Mr Beer.com better ingredients

I know I am far from alone in getting a Mr Beer kit for christmas I went out and got a real kit after doing my first batch in MB, but plan I using it to enhance my skills a little while I wait for long ferments in the real kit.

Anyway, I was checking their site and they have new "Brewmaster" select kits, and are offering Wyeast liquid yeast, and fresh hops. I know using the UME instead of booster with a kit TREMENDOUSLY improves the quality as well. Maybe Mr Beer has been reading this forum and is taking it to heart? lol

I plan on trying the Brewmaster kits as soon as I have used up my other stuff. Perhaps I could even use the yeast and hops from the Brewmaster kit with my existing MB beer mix cans.

Give it a go, when you've got the hang of it you probablly find you're ready to buy ingredients from a HBS and save a few $$$$.

The good thing about Mr. Beer kits are that they are a no brainer. Look at the list, see what you fancy chuck it together wait a bit and .
Brilliant way into the hobby.

I can't resist adding my own touch though. With my first batch I threw some light brown sugar in, and the second batch has some DME added to the booster. I want the alcohol to be at least 5%.

I might do without the booster on the next batch, and just use DME.

With Mr Beer you need about 4 pounds of DME, LME or UME to produce a good 2-1/2 gallon brew. Usind Mr Beer ingredients that is about $25 just for the malt. Better to buy 5 gallon recipies from MoreBeer, AustinBrewing, Midwest or others. Just need a second fermenter so you can spin out 5 gallon batches.

Looking at the 'deluxe' brew packs, I can see that the Mr Beer mixes are all either hopped or unhopped. The idea seems to be that you use the unhopped ones with the hopped ones instead of using booster. Right now I have three cans that I haven't used yet:

High Country Canadian Draft
West Coast Pale Ale
Whispering Wheat Weizenbier

I wonder if I could use the Canadian Draft and the Pale Ale mixes together (with no booster), or would that be too hoppy?

Too Hoppy!

You'll never know how much hops is too hoppy till you taste it.
Why not just buy some dme or lme and use that.

Pugilist said:

I know I am far from alone in getting a Mr Beer kit for christmas I went out and got a real kit after doing my first batch in MB, but plan I using it to enhance my skills a little while I wait for long ferments in the real kit.

Anyway, I was checking their site and they have new "Brewmaster" select kits, and are offering Wyeast liquid yeast, and fresh hops. I know using the UME instead of booster with a kit TREMENDOUSLY improves the quality as well. Maybe Mr Beer has been reading this forum and is taking it to heart? lol

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Just so you know, from my experience a few weeks ago, when you buy a Wyeast packet from them it comes in the normal Wyeast packaging, but with a slight modification. It is imprinted with the terminology that Mr. Beer uses. What I mean is that, Wyeast has their own specific classifications of yeast: for example, British ale, Irish ale, etc. But the one's that come from Mr. Beer don't have anything marked for the Wyeast terminology but rather they say something like "Mr. Beer Ale Yeast." I guess this is okay if you aren't concerned with knowing exactly what kind of yeast you are using. But I was personally a little perturbed. Just my 2cents.

orfy said:

Too Hoppy!

You'll never know how much hops is too hoppy till you taste it.
Why not just buy some dme or lme and use that.

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I will. I was just wondering what would happen.

You'll hopefully get an hoppier beer of an Hybrid style.

I had some left over Mr. Beer mixes last year and used them up by adding LME instead of booster (of course) and chucking in a little bit of hops. The best thing I did, however, was to steep a little crystal malt in some water, then cool it and use it for the dilution water. Just another way to get some fresh flavor in.

monk

orfy said:

You'll hopefully get an hoppier beer of an Hybrid style.

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Do you think it's worth a try?

If it were me, I'd save the kits and use one each brew with dme, it'll work out cheaper.

If you didn't want to wait or you want to experiment then go for it. It'll be better than using sugar at any rate.