought so why not huh? i have read the entire thread and all of the info is useful. thanks to everyone that has put in their 2 cents. wish me luck! jackrussell of jack russell brewery, the taste like dog crap beer. tee hee hee

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what happened to your other kit? i see your from myrtle beach. I'm from conway about ten minutes away. names Ryan. I'm glad more people from this area are starting to brew. i just had about five friends start brewing in the past few months. Maybe a home brew store will open back up! welcome to the forum!

martinfan30 said:

Uh, oh.... I just read that when corn sugar is used to prime in lieu of cane sugar, you need more corn than cane. I used the spec for cane sugar in my 1 liter PET bottles(2 1/2 tsp cane sugar). Added 2 1/2 tsp of corn sugar to each.

Am I going to have a problem?

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You will be slightly undercarbed, as compared to how it would have been if you used cane sugar. The difference will be nearly imperceptible, I believe.

Now, the difference between cane sugar and malt extract -- that'd be bad.

The difference between cane/corn isn't very much, you probably wouldn't really be able to tell the difference side by side.

Justibone said:

Telling beer virgins to wait is about as pointless as telling *ahem* virgins to wait...

Waiting really is best, I promise. However, I totally understand the impatience.

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I haven't looked at my beer in a couple days. By Mr beer direction I could have bottled yesterday. I'll peek on it in a couple more. Just to see it.

I bottled my beer after 2 weeks in the fermenter. This was on the 15th of this month, so it has only been about five days now. My bottles are kind of hard, but not rock hard. Can i expect they will get harder after the 2 weeks?

Also, nobody answered my original question about the slight beer smell in the fermenter after cleaning it. Normal or no?

rycov said:

what happened to your other kit? i see your from myrtle beach. I'm from conway about ten minutes away. names Ryan. I'm glad more people from this area are starting to brew. i just had about five friends start brewing in the past few months. Maybe a home brew store will open back up! welcome to the forum!

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my other kit kinda went with the friend i bought it with at the time. it was a good kit. i got it at the u brew store in n. myrtle, the one closest to o.d not the one at Kroger on rest row. i wish we still had local place, that's the whole reason i don't still have the kit. maybe we could all get together and order and save on shipping my wife loves the idea of me brewing beer. Jack Russell

Darklordenron said:

I bottled my beer after 2 weeks in the fermenter. This was on the 15th of this month, so it has only been about five days now. My bottles are kind of hard, but not rock hard. Can i expect they will get harder after the 2 weeks?

Also, nobody answered my original question about the slight beer smell in the fermenter after cleaning it. Normal or no?

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Yes, it generally takes 2 weeks to carb so they will get harder.

I didn't see your original post but my kegs have a slight smell and I soak them in OxiClean Free after every batch as well as sanitizing after brewing and before.

Kealia said:

Yes, it generally takes 2 weeks to carb so they will get harder.

I didn't see your original post but my kegs have a slight smell and I soak them in OxiClean Free after every batch as well as sanitizing after brewing and before.

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Cool, im on the right track then! I think i will lager them for a bit once they are ready for consumption. Should make them even tastier! Augh, i can hardly wait, it will be 5-6 weeks of waiting at that point :cross:

Thanks for the info.

Brew another batch in the meantime. It'll help you be patient and it will also help build your "pipeline" so that waiting is easier.

yeah. my ale pail has a slight beer hoppy smell.

to jack russel. yeah. we can do that. i just did my last batch a week ago. so i will have to make an order next time i brew. i plan on ordering a lot so that should help with the shipping thing too. (some places shipping is free over a certain amount. when do you plan on ordering again, and who do you order from?

Brewed my second batch of Mr Beer last night. It was the Mr Beer Cowboy Lager all malt. We'll see. I already feel better about this batch.

I pitched my yeast at 66 (which I read from the thermometer sticker on the side of the cask) and this morning the temperature read 70. No fermentation yet but I didn't really expect any. Maybe tonight or tomorrow it will start going. I also used a packet of Coopers yeast with this batch.

I'm getting ready to do a 5 gallon batch of Muntons Gold Continental Pilsner. I plan on buying a keg setup and kegging that batch. We'll see. :rockin:

Brewed up my first batch of Mr. Beer. Here is some picts after 3 days...Anyone in MD should check out flying barrell Beer supply store...they were very cool and didn't even make fun of the Mr....Ill keep you posted



https://www.homebrewtalk.com/members/kstalder/albums/my-first-beer/2308-mr-beer-3-days/

Justibone said:

Brew another batch in the meantime. It'll help you be patient and it will also help build your "pipeline" so that waiting is easier.

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Yup, thought ahead on that one and bought another keg when i found them at the store for half off

So on the day of bottling the pale ale, I brewed up a brown sugar lager, the "Voodoo Magic" from the recipe on the Mrb site. Now it's pipelined so that when I bottle, I brew. When that brew is done, I'll bottle. Cycle of continuous beer brews has been started, watch out!

I think it's much much easier to wait until consumption if you've never tasted your mr beer and you're kind of wondering if it will be any good as is my case right now. I've got nothing to really look forward to because I haven't been properly introduced to the magic, so to speak. I feel like once I have a few, It'll be all over though. There may be no going back to cheap store bought beers for me, and that wouldn't be the end of the world as they suck to begin with.

Oh and I did check out "Jay's Brewing" in Clifton, VA. The guy that owns the shop is an awesome dude and really knowledgeable. Anyone in the area should check it out. My corn sugar cost around $2.75 for two packs, each good for around 5 gallons. They have all kinds of stuff, stuff I've never even heard of before. (but may be getting into shortly).

I'm wondering if I could buy hops there and make some of the mrb recipes that required the hops to be added. Would that be a solution, or should I trust the hops that come in the actual recipes?

AR-Josh said:

Brewed my second batch of Mr Beer last night. It was the Mr Beer Cowboy Lager all malt. We'll see. I already feel better about this batch.

I pitched my yeast at 66 (which I read from the thermometer sticker on the side of the cask) and this morning the temperature read 70. No fermentation yet but I didn't really expect any. Maybe tonight or tomorrow it will start going. I also used a packet of Coopers yeast with this batch.

I'm getting ready to do a 5 gallon batch of Muntons Gold Continental Pilsner. I plan on buying a keg setup and kegging that batch. We'll see. :rockin:

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FYI the coopers yeast is already going at it. Less than 24 hrs and that puppy is churning. The current temp is 72. How high can I let it get before I should start thinking about trying to cool it down?

The bathroom I have the cask in smells of fermentation. w00t!!!

Kstalder said:

...they were very cool and didn't even make fun of the Mr....

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I think the people selling real kit, and all of the home brew supply stores, probably owe a lot (really a lot) of money to Mr. Beer.

Mr. Beer is in that cheap gift category so it spreads farther and wider than the 5gal starter kits. If the person with the Mr. Beer kit ends up brewing and liking it (or even if it turns out crap and they decide to try again), they are going to go into their local shop, or go online, looking for refills and/or larger alternatives. or bottling gear when it comes time to bottle their first Mr. Beer batch, etc.
And ("only") $100 for a 5gal starter kit looks pretty good at that point, right?

Local shop owner near me said that he gets a lot of walk-in business that way every January.

Cheers to Mr. Beer!

xtype said:

I think the people selling real kit, and all of the home brew supply stores, probably owe a lot (really a lot) of money to Mr. Beer.

Mr. Beer is in that cheap gift category so it spreads farther and wider than the 5gal starter kits. If the person with the Mr. Beer kit ends up brewing and liking it (or even if it turns out crap and they decide to try again), they are going to go into their local shop, or go online, looking for refills and/or larger alternatives. or bottling gear when it comes time to bottle their first Mr. Beer batch, etc.
And ("only") $100 for a 5gal starter kit looks pretty good at that point, right?

Local shop owner near me said that he gets a lot of walk-in business that way every January.

Cheers to Mr. Beer!

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Funny... Went to my local beer supply store and he said the same thing! I am one of the wandering Mr Beer gift receivers that is already looking to expand!

so after finally receiving a good ole mr beer for xmas i took the plunge...i will never be the same!!
anyways ii wanted to express my gratitude for the existence of this thread - it simultaneously made me want a more substantial and intricate setup and appreciate the potential and ease of use my new mr beer provides.
i had the luck of growing up in vermont a state that has embraced the homebrewing/microbrewing mentality for the better of thirty years (long trail, magic hat, switchback, otter creek, etc) so i came to this hobby with a slight understanding of ingredients and a spoiled-rotten palate.
i got the deluxe starter kit with the west coast pale but went online and supplemented a can of pale ume, 1/4oz columbus hops (dry hopped) and 1/4 cup of honey along with the booster (this was before i knew booster was cider inducing) plus some safale us-05 cus my apt is colder than the temp range for the generic yeast. thanks to this site i knew to wait at least 14 days and taste for yeasty and not sweet goodness. i bottled it tonight after 16 days, smelled soooo good. used regular white cane sugar cus of the later posts here so hopefully i'm not one of the uber sensitive. it's going to sit for at least a month plus three days in a fridge before i touch one.
i just threw together the next batch which is for my wedding party (hahaha bold i know). canadian draft, wheat ume, 1/3oz hallertau, 2 cups honey, clementine peel, and 5 cardamom pods using safbrew wb-06 (was thinking wheat specific would be better...???). here's hoping, the cardamom was on suggestion of my soon to SWMBO based on my reading that wb-06 produced some hints of clove and banana, she said cardamom and clove in undertones pair well. hopefully my buddies in the wedding agree hahahahaha.
to make a long long story short thank you to all the mods and newbs who contributed to and ultimately birthed this thread - i can and am brewing in confidence as a result!!!

Can you just buy hops and hop up your MrBeer? Yes, absolutely. If you put them in the boil they will taste bitter, if you put them in the chilled wort they will taste almost exactly like they smell. Intermediate options (ex: last 10 min. of the boil) will give intermediate results (some bitter, some aroma). Hops are inherently anti-bacterial, so no need to boil them or soak them in Star-san or anything.

Wheat beers do often get clove or banana tastes, but like you said, only if you use a wheat beer yeast. It's from the yeast, not from the wheat. If you ferment at the lower end of the temperature spectrum you should get more clove, higher should get more banana. Cardamon (sp?) is probably a really good choice, though using the proper proportion for spices is always challenging. If you really want a spiced beer, look for "witbier" or "white ale" recipes. They tend to use bitter orange peel, sweet orange peel, coriander, grains of paradise, etc... Blue Moon is the most common and recognizable version of a white ale, but it's a pale representation of a true Wit.

Nice that you guys are getting an early start on your pipelines! You'll be glad later.

Justibone said:

Can you just buy hops and hop up your MrBeer? Yes, absolutely. If you put them in the boil they will taste bitter, if you put them in the chilled wort they will taste almost exactly like they smell. Intermediate options (ex: last 10 min. of the boil) will give intermediate results (some bitter, some aroma). Hops are inherently anti-bacterial, so no need to boil them or soak them in Star-san or anything.

Wheat beers do often get clove or banana tastes, but like you said, only if you use a wheat beer yeast. It's from the yeast, not from the wheat. If you ferment at the lower end of the temperature spectrum you should get more clove, higher should get more banana. Cardamon (sp?) is probably a really good choice, though using the proper proportion for spices is always challenging. If you really want a spiced beer, look for "witbier" or "white ale" recipes. They tend to use bitter orange peel, sweet orange peel, coriander, grains of paradise, etc... Blue Moon is the most common and recognizable version of a white ale, but it's a pale representation of a true Wit.

Nice that you guys are getting an early start on your pipelines! You'll be glad later.

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I dry hopped 1/3 oz of Centennial pelletized hops in my most recent batch. I did not boil these pellets.

What is going to happen? Should I throw this one out?

martinfan30 said:

I dry hopped 1/3 oz of Centennial pelletized hops in my most recent batch. I did not boil these pellets.

What is going to happen? Should I throw this one out?

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I'm of the opinion that you've put too much time and effort into making your beer that you should NEVER throw it out unless it is undrinkable.

Always carry it out to the end and try it. The worst thing that could happen is you decide you can't drink it and have to throw it out. In 99.9999 percent of the cases I bet you end up deciding you like it after you try it.

I have only brewed 2 batches so take that for what it's worth.

martinfan30 said:

I dry hopped 1/3 oz of Centennial pelletized hops in my most recent batch. I did not boil these pellets.

What is going to happen? Should I throw this one out?

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Did I mistype again?

No, hops are TOTALLY SAFE to dry-hop with. They are designed by God, Gaia, Evolution or Tom Cruise his-self (choose what you want to believe) to specifically and powerfully fight bacteria. They are *perfect* for beer, just as they are.

Do. Not. Panic.

Do. Not. Dump.

RDWHAHB. :fro:

Justibone said:

Did I mistype again?

No, hops are TOTALLY SAFE to dry-hop with. They are designed by God, Gaia, Evolution or Tom Cruise his-self (choose what you want to believe) to specifically and powerfully fight bacteria. They are *perfect* for beer, just as they are.

Do. Not. Panic.

Do. Not. Dump.

RDWHAHB. :fro:

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I disagree. Hops were created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It is he, and he alone, that promises of beer volcanoes in heaven.

Get it right.

thanks for the reply justibone:rockin:
i am fermenting at roughly 63-65F, probably right in the middle for the wb-06 yeast - we shall see in a month haha, but i'm willing to bet it'll be a good ratio of banana and clove as for the cardamom i'm sure i will need to tweak it eventually to get it just right but my friends aren't very sophisticated haha.
and yes dryhop to oblivion if your heart desires it, won't hurt anything except your tastebuds maybe. i am a huge fan of the dryhop.

fellas!

completely off topic, but has anyone else noticed the "PROST THIS THREAD" button being misspelled horribly?

I believe it should be "POST TO this thread".
Mods, please fix, my OCD is kicking in!!

AR-Josh said:

I pitched my yeast at 66 (which I read from the thermometer sticker on the side of the cask) and this morning the temperature read 70. No fermentation yet but I didn't really expect any.

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If you pitched at 66 and it's now 70, you've got fermentation. You may not have any krausen, which is a visible sign of active fermentation, but I've had batches that fermented completely and I never noticed any krausen (there may have been some for a short while and I missed t).

Take a look at the bottom. Is a layer of sediment forming? That's trub and is another visible sign of fermentation.

Darklordenron said:

completely off topic, but has anyone else noticed the "PROST THIS THREAD" button being misspelled horribly?

I believe it should be "POST TO this thread".
Mods, please fix, my OCD is kicking in!!

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I don't think that's a mistake. There's already a button to post a reply. I think the Prost button is intended if you want to prost the thread. Unless I'm mistaken, Prost! is a German word used to toast somebody or something.

AR-Josh said:

FYI the coopers yeast is already going at it. Less than 24 hrs and that puppy is churning. The current temp is 72. How high can I let it get before I should start thinking about trying to cool it down?

The bathroom I have the cask in smells of fermentation. w00t!!!

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Don't worry about cooling in the winter. As long as your AC isn't on, the beer is fine with the temp. too.

bpgreen said:

I don't think that's a mistake. There's already a button to post a reply. I think the Prost button is intended if you want to prost the thread. Unless I'm mistaken, Prost! is a German word used to toast somebody or something.

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Ahh, haha. Silly me and my American thinking.

I'm trying to use up the rest of my Mr Beer ingredients (just upgraded my set up!), and I used the yeast that came with the HME, and I rehydrated it in water for 15 min, then proofed it with preboiled mixture of DME and water that was cooled and waited 30 minutes. Nothing happened, it didn't start bubbling or anything - I couldn't tell any difference.

I know Mr Beer yeast isn't the best yeast, but I feel like it should have done SOMETHING. I went ahead and pitched it anyway. I pitched it about 5 hours ago.

Anyone ever tried to proof Mr Beer yeast? Is there a chance I had dead yeast? Should I try to pitch another packet of the Mr Beer yeast? I have some Safale US-05 coming Wednesday. If I don't have any kind of signs that my beer is fermenting by then, should I try to pitch the US-05?

Thanks guys

I tasted my 2nd Mr. Beer batch today, it's still a little young, but I wanted to open just 1 to see how it was coming along and to compare it to future tastes. I have been very underwhelmed by my first 2 brews. My first beer was very bad, no real flavor and weird aftertaste. I chalked that up to using the booster and Mr. Beer yeast.

My 2nd brew I used DME along with the liquid malt extract and used Safale US05. It is still pretty young, like I said only 2 weeks in the bottle, but there just doesn't seem to be much flavor in it at all. Am I just expecting too much from these kits? I would easily have chosen a coors light over these 2 brews : (

What did you brew?
How long did you ferment?
How long did they sit in the bottle?
What temp did you ferment at?

Kealia said:

What did you brew?
How long did you ferment?
How long did they sit in the bottle?
What temp did you ferment at?

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First was a blonde ale, 2 weeks fermenting and 3 weeks in the bottle.

Second was the Cowboy lager, I used DME instead of the booster and used Safale us05. It was in the fermenter for 2 weeks as well and so far about 2 1/2 weeks in the bottle.

They both fermented around 65 degrees