Spruce up a Mr Beer kit

[gmflash88]

So I helped my brother in law with his first brew from a Mr Beer kit he got for Christmas. Followed directions as written. It's the "American light" kit.

My question is what can he/we do before bottling that might spruce it up a bit? Dry hop it? Add some fruit extract or secondary over fruit? Etc...

I anticipate a fairly mediocre to poor product out of it but who knows. I was kind of thinking to just bottle a gallon and put the second gallon over some fruit and secondary it. Thoughts?

 

[MarathonMurse]

Bottle maybe a 6-pack, then split it in half and experiment. Half hopped, and half over some citrus zest or something more exotic.

You're really not risking much. My first brew was Mr. Beer's "Czech Pilsner." What I got was basically Sprite with 3.5% abv. I have a can of "Mexican Cerveza" that I think I'll toss a bunch of leftover grains and hops at one day and see what happens.

 

[gmflash88]

Cool thx. We'll mess around a bit. I'm gonna bring a bunch of equipment over to his house on bottling day and we are gonna do a 5g all grain batch of something so he can see how to do it and decide if he's gonna get the equipment needed. He's already got the bug lol.

Either that or I bet some 2g BIAB batches would work well in the Mr Beer fermenter.

 

[Kahless]

While it is up to personal taste, I don't think an American Light style would go well with a lot of fruit types, so dry hopping is probably a better choice (some Noble hops would work well).
Instead of hop,s It would go really well with citrus zest though as MarathonMurse suggested. If you use zest make sure to wash it throughly first to get clean off pesticides, and try and cut the yellow/orange zest off but leave the white pith as it can add a really bitter taste to beer.
You can also boil coriander seed for 10 minutes and add that to beer for a spicy lemony kick.

 

[DxS12]

I started with a Mr. Beer kit as well and while it's super easy to brew, I wasn't a fan of the few beers that I brewed using the starter kit. I didn't try adding any additional flavors or hops to it though, so you may be on to something. The kits are generally small and inexpensive, so I'd say experiment and have fun. Worst comes to worst, you lose a batch.

I would recommend getting a nice start kit from a site like Northern Brewers. They are about $75 more than the Mr. Beer kit, but it gives you a lot more control and it's more fun, in my opinion.

 

[hehawbrew]

Drop in some lime zest. Bud lite lime


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[JohnSand]

And you are correct that the MrB can be used as a fermenter for 2-2.5gal batches.

 

[jonmohno]

You cant do much to spruce up a Mr. Beer batch once you've already made it. Although unless you want to give it some fruit character(not something I would like though). If your going to do that I maybe would consider the fruit extract just for the ease of it. Had you got more malt extract and hops to begin with then yes, you can do some sprucing. My guess is the beer is going to taste light and watery be he may like that because that is what the kit is. If hes into a higher abv beer with more malt and hop character I like the idea your showing him the 5 gal process to teach him to do a biab 2.5 gal batch for his mr.beer. Or just extract to start maybe the better option to start,unless he thinks the mash process is pretty simple. Did you use the yeast under the lid? Im still considering making one of the Mr. Beer kits (Diablo or pale ale kit) that I can get here locally just to try one. Only thing is they are more expensive for what you get, but I do like the ease and simplicity of it but with extract that is what you are paying for the convenience and ease of brewing. I wanted to buy a kit from norther brewer which would cost me 35 total for a 5 gal batch compared to a mr. beer I can just pick up a few miles away without shipping costs for 25 but its only a 2 gallon batch. Hmm 50 beers or 20.

 

[OneImpBrewery]

Dry hopping is a good way to add some flavor but you will need to let it sit for another week or two to let the flavors meld. Probably not a bad idea it would also let the yeast remove some of its off flavors. Since there really isnt a secondary fermenter with that system i would think you would be fine just throwing a hop sack in there with an oz of aroma.
Ive made a few of the mr beers and they weren't bad. Good way to break in the concepts.
Good luck

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[gmflash88]

@jonmonho...no we didn't use the lid yeast. I brought over a pack of S04. Figured it'd be pretty safe to use.

I like to coriander idea. May give that a shot. If it's gonna end up with a watered down character the coriander might be a better option than dry hop.

Would using DME rather than dex for bottling add any flavor or will it not make a difference?

Thanks again all!

 

[jonmohno]

@jonmonho...no we didn't use the lid yeast. I brought over a pack of S04. Figured it'd be pretty safe to use.

I like to coriander idea. May give that a shot. If it's gonna end up with a watered down character the coriander might be a better option than dry hop.

Would using DME rather than dex for bottling add any flavor or will it not make a difference?

Thanks again all!

Not really its just for carbonation. Im hit or miss whether dme or corn sugar/table sugar is best for carb. I can say dme is pretty good. It may take a little longer.