Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

[iluvmysh]

I'd use both packs of yeast, but not in the boil. Boiling would kill the yeast.

in the 70 degree wort. i've gathered that so far.
i'm on my second batch (irish stout) w/ mr. beer as my first batch is conditioning. i just need to get more bottles within 2 weeks or so, so i can bottle the stout.

i'm using up all of my LME that i received as a bday present so I can move on to a 5 gallon kit that i've been eyeing wishing it goes on sale soon *ahem* austin homebrew Deluxe Brewing Equipment Kit (2 Stage Glass Secondary) *ahem*

 

[JohnSand]

I'll second what's been said: use both cans, both packs of yeast.
For more bottles, try your local beer distributor. Mine let's me take empty pry-offs for the 5c deposit. It helps if you shop there, and promise some homebrew. You will need caps and a capper. Also, save any bottles you drink of craft brews.
You can also split 5 gallon batches into two smaller fermenters. I've been doing it for a while. Of course, if you have a LHBS (Local Home Brew Store), you can buy an Ale Pail with a lid and airlock for about $20.

 

[bpgreen]

in the 70 degree wort. i've gathered that so far.
i'm on my second batch (irish stout) w/ mr. beer as my first batch is conditioning. i just need to get more bottles within 2 weeks or so, so i can bottle the stout.

i'm using up all of my LME that i received as a bday present so I can move on to a 5 gallon kit that i've been eyeing wishing it goes on sale soon *ahem* austin homebrew Deluxe Brewing Equipment Kit (2 Stage Glass Secondary) *ahem*

There's nothing stopping you from using the Mr beer mixes in a five gallon fermenter. And there's also nothing stopping you from brewing from scratch in the LBK. I've done both.

 

[Hackwood]

Love my LBKs. Earlier I brewed 2 2gallon Mr.b recipes and have them in the ferment chamber. After dinner I bottled 2 test batches of English Bitter with different hops. I mostly do 10 gallon AG batches but I've picked up 3 Mr.B LBKs, a DemonBrew 2 gallon conical and 2 - 2-1/2 gallon bucket/lid combos for some future experiments and test batches. Future experiment is to brew a 10 gallon batch of whatever and split it between 5-2gallon fermenters all with different yeast. YAY BEER!

 

[m3n00b]

I have two. One for cider experiments and one for beer experiments.

 

[Zookeeps]

A quick question for those of you familiar with the old style Mr. Beer. I have one of the old style with the airlock and wanted to be able to have two batches going at once. I got a small wine cooler fridge and ordered a 2nd Mr. Beer LBK. I now find that in order to fit two of these into the fridge... LBK?

Is anyone else using wine chillers with LBKs? They seem like a great solution. Any advice on good models? How about fit for LBK?

Here's an 8 bottle Igloo at Walmart for $70. Would LBK fit?

Thanks.

 

[kvanconant]

I almost bought a Mr.Beer kit a few months ago. My wife found a opened but unused one on some classifieds site she is on (not craigslist) they wanted $20 for it.
Being my past hobby of brewing other alcohol I told her wait i'll try it with what I have and see if I like brewing beer... being I do love some good beer.
2 months later... 20 gallons of beer brewed, one brew bottled, and 3 in fermenters... I think i'm addicted.
Going to kegging next month and setting up my wet bar I built a few years back into a fully functional multi-beer tap.
So I didn't start with Mr.Beer but it inspired me to try it and now i'm hooked.

 

[BridgewaterBrewer]

Is anyone else using wine chillers with LBKs? They seem like a great solution. Any advice on good models? How about fit for LBK?

Here's an 8 bottle Igloo at Walmart for $70. Would LBK fit?

Thanks.

An LBK might just fit but I'd need to know interior dimensions of that 8 bottle model to tell for sure. I have a larger Haier model wine chiller and I can easily fit 2 LBKs sideways in there. Great for making lagers.

 

[patrjar]

I am planning on buying my son a small home beer making machine for christmas and was wondering if you can use The Beer Machine kits in the Mr. Beer machine, the reason I am asking is we live in Canada and The Beer Machine mixes are really easy to find and get while the Mr. Beer is not. Also, Mr. Beer machine is about half of the price of The Beer Machine. In short, want to buy a Mr. Beer machine(cheaper) and use The Beer Machine mixes (easy to find) possible?

 

[m3n00b]

I am planning on buying my son a small home beer making machine for christmas and was wondering if you can use The Beer Machine kits in the Mr. Beer machine, the reason I am asking is we live in Canada and The Beer Machine mixes are really easy to find and get while the Mr. Beer is not. Also, Mr. Beer machine is about half of the price of The Beer Machine. In short, want to buy a Mr. Beer machine(cheaper) and use The Beer Machine mixes (easy to find) possible?

I'm sure you can use the beer machine kits in a Mr beer fermenter. They're basically the same thing.

 

[skitter]

I use all kinds of mixes in my MrBeer, your good

 

[bpgreen]

I am planning on buying my son a small home beer making machine for christmas and was wondering if you can use The Beer Machine kits in the Mr. Beer machine, the reason I am asking is we live in Canada and The Beer Machine mixes are really easy to find and get while the Mr. Beer is not. Also, Mr. Beer machine is about half of the price of The Beer Machine. In short, want to buy a Mr. Beer machine(cheaper) and use The Beer Machine mixes (easy to find) possible?

A year or two ago, Cabela's (a chain store in the USA) had a big clearance sale on beer machine mixes and I bought a bunch of them. I used them in the Mr beer fermenter and also made 5 gallon batches with them.

One beer machine mix will make a Mr beer sized batch just fine.

In my opinion, the beer machine mixes aren't as good as the Mr beer mixes. They'll both make beer, but I think the flavor is better with Mr beer kits. I'd also suggest downloading the instructions from the Mr beer site and following those rather than the beer main instructions. You'll probably get better results using a different yeast, too (I'd say the same for Mr beer; I think good yeast is very important).

If you can get steeping grains or if you want to try a partial mash, you'll get a "fresher" flavor.

In short, I think it's easy to get OK beer with the beer machine mixes and good beer with the Mr beer mixes. It's not too tough to get good beer with the beer machine mixes or great beer with the me beer mixes.

 

[iluvmysh]

so i made two batches of beer in the mr. beer. the cerveza and the stout. i have to say, i'm thoroughly UNimpressed. both beers smelled like soy sauce. the cerveza tasted like apple juice and the guiness was flat and tasted pretty bad.

cerveza was started in mid-october
stout was started beginning-november. i had 4-5 bottle bombs (despite the beer being barely carbonated when i tasted it last night)

the stamped dates on the cans were no where near expired.

i can pull the notes from my brew if anyone is interested in specific information, but i just had to put it out there. i'm disappointed. i gave it two tries. i'm going to brew the rest of my extracts and probably start doing 1gallon all-grain batches with the LBK.

oh yea, i also registered my kit back in october to "receive" my free gifts. still nothing.

 

[skitter]

I agree with the kits not tasting like anything special... I started doing my own extract brewing because of that.

 

[TungstenBeer]

so i made two batches of beer in the mr. beer. the cerveza and the stout. i have to say, i'm thoroughly UNimpressed. both beers smelled like soy sauce. the cerveza tasted like apple juice and the guiness was flat and tasted pretty bad.

cerveza was started in mid-october
stout was started beginning-november. i had 4-5 bottle bombs (despite the beer being barely carbonated when i tasted it last night)

the stamped dates on the cans were no where near expired.

i can pull the notes from my brew if anyone is interested in specific information, but i just had to put it out there. i'm disappointed. i gave it two tries. i'm going to brew the rest of my extracts and probably start doing 1gallon all-grain batches with the LBK.

oh yea, i also registered my kit back in october to "receive" my free gifts. still nothing.

Almost every beer I've had from a Mr Beer kit has had the same apple juice taste (aceytlehyde - butchered spelling), and bottle bombs don't surprise me either. Both result from incomplete fermentation. I believe they say to bottle after a week? That's not nearly enough time based on the rest of their instructions. Simply another week in the fermenter would probably solve the problem if the ingredients were fresh. So sad.

 

[skitter]

Almost every beer I've had from a Mr Beer kit has had the same apple juice taste (aceytlehyde - butchered spelling), and bottle bombs don't surprise me either. Both result from incomplete fermentation. I believe they say to bottle after a week? That's not nearly enough time based on the rest of their instructions. Simply another week in the fermenter would probably solve the problem if the ingredients were fresh. So sad.

Indeed. I started reading these forums actually the week before my Anniversary (for which my wife bought me the Mr. Beer kit) and I read this thread ALL THE WAY THROUGH (multi-day adventure) and that helped me get off to a good start. All the Mr. Beer kits I bought went for 2 weeks fermentation, 2 weeks bottle, and maybe 1 week in the fridge if I didn't drink it all first.

When I started doing my own extract concoctions I started doing a 2/3/1 schedule: 2 in the fermenter, 3 in the bottle, 1 in the fridge.

 

[abandonhope16]

I'll do some Mr beer mixes here and there if it strikes my fancy and I feel like getting something brewed quickly. By quickly, I mean no long boils or steeping... just get a small batch in a fermenter on a Sunday morning when I have 45 minutes. With that, I let them ferment for 3-4 weeks and in the bottle for another 3 or so and fridge for 1-2. While I don't find them stellar, they do improve with time and are definitely drinkable. I just like the ease of brew day and they can be found relatively inexpensive on amazon. You can add hops or additional extract to improve the standard kit and its easy to experiment.

 

[iluvmysh]

I read through A LOT of pages from the beginning of the thread. The advice I gather was, long condition = better beer. (goes to look at notes) heeding that advice, batch 1 (cerveza): pitched 10/14/13, bottled 10/26, 1 bottle in to fridge 11/9/13, opened bottle 11/28. Tasted like apple juice smelled like soy sauce. Ok (at best) carbonation. I felt I wasted my patience. Maybe it was a fluke?

Batch 2 (st Patrick's stout): pitched 10/26, bottled 11/17, 12/1 - 4 or 5 bottle bombs, 12/11/13 opened 1 bottle. Bottle made a quick soft "pst" sound. Barely a fine rings of bubbles, tasted flat and tasted bad.

All this time there was barely any temperature fluctuations during the whole process.

 

[bzwyatt]

Three weeks in the LBK.

- If it stayed at least under 70, less than 68 even better, but not lower than 65, it'll taste about as good as is possible with the MrB ingredients, and it will be fermented completely.

Three weeks in bottles at 70, +/- 2-3 degrees.

- You won't have bottle bombs since the yeast had time and temp to do their job in the LBK (unless something else went wrong, like an infection). It will definitely be carbed, as long as it stayed close to 70.

 

[ericbw]

I read through A LOT of pages from the beginning of the thread. The advice I gather was, long condition = better beer. (goes to look at notes) heeding that advice, batch 1 (cerveza): pitched 10/14/13, bottled 10/26, 1 bottle in to fridge 11/9/13, opened bottle 11/28. Tasted like apple juice smelled like soy sauce. Ok (at best) carbonation. I felt I wasted my patience. Maybe it was a fluke?

Batch 2 (st Patrick's stout): pitched 10/26, bottled 11/17, 12/1 - 4 or 5 bottle bombs, 12/11/13 opened 1 bottle. Bottle made a quick soft "pst" sound. Barely a fine rings of bubbles, tasted flat and tasted bad.

All this time there was barely any temperature fluctuations during the whole process.

Are you measuring sugar into each bottle to prime? If you over do it, bombs. If you under do it, flat. Sounds like that's one possibility.

Longer fermentation always seems to help with those. Ferment cool, the bottle condition warm. Usually that means you can't do it in the same place.

Also, even though the LBK is brown, cover it with a towel to protect it from the light.

I think if you continue to tweak your process, even mr beer will give you decent beer.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

When I used my Mr Beer I would add 1lb of light or extra-light DME, over filled to get approx 2.5gal and then replace the yeast with something like US-05 as the yeast contributes more flavor compounds to the beer than anything else and the MrBeer yeast is not that great IMO. By doing that and keeping ferment temps under 70 you shouldn't have the green apple and will have a much better batch of beer.

 

[iluvmysh]

Are you measuring sugar into each bottle to prime? If you over do it, bombs. If you under do it, flat. Sounds like that's one possibility.

Longer fermentation always seems to help with those. Ferment cool, the bottle condition warm. Usually that means you can't do it in the same place.

Also, even though the LBK is brown, cover it with a towel to protect it from the light.

I think if you continue to tweak your process, even mr beer will give you decent beer.

i've lost faith.
i batch primed. used an online priming calculator.
it's funny how a few bottles decided to blow yet the beer was still flat.
i fermented in a 68 degree unused bathroom, covered with a towel and cardboard box.

 

[JohnSand]

I found that the MrB HMEs will produce acceptable beer with enough conditioning. But that's all. Like many, I started brewing after receiving MRBeer as a gift. I read a lot of negative comments about it, and sort of thought it was snobbery. But after 5 MrB batches, I did three grain and one LME+hops. They were much better. I tried a couple of BrewDemon batches which were okay, better than MrB, not as good as grain or extract. Break and bake cookies are good, home-made are great. I'm not dissing anyone that brews MrB. If you like it, make it and drink it. I found them not good enough for me. So I suggest trying other methods. MrBeer is a great business concept, and the simplest introduction to brewing. But grain beer really is better.

 

[ericbw]

I found that the MrB HMEs will produce acceptable beer with enough conditioning. But that's all. Like many, I started brewing after receiving MRBeer as a gift. I read a lot of negative comments about it, and sort of thought it was snobbery. But after 5 MrB batches, I did three grain and one LME+hops. They were much better. I tried a couple of BrewDemon batches which were okay, better than MrB, not as good as grain or extract. Break and bake cookies are good, home-made are great. I'm not dissing anyone that brews MrB. If you like it, make it and drink it. I found them not good enough for me. So I suggest trying other methods. MrBeer is a great business concept, and the simplest introduction to brewing. But grain beer really is better.

Unless they've figured out something the rest of the world doesn't know, I'm pretty sure Mr. Beer is grain

I think you should at least get acceptable results from Mr. Beer ingredients, if they are fresh. And if there's enough yeast that is alive. If the OP is not getting to a level above nasty, either the kits are bad (old, etc.) or something else is amiss.

 

[ericbw]

i've lost faith.
i batch primed. used an online priming calculator.
it's funny how a few bottles decided to blow yet the beer was still flat.
i fermented in a 68 degree unused bathroom, covered with a towel and cardboard box.

You know everyone is going to keep giving advice until the end of time, right?

So, at 68 degrees under a cardboard box and towel, you MIGHT be increasing the temperature. Fermentation can raise the temp (feel the fermenter when it's really working hard), so you might be hitting 73 or so. Not sure that contributes to the problem, though.

Bombs could be due to bacteria or wild yeast fermenting more than expected. How's your sanitation?

 

[bpgreen]

I read through A LOT of pages from the beginning of the thread. The advice I gather was, long condition = better beer. (goes to look at notes) heeding that advice, batch 1 (cerveza): pitched 10/14/13, bottled 10/26, 1 bottle in to fridge 11/9/13, opened bottle 11/28. Tasted like apple juice smelled like soy sauce. Ok (at best) carbonation. I felt I wasted my patience. Maybe it was a fluke?

Batch 2 (st Patrick's stout): pitched 10/26, bottled 11/17, 12/1 - 4 or 5 bottle bombs, 12/11/13 opened 1 bottle. Bottle made a quick soft "pst" sound. Barely a fine rings of bubbles, tasted flat and tasted bad.

All this time there was barely any temperature fluctuations during the whole process.

I know you think you were being patient, but those times are closer to minimums than long conditioning times.

When it's cooler, I generally ferment for three weeks. Note that this is true whether I'm using 5 gallon buckets or the LBK. If I keg, I force carbonate. That means it's probably ready in a week, but I usually wait a month or so. When I bottle, I give the bottles 3+ months at room temperature and at least a week or two in the refrigerator.

Since you gave your second batch three weeks in the fermenter and got bottle bombs, I have a couple of questions for you.

What was the fermentation temperature?

What were your cleaning and sanitation processes?

How did you prime? did you bottle prime or batch prime? How much sugar did you use? How did you measure (or weigh) the sugar? What kind of sugar did you use?

 

[JohnSand]

Unless they've figured out something the rest of the world doesn't know, I'm pretty sure Mr. Beer is grain

I think you should at least get acceptable results from Mr. Beer ingredients, if they are fresh. And if there's enough yeast that is alive. If the OP is not getting to a level above nasty, either the kits are bad (old, etc.) or something else is amiss.

By golly, you're right! Moderators! Delete all posts containing the word "grain"! It's ambiguous!
You're also right about the mixes. If it's not out of date, and is handled right, it should produce decent results.

 

[bpgreen]

i've lost faith.
i batch primed. used an online priming calculator.
it's funny how a few bottles decided to blow yet the beer was still flat.
i fermented in a 68 degree unused bathroom, covered with a towel and cardboard box.

Did you weigh the sugar or measure it?

Did you boil it in water, then let it cool? How did you mix it with the beer before bottling?

 

[Trippel-A]

i've lost faith.
i batch primed. used an online priming calculator.
it's funny how a few bottles decided to blow yet the beer was still flat.
i fermented in a 68 degree unused bathroom, covered with a towel and cardboard box.

Maybe your priming sugar wasn't mixed throughout the batch. I found with Mr. Beer that the most consistent results came from carb tabs. Or maybe there was an infection.

I rarely had the problems you've described with Mr. Beer. While it wasn't great, it was usually pretty decent. I agree with others that you should have given it more time, maybe even an extra week before bottling.

 

[whodat1]

I find that with the priming sugar that it's best to batch prime with the sugar well dissolved into a cup of boiling water. I had my LHBS put a tap into a 3 gallon bucket and I drain the LBK into using flexible hose. I have about 1/2 to 3/4 loop in the bottom of the bucket which creates a swirling as I'm filling it that has minimal aeration. As the bucket is filling I slowing pour in the sugar water and gently stir for about a minute after the LBK is drained. I then fill my bottles from this bucket.

I've been getting very even carbonation doing it this way.

 

[Randolf]

For what it's worth, I drink lots of Modified Mr. Beer and Brew Demon recipes.
I usually add a 1/2 to a pound of the pertenant DME,1/2 -3/4 oz. of hops,and use a different yeast. I've had pretty decent results. The recipes are easy and make for an easy brew session,I usually try and brew 2 batches at a time.For carbonation, I use Domino Dots. One for a 12oz. and 2 for a 16oz. Seem to always have good luck using them. Good luck....Randolf

 

[iluvmysh]

I know you think you were being patient, but those times are closer to minimums than long conditioning times.

When it's cooler, I generally ferment for three weeks. Note that this is true whether I'm using 5 gallon buckets or the LBK. If I keg, I force carbonate. That means it's probably ready in a week, but I usually wait a month or so. When I bottle, I give the bottles 3+ months at room temperature and at least a week or two in the refrigerator.

Since you gave your second batch three weeks in the fermenter and got bottle bombs, I have a couple of questions for you.

What was the fermentation temperature?

What were your cleaning and sanitation processes?

How did you prime? did you bottle prime or batch prime? How much sugar did you use? How did you measure (or weigh) the sugar? What kind of sugar did you use?

Fermentation was ~68 with minimum fluctuation.
Sanitation = followed the instructions in the packet, used the powdered stuff that came with the keg.
weighed the sugar with a digital food scale. used an online calculator. used table sugar + a little water + dash of lemon juice, boiled til sugar dissolved

Did you weigh the sugar or measure it?

Did you boil it in water, then let it cool? How did you mix it with the beer before bottling?

weighed it. made inverted sugar. poured (cool) inverted sugar in to bottling bucket, when racking from LBK to bottling bucket, the tubing was coiled where it created a natural swirling effect.

 

[ericbw]

Fermentation was ~68 with minimum fluctuation.
Sanitation = followed the instructions in the packet, used the powdered stuff that came with the keg.
weighed the sugar with a digital food scale. used an online calculator. used table sugar + a little water + dash of lemon juice, boiled til sugar dissolved

weighed it. made inverted sugar. poured (cool) inverted sugar in to bottling bucket, when racking from LBK to bottling bucket, the tubing was coiled where it created a natural swirling effect.

Lemon juice?

 

[iluvmysh]

Lemon juice?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_sugar_syrup

 

[bpgreen]

Fermentation was ~68 with minimum fluctuation.
Sanitation = followed the instructions in the packet, used the powdered stuff that came with the keg.
weighed the sugar with a digital food scale. used an online calculator. used table sugar + a little water + dash of lemon juice, boiled til sugar dissolved




weighed it. made inverted sugar. poured (cool) inverted sugar in to bottling bucket, when racking from LBK to bottling bucket, the tubing was coiled where it created a natural swirling effect.

I've never made inverted sugar, but from what I've read, you need to boil it for approximately 20 minutes to convert it, so I doubt if you accomplished that.

Inconsistent carbonation is usually due to either infection or inconsistent amounts of priming sugar in the bottles. Since you followed the instructions on sanitizing, I'm going to go with inconsistent priming sugar. When I was bottling, I usually did it the way you did and didn't have problems with getting it to mix well. I used to use 8-12 oz of water. You said you used "a little bit" of water. It could be that your sugar mixture was denser than what I had, so it was more concentrated toward the bottom. Do you know if the bottles that were flat were bottled last and the ones that burst were at the bottom?

Although I had good results using the swirling from coiled tubing, I know of others who had poor mixing using that approach, so they would fill the priming container about halfway before adding the priming sugar mixture. Some would also gently stir just before bottling.

One thing to note is that things like inconsistent carbonation are not related to using Mr Beer. If you're not happy with the flavor, that might be a result of the kit(s) you used, and you may prefer other kits or making your own recipes. But if you're having problems like inconsistent carbonation, you need to improve your process. You can make any beer in the LBK that you can in a larger fermenter; you just can't make as much of it (unless you use two LBKs)

 

[skidoo2003]

I have done about 8 batches so far with varying results. Nothing very good yet but mostly drinkable. I haven't made a batch for about 4 months. I decided to start over with a basic lager. I am in a new house, have more room and patience so hopefully will get better results.

One question I have is fermenting temp. I am in Minnesota so have the heat on all day but I bring it down to about 67 at night and during work and 72 when we are home. Is this temp fluctuation too much? Do I just set the thermostat at 72 all day long during fermenting? Or can I wrap in a towel/blanket and put it in a closet to help keep fluctuation down? Is it better to put it in the basement which is about 5 degrees cooler and wrap in blanket?

I'm thinking my fermenting temps were the issue with my previous batches (and odd combinations of hops and added extract. ) so hoping to figure this stage of the process out to take out that variable.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[bpgreen]

I have done about 8 batches so far with varying results. Nothing very good yet but mostly drinkable. I haven't made a batch for about 4 months. I decided to start over with a basic lager. I am in a new house, have more room and patience so hopefully will get better results.

One question I have is fermenting temp. I am in Minnesota so have the heat on all day but I bring it down to about 67 at night and during work and 72 when we are home. Is this temp fluctuation too much? Do I just set the thermostat at 72 all day long during fermenting? Or can I wrap in a towel/blanket and put it in a closet to help keep fluctuation down? Is it better to put it in the basement which is about 5 degrees cooler and wrap in blanket?

I'm thinking my fermenting temps were the issue with my previous batches (and odd combinations of hops and added extract. ) so hoping to figure this stage of the process out to take out that variable.

Thanks in advance!!

Setting the thermostat at 67 is turning it down? Wow. I set mine at 63 during the day and 50 at night. I ferment in the basement, where the temperature tends to stick at just below 60 (not as much temperature fluctuations as the upper floors). I just switch to Nottingham in the winter because it ferments just fine down to at least 57.

Your temperature swings are probably fine. 72 might be a bit on the high side, since fermentation can raise the temp a few degrees. But if you're using a yeast that does okay at those temperatures, you'll be okay. The Mr Beer yeast tends to be pretty forgiving of temperature ranges as well as changes.

Keep in mind that those are the air temperatures and it takes time for liquids to change temperature. Do you have a basement? It's likely that the basement doesn't change as much since it's surrounded by soil.

 

[ericbw]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_sugar_syrup

Ah. I think if you're actually inverting the sugar, you're also boiling off the water, turning it into liquid sugar. Maybe they doesn't mix as well as simply dissolving the sugar?

 

[skidoo2003]

50 degrees at night?!? Wow, you must have a lot of blankets. Haha.
As originally stated I did have a basement.
"Is it better to put it in the basement which is about 5 degrees cooler and wrap in blanket?"

 

[bpgreen]

50 degrees at night?!? Wow, you must have a lot of blankets. Haha.
As originally stated I did have a basement.
"Is it better to put it in the basement which is about 5 degrees cooler and wrap in blanket?"

I had to get up early this morning for a conference call. Either the thermostat doesn't actually let it drop that low or my house doesn't lose heat that fast because it was 57 when I got up (before the daytime program kicked in).

I lose track of earlier posts, so I forgot that you said you had a basement. So the basement is about 5 degrees cooler? Between 62 and 67? During active fermentation, your fermentation temperatures will be a bit higher than that and it's not likely that the liquid will cool down as much as the surrounding air anyway. Personally, I prefer brewing most beers on the cool side (usually below 65 if I can).