Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Thank you, im not planning on bottling till i get back from mexico:ban: around the 28th, or the 29th

so i will hopefully be enjoying my homebrew the second week of january and bottle my next batch around that time too :), this is gonna be a fun hobby :mug:
 
Looking forward to hearing how that All grain turned out Conroe. I just spent about two months brewing various Mr. Beer "recipes" for some how-to videos I was doing. I have so much beer in this house it's crazy. The one I liked the most was their Belgian Trippel, really nice beer, and the German Hefeweizen isn't too bad either.
 
Brewologist said:
Looking forward to hearing how that All grain turned out Conroe. I just spent about two months brewing various Mr. Beer "recipes" for some how-to videos I was doing. I have so much beer in this house it's crazy. The one I liked the most was their Belgian Trippel, really nice beer, and the German Hefeweizen isn't too bad either.
Click to expand...

If this is the Triple Tippel, I am wondering how you did it in two months, when the instructions recommend 6 months or more in the bottle. Maybe your "really nice beer" will actually make it to style aftet 6 months in the bottle.

Remember to all those doing Mr. Beer, Time is your friend. Give it double the
Mr. beer timeframes usually and you will be rewarded.
 
It was their Belgian Trippel in the large can, with Safale T-58.

Shooting the videos (which were how-to brew videos for the most part) took me a couple of months, but I had doubles for each style and brewed them in advance of shooting the videos.

They aged plenty.
 
I asked for a mr. beer for x-mas one year. My dad showed up with a bottle capper, 50 bottles, a primary bucket, a secondary bucket, hydrometer, etc........ And the jy of homebrewing book. I have to say I was not prepared for that. I wish I had found this forum sooner. So technically I can tip my hat to mr. beer.
 
Well... it's been awhile since I posted, but I finally got my first brew kit... my wife got me a Mr. Beer package. Yeah, not the home brew kit I was hoping for, but hey... Seeing this thread gives me hope that I can make it work.
 
Oh you can totally make it work!

I do half batches (2.5 gal) all the time, it's so much easier to handle the smaller volume, plus bottling only one case is much less prone to making you want to chew on the business end of a sporting gun, if ya get my drift. ;)

Just make sure that you set the last couple beers you bottle aside, since they are likely to have the most sediment in them, since you won't be using a separate bottling bucket.
 
Don't be afraid of doing 2.5 gallon extract batches. You can order the stuff online if need be and there are lots of great recipes out there. I created a recipe kit for a sweet coffee cocoa stout for a teacher of my son as an x-mas gift. Her husband got a mr beer kit for his birthday a weeks back. They are very eager to try something new and love that style of beer (I made some a while back and they loved it). It is easy to handle a 2.5 gallon batch on a stovetop and you pretty much never have to worry about making a yeast starter or any other complex stuff.

After converting my all grain recipe and putting together the ingredients it made me think about how complex my brewing setup and process has become compared to this!
 
I got a Mr Beer kit in a chinese gift exchange this Christmas. I have my first batch in there fermenting right now. How vigorous should I expect it to be bubbling during fermentation?

It's been sitting there 5 days and I can see little bubbles coming up but not much. Then come up and form a small cluster then just pop. I see one or two specs of "stuff" on the surface that don't look like bubbles. I went on vacation for 3 days and when I left it had not really started yet. I was planning on leaving it for 14 days either way. I guess we'll see. I'll report back with how it goes.

Sucks though cause if I ever was going to get into brewing I was going to go the kegging route but with this I am forced to buy some bottles just to get my first batch done. Oh well. I'm looking forward to it either way.
 
AR-Josh said:
I got a Mr Beer kit in a chinese gift exchange this Christmas. I have my first batch in there fermenting right now. How vigorous should I expect it to be bubbling during fermentation?

It's been sitting there 5 days and I can see little bubbles coming up but not much. Then come up and form a small cluster then just pop. I see one or two specs of "stuff" on the surface that don't look like bubbles. I went on vacation for 3 days and when I left it had not really started yet. I was planning on leaving it for 14 days either way. I guess we'll see. I'll report back with how it goes.

Sucks though cause if I ever was going to get into brewing I was going to go the kegging route but with this I am forced to buy some bottles just to get my first batch done. Oh well. I'm looking forward to it either way.
Click to expand...

You can use 20oz plastic screw top soda bottles, no root beer bottles. Make sure you clean and sanatize them well and keep them out of direct light since they will be clear.
 
AR-Josh said:
I got a Mr Beer kit in a chinese gift exchange this Christmas. I have my first batch in there fermenting right now. How vigorous should I expect it to be bubbling during fermentation?

It's been sitting there 5 days and I can see little bubbles coming up but not much. Then come up and form a small cluster then just pop. I see one or two specs of "stuff" on the surface that don't look like bubbles. I went on vacation for 3 days and when I left it had not really started yet. I was planning on leaving it for 14 days either way. I guess we'll see. I'll report back with how it goes.

Sucks though cause if I ever was going to get into brewing I was going to go the kegging route but with this I am forced to buy some bottles just to get my first batch done. Oh well. I'm looking forward to it either way.
Click to expand...

With the basic kit that comes with it - not vigorous to the eye but it's still fermenting don't worry.

If you don't own a hydrometer, plan on 14 days and then taste a sample. It should taste like flat beer. If it's sweet, give it a few extra days.

As mentioned, any plastic bottles that have carbonated drinks in them will work (root beer tends to impart it's smell into plastic).

Enjoy.
 
Just got a Mr. Beer for Christmas, it's currently sitting in my closet at 70 degrees F. After one day there was some stuff on the top of the beer is that krausen or whatever it's called?

Also, how do I know if my beer is contaminated?
 
Actually, you can use root beer bottles, if you rinse them in cold water first. Before I switched to all glass, I used a lot of root beer bottles. They're great because they're amber so they block the light. The key is that you need to rinse them in cold water a couple of times. If you rinse in hot water, you fix the smell/taste, but if you rinse in cold water, the smell comes out. I used to rinse in cold water a few times, then fill with water and add a little Oxiclean free and let them sit for a day. Sometimes, I'd pour the trub from an empty homebrew, then add a small amount of sugar and fill with water and let it carb for a few days just to make sure that if there was any residual odor, the yeast could overtake it.

To IowaState--There's really no way to know if you've got a contaminated batch until you taste it. It hasn't happened to me yet, but from what I understand, if it's contaminated, the beer will taste awful. If you followed proper sanitation, it's not likely that you've got contamination. Just out of curiosity, is the Maintenance Shop still open? I spent many Friday afternoons there (after class, of course).
 
Ha ha yeah it's still open, although I've never been there. What was your major when you were here and are you from Utah or are you from Iowa?

I like going Olde Maine for some good local brews.
 
Fermentation can either be really energetic, or really lazy. You can't really ever be sure, one way or another, what it will be like. The yeast are live fungi, so they do what they want to do. :)

If you don't want to buy bottles, you can use any bottle that comes from any carbonated liquid. Dark brown ones are best, if available, but beware of root beer bottles because the flavor is rumored to linger. If you do bottle into clear or green bottles, keep it out of high frequency light (sunlight, fluorescent light, etc.).

{maybe it's high wavelength light, I always get those confused: avoid high ENERGY light, yeah, that's about right}

When it's time to drink, there will be sediment in the bottom. The longer you leave it in the fridge, the more compact the sediment will be. Don't drink the yeast sediment -- it's not harmful, it just doesn't taste that great, and it can cause some people "intestinal distress" if they aren't used to homebrew. ;)

Your beer is probably not contaminated. You will know because it will taste absolutely god awful. If you taste your beer, and it's rancid or smells like the inside of a racoon's colon, then DON'T DUMP IT. Set it aside, wait a couple of weeks, and try it again. If it is still reminiscent of the business end of a diarrhetic sphincter, then, well, sorry. It went bad. If it's good, then you just tried it too early.

Remember: the timelines that come with the kit are a bit "optimistic" on time... so give it a little more time and patience than listed there.

If the first batch goes badly, come back on here and we'll help you make a better batch. If you want, go ahead and check my recipes (especially the simple wheat in my sig) and you can make really good beer using the Mr. Beer fermentor but without the expense of the Mr. Beer kits.

If this hobby is for you, then you will be fascinated by the process. If you are more of a drinker than a brewer, there is nothing wrong with that -- I would just encourage you not to give up after only one batch if you think this hobby is something you would find rewarding over time. :)
 
IowaState said:
Just got a Mr. Beer for Christmas, it's currently sitting in my closet at 70 degrees F. After one day there was some stuff on the top of the beer is that krausen or whatever it's called?
Click to expand...

Kreusen (there are lots of spellings of it, it's a German word that uses "umlaut", so there is no direct English equivalent) is the foamy, sudsy, bubbly, sticky, messy head on fermenting beer. Some yeast are reputed to make more kreusen than others, and some beers are more prone to making voluminous kreusen than others (wheat beers FTW!)... but all beers are capable of kreusen.

Kreusen can be a huge pain, which is why brewers use blow-off tubes (see the wiki here) or Fermcap-S -- which is a silicone product that prevents excessive kreusen formation but it settles out of fermentation when the yeast are done with their major activity (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/you-cant-use-enough-fermcap-s-anti-foam-agent-130956/).
 
IowaState said:
Ha ha yeah it's still open, although I've never been there. What was your major when you were here and are you from Utah or are you from Iowa?

I like going Olde Maine for some good local brews.
Click to expand...

I had a bunch of majors when I went there (I think a total of 8, everything from engineering to philosophy). I left after 4 years and finally finished my degree somewhere else years later.

I live in Utah now, but grew up mostly in Illinois. I lived in IA until the end of 2nd grade and have lots of relatives there.
 
Justibone said:
Kreusen (there are lots of spellings of it, it's a German word that uses "umlaut", so there is no direct English equivalent) is the foamy, sudsy, bubbly, sticky, messy head on fermenting beer. Some yeast are reputed to make more kreusen than others, and some beers are more prone to making voluminous kreusen than others (wheat beers FTW!)... but all beers are capable of kreusen.

Kreusen can be a huge pain, which is why brewers use blow-off tubes (see the wiki here) or Fermcap-S -- which is a silicone product that prevents excessive kreusen formation but it settles out of fermentation when the yeast are done with their major activity (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/you-cant-use-enough-fermcap-s-anti-foam-agent-130956/).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, It might not be Kreusen maybe just bubbles or something.

I think for my next project (after the blonde ale I got from Mr. Beer) I'm going to try a wheat beer. Since wheat beers are my favorite beers!

Looking forward to reading your easy recipe.
 
bpgreen said:
I had a bunch of majors when I went there (I think a total of 8, everything from engineering to philosophy). I left after 4 years and finally finished my degree somewhere else years later.

I live in Utah now, but grew up mostly in Illinois. I lived in IA until the end of 2nd grade and have lots of relatives there.
Click to expand...

So how did you like Iowa State? I'm going there for Graphic Design And should be done soon.

We played Utah this year in football (sadly we lost) but Utah was fun to watch.

I'm originally from Des Moines so I have been in this state all my life, what part are you from?
 
IowaState said:
So how did you like Iowa State? I'm going there for Graphic Design And should be done soon.

We played Utah this year in football (sadly we lost) but Utah was fun to watch.

I'm originally from Des Moines so I have been in this state all my life, what part are you from?
Click to expand...

I liked it, but had too much fun (hence needing to leave and finish later). I lived in Davenport but it was a really long time ago and I doubt if I'd recognize any of it.
 
Hi, all. So this is my first posting here.:rockin:

My girlfriend gave me a Mr. Beer this Christmas. Didn't know what to expect, but I finally got around to brewing my first beer today. I really would step it up in terms of getting better gear, though I'm not one to have tons of time to devote to the hobby quite yet. I'm thinking that I'll humor the Mr. Beer experience for awhile until I start getting tired of it.

My main questions:
The one thing I dont think I did correctly was pitch the yeast at the "correct" temp. I kind of guessed it. I had some Deer Park water chilling in the fridge for a couple minutes before dumping it in the tank. I pitched the yeast a short time after that. Think that matters a ton? Right now it's doing it's yeast thing in my closet at a constant temp of around 70 degrees F. Think that's going to be ok for a first timer? Any specific tips to help out on future brews?

Also, can homebrewing make you sick? I'm a tad scared of the end result :)
 
I strarted brewing with a Mr Beer kit and followed the advice to wait at least 2-3 weeks before bottling your beer and then wait 2-3 weeks before sampling. Be sure to have the beer chilled for 2-3 days prior to drinking so that it has time to clear up and have some more of the yeast drop out of suspension. I let some of my early Mr Beer brews ferment for up to 4 weeks and turned out just fine.
 
Darklordenron said:
Hi, all. So this is my first posting here.:rockin:

My girlfriend gave me a Mr. Beer this Christmas. Didn't know what to expect, but I finally got around to brewing my first beer today. I really would step it up in terms of getting better gear, though I'm not one to have tons of time to devote to the hobby quite yet. I'm thinking that I'll humor the Mr. Beer experience for awhile until I start getting tired of it.

My main questions:
The one thing I dont think I did correctly was pitch the yeast at the "correct" temp. I kind of guessed it. I had some Deer Park water chilling in the fridge for a couple minutes before dumping it in the tank. I pitched the yeast a short time after that. Think that matters a ton? Right now it's doing it's yeast thing in my closet at a constant temp of around 70 degrees F. Think that's going to be ok for a first timer? Any specific tips to help out on future brews?

Also, can homebrewing make you sick? I'm a tad scared of the end result :)
Click to expand...

If you didn't pitch when it was hot enough to kill the yeast, you'll be okay. I usually try to pitch at a temperature close to the temperature I plan to brew, but I don't always have a lot of leeway, so I heat the wort, add it to the cool water, stir, add the rest of the cool water, stir again, then add the yeast.

From what I've read, even if you don't sanitize and your beer gets an infection, it won't be anything that can hurt you, just something that can make the beer taste bad. If you drink enough homebrew, you can get sick, but that's the same with any beer.
 
Well...what the heck would "enough beer" constitute? Way way over your body's physical limits, i assume?
Im not the person you want in the kitchen prepping any sort of consumable. Read: REALLY BAD in the kitchen. Just hope i did it right and my first batch turns out good!
Im already planning several other batches at the moment assuming the first is drinkable.
Ill heed the advice and wait double the alloted time in the manual, let that brew fully mature before even tasting it. Still got some millers to tide me over. Ive a feeling after i taste the homebrew, itll be lights out to commercial beers for good.

Ill use a guinea pig friend to help with the initial tasting! Thanks!
 
Hey all just got my Mr Beer kit a week ago (yes thats Christmas) and a qualification was put on it as I received the gift. I am in a competition with 2 other people who also got the exact same kit to make the best beer and have it ready in 6 months. (June) we all got the WCPA kit. I dont like Pale Ale beer. so my first question is.

1. w/o buying a new kit (b/c thats against the rules) what can I add to make it not taste like a bud or something similar? I am a fan of BJ's Jeremiah Red, Kono's Long board, Octoberfest, and other beers of the amber shade.

2. I keep my house set btw 61 and 64 in the winter when should I start brewing my beer so it can actually ferment properly. ( my AC wont kick on till 80)

3. in regards to the ingreedients that ppl recomend adding in Q. 1 when would those need be added. in the fermentation process or the carbonation process.

Thanks to all for the 215 pages of brain hurting information.
 
The best brew amongst your friends will largely depend on the quality of water being used assuming everyone has to use the exact same ingredients. STERILIZE EVERYTHING WELL, use 2 gallons of Fiji water. Thats what i would do.
 
If I understand the question right, Brewmaster Taz wants to add some flavor and color to the WCPA kit. I think a cup of maple syrup or honey and some brown sugar and maybe some freshly brewed coffee might do the trick. Add them at the same time you add your extract. You could order some hops from Mr.Beer and dry hop the whole batch. I would let it ferment for 3 weeks and then botttle condition at room temp for another month or 2. They get better with age.
 
Do you have a LHBS (Local Home Brew Store)?

If you want to use all Mr Beer ingredients, I'd suggest browsing the recipe section on their site.

But you can also buy things from the LHBS or online.

Personally, I'd go with LME or DME over adjuncts like syrup, honey or sugar. Adjuncts will increase the alcohol, but they won't add much to flavor or body and can add a cidery taste.

Adding malt (at this point, LME/DME/UME will be your best bet) will increase the ABV and will also add to the taste, body and mouthfeel. If you add more than 1/2 to 1 lb of LME, you'll want to introduce a hop boil.

If your choices are to brew as is or add sugar/syrup/honey, brew as is and let the other guys make cidery thin junk by adding too many adjuncts.
 
A couple of thoughts...
The WCPA comes with MrBeer Booster. It adds nothing to flavor. Change that into some LME/DME and pick up a different yeast. Maybe Safale S-05 or California Ale WLP001. Plus maybe dry hop it with a little Tetnanger. Maybe 1/4 oz.

Or go full IPA and hop the heck out of it in a boil of the LME/DME. Add the WCPA hopped extract at flame out. Dry hop it a week before bottle time.

On second thought, even a good IPA might be overkill, depending on the judges.
 

Similar threads

M
Yeast fermentation temps
Replies
20
Views
1K
mike_bkk
M
alutis05
Brewing ALL-GRAIN dark beer (lager).
Replies
9
Views
556
AlexKay
A
N
Sharing Nostalgia with the Beginners: What Was The First Beer Your Brewed?
2 3
Replies
89
Views
5K
palmtrees
palmtrees
bmac8
I'm so lost. HELLLP! Just upgraded from white buckets to 10+ gallon stainless system...
2 3 4
Replies
142
Views
6K
sibelman
sibelman
A
Mr Beer Kit Gone Wrong
Replies
14
Views
2K
pvtpublic
pvtpublic

Latest posts

Back
Top