New Brew

[trev]

Hello and howdy,

I am a new member and new brewer as well. I brewed a few batches with a friend about 15+ years
ago and we filtered the slushy brew through his wife's stockings. Honest!

That was fun, we made labels and called it Skullies! The labels had a skull and cross
bones on them. Dead Serious.

I've decided to take up brewing seriously now, 15 years later, and have some questions.

I've started out with mrbeer and it seems ok so far but would like to eventually graduate to the full
6.5 gallon bucket and carboy system. I will keep my little mrbeer keg fermenters around though
because they are great for trying out new recipes.

My questions are:

o Should I totally abandon the Booster they ship?
It contains mostly corn sugars - I've made some good Pale Ale with it though.

o Should I only stick with UMEs? for my later brews?

o Priming sugar? Should I use pure corn sugar from my local brew supply rather than table
granulated sugar and what is the difference in measurements per bottle?

I think regular table (C&H) granulated sugar has less moisture content than the corn
sugar you would get from your local home brew store. Is this correct?

How should I compensate for this when priming?

Thanks for any suggestions,

Happy Brewing!

-- Trev

 

[McKBrew]

The Mr. Beer was a great start for me. Didn't take me long to move on though. I never used any MR. Beer mixes other than the first one that came with my kit, so I can't speak about their boosters or extracts.

As far as what sugar to use for bottling you have a few options including corn sugar, DME and honey to name a few. Table sugar is known to impart a cidery flavor in beer and should be avoided.

 

[Blender]

I have never used a Mr. Beer it but my first batch was hopped extract with the addition of 2 lbs. or so of corn sugar. I suppose that this was supposed to cut costs but the beer was rather undrinkable and I tossed most of it. The second try after some research was an all extract kit and this beer came out much better. I have never looked back since.
If you are going to take it seriously then I would recommend getting the 5 gallon equipment kit and ditch the Mr. Beer thing for now.
Do you have a local store to buy materials?

 

[Orfy]

o Should I totally abandon the Booster they ship?
It contains mostly corn sugars - I've made some good Pale Ale with it though.

Don't use a high % of sugar in brews it will ruin them. Use Dry or liquid malt extract instead.

o Should I only stick with UMEs? for my later brews?

UME? Un hoppe??
If you are comfortable with hopped extract brewing then the next step in making better beer would to do your own hop additions and steep some grain but this means boiling larger quantities of water for longer.

o Priming sugar? Should I use pure corn sugar from my local brew supply rather than table
granulated sugar and what is the difference in measurements per bottle?

there's not much taste imparted by small amount of primomg sugar. Adding the dugar directley to the bottle is an inaccurate way of doing it and the small differeance in the sugars will not be realistically measurable so just use the same amount. (1/2 tsp or what ever it is)

I think regular table (C&H) granulated sugar has less moisture content than the corn sugar you would get from your local home brew store. Is this correct?

No need to worry about it if there is.

How should I compensate for this when priming?

Again don't bother.

 

[shbrewer]

If you have equipment keep it. I graduated from Mr. Beer to 6.5 last Summer. I still use it for small batch brewing for the wife. I don't have the same tastest as she does so 5 gallons is a little much. I stopped using the booster after the 3rd batch. You can get better results with DME and LME. Don't be afraid to use UME. The sky is the limit with UME and hop pellets. Also don't be afraid to use steeping grains and a hop sack. Just follow the directions and your beer will be better than anything you can imagine. You can shape and style you brew to how YOU want it. This forum is filled with VERY knowledgeable brewers. If you have a question, do a search, and if you can't find it or still have a question post. I guarentee someone here has had a problem or question that they fixed or answered here on the forum.
Stay with it.
Leo:rockin:

 

[trev]

If you have equipment keep it. I graduated from Mr. Beer to 6.5 last Summer. I still use it for small batch brewing for the wife. I don't have the same tastest as she does so 5 gallons is a little much. I stopped using the booster after the 3rd batch. You can get better results with DME and LME. Don't be afraid to use UME. The sky is the limit with UME and hop pellets. Also don't be afraid to use steeping grains and a hop sack. Just follow the directions and your beer will be better than anything you can imagine. You can shape and style you brew to how YOU want it. This forum is filled with VERY knowledgeable brewers. If you have a question, do a search, and if you can't find it or still have a question post. I guarentee someone here has had a problem or question that they fixed or answered here on the forum.
Stay with it.
Leo:rockin:

Thanks for the info dude!

I just got my next ker fermenter and I plan on doing a "Holwin' Red Ale"

Recipe is :

Octoberfest's Vienna Lager beer mix and Golden Wheat UME and 1/3 oz Cascade hops.

As for "dry hopping" is this just the practice of adding a muslin hop sack to the fermenter for
a certain amount of time during the fermentation cycle?

I have some cascade, willamette, and fuggle pellet hops, still sealed.

Thanks,

-- Trev

 

[shbrewer]

You could use a sack, or just throw they in. They will settle out in the bottom.

 

[TheJadedDog]

I started out with specialty grains and hop additions with my first brew, it is a piece of cake. I'd say skip the hopped extract for sure; ingredients have come a long way!

As for dry-hopping, this is usually done in the secondary after most of the fermentation has taken place.

 

[BierMuncher]

You have good questions and they tell me that you probably ought to go to your LHBS and spend some time with the people there and talk through what you want and what you need to get what you want.

If you do that and move on to Extract, Partial MAsh or All grain brewing, you'll see that Mr Beer (no disrespect for the intent) is like comparing Kansas City smoked BBQ'd Pulled Pork to the McRib.

 

[trev]

Thanks Biermuncher

Will do soon once I finish off the ingredients here.

Don't want to waste the good stuff...

 

[trev]

I now have to fementers going. One is an all liquid extract of a dark red ale and
the other is an all liquid malt extract of an IPA.

With the red ale I added about an ounce of cascade hops in muslin sack after boiling
the water and while adding ME and stirring. I have another week before the red ale
is ready to bottle and will see how it goes.

Thanks for all the tips! :rockin:

-- Trev