another christmas newbie

[sadida31]

hello everyone!

i registered here about a year and a half ago, but never posted or started brewing because i have not had a stable residence (finished college, moved around). no i have a house and a place to store equipment.

for christmas my girlfriends parent bought me a mr. beer kit. i was pretty excited. then i got to me parents house and my mother got me the same mr. beer kit. i now have two mr. beer kits to start my journey into homebrew. both came with the pale ale.

i have a few questions

1) is there a way to make sure that the pale ale kits are used to their ful potential? should i get extra ingredients and leave out the "booster"? or should i just follow the mr. beer instructions?

2) if i do alter the instructions, shold i go for a 5 gallon batch recipe?

3)if i go with a 5 gallon recipe, i would have to ferment in the mr beer kegs that i have so the batch would be seperated into two. with both of my kegs being used as ferminters, i wouldn't have anything to use as a secondary - i guess that would be o.k.

thanks

sadida31

 

[sadida31]

i think i read somewhere on here that the booster is nothing more than sugars for the yeast to feed on. didn't know if there might be something better to replace it

the mr beer kegs are about 2.5 gallons, i have two, so if i made a 5 gallon batch i could use both kegs to hold the 5 gallons.

 

[david_42]

I'd do one per the instructions and try replacing the booster with the same weight of DME in the other.

 

[Bobby_M]

The thing with Mr Beer is that the gift givers really do mean well but it's just a bad starter kit. For the price of a mr beer starter kit ($40), you could easily get two 6.5gallon buckets, airlock, some onestep and an LME ingredient kit and be WAY ahead of the game. Of course you'll also need empty bottles and a capper or some recycled coors light PET bottles, but you'd need that with Mr Beer anyway.

Here's where you decide if you can return both kits in good conscience and get started right away with equipment you'll continue to use and ingredients that will make better beer from batch #1. I tried my first batch on a "brew your own kit" which is about the same as Mr Beer, and I felt obligated to try it because my wife was being really thoughtful when she bought it. Of course, it was used once and i still bought the 5 gallon batch equipment anyway.

 

[teu1003]

I'm just curious ... are there any brewers who started with a Mr Beer kit and continue to use it, say for over a year?

I know several people who started with Mr Beer and became so discouraged at the results that rather than graduate to a simple extract set-up, wound up quitting brewing altogether.

My brother tried it several years ago, made pretty bad beer with it and tossed it after a few batches ... beer in plastic screw cap bottles???

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's just impractical. The kit is sub-par. I mean, would you suggest anyone actually go out and buy a Mr Beer if they had come here to ask for advice before hand? Definately not. There's no harm in doing smaller experimental batches in 1 or 2 gallon carboys/jugs or whathaveyou, but by the time you go through the effort of sanitation and the 60min boil, you might as well top up to 5 gallons.

The giving up easy part is probably frustration with the Mr Beer ingredients + instructions that end up with a barely drinkable product. One could easily get the impression that this is the best they'll get out of homebrew. Yes, most people who are doing 5 gal batches successfully could do the same in a Mr Beer keg. I've done a few batches that I fermented in a 2 gallon PET pretzel jug. It doesn't mean it's the most encouraging way to get started in the hobby.

Why not return the kits and immediately invest it into better equipment and ingredients and skip the fermented sugar water right from the get go.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Go for it - brew the kits per the instructions. You've been lurking here for long enough to have learned at least a few good pointers that will prevent you from making the classic, infected, bad Mr. Beer. If you find that it's not enjoyable, you've lost nothing. If you really like the process, you've got two fermenters and a few gallons of your own homemade beer to get you started. Good luck!

 

[Mike B]

I'm just curious ... are there any brewers who started with a Mr Beer kit and continue to use it, say for over a year?

I got a Mr. Beer kit from my girllfriend about a year ago and, for the most part, followed the instructions in the kit. I made a beer that wasn't great, but was decent. I then made a porter from a coopers kit using the same fermenter. This beer was also decent but not great. After those beers, I invested in a fermenter, hydrometer, etc, and my beers continued to improve. I think this was mainly from experience rather than the new equipment; there's no reason I couldn't make a great beer using the Mr. Beer keg.

In fact, inspired by previous posters, I may try to find a smaller secondary (2.5 or 3 gallons) so I can use the Mr. Beer keg for smaller experimental batches . . .

Anyway, you should be able to make a decent beer with the kit. I would definitely suggest, however, that you go spend a couple of bucks on some corn sugar for bottling, rather than using granulated sugar, as is instructed by Mr. Beer. Granulated sugar will probably give your beer an undesireable cidery taste.

Good luck to you; I hope you enjoy homebrewing as much as everyone here seems to!

 

[Orfy]

I use my mt beer PET bottles one per brew that I bottle to allow me to test for carbonation. When They ferm up I know it's getting time to move the others to a colder area. I use it for my first sample as well.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

I use my Mr. Beer fermenter to make trial-size batches of beer, but I do not use the Mr. Beer ingredient kits anymore... Those kits use too much regular old sugar, too little malt (one soup can size container of malt is NOT enough), and often too little hops.

When I started I brewed one per the instructions and it was nasty. Then I took the other kit I had and knowledge from here and modified it. I added some liquid malt extract in addition to the Mr. Beer can as well as some additional hops (the kit I had at that time was a 'hopped kit' so no bagged hops) and I came out with a great beer. I also boiled and followed 'protocol' of the 1-2-3 rule as opposed to the Mr. Beer method with no boil, no measuring temps, etc. I also did not ever use the 'Booster' again. A booster may be fine for a 5 gallon kit to up the alcohol 1%, but the booster in Mr. Beer is greater in weight than the malt in the beer often. Basically you end up with 1/2 beer 1/2 cider or something...

Anyway, the way it sounds you have 2 Pale Ale Kits and 2 Fermenters. It might not be a bad idea to do away with the booster, use both Pale Ale cans of malt and brew 2 gallons that way (i.e. 2 cans of malt extract for 2 gallons) with whatever hops they provided (the vacuum packed pellets are fine). Toss the booster and let the one fermenter sit and use as a secondary.

Soon you'll find yourself buying 5 gallon fermenters, etc. and going the real route. It only took me about one month after my Mr. Beer purchase to drop about $200 more on a real starter brewing kit with glass carboys, bottles, etc. and a few extract kits. Now I usually buy bulk ingredients at the LHBS and formulate recipes from one of the 5 books I have or from the Recipe forum here. My brewing has really advanced itself in the 3 months or so I've been at it. And I've already made many, many cases of good beer. Good luck and welcome to the addiction!

 

[Bobby_M]

At least we all agree on one thing. Glad to have another potential brewer in the ranks. I don't mind that we disagree on the merits of starting or sticking with a Mr Beer kit. I suppose a lot of our impressions have a lot to do with whether we actually started on one and what our experience was. My first batch was pretty disgusting and I made a lot of mistakes because I didn't even know about HBT at the time. I certainly do NOT intend to discourage any new potential brewer but I know for a fact that he'd want to upgrade to a larger fermenter almost right away if he has any continued interest. There's that, and we're already telling him how to pick apart and augment the Mr Beer ingredients. The only thing he's really left with is two bouts of good intentions and two small plastic barrels. That's $80 worth of Mr Beer that could have gone to something he'll continue to use. In either case, I hope OP brews something now and continues to do so in the future.

 

[MariaAZ]

Sometimes exchanging a gift isn't an option. If someone received a Mr. Beer kit and for whatever reason can't or won't exchange it, are there any more hints and tips for making the best beer possible with the system? There are times when we have to make do with what we have, and for many people this may mean making do with their Mr. Beer kit.

What about a few recipes scaled down for this kit? If I want to make a 2.5 gal batch (or whatever size Mr. Beer's fermenter is) can I just take any 5 gal recipe and cut it in half, or do I have to tweak ingredients (like the hops)? Maybe there are types of beers that would be more successful utilizing the limitations of this system.

There is another thread on a contest for making the best cheap beer possible. What about a challenge for making the best Mr. Beer kit beer possible? Tossing the kit wouldn't be an option

 

[Orfy]

Yep, use malt extract instead of booster or sugar.

 

[teu1003]

Hey, this is post 1024 for me. Oh, how I LOVE binary orders of magnitude! ***[/QUOTE]

There are 10 types of people in the world ... those who understand binary and those who don't.

 

[Rapscallion Jones]

There are 10 types of people in the world ... those who understand binary and those who don't.

The nerd in me really got a kick out of that. Professionally, I'm a programmer, so... you know.

 

[sadida31]

when i get home from work today, i will start my first batch. i guess i will use both cans of the malt and leave the booster out.

any other suggestions?

thanks in advance

 

[olllllo]

I smell a poll.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=18478

 

[Ol' Grog]

I'm telling you from experience, that once you get the bug, it's like a drug. You want a better beer or you'll at least be curious as to how much better a home brew can get. With that in mind, I'd take them back, if you could, use the money on a starter 5 gallon extract kit. Next will come kegging, then next will come AG'ing, next will come better equipment, etc. etc.

 

[sadida31]

i now have my first batch in the fermenter!!!

i used both cans of the pale ale and left the "booster" out. also, added about a half of a cup of honey. other than that i pretty much followed the directions as they were written (which wasn't very direct). hopefully, i will end up with something palpable.

i already want to start another batch! what would be a good kit to use? i would like to order something from ahs or midwest. something not to difficult, and something that i could use my existing equipment to accomplish with good results.

 

[Orfy]

What beer do you like?

Buy a 5 gallon bin and use that for secondary or primary.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

i already want to start another batch! what would be a good kit to use? i would like to order something from ahs or midwest. something not to difficult, and something that i could use my existing equipment to accomplish with good results.

Congrats on your first brew day!

Decide on a style you like and begin looking at kits in that style. To help with your decision, lagers, very light beers, and very strong/dark beers tend to be a tad more difficult. Any kit that says, extract, extract + steeping grains, beginner, or intermediate should be quite do-able for you. Steer clear of the all grain or partial mash kits (for now).

Does that help...or inspire more questions?

 

[EvilTOJ]

There are 10 types of people in the world ... those who understand binary and those who don't.

That's only two types, stupid!
















I know but I couldn't resist

 

[Yuri_Rage]

That's only two types, stupid!

And therefore, the joke is lost on you.

F? How the hell do you count to F?