can you blame me for buying the beer machine?

[whitey09]

hello there! im new to the home brew lifestyle, but wont be for long. i recently picked up a beer machine model 2000 for $5 at an auction, brand new, never used, and i couldn't be more excited to get started brewing!...however, it is a christmas gift, and i need to wait until then to get started. im not familiar with some of the terms/abbreviations that everyone uses here and was looking for maybe a list of these with explanations.

a little bit about me: just call me whitey, i live in middle river, MD. i have a wife and an almost 3 year old son. i love my family, and i love my 2003 mercury marauder.(mm.net > i'm whitey). i'm currently a laid-off union sprinkler fitter journeyman, and thats about it. thanks guys--whitey

 

[45_70sharps]

I had to look at what a beer machine was. Like a Mr. Beer.
If it's an old package, don't use the kits that come with it. Check out this thread and video.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/15-year-old-mr-beer-kit-youtube-366958/

Don't let this happen to you!
If you enjoy using this, you will probably be buying the gear for standard five gallon batches soon enough!

As for terms and abbreviations, you would have to list what you are reading and not understanding for most people to be able to help you.

 

[Dan]

The following is linkd to the wikpedia brewing info. Hopefully the link I send you is a glossery of brewing abbreviations and acronyms. If not, youll just get the link to the site and can check everything out from there. Either way it's good.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Glossary

 

[whitey09]

Sharp, thanks for the heads up, and Dan, that's exactly what I was looking for.

How old can a packaged beer mix be before it goes bad? Ill look into trying to find a manufacturing date or an experation date.

 

[Clanchief]

Well, the issues will arise with all pieces of it if it's old. Hops are generally something that don't have a super long shelf life. I'm assuming it's a vacuum sealed package on them, but even so, they are going to lose something over time. The biggest issue will be the yeast. The older it is, the less living yeast cells it has.

 

[whitey09]

OK, so I found that the packages, which don't have an expiration date, and are white, not silver, are between 3 to 5 years old. The woman over the phone told me to get brewers yeast because the yeast packages in the kit are probably dead/bad. Would you think the ingredients other than the yeast would still produce a drinkable beer? Thanks

 

[Dan]

Drinkable? Probably, depending on your standards. I doubt it will be great though. I'd get new yeast for sure. They sell "brewers yeast" in the grocery store vitamin section a lot of times. That is not the kind of yeast you want, it's basically dead yeast. You'll want to pick up a packet of Nottingham or Safale dry yeast, something like that from a homebrew shop.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

hello there! im new to the home brew lifestyle, but wont be for long. i recently picked up a beer machine model 2000 for $5 at an auction, brand new, never used, and i couldn't be more excited to get started brewing!...however, it is a christmas gift, and i need to wait until then to get started. im not familiar with some of the terms/abbreviations that everyone uses here and was looking for maybe a list of these with explanations.

a little bit about me: just call me whitey, i live in middle river, MD. i have a wife and an almost 3 year old son. i love my family, and i love my 2003 mercury marauder.(mm.net > i'm whitey). i'm currently a laid-off union sprinkler fitter journeyman, and thats about it. thanks guys--whitey

Blame? No. Certainly not.

Ridicule? Abso-fecking-lutely!

Either way, have fun with it. We all started somewhere. Some of us started with parts from a toilet only to go full circle and send parts of what we made back into it.

 

[Skydog60]

Whitey! five bucks and you have to wait untill Christmas? Brew that up this weekend and you could be drinking it on Chaistmas!

Cheers!

 

[45_70sharps]

other than the yeast would still produce a drinkable beer? Thanks

Again, please watch the video. Even dry coconutting doesn't make up for old beer kits.
If you decide to brew it, please video tape the process and your first drink. We could use a matching pair of videos.

Serious, the ingredients can't cost that much. Might as well make the first batch a good one.

 

[whitey09]

Well today I took a trip to Maryland homebrew and talked to a Guy there about my plan. He was very informative, and told me to buy lalleland Nottingham ale yeast. I also picked up idophore and some co2 cartridges. Hopefully things turn out good.

 

[Skydog60]

Good luck Whitey! I hope everting does turn out right and you enjoy it and brew more beer!

Cheers

 

[whitey09]

bringing this back from the dead.....i am up and running on the brew cycle, what a PITA trying to get this thing going. instructions say tighten things hand tight....it needs a little bit more than that. the instructions say the pressure relief valve should release bubbles at no more than 15 psi....it started releasing at 22psi, and has eventually dropped to 16psi at about a bubble every 7 seconds. the biggest issue i had was the co2 carbonation unit, it worked for 1 1/2 co2 bulbs than it released all the co2 at once!......pressure relief valve worked thank god, spewing a water mist ceiling high. im mechanically inclined and i ended up taking apart the unit, its basically a glorified tire stem valve...i looked at the tiny seals, didnt see anything wrong, put it back together and it worked...go figure. well, anyways i started the brew process around 11:00pm on dec. 26th, its been 6 days, and the bubbles have slowed down considerably(one every 7 or so seconds) from when it first started to release. how long should i let this go until i put it in the fridge to carbonate and clarify? thanks

 

[twalte]

Again, please watch the video. Even dry coconutting doesn't make up for old beer kits.
If you decide to brew it, please video tape the process and your first drink. We could use a matching pair of videos.

Serious, the ingredients can't cost that much. Might as well make the first batch a good one.

I loved the video!! "dry coconutted"! Too darn funny.

I wasn't impressed with my first batch, but I think it had to be better than this.

Whitey...good call on getting fresh ingredients!

 

[whitey09]

well, ive been drinking it since yesterday, heres a run down...

after day 6 of fermenting, my airlock had a bubble every 14-15 seconds....i tasted it to make sure it was done. first swig, about half a shot glass, tasted like iodine...hmm, maybe i forgot to clear the spigot and float tube when i sanitized it?..lol....second swig, same amount, tasted like really nasty beer, third swig tasted like BEER! so i put it in the fridge, and after 3 days i took another swig to see how the carbonation was......my pressure gauge had went from 16psi, to 6 psi, and the beer was slightly carbonated. i added some co2 until the guage was at 12psi, than i had a glass. it was more carbonated than before and it actually doesnt taste like shat. even had a buddy of mine come over and he said it definately drinkable....and its actually pretty good. now im no beer snob, but its better than budweiser, but no where near a samuel smiths. for about $27....$5 beer machine with 2 mixes(drinking the canadian red lager as i type, and the pilsner is in the box) and about $22 for the yeast, sanitizer, and 10 co2 cartridges, i think i got a steal! to everybody who believed in it and me, thank you, for everybody laughed at me,....whos laughing now!