Official first brew; Mr Beer West Coast Pale Ale

[Joe13]

OMG ITS NOT BEER YET?!?!?!?!?




Now that that's out of the way, I present to you a few brew time photos!

Filtering away

The Extract gooing up.

RDWHACB (Relax, don't worry, have a commercial brew)

In it's final resting place for the next two weeks.

A couple things I have learned already:

Brita a ton of water beforehand so you don't have to wait while the pitcher refills.

Don't try to pour the brita while it is filtering (Watery stove)

Verify before that the spigot is tight and not leaking. (Went in while it was just water to re-tighten. that should be interesting.)

Make sure you have the tools for the job! (I need a actual metal spoon, stirring with a ladle sucks.)

Other then that, I had a blast and can't wait to see how bottling goes!

 

[Joe13]

Been two days and I got some activity in the keg. Nothing crazy, but I'm trusting all is going well. Can't wait to drink it!

 

[NadoHawk]

Would love to see the final pictures and also end of ferment and bottling pics.

 

[dkennedy]

Congrats, from a former Maine-iac.

Just fired my first two batches today (partial mashes), now sitting down to write up my 'lessons learned', think that #1 will be 'Flaked Corn and Barley mash/runoff/etc = SUPER GLUE when dry'.

 

[Joe13]

Would love to see the final pictures and also end of ferment and bottling pics.

Will do! I am going to leave it in the fermenter for 2 weeks. the package says 7-10 days, but I want to give it plenty of time.

Congrats, from a former Maine-iac.

Just fired my first two batches today (partial mashes), now sitting down to write up my 'lessons learned', think that #1 will be 'Flaked Corn and Barley mash/runoff/etc = SUPER GLUE when dry'.

Congrats! I have to agree, all the reading you do can't replace the hands-on learning. I got a ton and this is a freaking easy kit. My only concern is temp in the house since we have programmable thermostats and it goes down to 62 during the day. I might up that to keep the cold at bay. Hopefully the towels i wrapped around it keep any latent heat from fermentation in.

 

[NCGrayson]

those pictures are basically the exact thing that happened in my kitchen 14 days ago to be exact. Tonight would have been bottling day.....but adult league hockey starts tonight and I'll be damned if i don't skate. I'm not worried one bit!

Joe13, if you weren't already aware...give it time.

 

[Joe13]

those pictures are basically the exact thing that happened in my kitchen 14 days ago to be exact. Tonight would have been bottling day.....but adult league hockey starts tonight and I'll be damned if i don't skate. I'm not worried one bit!

Joe13, if you weren't already aware...give it time.

I'm giving it all the time it needs. I tech wont bottle it for 16 days, then it's gonna bottle condition in the kegerator for 2 weeks.

 

[BierMuncher]

Many a thousand fine homebrews were first launched with Mr. Beer. Congrats and welcome to the hobby.

 

[Shooter]

Yep, Mr. Beer with the West Coast Pale Ale, made with the Booster, was my first beer as well. It came out okay. I quickly replaced the Booster with a pound of DME on my next batch though.

 

[NadoHawk]

Yep, Mr. Beer with the West Coast Pale Ale, made with the Booster, was my first beer as well. It came out okay. I quickly replaced the Booster with a pound of DME on my next batch though.

How much ABV approximate did that yield?

 

[Joe13]

From what i have read on the Mr beer site, and all extract brew will bring you into the 4.6-5.0% range. the booster ones are only about 3.7%. I got one more brew pack with booster I'm gonna start once i bottle and then after that I plan to move on to their recipes on thier site. I think I ideally want to get about 6 Mr. Beer brews under my belt before I move on to a bigger batch extract, partial mash situation.

 

[BaddogBrewing]

This was my first brew too! Congratulations you made beer. Might not be your best, might not be your worst, but you made it. I usually give my beer 3 to 4 weeks before bottling. No need to rush it.

 

[Shooter]

Yeah, I don't have my notes in front of me, but it was somewhere in the 4-4.5% range with DME.

 

[marmonduke]

that's how it started for me about 1 year ago, a couple Mr. Beer batches I picked up from after christmas sale..now completely all-grain, temp controlled freezer for fermenting, beer fridge with mutiple taps. Welcome to the hobby!

 

[Penguinetti]

Congrats stranger!










.... You... you gonna finish that?











....wanna split it?

 

[Joe13]

Well, it's been two weeks officially! I have been checking on it everyday, and fermentation seems to have stopped. Smells nice. Plan is to bottle it this weekend, then bottle condition in the same spot it fermented for two to three weeks. can't wait!!

Up next on my brew schedule is a Whispering Wheat Weizenbier. I have picked up a thermometer, a metal spoon. and a new can opener. Probably will brew this when i get back from my business trip in Feb. That way it's fermenting while i get to enjoy my pale ales.

 

[Joe13]

Bottling time!

Tasted it and it tasted like warm, yeasty, flat beer. perfect.

It's a very complicated process.:cross:

This was the leftover that didn't fit into a bottle. I left it on the counter for a day and it cleared up nicely and the little yeast in it settled out. Also, delicious single-malt scotch from Scotland's smallest distillery.

Bottled up and ready to carb and warm condition for two weeks.

 

[Mike37]

Looking good. I just bottled my first brew, also WCPA, over the weekend. Didn't drink scotch when I bottled though. Maybe next time!

 

[firebirdude]

I'm right there with you! Only a few days ahead. I bottled on Saturday. Couple notes I found:
1) The spigot on the keg sucks. After I was finished bottling, I replaced it with one that has a large on/off style lever and flows much more cleanly and smoothly. Total cost about 3 bucks.
2)A bottling wand helps prevent sloshing the brew around while bottling. Works very well. My factory spigot had a 1/2" inner diameter (if you're going to buy one), but others on this message board have claimed theirs is 3/8".

 

[Jsmith82]

Good ol' Mr. Beer, West Coast PA was my first beer as well. Have fun with the hobby, the homebrew rabbit hole goes deep so be prepared for your addiction, find a beer your wife or sig other likes and keep a pipeline of that style around

Once in a while when shopping for ingredients I'll still grab up a Mr. Beer kit for the hell of it, I'd recommend their Oktoberfest - I enjoyed that one. May be seasonal but I'm sure somebody on Ebay or Amazon would still have a kit for sale.

 

[Draken]

My first brew is also the WCPA. It went in the bottle last Friday. I actually replaced the booster with light DME because my booster pack had a small hole in it. I found another Mr Beer kit less than a week later for 10 bucks and a refill kit for 5. I made a cold maple wheat beer from a recipe on the MrB website and have that brewing as well. I am in the process of pricing out a 2.5 gallon brewing setup.. and plan on ordering that this week, all before I have even tasted my first brew!

 

[Joe13]

Looking good. I just bottled my first brew, also WCPA, over the weekend. Didn't drink scotch when I bottled though. Maybe next time!

I wasn't a scotch guy until i went to Scotland for my honeymoon. Now i have an appreciation for it.

I'm right there with you! Only a few days ahead. I bottled on Saturday. Couple notes I found:
1) The spigot on the keg sucks. After I was finished bottling, I replaced it with one that has a large on/off style lever and flows much more cleanly and smoothly. Total cost about 3 bucks.
2)A bottling wand helps prevent sloshing the brew around while bottling. Works very well. My factory spigot had a 1/2" inner diameter (if you're going to buy one), but others on this message board have claimed theirs is 3/8".

I actually bottled mine Sat as well, just didn't get a chance to upload the photos yet. mostly out of lazyness. I agree that the spigot sucks. pushing it kept sliding the keg back on the counter. As far as splashing, I didn't have too much of an issue. I kept the bottle tilted and let it run down the wall of the bottle to fill. I like the idea of a bottling wand though, might have to look into it.

Good ol' Mr. Beer, West Coast PA was my first beer as well. Have fun with the hobby, the homebrew rabbit hole goes deep so be prepared for your addiction, find a beer your wife or sig other likes and keep a pipeline of that style around

Once in a while when shopping for ingredients I'll still grab up a Mr. Beer kit for the hell of it, I'd recommend their Oktoberfest - I enjoyed that one. May be seasonal but I'm sure somebody on Ebay or Amazon would still have a kit for sale.

Wife despises beer. but she is ok with me having it, so thats all good. To keep her happy she has a Margaritaville and I keep Riesling chilled for when she wants wine.

My first brew is also the WCPA. It went in the bottle last Friday. I actually replaced the booster with light DME because my booster pack had a small hole in it. I found another Mr Beer kit less than a week later for 10 bucks and a refill kit for 5. I made a cold maple wheat beer from a recipe on the MrB website and have that brewing as well. I am in the process of pricing out a 2.5 gallon brewing setup.. and plan on ordering that this week, all before I have even tasted my first brew!

Yea, I got a wheat with booster on deck that I plan to make in about a week or so. It'll be my last booster and then I plan to move to full Extract for two. Once those two come out ok, I am going to try two recipes from Mr. Beer. The last being the Novicaine.

 

[Beer-lord]

During my college days and into the mid 90's I brewed a ton of beers. Even tried a Mr. Beer then. But, as I was doing all grain then I laughed at the product.
I've tried it again over the last year and man am I surprised. First, it's amazing just how much better extracts are made now. BIG, BIG difference to me. I've made some very good beers with that little kit without much time and space.
But, I don't use the booster and I also don't always use their kits. My local brew shop will put together a 2 1/2 gallon kit for me for any beer I ask for. Extract/grain brews in the Mr. Beer keg are easy and very, very good. In fact, me and my friends can't tell the difference between that and my all grain batches. And, I can make a 5 gallon batch, split it between 2 little brown kegs and tweak each one differently......dry hopping one. I especially like that you don't rack to a secondary.
But the bottom line is that you can't make good beer in any system in just 14-21 days. If you follow the 3 weeks fermenting, 2 weeks carbonating and 3-4 weeks conditioning, you will be very pleased with what you can make. I have been.

 

[Mike37]

For me, it's a cost and time issue. I'd love to start doing higher quality extract kits, but my LBS charges $40 and up for basic 5gal kits that still require you to purchase more ingredients/sanitizer when i can get MB kits for $10. Plus, I don't always have time for full 60 minute boils. The wife loves the fact that I can do my thing and be out of her kitchen in an hour total, so the MB kits are just right for me. SWMBO approved, unlike my other hobbies! Love it.

 

[emozolik]

Same for my first batch. I was on the fence about getting the kit until I found it on clearance somewhere. The beer turned out ok. Nothing spectacular. I tried their pilothouse pilsner next and it was much better, but nothing that blew me away. Instead of sugar I bought carbonation tablets from Northern Brewer. Much easier than measuring and scooping sugar. Also bought a nice bottle capper and a case of brown long necks. Planning on a can of their seasonal Hefe from last summer in the next few weeks. My wife and I had our second son in August, so no time to brew since then.
I've heard lots of complaining about Mr Beer kits, but I think they make a great first couple of batches in order to get your feet wet! Eventually I want to expand and get a deluxe kit from Northern Brewer, but the smaller batches and simple process really help build a little confidence.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I too started with a Mr Beer I recieved as a gift from SWMBO for Christmas. I made the WCPA right away and it has been conditioning for about 20 days now. My "surveilance beer" that I tried after 10 days in the bottles wasn't bad, but not great. I have a Whispering Wheat in bottles now too that I added a lb of wheat DME to and subbed Mr B yeast for Danstar Munich (wheat beer yeast) to give it a more traditional flavor. Initial sampling at bottling time was very tasty! I am hooked and going to move to larger batches soon.

 

[stevehardt]

Just tasted a Mr Beer WCPA that I pitched back in December. I wasn't expecting much, but go a suprisingly good beer. Time and patience help a lot. Got a Bewitched Red Ale I bottled last night, and a St Patricks Stout and OctoberFest Lager with golden amber that went intoMr. Beer kegs last night. Seems like the premium kits without the booster give you a lot better beer.

Mr Beer is super easy, and takes up very little space. Helluva lot of fun, and I've learned a lot doing it.

Gotta give it time though...

 

[Penguinetti]

Didn't drink scotch when I bottled though. Maybe next time!

I wasn't a scotch guy until i went to Scotland for my honeymoon. Now i have an appreciation for it.

I find that scotch is my friend when doing a plethora of chores/hobbies:
a) Drywalling
b) Painting/Priming
c) Brewing/Bottling
d) Drinking
e) Spending Time with the In-Law

find a beer your wife or sig other likes and keep a pipeline of that style around

Wife despises beer. but she is ok with me having it, so thats all good. To keep her happy she has a Margaritaville and I keep Riesling chilled for when she wants wine.

Haha! She doesn't partake in the grain-y pleasures... This is why Beer Tuesday works so well

 

[Mike37]

I find that scotch is my friend when doing a plethora of chores/hobbies:
a) Drywalling
b) Painting/Priming
c) Brewing/Bottling
d) Drinking
e) Spending Time with the In-Law

Okay, I've definitely had scotch while painting my living room and that's something I'll never do again. "YUP, GOOD ENOUGH!" Just don't look at it the next day. Or ever.

 

[Jsmith82]

My wife on the other hand loves beer, wheat to be exact - She's pregnant right now but normally I keep a solid pipeline of either Blood Orange Hefeweizen or a Bavarian Wheat of some sort around.

Speaking of the BO Hefe, your first batch excitement aside, I'm not sure how you guys are feeling after brewing up the West Coast PA as far as the "challenge" of the hobby goes, and not to knock Mr. Beer because it's a great introduction to the hobby and their quality kits do make some tasty brewskis, but I was left kind of scratching my head thinking "this is too easy, there has to be more"...

The Blood Orange Hefe is a great introduction beer into extract brewing and stepping up to a 5 gallon batch, plus it's just fun! You get to zest, dice, steep, and include actual fruit in your fermentation. It has a simple hop schedule, it's extract, also doesn't require a full boil - you can scale the boil down and just add top off water to your fermentation bucket. Drinkable extremely fast as well, if anybody here off their first batch of WCPA is looking for a good / simple beer to try a 5gal extract batch with, I'd highly recommend it.

 

[Joe13]

That blood orange Hefe sounds delicious! I just got back from my trip and checked my bottles. they are rock hard (that's what she said) and I plan to put one or two in the fridge to cold-conditon for a day and to try tomorrow night. wicked excited! If it tastes good, I will be brewing my Wheat beer this weekend and getting it into the fermenter.

 

[Joe13]

Well, Friday marked the two weeks in bottles. So thurs night I put one bottle in the fridge. Friday evening i gave it a whirl.

There was a resounding pssst when i opened it which gave me a good feeling. the head wasn't too crazy, but the carbonation bubbles kept rising while the glass sat there. It smelled just like beer too! as for taste, It was still a little yeasty I think, but that might just be part of the homebrew taste. I was a big fan

I had another yesterday and it tasted similar to the first. Overall i am wicked excited! i plan to let the rest sit until next weekend and see how that goes. I may even refrigerate it a bit longer then 24 hours. Now to brew the next batch!

 

[Alemann]

Yeah I also started with the wcpa but 1 thing I found when doin the mr beer kits using all the booster left the beer with a slight sweet taste . I started using 75-80% of the booster and it was perfect.

 

[Joe13]

Yeah I also started with the wcpa but 1 thing I found when doin the mr beer kits using all the booster left the beer with a slight sweet taste . I started using 75-80% of the booster and it was perfect.

good to know! I have one more kit with booster to do and then I plan to move to the full extract kits.

 

[Mike37]

I had my first official glass of my own WCPA last night. Like yours, the head was very thin, but it tasted really good. Definitely young, but still really good. It's had 3 weeks in the keg, 2 weeks in bottles, and that bottle had a few days in the fridge.

But yeah there's just a slight hint of sweetness (almost a maple flavor) and a slight hint of yeast and breadyness. Otherwise it's kind of floral and grassy/wheaty. My wife loves it because it's not very bitter at all. Success!

 

[Joe13]

I had my first official glass of my own WCPA last night. Like yours, the head was very thin, but it tasted really good. Definitely young, but still really good. It's had 3 weeks in the keg, 2 weeks in bottles, and that bottle had a few days in the fridge.

But yeah there's just a slight hint of sweetness (almost a maple flavor) and a slight hint of yeast and breadyness. Otherwise it's kind of floral and grassy/wheaty. My wife loves it because it's not very bitter at all. Success!

Thats a good description! I can't wait to brew the second batch.



As for this batch, I've decided to throw two of the bottles into the fridge and let them hang there for a week. to see what that does to the flavor and the settling. i'll leave the other 4 on their shelf, hiding out.

 

[Joe13]

Well, I did another brew day saturday. I used my newly acquired MrBeer kegs and did a total of 8 gallons!

2 gallons each of the following:
Angry Ox Ale
Scottish Wee Heavy
Whispering Wheat
Blarney Stone sout.

The brew day went very well and i used the skills and lessons from the Pale Ale brew. I made one single switch off of the recipes and that was for the Scottish wee heavy. it called for some butterscotch schnapps which i didn't have, so it got some single malt scotch instead.

I didn't take photos unfortunately, but I can get a shot of all the fermenters tonight. They all have very nice Krausen (more then the Pale ale) and smell like they are cooking away quite well. going to give them three weeks in the fermenter and then it'll be a bottle party!

 

[troubled_dog]

Well, I did another brew day saturday. I used my newly acquired MrBeer kegs and did a total of 8 gallons!

2 gallons each of the following:
Angry Ox Ale
Scottish Wee Heavy
Whispering Wheat
Blarney Stone sout.

:rockin: Sounds just like me! My first Mr Beer was a Octoberfest Vienna Lager that came out awesome. The new brew day I had 3 LBK (little brown kegs) that magically appeared in my kitchen

Sounds like you have some delicious beer in the pipeline! Keep posting pictures, it keeps be busy at work.

 

[Joe13]

:rockin: Sounds just like me! My first Mr Beer was a Octoberfest Vienna Lager that came out awesome. The new brew day I had 3 LBK (little brown kegs) that magically appeared in my kitchen

Sounds like you have some delicious beer in the pipeline! Keep posting pictures, it keeps be busy at work.

Thanks man! after the WCPA i realized that one 2 gallon brew at a time wouldn't build up the supply like i wanted. So a lucky craigslist score netted me 41 bottles, filter funnel, 2 hop scales, adjustable measuring spoon, pre-measured sugar scoop, 3 kegs, a bottle capper and bottle caps. Plus some brew stuff that turned out to be too old to use. Not bad for 30 bucks though.

I didn't take any photos of the brewing, kinda got distracted. but I did drink another one of my WCPA. this one was bottle conditioned for 3 weeks warm, and spent 2 weeks in the fridge. It had quite an impressive head to it, as well as good retention!! I was stoked and snapped a picture

Also, had a smuttynose baltic porter a couple days ago. black as night, great coffee flavors.

 

[Joe13]

Fermentation Chamber. AKA the closest.