New to Mr Beer

[unclesonny]

I received a Mr. Beer from a friend the other day and got to work. I wipped up a batch of the Vienna Lager and it currently sits on my counter fermenting. Just a few quick questions.
1- white sugar or the booster
2- Is one can of wort enough or should I use more
3-I'm a big lager fan. What are the better Lager mixes that Mr Beer has.
4- I know this Mr Beer is a couple of years old. How much will that effect the outcome.
Thanks for the replies

 

[DeathBrewer]

i don't have any comments, but be sure to check out the mr. beer thread here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/mr-beer-read-all-about-ask-questions-46360/

 

[Revvy]

I received a Mr. Beer from a friend the other day and got to work. I wipped up a batch of the Vienna Lager and it currently sits on my counter fermenting. Just a few quick questions.
1- white sugar or the booster
2- Is one can of wort enough or should I use more
3-I'm a big lager fan. What are the better Lager mixes that Mr Beer has.
4- I know this Mr Beer is a couple of years old. How much will that effect the outcome.
Thanks for the replies

Welcome....We have a great Mr Beer thread on here, that some of us answer questions on and regularly contribute, I've even posted some of my recipes on there, including some All grain recipes...

ANyway....

1..Neither...If you have a homebrew supply shop near you pick up a pound of light or extralight dry malt extract...Table sugar and the booster are really not good for the beer, it will thin it out, and some people believe it will give the beer a cidery flavor.

2 One can of wort will be a low grav beer, adding two will result in more body and a higher alcohol content.

3) I don't know...If you ask that question on the thread someone may have answer...

4) The malt may be thicker and darker than if it were fresh, and your yeast may be dead...another thing to pick up at the homebrew supply, or order a fresh kit from Mr Beer. Normally though the yeasts that come with the Mr Beer are not true lager yeasts....but ale yeasts, since it's easier to ferment at room temp. If you have room in your fridge, you CAN get a Lager yeast, and stick the Mr beer in the fridge to lager it....that would be optimal...though using any clean ale yeast like safale US 05 will work fine in the 60-70 degree range, and make a nice beer.

Welcome to the obsession...read the Mr beer thread, especially the last few pages, like I said there's a lot of great tips, info, and recipe in ther...

 

[DeathBrewer]

yeah, i'd go with both cans of wort and foregoe the sugar and booster altogether.

 

[ifishsum]

I agree with the above, instead of sugar or the booster it's better to either use another can of UME or a pound of dry malt extract. If I had to choose between booster and table sugar though, I'd use the booster. It has some corn syrup solids that will help your beer from getting too thin.

One can of extract + booster will make beer, but it will be a pretty light tasting beer. If you like light lagers, you might like it that way. If fermented above 70 though, it will likely have a pronounced cidery flavor.

I made 6 or 7 Mr. Beer batches when I started out. The best tasting ones were the ones that I used one of their cans plus 1 lb of DME, and kept fermentation temperatures below 70* F.

Another thing, their directions say you can bottle after a week. Do yourself a favor and give it two at least. Once it's bottled, it will also take more than a week to carb and condition properly. That usually takes 3 weeks.

 

[Rhys]

I did their WCPA recently. Was planning to let it ferment for 2 weeks at 60-64 degrees, but the gasket at the valve let go and I had to bottle it at 9 days. I just followed the instructions with the kit, using the booster in the initial mix, and table sugar for priming. I let it sit for 2 weeks after bottleing. It's not bad, but it does has a very pronounced Cider taste to it. Carbonation is not a problem. If anything I would call it over carbed, almost like you would expect to find in soda. It's much better if I let it sit about 20 minutes or so after pouring it.

 

[unclesonny]

Thanks for the advice fellow brewmeisters. The batch I'm fermenting right now I geuss could be used as paint thinner. I'm going to finish though and see just how it comes out. Next batch I hope will be better.