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Kirkwooder said:
How fresh were your hops? Freshness is huge in hop utilization. The fresher the better. I have seen hop packages in some LHBS that were 2 years old.
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2 years old isn't necessarily a problem if the hops were stored properly. I would much prefer a 2-year old pack of hops that has been nitrogen flushed, vacuum-sealed, and stored in a freezer over those same hops exposed to oxygen at room temperature in a poorly sealed ziplock bag for a few months.

Along those same lines, I have used liquid yeast that was well over a year old but frozen in a water/glycerin solution, and it was fine. Take that same yeast when it was fresh, but leave it in a hot garage for a couple weeks during summer, and it probably will be completely dead.
 
bwidner said:
Hi everyone and thanks ahead for any advice or replies, as most a Mr beer kit got me into the hobby, I quickly moved to extract brewing and after a few batches onto BIAB. I have made a few ipas at this point and have gone really heavy with late hop additions and dry hopping, however two weeks after bottline when I crack one open there is very little hop aroma or taste and I feel like I am missing something. My most recent was an amber ipa 2.5 gal batch and here were the additions

FWH- 1 oz chinook
15 min- 1 oz simcoe
10 min .75 oz centennial
5 minute .75 centennial
3 min .5 centennial
flameout 1oz centennial

Dry hopped 5 days in secondary with 1.5 oz centennial and 1 oz citra.

I would think this would lead to a very hop forward beer, and while it is very good there just is no reall hoppiness to it. I used s-04 yeast as well and rehydrated it prior to pitching.

So my question really is(sorry if the background is not needed!)has anyone else experienced this? I actually wonder if the LBK venting system is allowing aroma to leak out or not be absorbed? I have another thread int he recipe section and already have determined based off response that I need to add more hops in the 25-7 minute left to boil range to help with flavor.
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1) dry hop it for 3-4 days with 1-2oz of hops for a rocking aroma

2) as someone else mentioned, cool it quickly. I drop to about 170 for whirlpool additions and slam it with hops there and then cool as quickly as possible once I'm ready (20-30 minutes after whirlpool with the reduced temp). But when I go to cool it I do it as quickly as possible.

3) yes, your fermenter will affect the hop flavors and aromas.
 
Hi so I'm brand new at brewing and I have a Mr. Beer brew kit and have a question about temperature

I know that the temp threw out the brewing proses is important, I don't have great control over the temp in my apt. I can place the batch in a room that I can keep at 68f threw out the day but at night it drops to 62f-65f

1. How much will this effect the fermentation proses?
2. Should I extend the fermentations proses a week or so to make up for the cold temp?
 
BBoyle2886 said:
Hi so I'm brand new at brewing and I have a Mr. Beer brew kit and have a question about temperature

I know that the temp threw out the brewing proses is important, I don't have great control over the temp in my apt. I can place the batch in a room that I can keep at 68f threw out the day but at night it drops to 62f-65f

1. How much will this effect the fermentation proses?
2. Should I extend the fermentations proses a week or so to make up for the cold temp?
Click to expand...

Have you read about swamp coolers? Basically, if you set the keg in a tub of water (Rubbermaid bin, or something like that), drape a towel over it so that it sucks up the water, then put a fan on it so it is cooling it, you can bring it down pretty well. Add ice packs to the water, too. Swap those every 12 hours or so.

If your room temperature is 68, you could be as high as 78 in the fermenter (fermentation makes heat). That's too high.

Also, the temperature of the liquid changes slower than the air. So it might take all night for it to really cool down much, and then it is heating back up again. So it probably maintains a pretty consistent temperature overall.

You should let it ferment AT LEAST 2 weeks, but I think you get much better results with Mr. Beer if you let it go 3-4 weeks in the fermenter. After the first week or so (when fermentation is mostly done and you're just waiting for it to clear and settle some), then the temperature is not as important.

Many people will tell you that you don't need to wait 3-4 weeks and that it is sloppy/lazy brewing to do it that way. And for experienced brewers who control things well, it is possible. But for Mr. Beer, I think you'll find a consensus about slightly longer fermentation.
 
What I found with my Mr. Beer is that after 2 weeks if you draw a small sample it will smell fruity. This is because the wort is still fermenting. If you wait 3 weeks and draw a small sample, it smells more like beer. I've brewed 3 LMEs from Mr. Beer and this has been a constant. There's a reason for the 3 week fermenting 4 week conditioning formula, it works. On my larger batches, I follow the recommendation from my LHBS 2 weeks fermentation and then bottle or keg.
 
I keep my LBK in a cooler and use ice-bottles to regulate the temps, switching them out twice a day. During primary (most active) fermentation, I get ambient air temps down to 58-59° F and after the first week, I keep air temps at 62-63 (two ice-bottles v/s one) while wort temps go as high as 64 during primary fermentation and then stay right at ambient, 62-63° the rest of the time.
 
BBoyle2886 said:
Hi so I'm brand new at brewing and I have a Mr. Beer brew kit and have a question about temperature



I know that the temp threw out the brewing proses is important, I don't have great control over the temp in my apt. I can place the batch in a room that I can keep at 68f threw out the day but at night it drops to 62f-65f



1. How much will this effect the fermentation proses?

2. Should I extend the fermentations proses a week or so to make up for the cold temp?
Click to expand...


I think that temp is probably good. I'd fill the mr beer fee yet with water and place it on the ground or wherever you are going to ferment and then measure the temp over a day or two. I use aquarium thermometer strips that attach on to the outside (just make sure it will be completely on the fluid filled part of the LBK). You may be surprised at the actual temps you get. Going slightly cooler is not a bad thing in my experience. These levels can actually make for a cleaner fermentation profile. As far as fermentation goes, let the visible activity go until it's done, add 3 days, and then check back in if you are unsure. I liked to secondary just because the trub caused issues for me with these fermenters and is get clear beer with a secondary. The key is to wait long enough to bottle and then let the bottles age long enough before drinking them.

Oh, and don't use the yeast that comes with the kit, it's not good.
 
brewski09 said:
Oh, and don't use the yeast that comes with the kit, it's not good.
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Actually, if you're concerned about temperature control, the yeast that comes with it is probably a good choice. It's pretty forgiving when it comes to temperature.
 
They did change the yeast since I bought my last mr beer kit, but I still wouldn't be inclined to use it myself.
 
They did change the yeast some time ago, several years maybe? The yeast works fine and is a larger amount also. You might go over to the Mr. Beer forums and the BeerBorg forums to get a better or at least a different opinion of their products since they're looked down upon so much over here. They're very helpful and there's lots of recipes and different things to try.
 
There's nothing wrong with Mr. Beer Kits. The extracts are better as well as the yeast since Cooper Brewing took them over. I use the Little brown Kegs to ferment small batches of All Grain BIAB, Partial Mashes and Extracts. Check out Mr. Beer Fans or the Mr. Beer Community if your not feeling the love here. Brewing with Extract kits whether it's Mr. Beer or BrewDemon is still home brewing. They've just made the process easier, that's all.
 
$3 MB kits at Academy Sports in Macon GA. I almost pulled the trigger as I have a 3 gallon better bottle that would likely ferment the 2 gallon batch quite well. They had 2 choices - an Oktoberfest Lager and a Berliner Weissbier. One thing that held me back is that I cool my fermenter with ice and it's about 167 degrees in south Georgia in mid August. I can do ale temps for 6 to 7 days in the summer, but lagering is out for me right now.
 
Thanks for posting this, I'll have to check our Academy Sports to see if they have any sales like that. You do know that the Mr. Beer Oktoberfest isn't really a lager, that's just part of the name, it uses normal ale yeast. I just brewed up a batch today.
 
rich5665 said:
There's nothing wrong with Mr. Beer Kits. The extracts are better as well as the yeast since Cooper Brewing took them over. I use the Little brown Kegs to ferment small batches of All Grain BIAB, Partial Mashes and Extracts. Check out Mr. Beer Fans or the Mr. Beer Community if your not feeling the love here. Brewing with Extract kits whether it's Mr. Beer or BrewDemon is still home brewing. They've just made the process easier, that's all.
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Likewise, 2 years into brewing and I'm still using the lbk's for fermenting due to space and 2.5 gallon batches are more forgiving with experimentation. Less beer to drink if you mess up.
 
Ive been all grain and partial mash brewing for 25+ years. I just bought 3 more Mr. Beer Fermenters. I love them for 2 gallon batches. I havent had great experience with their ingredients, but the equipment is great.
 
I have been using the LBK for a year or more for all grain batches. I have a fermentation chamber built for 2 of them and as im still experimenting 2.5g batch is less wasted than a 5g
 
Skitter do you have plans for your fermentation chamber? I want to build one for my LBKs, I've been using coolers as chambers since I started.
 
Ok so I only have the pics in my sig and I do not have a measuring tape handy. I think I measured it out to be 1ft of clearance between each shelf, NOT including the 2x2's - 1ft of CLEARENCE I think I also did 18" wide of clearance on each chamber. Those planks are 1x4's. I made the ice chamber 6" clearance off the back and just used a 1x6 (with added insulation on one edge due to planks being 1/2" planed) cut just short to leave 1 inch of space at the bottom. All the insulation is the 1/2" Blue Polystyrene. If you cut it right, you end up with enough in one 4'x8' sheet to make dual layers on all sides, plus between the ice chamber and the fermenter chamber. That includes the bottom, I did it under the bottom shelf under the planks as well.

The Thermometer is a cheap $6 Ebay controller. It sucks slightly as it's in C, however that being said it kicks the temperature down 2 degrees C below what you set it when it trips, so plan accordingly. I remedied this huge temperature swing by using a small water bottle on the side with the lead taped to it so that the water bottle fluctuated quickly, leaving the kegs at a steadier temperature.

One fan runs constantly between the two fermentation chambers to keep the temps the same between them. One leading from the ice chamber is triggered off the temp probe.

Outside walls are just the thin as sin project board that I painted on the inside to prevent warping from moisture.

I would highly suggest adding some sort of water drain to the inside of the ice chamber for condensation. I have a washcloth soaking up all the water now until I get to redesign it. I have to swap it out every couple days.

I'll try to come up with a more detailed build pattern here sometime.
 
every Mr Beer kit I have done tasted like cider except the one I replaced the yeast with safale 05
 
jgbrown83 said:
every Mr Beer kit I have done tasted like cider except the one I replaced the yeast with safale 05
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Before Coopers bought them, using the supplied yeast meant seriously under pitching. I think the old yeast packets had something like 2 g. And since the kits often sat in less than ideal places, there's no way to know how much of that yeast was viable.

Even with those limitations, it was possible to get good results. You just had to let it ferment longer and also let it bottle condition longer. I used to use other yeast, but save the Mr Beer yeast. If I brewed a batch with the 2g packets, I'd use at least 3. That always worked well. I think the packets that ship now are 5g, which is much more reasonable, especially if you rehydrate (but if you rehydrate, make sure you do it correctly; doing it incorrectly can be worse than not rehydrating).
 
Today is the one year anniversary of getting my mr beer kit as a birthday present. One year later, I received a cooler all grain system as a present. Just wanted to thank threads like this and to add another voice to how good mr beer is as en entry into the hobby.
 
jdemshki said:
Today is the one year anniversary of getting my mr beer kit as a birthday present. One year later, I received a cooler all grain system as a present. Just wanted to thank threads like this and to add another voice to how good mr beer is as en entry into the hobby.
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My In-Laws still buy me the kits as gifts, I add stuff to em to make them more "beer-ish" however besides those kits I am still doing 2.5g AG batches in the LBK's. Not planning on upgrading anytime soon.
 
Just started my first batch in 4 years. Got a chocolate Porter ferming at about 65-67°f using Safale s-04. This temp seem ideal? Heard mixed things about said yeast.
 
S-04 can be a beast, and you might get some overflow. If you can get the wort down to 62-63, it might be better.

Might being the operative word here.

:)
 
Because I am too lazy to keep changing temperatures, as well as my fermentation chamber utilising two of the Mr Beer kegs, i usually ferment everything at 64-65 degrees. I use S04 and US05 pretty exclusively
 
NwMaltHead said:
Just started my first batch in 4 years. Got a chocolate Porter ferming at about 65-67°f using Safale s-04. This temp seem ideal? Heard mixed things about said yeast.
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I don't like the results if S-04 goes over about 70, but at lower temps, it comes out fine. But I don't really know what it adds. I only use it for one beer - a nut brown.
 
Will be bottling the Chocolate Porter in 7 days, SG staying steady at 1.006. Hydrometer sample tasting good, body is a little light, but good flavor.
 
NWMaltHead, what did you use as ingredients for your Cider? I made a cheapo with Musslemans Cider, sugar, Apple Juice Concentrate. Came out way to dry. Was thinking about adding some LME or DME to keep some of the sweetness
 

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