Can I use a can of Mr Beer in an extract recipe?

[GenIke]

I have a leftover can of Mr Beer extract. It's "Azteca". I have since moved on to a regular ale pail kit and am wondering if I can use the extract can for anything?

 

[WyomingBrewer]

Sure can. Just remember Mr. Beer is pre-hopped and adjust accordingly.

 

[GenIke]

How? (Total Rookie here)

Can I just plan a 2.5 gallon batch of extracts and use mr beer can for the other 1/2?

 

[techbrewie]

if its got sugar, yeast will eat it.

 

[Revvy]

It's a can of extract, just like any can of liquid malt extract. Just scaled to make a 2 gallon batch of beer. And it's hopped. So you need to factor that into whatever recipe you're brewing. I can't recall, but I think beesmith might have settings for hopped malt extract for creating recipes with it. If you don't understand recipe creation, and what it is, maybe you should wait til you've learned more about recipe formulation. Then you wouldn't need to ask us how.

I wouldn't just throw it into anything I'm brewing, I'd make a recipe around it.

 

[GenIke]

I'm assuming "Azteca" is some sort of a Corona clone. So if I plan a recipe for 3 gallons of my own corona clone I could end up with something decent, right?

I just want someone to hold me and tell everything is going to be okay

 

[jonmohno]

Dry light lager light hopped malt extract? Sounds pretty versatile to throw in most recipes. Unless you are wanting to keep it as simple as keeping the extract recipe intentions. Most Mr. Beer is low abv,so I would say no it wont produce 2.5 gallons in most normal recipes, if its designed for 2 gallons at 3. something percent your going to want more malt extract for 5 gallons. Just add more malt extract in your first 2.5 gallon portion.Plus more hops most likely. Depends what you do and what abv you want. If your doing a corona clone,good luck lagering if you havent brewed much yet. Shure your could make a steam beer pretty easily with the right yeast,though.
Just make shure you add your hopped extract can at the end of boil and not boil it for 60 min like you would with extract and hops.

 

[jborho]

Yes it will make beer, just like any other extract. If you don't want to dig too deep into details, just look at the lbs on the can and subtract that from the shopping list. It will be fine....... But then again I am not the type to stick to strict style guidlines. I make beer I like...

 

[Transamguy77]

What about a yeast starter? If you don't plan on making a beer with it use it for a starter for a big beer. Although I guess the plus is you could drink your starter.....if you wanted.

 

[BarrelheadBrew]

After I started brewing just after christmas, a buddy of mine pulled out a dusty old can of Mr Beer HME. He'd lost half of the contents who knows how long ago, but gave me what he had. I looked up the directions MrBeer.com and brewed 1.25 gallons of porter with some spare yeast I had left over from a 1 gallon test run of an Irish Red Ale. Popped open the first bottle last night, pretty under carbed, but delicious.

 

[tackett]

I actually made that beer. And it was pretty good just the way it is.

I'd just make it per the recepie for something quick and decent to drink. It wasn't the greatest thing I ever made, but it was still a million times better than any store bought annheiser bush product.

 

[BigFloyd]

If you still have your LBK, here's what I did a week ago with a can of the same leftover HME that I wasn't thrilled at all about brewing it "as is". I figured doing a modification to an American Amber Ale was better than letting it sit around and get stale. I played around with this for a while on the Brewer's Friend recipe calculator (taking into account the weight and the IBU of the MB refill) before settling on the following:

Steeped 8 ounces of medium (50L) British crystal and 1 ounce of British chocolate malt for 30 min @155*F.

Brought it to boil. Added 2 ounces Maltodextrin and a pound of light DME.

Hopped it with Cascade 1/3 ounce @20min. 1/3 ounce @ 7min. I'll dry hop with another 1/3oz.

1/3 tsp Irish Moss at 15min.

Added the MB Mexican Cerveza HME after flameout.

Pitch rehydrated Mr. Beer yeast at 60*F. I initially set the fermentation at 62*(ambient) and bumped it up slowly over the first few days until it got to 65*.

OG was exactly what the batch calculator said it would be @ 1.054. The wort had a nice flavor with a very, very faint hint of roast from the choc and a noticeable but not overpowering Cascade flavor/aroma. The color looked like amber ale.

Time will tell if this recipe was successful.