read if you use MR BEER kit

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Just ordered a Mr. beer kit. Not because I don't have enough equipment to brew 10 gal at a time, but because this thread made my week!!! Thank you, and bring on Mr. beer!!!
 
I personally don't use the bottleing bucket approch, i bottle straight from my secondary fermenter. I personally don't understand the bottling bucket, it just is an added variable that can contaminate the beer.
I personally don't use the secondary approach (for most beers). I personally don't understand the secondary, it is just an added variable that can contaminate/oxidize the beer. ;)
Sure, Mr Beer kits aren't the gee-whiz systems, but everybody starts somewhere, and I'd imagine that the vast majority of Mr Beer users eventually upgrade their systems (out of neccessity) or just give up the hobby it it's not for them. And if the Mr Beer system works for them, good on them, it ain't no pissin' contest, it's all good fun....and I'm sure experienced folk could crank out a fine tasting beer from a Mr Beer. I've personally never known anyone who has one, have only seen them in a store a couple of times. I patched my supplies together after picking up Charlie P's "Joy" book back in the '90's, replacing whatever needed to be replaced over the years, but rarely as an "upgrade," more a neccessity
 
I like the MrB LBK because it fits in a cooler, which is protected from light & easy to keep cool, and it can be tucked in a corner out of the way. Someday, I won't have limited space and can move up to a 5-6.5 gallon fermenting bucket, but I'll still keep my LBKs.
 
The funny thing about this thread is that everyone on the first page joined the forum in December 2004 (probably right after christmas getting some new homebrew gear) posted three or 4 times and never were seen again. If only they knew what they started.

Now let this thread fall to the bottom where it belongs
 
Oh boy the OP is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. This thread serves as a PSA to always check the time stamp of origin. Wow I just got a lot of enjoyment out of this.

Never used a Mr. Beer. I see the 2 gallon fermenters in the thrift store often but never pulled the trigger on one.
 
I started with a mr beer kit also. Two batches in my first apartment after moving out of my parents a few years ago and now I am doing all grain :) Mr. beer was awesome though... it definitely got me hooked.
 
Hey all, I am new to the board. I have 7 brews under my belt. 5 all grain and 2 now Mr beer. So far so good. I did find this though for mr beer. While reading amazon is a Russian roulette on expired refills. Cheaper yes, but 50/50 if good. I was recently in a Kohls department store and they had the keg starter kits. I asked about the refills and found them to be online. I was told.this is a new product for them to carry. I ordered refills online at 18.99 + 30% off coupon, free shipping, and $5 off for rewards. Recieved 2 refill kits for 18.00 total. Both expire in about 16months. Might be a good place to go as it is so new. Should be able to have unexpired refills at least for a little while.
 
Don't let others shame you for using the MB stuff. Lots of us started there and learned a love for the craft.

Where MB comes up way short is with their instructions. If you know nothing about brewing and simply follow them, you're very unlikely to produce a decent final product. If, however, you employ good temp control (pitch and ferment mid-60's) plus give the beer more time to ferment/cleanup and bottle condition, you can actually end up with something enjoyable.
 
I got a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas and that got me started. I brewed 3 from them. After reading a whole lot, I was ready to try a real brew. I wanted to start simple so I chose an extract recipe from here (respect stout). My wife won't let me buy any more equipment so I cut the recipe in half and made 2.5 gallon and put it in the Mr. Beer fermenter. It's been there for a little over 2 weeks now. Bottle day approaching. I plan on trying all grain next.
 
Did my first all grain yesterday. Again, my wife won't let me buy anything but ingredients (she doesn't agree that it all has to be so complicated and expensive) so I did a vienna/centennial SMaSH. Cut to 2.5 gallons. It seemed to work out well. I do not have a hydrometer so we shall see. The only Mr. Beer stuff I use are the plastic bottles and the fermenter. Incidentally, I also have successfully used cleaned plastic Bud Light bottles! My progression from Mr Beer has been quick. I do agree that it is nice to set the fermenter in a cooler to easily maintain the temp. PS- No, the Triscuits did not go into the beer :)

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Did my first all grain yesterday. Again, my wife won't let me buy anything but ingredients (she doesn't agree that it all has to be so complicated and expensive) so I did a vienna/centennial SMaSH. Cut to 2.5 gallons. It seemed to work out well. I do not have a hydrometer so we shall see. The only Mr. Beer stuff I use are the plastic bottles and the fermenter. Incidentally, I also have successfully used cleaned plastic Bud Light bottles! My progression from Mr Beer has been quick. I do agree that it is nice to set the fermenter in a cooler to easily maintain the temp. PS- No, the Triscuits did not go into the beer :)

Do you have a temp strip or anything on your fermenter?
 
well i ditched the mr beer kit and got a true brewkit with mountmellik brown ale malt exract so hopefully it will be better
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I too use the Kroger 2.5 gallon container of spring water!

:)

I will soon be trying an AG recipe, BIAB makes a lot of sense for AG batches that small. I just want to make sure I have my procedures right, and do a few extract with steeped grains first.
 
I still have two Mr Beer fermentors. They are good for experimental small batches.
Use real yeast, and let them sit for 10 days and bottle. You can even cold crah them in the fridge.

The only annoyance is each one holds 2.125 gallons, so that 4.25 gallons, and if you brew 5 gallons, you have some extra wort
 
I safely fill mine up to 2.4 gallons all the time now. Even using Notty on my Centennial Blonde, it had enough (just enough!) headroom.

;)
 
I started out using the Mr. Beer kit and never managed to turn out a decent batch of beer. I finally said 'Screw it!' and went over to the Michigan Brewing Company's homebrew supply store in Webberville Michigan (they've been out of business for awhile now...that's a story in itself as to why they went under) and bought a Brewer's Best Homebrewing kit and two cases of glass bottles. After getting several decent batches under my belt, I went back to MBC and bought a glass carboy and a few other odds and ends to add to my brewing equipment. My Mr. Beer set has been slowly gathering dust on top of the cabinets above the kitchen counter for several years now.
 
I just use the LBK as a fermentor. I will be bottling the extract version of BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde later tomorrow.
 
I started out using the Mr. Beer kit and never managed to turn out a decent batch of beer. I finally said 'Screw it!' and went over to the Michigan Brewing Company's homebrew supply store in Webberville Michigan (they've been out of business for awhile now...that's a story in itself as to why they went under) and bought a Brewer's Best Homebrewing kit and two cases of glass bottles. After getting several decent batches under my belt, I went back to MBC and bought a glass carboy and a few other odds and ends to add to my brewing equipment. My Mr. Beer set has been slowly gathering dust on top of the cabinets above the kitchen counter for several years now.

The problem wasn't with the equipment.

I was going to post more, but then I saw that this thread started more than a decade ago, so I deleted the rest of my response and kept the reply to be amused when this necro thread keeps arising from the dead.
 
Back in 2004, I imagine Mr. Beer kits were not great. Small cans of hopped LME, instructions to add sugar, and a tiny, tiny pack of yeast. I'd bet a lot of sub-standard beer was made from that. But, 4 years ago, Mr Beer was bought out by Cooper's and lots of things got better. I started on Mr. Beer not a year ago. Of course, I only brewed one batch straight-up, and it still was not good. Steeping grains & extra hops are needed to make decent beer out of them.

Now, I just use the LBKs because they literally fit my brewing lifestyle. Otherwise, I am an AG brewer.

:)
 
My friend got a BS mr beer kit for 99$. I mean seriously? You cam buy a decent setup for 99 bucks! Even those damn so called refills are like 26 bucks each and its not enough to make good beer, you can buy 3 lbs of dme for 11 bucks and some hops for 4$ and it will probably be better than mr beer!
 
If he actually paid $99, someone is laughing & taking some money out of the till.

Please don't think I am defending them, I got far away from those products in less than a year - however, your info is a bit off. Refills start at $17, the craft & seasonal ones (that use a larger can of hopped LME) are the ones that cost over $20.


*EDIT* Pardons, I was going by the US dollar, not the Canadian one. My prices above are definitely off, that way. /EDIT

As I mentioned above, though, they aren't worth it - none of them. To make decent beer, you end up spending more money & using the same amount of time as an AG batch.
 
If he actually paid $99, someone is laughing & taking some money out of the till.

Please don't think I am defending them, I got far away from those products in less than a year - however, your info is a bit off. Refills start at $17, the craft & seasonal ones (that use a larger can of hopped LME) are the ones that cost over $20.

As I mentioned above, though, they aren't worth it - none of them. To make decent beer, you end up spending more money & using the same amount of time as an AG batch.

Plus taxes is like 99 or something. I dont think these kits are worth it at all.

View attachment 1456464897113.jpg
 
Pardons, I didn't know we were talking Canadian dollars.

:eek:
 
Mr. Beer oh how I love the LBK's. To make a good beer you need to have a dedicated fermenting chamber with temperature control monitoring and logging plus several PH meters / hydrometers / refractometers and a few spectrometers.

Thermal imaging to make sure you can see the gradient temperature of the LBK and a dust free environment with hepa filtering.

And also you need to make your own water. Make sure you test your water with a TDS meter. best bet is to buy a distiller.

I am still trying to get the green apple taste to go away from my Mr. Beer kits. I plan to send a sample to a lab for analysis.

Just my .02

-Altrez
 
Mr. Beer oh how I love the LBK's. To make a good beer you need to have a dedicated fermenting chamber with temperature control monitoring and logging plus several PH meters / hydrometers / refractometers and a few spectrometers.

Thermal imaging to make sure you can see the gradient temperature of the LBK and a dust free environment with hepa filtering.

And also you need to make your own water. Make sure you test your water with a TDS meter. best bet is to buy a distiller.

I am still trying to get the green apple taste to go away from my Mr. Beer kits. I plan to send a sample to a lab for analysis.

Just my .02

-Altrez

The green apple taste won't go away until you buy a better Ti camera. :mug:
 
Mr. Beer oh how I love the LBK's. To make a good beer you need to have a dedicated fermenting chamber with temperature control monitoring and logging plus several PH meters / hydrometers / refractometers and a few spectrometers.

Thermal imaging to make sure you can see the gradient temperature of the LBK and a dust free environment with hepa filtering.

And also you need to make your own water. Make sure you test your water with a TDS meter. best bet is to buy a distiller.

I am still trying to get the green apple taste to go away from my Mr. Beer kits. I plan to send a sample to a lab for analysis.

Just my .02

-Altrez

Not sure if you're serious or just being sarcastic. :cross: I was leaning towards you being a shopaholic, but now I'm leaning more towards the troll hypothesis. :fro:
 
Not sure if you're serious or just being sarcastic. :cross: I was leaning towards you being a shopaholic, but now I'm leaning more towards the troll hypothesis. :fro:

I am no troll! I have all of that equipment on hand with notes / pictures and postings of my Mr. Beer brewing.

-Altrez
 
To make a good beer, you need thermal imaging equipment, to test your water with a TDS meter, use a distiller, make your own water, use refractometers, spectrometers, have a dedicated fermentation chamber, and on and on and on? Yet you still have excessive acetaldehyde in your beer and use all that equipment on Mr. Beer kits?

If you're not a troll, I hope you don't believe that you need all that stuff to make good beer. You can get all you need to make excellent beer on $100 to $200.
 
To make a good beer, you need thermal imaging equipment, to test your water with a TDS meter, use a distiller, make your own water, use refractometers, spectrometers, have a dedicated fermentation chamber, and on and on and on? Yet you still have excessive acetaldehyde in your beer and use all that equipment on Mr. Beer kits?

If you're not a troll, I hope you don't believe that you need all that stuff to make good beer. You can get all you need to make excellent beer on $100 to $200.

If you liked that sample, you're going to LOVE the full version: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=579792
 
I got a mr beer for the form factor. I live in an apartment and don't have space for all the gear. half the size, don't need a big pot, no place for a propane burner anyway...

Mr beer is great. Fits in the fridge next to the milk and pizza. Even a 1 gallon glass jug with bubbler doesn't fit in my fridge.
 
I use Mr. Beer because I wanted a simple way to try beer making. It allows me to try different recipes without a lot of hassle. I want to experiment but I want the beer to come out as beer. I figure with a simplified kit I have the best chance of success.
 
Unlike most posters, I actually "upgraded" to the LBK from glass carboys. I sold those old school space wasters, 3 for $50. I kept the 3 gallon boiling kettle, perfect size for a mr beer LBK brew. There's no room in my apartment for a kegerator, and 5 gallons of beer is like filling my fridge with 5 gallons of the same damn beer.

I recently brewed a 2.5 gal BIAB AG tripel without hot breaking. No one here has the balls to do that. But hey, I got a small batch setup that fits in my regular fridge. I have no clue how it will turn out, maybe a little proteiny, but this could substitute my muscle milk shakes. If it sucks, I'll just dump it.
 
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