Mr. Beer question

[mazasmusings]

I got a Mr. Beer as a wedding gift and I used it with the HME cans that are included. Now I'd like to take a shot at creating my own wort and am wondering if there is anything special or specific I should do to make this process work with the Mr. Beer kit.
I know some of you will say "ditch it and get a better setup" and I'd love to. Just don't have the free cash right now, so I'm just looking to make the best with what I've got.
Any suggestions on what I should use in terms of pans, etc. to make wort?
Sorry if I sound ignorant. I'm pretty much brand new to this.
Thanks in advance.

 

[BradleyBrew]

I suggest finding a local shop and making friends with the owner / operator and let them know what you are trying to do. You will need a 5 gallon stock pot not a pan to make your wort. They are many 5 gallon recipes online that can be scaled down to work with your mr. beer set up.

 

[jaycount]

Yeah there's no problem using the mr. beer kit to do 2 gallon batches, just scale down from 5-gallon batches and use a pot that is 5+ gallons.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

You can do anything in Mr Beer that you can in any other kit except make 5 gallons at a time. You can buy a 5 gallon ingredient kit and split in half to fit in the Mr Beer, or take any 5 gallon recipe and halve it. I suggest buying at least a 32 qt pot so you can move up to 5 gallon batches when you are comfortable. I got a 32 qt aluminum kettle for $20.

 

[knox_brew]

I too have a Mr.Beer that I make 2.5 gallon batches in. I just looked up 5 gallon recipes online that looked good and cut them in half. Find a LHBS most of them will have the ingredients or if they don't have the exact ones in the recipe they can make suggestions.

 

[Rbeckett]

Dude,
You can make any brew your heart desires. You can order HME, LME, DME LMNOP, etc......All you will need to do is go to the free brew calculator software and plug in your numbers, your style, ABV and bittering profile. In a couple of weeks the keggy will be done fermenting, verify that with a hydrometer and bottle your work. After 3 or 4 weeks in the bottle conditioning put it in the icebox as close to 32 as you can get it without freezing the bottles. In a week or so crack one open and see how good your recipe was. I have been trying to get everything to do 5 gallon All Grain batches and can hardly wait till it all gets here. I wont even know how to act. It will probably turn into a brew marathon that will last for around 3 days. So far it's been about fun and enjoyment, fullfilled on both issues completely, cant ask for anything better.
Crippled er Challenged Bob....

 

[rcgriff88]

I also have a mr.beer kit (for now). Where would you go about finding a free brew calculator??

 

[mvcorliss]

Go to MrBeer.net where they have a whole community of Mr Beer users just dying to make you feel safe and secure in your Mr Beer brewing!

 

[BrewinHooligan]

hopville.com has brewcalculus that is a free recipe software. It is easy to use and will get you started playing around until you can afford better software.

 

[FightingDonkeys]

I brew with a plastic primary fermenter and glass Carboy. Last week I helped a coworker with his first mr. Beer brew and I was really confused because there isn't a bubbler or anywhere for the co2 to get out. How does that work?

 

[BrewinHooligan]

There are 2 little notches where the lid screws on to allow the CO2 to escape. Not a fancy or perfect system, but it works.