Booster

I know this may be a dumb question but I am new so bear with me a bit. I made my first batch of WC Pale ale using the Mr. Beer kit. I have purchased some better equipment and want to start experimenting with other HME beers. Now my question is do I need to purchase Booster from Mr. Beer or is there something I can get locally that does the same thing (whatever that is) for future batches? Thanks in advance

Curtis

I prefer using DME of some sort. depends on what style of beer it is

Yep. Go with DME rather than simple sugars for that "real beer" taste.

Oh! And DME stands for "Dry Malt Extract" (not sure just how new you are).

From http://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/product_id/82/nm/Booster_trade_1

Booster™ is made from corn syrup solids, and is ideally suited for use as a brewing adjunct. It provides a full and balanced range of both fermentable and unfermentable sugars that is designed to mimic the carbohydrate profile of all-malt wort, consisting of 8% glucose, 56% maltose, 16% maltotriose, and 20% dextrins.

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Could use DME, corn sugar, or this: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=10137

Thanks for all the responses but I guess what I am trying to find out is this.

If I am using a liquid extract (HME) do I need to add anything to it like Booster or can I make a good beer by just adding my water and yeast?

Thanks

Curtis

You may want to add some DME (dry malt extract), LME (liquid malt extract), or more HME(hopped malt extract) to make the beer bigger. Until you start measuring specific gravities you're just guessing at what and how much to add. Unless of course you follow a recipe.

No one can say for sure how much of what you will want to add. It's sort of like asking, "how much sugar do I put into the cake mix?" Well, what kind of cake are you making? How sweet do you want it to be? That same thing applies here with beer.

My suggestion is to follow some of the Mr Beer recipes then start tinkering with them. Maybe get another Mr Beer fermenter and do two of the exact same recipe, but make one the exact recipe and the other one the one you tinker with.

I'm assuming you just want to stay with Mr Beer.

Thearcher said:

Thanks for all the responses but I guess what I am trying to find out is this.

If I am using a liquid extract (HME) do I need to add anything to it like Booster or can I make a good beer by just adding my water and yeast?

Thanks

Curtis

Click to expand...

By the way, there are two types of liquid malt extracts. One is hopped malt extract (HME), the other is just liquid malt extract with not hops (LME). Mr Beer refers to LME as UME (unhopped malt extract).

I did the Mr Beer Cowboy Lager and it involved a can of HME and a can of UME/LME. The recipe did not use booster.

Thanks again for the help I have decided to try this:

5 gallon batch of Australian pale ale

1 can Coopers HME
2 pounds Briess Light DME

I am thinking of doing a two stage setup

ferment in bucket for 5 days then transfer to glass carboy for 2 weeks then transfer to bottling bucket add priming sugar and bottling.

What is your suggestion on conditioning after bottled? I was thinking 2 weeks at room temp then 1 week in the refrigerator. Does that sound right? Any and all suggestions is welcome and wanted.

Curtis

do yourself a favor and keep it in primary for 3 weeks, if you can wait that long. initial fermentation may be done within 5 days, but the extra time will allow the yeast to clean up its byproducts and clean up the flavor. also, you're adding the 2# DME which is another reason to give it more time in primary.

as far as bottle conditioning goes, they really benefit from a minimum of 3 weeks at room temp. definitely don't put all of them in the fridge after that time either. the longer the bottles sit at room temp the better.

PolishStout said:

do yourself a favor and keep it in primary for 3 weeks, if you can wait that long. initial fermentation may be done within 5 days, but the extra time will allow the yeast to clean up its byproducts and clean up the flavor. also, you're adding the 2# DME which is another reason to give it more time in primary.

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Lots of topics and eye-openers for this noob! I had always thought "big beers" were all about extra sucrose, dextrose, honey, etc. But here I'm reading I'd probably be better off using at least half of the extra sugars as malt extract - it seems the malt flavor could get overpowering so only half? SOOOooo... my next AHS chocolate stout kit is on the way, and instead of throwing in a bunch of honey, I'm going to:
(1) make a starter with malt extract (or is it better to use sucrose or honey + yeast food + oxygenate?)
(2) Add half unhopped malt extract and half honey+glucose to get a high specific gravity in the wort itself (1.100 or so?)
(3) Add a little alpha galactosidase to get the final specific gravity down below 1.010 (not sure when to add that - it seems like this properly belongs later in the ferment when the easy sugars are gone, rather than at the beginning for a slightly lower-carb beer)

One of my concerns is the issue of yeast turning lazy. I have a vial of White WLP009 in the refrigerator. Not sure whether I need to use that for high ABV or not. Doesn't making a starter with malt extract circumvent yeast getting lazy?

Also, I have a glass carbouy which I bought so I could brew 2 batches at once by moving the first batch to the carbouy, but am thinking instead of buying a second bucket since I've read so much that "secondary fermenting" is not necessary and risks a beer getting infected.

Looking for input on these thoughts!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!