Can I turn a Mr. Beer Recipe Kit into something useful?

[ladodger34]

So my buddy is going through a divorce and is trying to liberate (and downsize) stuff from his condo. Long story short, he gave me a Mr. Beer Mexican Cerveza kit and I was looking for some advice to make it something more useful. Maybe kick it up to 5 gallons, bump the abv up a bit, etc.

 

[fizgig]

It's prehopped but the IBUs would be really low, I'd just treat it like LME

 

[z-bob]

Is it just a refill kit, or the fermentor too?

 

[ladodger34]

It's a refill kit. I do the standard 5 gallon extract kits right now, so all of my equipment is geared towards that.

 

[z-bob]

So just treat it like 1.8 lbs of light (probably not extra light) LME, and go a little easy on your bittering hops because the malt is lightly hopped already. It also probably comes with a packet of Coopers yeast.

You could also just use it for making yeast culturing wort if you're into that. Store the excess LME in the freezer and it will last forever.

I can't believe they get almost $20 for those small cans of LME. I must be missing something.

 

[brewshki]

I made that kit very recently, I'm brand new and that was my second batch, and it really is not great on its own. I don't know any way of using it but it wasn't great just as a stand alone product.

 

[liquiditynerd]

malt vinegar?

 

[z-bob]

1.8 pounds of LME in 2 gallons of beer will only get you about 3.2% ABV unless you add sugar. And it's not enough malt yet to be adding sugar. Try adding a pound of DME (dry malt extract) and it might be pretty good.

 

[Calder]

Throw it in to a beer (almost any beer as it has little flavor) at flame out. It will add 5 IBUs and .013 to the gravity in a 5 gallon batch.

 

[Pataka]

If it were me, I'd stick with the 2 gallon size, or whatever the kit is designed for. You can then make adjustments on a slightly more controlled scale. Assuming you know what the Mr Beer Cerveza tastes like, you can make more controlled adjustments by addition of ingredients to suit taste. Trying to do that as well as upscale the capacity from 2 to 5 gallons is going to be tricky. Not only that, if it ends up being a dud, you will have wasted an extra 3 gallons worth of ingredients.

 

[DakotaSouth]

Throw it in to a beer (almost any beer as it has little flavor) at flame out. It will add 5 IBUs and .013 to the gravity in a 5 gallon batch.

+1 ... this is what I would do with it as well.

 

[ladodger34]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I think I will just go ahead an add to whatever my next brew will be.

 

[M42]

This is one of the weakest flavored MB kits. It definitely needs hops and I would add a pound of light DME and steep some Carapil grains to enhance flavor.