Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

[Kealia]

IIRC the MrB yeast is known to work down to 59, but slowly at that temp.

Pitching into 50 degree wort is pretty cool and it's going to take a while for things to take off. If you can get into that 65 degree range you'll be golden.

 

[scottgingrasso]

I decided to do one more batch in my new Mr. Beer, I purchased a can of Muntons Old Ale, and found a recipe somewhere on this site, where I am going to add some brown suger and cascade hops. On the back of the can it states that no priming suger is needed. Is that so? Why? Also it says to only let ferment for 4-6 days. From most of what i've read 10-14 days is better in the Mr. Beer. Any suggestions? I don't have any "real" equipment yet (waiting for uncle sam), and I think I may have the homebrewing obsession already. I need to make beer!

 

[HopfulAddiction]

IIRC the MrB yeast is known to work down to 59, but slowly at that temp.

Pitching into 50 degree wort is pretty cool and it's going to take a while for things to take off. If you can get into that 65 degree range you'll be golden.

If the room temp is 66.7, add 5-10 degrees to that and your wort is fermenting at 71.7-76.7*. Lower the room temp to 60-62. This will slow fermentation and keep it plenty low.

Wort temp at yeast pitching was probably more like 55. The thermometer was still moving but slowly so I don't know exact temp. The basement temp is low 60s so it should reach that ambient temp later today if not already and then rise to mid to upper 60 with fermentation.

65ish in the fermentor not ambient outside is what seems like the consensus on ideal. slow but steady and good. Am I wrong in this.

 

[Kealia]

I decided to do one more batch in my new Mr. Beer, I purchased a can of Muntons Old Ale, and found a recipe somewhere on this site, where I am going to add some brown suger and cascade hops. On the back of the can it states that no priming suger is needed. Is that so? Why? Also it says to only let ferment for 4-6 days. From most of what i've read 10-14 days is better in the Mr. Beer. Any suggestions? I don't have any "real" equipment yet (waiting for uncle sam), and I think I may have the homebrewing obsession already. I need to make beer!

I can't speak for the no priming sugar, that's new to me.

The fermenter that you use has no effect on the length of time something needs to ferment (i.e. doesn't matter if it's a MrB keg, Ale Pail, carboy, etc.). The fermentables, yeast and temps determine the fermentation time needed.

A MrB kit is "real" equipment. Don't let the cute little barrel shape fool you. What you put INTO it determines the quality of the beer, not the vessel itself.

Hopefully somebody else can answer your question about the 'no priming sugar'. Perhaps they want you to bottle before ferementation is complete so the rest of the sugars in the wort are used to carb it but that sounds risky to me.
(Perhaps it' something that I've just not heard of...)

 

[Kealia]

65ish in the fermentor not ambient outside is what seems like the consensus on ideal. slow but steady and good. Am I wrong in this.

You are not wrong, 65 will get your there good and clean,

 

[Justibone]

If it's that short a fermentation and they say bottling sugar is not necessary, it's clear they intend for a secondary fermentation to do the carbonation. I'd say forget that... let it go for 3 weeks and then bottle it as normal, using some kind of sugar for the bottle carbonation.

EDIT: Read up on CAMRA and "Real Ale" to get an idea of what I think they mean to be done with that kit.

 

[HopfulAddiction]

You are not wrong, 65 will get your there good and clean,

great in the meantime I'm gonna RDWAHAMB or 80 since I don't have a pipeline of homebrews yet.

 

[scottgingrasso]

thank you

 

[MadCat]

Ordered some stuff from Austin Homebrew. Decided to go for the 1lb DME bags instead of 3lb, and got one of each Amber, extra light, and wheat. Got a half lb of crystal 20L and 1 pack of nottingham yeast. Also got some bottling supplies. Shouldn't have waited to order this stuff, now I'm going to have to wait to bottle! Oh well, there is still plenty of craft brew out there for me to try.

 

[phull]

Hey sorry if this has been posted before I tried to find it before posting as to not be redundant.

I brewed my second batch in the Mr. Beer kit I received for Christmas and decided to get a little more adventurous than the standard instructions. I found a recipe for a blood orange wheat for a five gallon batch and simply halved the recipe for the Mr. Beer kit. My concern is that I dumped my chunks of blood orange directly into the keg for primary fermentation. At this point the orange chunks and pulp are floating on the top of the keg and floating throughout the mixture. Is there any way to remove this pulp at a later stage?

I am also concerned that the amount of sediment at the bottom of the keg will block the spigot used for bottling.

Sorry for any basic questions. This is only my second batch and I am trying to wrap my head around the process! Any advice on the matter would be appreciated!

 

[Conan4480]

Ok, I am thinking of making the Sicky Wicket Oatmeal Stout Mr. B kit. I want to bump the ABV up a little so I was thinking of adding a little DME and I also wanted to use Wyeast Irish Ale yeast instead of the yeast that comes with the kit. Would this be ok or am I reaching a little too far on this?

 

[Kealia]

Ok, I am thinking of making the Sicky Wicket Oatmeal Stout Mr. B kit. I want to bump the ABV up a little so I was thinking of adding a little DME and I also wanted to use Wyeast Irish Ale yeast instead of the yeast that comes with the kit. Would this be ok or am I reaching a little too far on this?

I don't think you're reaching at all. DME is easy to work with as is liquid yeast. Just be aware of the temp range for the yeast and you should be fine.

 

[Tallmanbrewer]

Hey sorry if this has been posted before I tried to find it before posting as to not be redundant.

I brewed my second batch in the Mr. Beer kit I received for Christmas and decided to get a little more adventurous than the standard instructions. I found a recipe for a blood orange wheat for a five gallon batch and simply halved the recipe for the Mr. Beer kit. My concern is that I dumped my chunks of blood orange directly into the keg for primary fermentation. At this point the orange chunks and pulp are floating on the top of the keg and floating throughout the mixture. Is there any way to remove this pulp at a later stage?

I am also concerned that the amount of sediment at the bottom of the keg will block the spigot used for bottling.

Sorry for any basic questions. This is only my second batch and I am trying to wrap my head around the process! Any advice on the matter would be appreciated!

Kudos on the adventure! I think you will find that as the fermentation progresses, much of what is floating in the brew will settle to the bottom. There is usually plenty of room at the bottom of the fermentor for the trub to collect and not clog up the spigot. However, with fruit, there are usually pieces that float also. Usually doing just as you said and clogging up the spigot as you attemp to bottle. If you have another bucket (sanitize it), you could try to empty the beer into it while straining out the chunks (bottling bucket would be great but most people who use MB do not use a bottling bucket for obvious reasons). If it is not a bottling bucket that you just put your beer into, simply wash out the MB fermentor and sanitize, put the beer back in the MB fermentor (strain again if needed) and bottle as normal. Be very cautios of your sanitizing proceedures because racking from one vessel to another increases the possibility of getting a bug!

Maybe someone else has an easier method you could try! At any rate, you're still making beer!

 

[Tallmanbrewer]

Ok, I am thinking of making the Sicky Wicket Oatmeal Stout Mr. B kit. I want to bump the ABV up a little so I was thinking of adding a little DME and I also wanted to use Wyeast Irish Ale yeast instead of the yeast that comes with the kit. Would this be ok or am I reaching a little too far on this?

I've also used brown sugar with this recipe and had excellent results. It gives the beer just a hint of molases flavor which blends well with this particular beer (and also boosts the ABV). I have had great results with the yeast that came with the kit. But use whatever you feel comfortable with.

 

[Darklordenron]

Just bottled my first MB, the pale ale. I used the corn sugar and used 2.5tsp per 1 liter pet bottle per directions. I washed out the keg with the special oxygen wash they sell an im wondering if it really cleaned effectively. Where the trub once sat at the bottom of the keg, there are now lines where the trub slid down when i emptied the vessel for cleaning. That normal? Is it clean enough? Smells pretty clean, though im scared of not doing something right and infecting my next batch of beer!

The pale ale tastes awesome after 2 weeks in the fermenter. I can already tell it will turn out great assuming carbing goes well

 

[Conan4480]

I've also used brown sugar with this recipe and had excellent results. It gives the beer just a hint of molases flavor which blends well with this particular beer (and also boosts the ABV). I have had great results with the yeast that came with the kit. But use whatever you feel comfortable with.

How much brown sugar and was it light or dark brown sugar?

 

[Justibone]

Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. Live and let trub live, I say... so long as you are bottle-carbing.

If you have trub in your bottles, don't sweat it, just pour off of it. You won't make the same mistake next time. If you are putting fruit in the fermentor, put it inside a clean nylon stocking, that way you can fish it out later. (A nylon mesh bag also works, but we're working with the more basic toolset, here.)

 

[ritchie]

Im new to the hobbie of home brewing and started with 1 mr beer kit. Them bought several more kegs and now im hooked. Im the only beer drinker in my house and brewing 5 gallon batches is to much. The mr beer is perfect for me. I have been ordering recipies from them and making some small adjustments to them.

My question is how to develope my own recipes?

i would love to make a chocolate mike stout in the mr beer.

 

[McGarnigle]

Im new to the hobbie of home brewing and started with 1 mr beer kit. Them bought several more kegs and now im hooked. Im the only beer drinker in my house and brewing 5 gallon batches is to much. The mr beer is perfect for me. I have been ordering recipies from them and making some small adjustments to them.

My question is how to develope my own recipes?

i would love to make a chocolate mike stout in the mr beer.

The easiest way is to look up other recipes of the same type of beer and see what they have in common. Mix and match a bit. This site has a good recipe section, or you can look through good books (be careful about just googling online for recipes; some look unreliable to me).

Juts having general knowledge about beer ingredients helps. Eventually, you can look at a book like Daniels' Designing Great Beers.

 

[Tombstone0]

Just bottled my first MB, the pale ale. I used the corn sugar and used 2.5tsp per 1 liter pet bottle per directions. I washed out the keg with the special oxygen wash they sell an im wondering if it really cleaned effectively. Where the trub once sat at the bottom of the keg, there are now lines where the trub slid down when i emptied the vessel for cleaning. That normal? Is it clean enough? Smells pretty clean, though im scared of not doing something right and infecting my next batch of beer!

I usually wash it thoroughly with soap and water with a soft cloth (you don't want to scratch it), then I rinse it very well. Then I pour in the leftover one step from the bottles and let it soak for a while.

 

[IowaState]

so I decided to cold crash my beer keg in the fridge, it was in there for 2 days and I bottled today. I left the bottles sit where I kept the Keg while fermenting. Did I do this right?

 

[Justibone]

As long as the bottles are around 70F and out of sunlight and fluorescent light, they are good to go. Try one in a couple of weeks.

 

[IowaState]

Awww yeah, can't wait.

 

[manofthewild07]

What is the best way to go from here? I just made my first batch with Mr. Beer. Now I'm looking at moving away from mr.beer, but am not ready to buy another kit or anything.

Can I simply purchase recipe kits like Austin Homebrew or from Coopers or whoever and cut the recipe from 5 gal. to 2.13 gal?

If so, are any kit recipes better than others. I noticed that Austin's are significantly more expensive than others. Which are your favorites?

Thanks

p.s. I noticed austin homebrew has 50c beer kits, are those any good? And yes I am a poor college student, someday I'll be willing to spend a little more...

 

[K5MOW]

What is the best way to go from here? I just made my first batch with Mr. Beer. Now I'm looking at moving away from mr.beer, but am not ready to buy another kit or anything.

Can I simply purchase recipe kits like Austin Homebrew or from Coopers or whoever and cut the recipe from 5 gal. to 2.13 gal?

If so, are any kit recipes better than others. I noticed that Austin's are significantly more expensive than others. Which are your favorites?

Thanks

p.s. I noticed austin homebrew has 50c beer kits, are those any good? And yes I am a poor college student, someday I'll be willing to spend a little more...

Yes I think this would work or you could get one more new Keg for $10.00. If you get one more Keg I think you could fit a full 5 gallon batch.

Roger

 

[Kealia]

What is the best way to go from here? I just made my first batch with Mr. Beer. Now I'm looking at moving away from mr.beer, but am not ready to buy another kit or anything.

Can I simply purchase recipe kits like Austin Homebrew or from Coopers or whoever and cut the recipe from 5 gal. to 2.13 gal?

If so, are any kit recipes better than others. I noticed that Austin's are significantly more expensive than others. Which are your favorites?

Thanks

p.s. I noticed austin homebrew has 50c beer kits, are those any good? And yes I am a poor college student, someday I'll be willing to spend a little more...

I'll ask: You've done one MrB kit and want to move to something else already....why?

To directly answer your question - yes, you can split a 5-gallon kit. If you fill to just where the "Q" is on your MrB keg that will be about 2.4 gallons which is pretty close to half.

 

[manofthewild07]

I'll ask: You've done one MrB kit and want to move to something else already....why?

To directly answer your question - yes, you can split a 5-gallon kit. If you fill to just where the "Q" is on your MrB keg that will be about 2.4 gallons which is pretty close to half.

Well are there any Mr. Beer kits that you would recommend? I wouldn't mind, they are cheaper. But I was looking for something like a Belgian. Is there any real creative or stand out Mr. Beer recipe kit that one might say, "before you write off mr. beer, try this one!"

 

[MadCat]

Bottled my first batch today, will be starting the next one soon. That little spout is such a pain! So two questions. First, how bad is it that the first couple bottles foamed up quite a bit when bottling them? Second, if I accidentally made some beer bombs, how long does it take for them to explode? I used 12 brown 16oz swing tops, and 4 grolsh swing tops.

 

[bpgreen]

Well are there any Mr. Beer kits that you would recommend? I wouldn't mind, they are cheaper. But I was looking for something like a Belgian. Is there any real creative or stand out Mr. Beer recipe kit that one might say, "before you write off mr. beer, try this one!"

I think that what Kealia was suggesting is that you're not limited to using the Mr Beer refills just because you're using a Mr Beer fermenter. You can use any kit or recipe you want, you just need to scale it to the smaller size. I've done a number of batches based on Mr Beer refills, but with additional ingredients and have also made batches with no Mr Beer ingredients. I've currently got beers from 4 different batches in my fridge. Only one of them has any Mr Beer ingredients. One is a partial mash, one is an extract with a hop boil and one is an unhopped beer (using orange zest instead of hops for the bitterness).

Belgians are a bit more involved, but that's going to be the case whether you use a Mr Beer fermenter or something bigger. I think there's a tradeoff involved. Since a Belgian is more involved, it might make more sense to make a larger batch because the time required will be similar for either one. On the other hand, if you mess it up, it's easier to go through 2 gallons of sub par beer than 5.

 

[Kealia]

Well are there any Mr. Beer kits that you would recommend? I wouldn't mind, they are cheaper. But I was looking for something like a Belgian. Is there any real creative or stand out Mr. Beer recipe kit that one might say, "before you write off mr. beer, try this one!"

I'd be happy to recommend some that I tried so let's try this:

Tell me what you brewed and what you didn't like about it.
Tel me what type of beer that you do like.

bpgreen already covered the non-MrB stuff.

 

[Kealia]

Bottled my first batch today, will be starting the next one soon. That little spout is such a pain! So two questions. First, how bad is it that the first couple bottles foamed up quite a bit when bottling them? Second, if I accidentally made some beer bombs, how long does it take for them to explode? I used 12 brown 16oz swing tops, and 4 grolsh swing tops.

If they foamed up you didn't make bottle bombs, you just aerated the beer a bit which can lead to it going stale a bit sooner. Bottle bombs are created by:
1) Bottling too early (fermentation continues and produces a lot of CO2)
2) Too much priming sugar

Honestly, don't sweat it. I bet you won't be able to tell which bottles they were when it comes to drinking.

 

[MadCat]

Thanks for the reply. I really wish the keg came with something better to fill with, as it is really hard to fill bottles without getting any air in them. And it sucks that the locking spigot and bottle wand combo is out of stock on the website.

And I gave it three weeks before bottling, so at least I don't have to worry about that contributing to potential bombs.

 

[MaxSpang]

First batch of Mr. Beer!

Not too shabby, definitely needs some more conditioning, but it's completely drinkable! It was the typical West Coast Pale Ale, and I used the Booster (hadn't read this thread before then).



I got bit by the bug, now I am hooked.

 

[K5MOW]

Thanks for the reply. I really wish the keg came with something better to fill with, as it is really hard to fill bottles without getting any air in them. And it sucks that the locking spigot and bottle wand combo is out of stock on the website.

And I gave it three weeks before bottling, so at least I don't have to worry about that contributing to potential bombs.

The locking spigot is back in stock.

Roger

 

[Justibone]

What is the best way to go from here? I just made my first batch with Mr. Beer. Now I'm looking at moving away from mr.beer, but am not ready to buy another kit or anything.

Can I simply purchase recipe kits like Austin Homebrew or from Coopers or whoever and cut the recipe from 5 gal. to 2.13 gal?

If so, are any kit recipes better than others. I noticed that Austin's are significantly more expensive than others. Which are your favorites?

Thanks

p.s. I noticed austin homebrew has 50c beer kits, are those any good? And yes I am a poor college student, someday I'll be willing to spend a little more...

Check my "recipes". Look under my picture, or just click on the wheat in my signature. They are simple, designed for 2.5 gallons (but you can use a little less water and they still work really well), and perfect for a person trying to transition away from Mr. Beer. If either of them look good, give 'em a try. Then, the next time you do them, try just making a little bit of "grain tea" (steeping) for a bit of extra flavor and complexity. Your feet will both be thoroughly wet after that, and you can explore more widely.

I mean to make more of those simple recipes. Unfortunately there is no simple way to make a witbier at the moment (you have to steep to get the oats, and then there's the spices, etc.) but it's really not that hard to do all that stuff as well. Just look for extract recipes and you're pretty much home free.

Or just do what I did -- buy some extract and take a chance. It always ends up being beer, so long as you don't go TOOOO crazy all at once.

 

[martinfan30]

Hello all, got a Mr Beer for Xmas this year... I was going to read this whole thread, but after page 15 I gave up for now and wanted to say hi.

I started a batch of the Pale Ale that it came with. I'm on day 8 of the fermenting. I am fighting the urge to bottle it though!

Could the thickness of the sediment on the bottom of the keg be used as a rough estimation (progress wise) of the fermentation process?

I am suffering a bite that I may never recover from!!!

 

[AR-Josh]

Hello all, got a Mr Beer for Xmas this year... I was going to read this whole thread, but after page 15 I gave up for now and wanted to say hi.

I started a batch of the Pale Ale that it came with. I'm on day 8 of the fermenting. I am fighting the urge to bottle it though!

Could the thickness of the sediment on the bottom of the keg be used as a rough estimation (progress wise) of the fermentation process?

I am suffering a bite that I may never recover from!!!

I don't think the trub at the bottom can give an indication of how far along it is in the fermenting process. The only good way to tell that that I know is to use a hydrometer. If I'm wrong please correct me.

I have bottled my first Mr Beer batch so I'm only a little ahead of you in timeline. There doesn't appear to be any good way to use a hydrometer on the Mr Beer setup without a lot of risk to the beer. I just followed the instructions to the letter so I'm hoping that does a good enough job.

 

[martinfan30]

I don't think the trub at the bottom can give an indication of how far along it is in the fermenting process. The only good way to tell that that I know is to use a hydrometer. If I'm wrong please correct me.

I have bottled my first Mr Beer batch so I'm only a little ahead of you in timeline. There doesn't appear to be any good way to use a hydrometer on the Mr Beer setup without a lot of risk to the beer. I just followed the instructions to the letter so I'm hoping that does a good enough job.

After 8 days of fermenting, I sampled the brew from the keg and it tastes like beer. No sweetness at all. Used the pale ale HME. Only added the booster, no extra's. I think I may bottle later today.

What did you do for your first batch?

 

[AR-Josh]

After 8 days of fermenting, I sampled the brew from the keg and it tastes like beer. No sweetness at all. Used the pale ale HME. Only added the booster, no extra's. I think I may bottle later today.

What did you do for your first batch?

West Coast Pale Ale. I did the same thing as you. I let mine go the full 14 days it suggests in the instructions. Though i am skeptical to whether or not my yeast really took off. I am going to do another Mr Beer batch but with Coopers yeast which should do a better job. I think.

 

[Justibone]

The best way to be sure it's done is to use a hydrometer.

If you have a strong palate, maybe tasting it would be good enough.

The second best way to be sure it's done is to wait long enough. For an ale, when it turns clear (most of the yeast are out of suspension) you know it's getting close, though there can still be some activity.

Your patience will be rewarded, as will be reading the stickies.