Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

[7Enigma]

A bottle of rubbing alcohol also is a great thing to keep around. It's basically no-rinse because it will evaporate very quickly and should help to santize many different surfaces (and important pieces in a pinch).

 

[Revvy]

A bottle of rubbing alcohol also is a great thing to keep around. It's basically no-rinse because it will evaporate very quickly and should help to santize many different surfaces (and important pieces in a pinch).

I've always been a little leary about using isopropyl alcohol around stuff that's being ingested. I'm sure in small amounts it would be ok, but I wouldn't personally sanitize my bottles or anything like that with them. I've used it around the lips of flasks, or bottles I'm harvesting yeast from, in a pinch, but I keep a spray bottle of iodophor handy for most surfaces and stuff (including my hands.)

Safety

Isopropyl alcohol is oxidized by the liver into acetone. Symptoms of isopropyl alcohol poisoning include flushing, headache, dizziness, CNS depression, nausea, vomiting, anesthesia, and coma. Use in well-ventilated areas and use protective gloves while using. Poisoning can occur from ingestion, inhalation, or absorption.

Long term application to the skin can cause defatting.

Maybe some vodka or other consumable alchohol would be better.

 

[kornbread]

Good idea...but you must sanitize the spigot before you use it to drain out the beer....If it sits in water for a week, lord knows what could happen (next time sanitize the spigot, a small plastic baggie, and a couple of rubberbands. Before you put it in the water bath wrap the spigot in the baggie and seal with the rubberbands....then when you're ready, carefully dry off the baggie and remove it...(I'd still probably re sanitize the spigot after anyway.)

Getting some iodophor or starsan (the best 2 no-rinse sanitizers), a spray bottle and some distilled water is a good thing for any brewer to have.

After you remove the fermenter from the bath, dry it off thoroughly then spray it all over with sanitizer...pay particular attention to the inside front of the spigot-the part that sat in the water.

Update: I didn't actually use a water bath. I just set the mr. beer keg into a cooler and placed a frozen 2 Liter water bottle next to it.

I've been keeping the lid closed and the temp inside the cooler is about 59 Deg. I hope I didn't wait too late.

As for sanitizing the spout... When I bottled my 1st batch, I soaked a paper towel in my sanitizing solution and stuffed it up into the spout and then let it dry before draining. I hadn't been in any kind of water bath and I ran some sanitizer through it before I put the wort in but I just wanted to be on the safe side. Sound ok?

 

[7Enigma]

I've always been a little leary about using isopropyl alcohol around stuff that's being ingested. I'm sure in small amounts it would be ok, but I wouldn't personally sanitize my bottles or anything like that with them. I've used it around the lips of flasks, or bottles I'm harvesting yeast from, in a pinch, but I keep a spray bottle of iodophor handy for most surfaces and stuff (including my hands.)



Maybe some vodka or other consumable alchohol would be better.

I use it for anything small that will touch the beer or in a pinch when needed. Things like the tip of my siphon hose, the mouth of the fermenter, etc. I'm not dousing, and normally use a clean cloth to wipe the excess off. I wear gloves when brewing.

 

[mmc]

It's really really hard to ruin beer...and blowoffs happen all the time...If the beer has flavor and doesn't make you hurl, then it's not ruined, it's just under carbed still.

Ifyou've chilled all of them, then you've pretty much locked them into their carbonation level, for the most part, since you've cold crashed the yeast.

The Cranberry my be becasue it is fruit and needs longer to bottle condition...I don't know what's in the Jamaican, but if it's a "heavier" beer it may need longer as well....If you haven't chilled all of them, then I lay the bottles on their side and roll them back and forth to re-rouse the yeast and shove them back in a warm place for a few more weeks, this should kick up fermentation again to kick up the carbonation....

More flat beer! I've got two more batches in bottles since my previous two 'flat' batches. I primed these the same way: batch prime with 1/3 cup corn sugar. I fermented for 3 weeks and they have been in the bottle for 4 weeks. I refrigerated one beer (American Devil IPA) for a couple days and tried it last night. No head at all and only a little carbonation. Bottles are hard. Am I not using enough sugar for priming or could it be something else? The first few batches I made, I primed directly in the bottle with regular table sugar and they carbonated fine. I've only had this problem since I started batch priming. Can I take the tops off and add more sugar at this point? I need to figure out what the problem is as I've got two more batches ready to bottle. I'm thinking about priming directly in the bottle again. Maybe one batch with corn sugar and the other with table sugar. If there's anything you can suggest to help make my current bottled batches better, I'd appreciate it. I'm starting to get frustrated after 4 dismal batches. One thing I did last night is to lightly shake up all the bottles.

Thanks

 

[7Enigma]

That sounds like a bit less than I use (AHS kits I think use at least 1/2 cup), but this is the question that will tell the story; when you crack the bottle do you get a hiss (not just from one bottle but all the ones you've opened so far)? It doesn't matter if the beer is not carbonated, you need to know if there is CO2 production. So when you crack it, if you don't get a hiss my first thought would be potentially dead yeast from say chlorine bleach. What is your sanitizer?

Other thoughts would be improper mixing of the priming sugar. Normally I gently mix the beer once in the bottling bucket to be sure the sugar is evenly mixed, otherwise you'll get some bombs and some duds.

But if I had to put $5 on the cause I'd say too little priming sugar.

 

[Revvy]

That sounds like a bit less than I use (AHS kits I think use at least 1/2 cup), but this is the question that will tell the story; when you crack the bottle do you get a hiss (not just from one bottle but all the ones you've opened so far)? It doesn't matter if the beer is not carbonated, you need to know if there is CO2 production. So when you crack it, if you don't get a hiss my first thought would be potentially dead yeast from say chlorine bleach. What is your sanitizer?

Other thoughts would be improper mixing of the priming sugar. Normally I gently mix the beer once in the bottling bucket to be sure the sugar is evenly mixed, otherwise you'll get some bombs and some duds.

But if I had to put $5 on the cause I'd say too little priming sugar.

Remember, a mr beer batch is between 2 and 2.5 gallons, so it would be half the amount of an AHS 5 gallon kit....Everything I can find says 1/3 cups is correct for Mr beer Batches.

mmc, could you break down your bottling procedure, step by step? Especially explain how you are mixing the sugar...it might help us figure it out...

The one thing I did notice is that those 22 ounce pet bottles took a lot longer than 3 weeks for mine to fully carb, more like 5-6...

But break down your process for us.

 

[7Enigma]

Whoops, forgot what forum this was under. So yeah sounds like you had the right amount of sugar. But it's the hiss noise I'm interested in mmc commenting on. While it may take a long time to carb the beer (CO2 dissolved in the beer), the yeast should consume the sugar in a week or two so at least there should be a nice hiss when opened.

 

[mmc]

Whoops, forgot what forum this was under. So yeah sounds like you had the right amount of sugar. But it's the hiss noise I'm interested in mmc commenting on. While it may take a long time to carb the beer (CO2 dissolved in the beer), the yeast should consume the sugar in a week or two so at least there should be a nice hiss when opened.

Only a very slight hiss when opening a bottle. The first few batches I ever made had a good hiss and were carbed very well. These were primed individually in the bottle with regular table sugar. And I only let them carb for two weeks. Anyway I thought I would improve my beer by batch priming. Here's what I do: mix 1/3 cup corn sugar with 3/4 cup water. Boil this mixture and pour into a 2 gallon water jug I bought at Wal-Mart. I then attach a piece of hose to my Mr. Beer fermenter and rake the beer into the water jug. The other end of the hose is at the bottom of the water jug so it doesn't splash at all. I don't stir the beer at all in the water jug. I assumed it mixed well enough on its own. Then I bottle straight from the spigot of the water jug. I've been using 16 ounce PET bottles (used Pepsi bottles). I usually put the bottles in a closet for several weeks. They do get hard. I use the one-step sanitizer that comes with the Mr. Beer kits. I think I came up with the 1/3 cup sugar based on the measurements recommended in the Mr. Beer book. It says 1 teaspoon for a 16 oz bottle which comes out to 1/3 cup for 16 bottles. However, the first few batches that I primed individually in the bottles, I used 1.1/4 teaspoons per bottle. This is almost 1/2 cup for 16 bottles. There are a couple reasons I did this. One is that they recommend 2.1/2 teaspoons for their 1 liter bottles which is 32 ounces so I figured I would use half that amount. The other reason is because the measuring scoop they sent me is made for 1.1/4 teaspoons . I did bottle a batch 10 days ago and used just under 1/2 cup instead of the 1/3 cup. I haven't opened one of them yet as I wanted to let it carb/condition at least another 10 days. Sorry to ramble on so much but I'd like to get this right. It's disappointing to make bad beer after making some pretty decent beer at first. I've also wondered if the used bottles and caps aren't sealing well enough. But I figure if this were the case, the bottles wouldn't be hard. Well thanks for your help.

MMC

 

[Revvy]

Rambling is fine. Just put a few blank lines between the paragraphs, so we can follow.

you got the proper Batch priming procedure going...Except do you cool the priming mixture a bot before you pour it in? Or do you pour the boiling liquid in with the beer?

If you are not cooling it, you may be shocking or killing the yeasties...

 

[mmc]

Rambling is fine. Just put a few blank lines between the paragraphs, so we can follow.

you got the proper Batch priming procedure going...Except do you cool the priming mixture a bot before you pour it in? Or do you pour the boiling liquid in with the beer?

If you are not cooling it, you may be shocking or killing the yeasties...

I don't pour it in the bottling bucket while it is boiling hot. I let it cool off for about 5 minutes or so first.

 

[Revvy]

I don't pour it in the bottling bucket while it is boiling hot. I let it cool off for about 5 minutes or so first.

I dunno...Have you done the "roll the bottles to agitate the yeast" trick?

Waitaminute....you're using used pepsi bottles? Have you replaced the bottle tops or are you re-using them too? I'm just wondering if it's the seals on the bottles....I know that the 22 ounce mr beer bottles say you can reuse the tops But I'm wondering if the tops/seals on the pepsi bottles aren't re-usable...

 

[mmc]

I dunno...Have you done the "roll the bottles to agitate the yeast" trick?

Waitaminute....you're using used pepsi bottles? Have you replaced the bottle tops or are you re-using them too? I'm just wondering if it's the seals on the bottles....I know that the 22 ounce mr beer bottles say you can reuse the tops But I'm wondering if the tops/seals on the pepsi bottles aren't re-usable...

I thought about that. The batch I bottled 10 days ago, I used all new tops. But I also used more priming sugar. So if it carbonates, I won't know if it was the tops or the additional sugar!

What do you think about opening a few of the bottles that have been carbonating/conditioning for 4 weeks now and adding a little more sugar? I've already 'agitated' them again a few days ago.

 

[Antifreze]

Well my cranberry maibock turned out very well for a fruit beer, even with it exploding. Next on the list is the defibrillator dopplebock. The list goes like this:

RECIPE INCLUDES:
1 Can Linebacker Bock
1 Can Creamy Brown UME
1 Pouch Booster™
1 Packet Dry Brewing Yeast (under lid of beer mix)
1 Packet One-Step™ Sanitizing Cleanser

YOU PR0VIDE:
1 Cup Honey

---------

Now, I've heard that the booster pack is garbage. What, and how much, do I substitute in for that to get a better beer?

Oh, and I bought a 12mg pag of dry ale yeast from the bewing store for the maibock. I still have a lot left over in a ziplock bag, can I reuse that? or should I buy new yeast?

 

[shafferpilot]

What do you think about opening a few of the bottles that have been carbonating/conditioning for 4 weeks now and adding a little more sugar? I've already 'agitated' them again a few days ago.

That won't work. When you open them, pressure is released. Also, when you drop in the sugar, they'll foam up like a volcanoe before you can get the lid back on.

 

[JackT]

Hey guys! Im Jack from Baltimore. I started with a Mr Beer kit and moved to the 5 gal Ale Pail kit. I still use the Mr Beer for small test batches / experimentation...

I owe Mr Beer a debt of gratitude...it got me into homebrewing, and I have had so much fun!

 

[kornbread]

My first beer (the one that came with my Mr. Beer kit.) has been in the bottle for about 3 1/2 weeks. I took a few with me on vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC. My brothers and I popped a few open. (I did leave a few at home so I wouldn't drink them all...) They were pretty good. Nice and crisp. My brother described them as "dry". There was almost no head but the beer didn't taste flat at all.

I didn't use all the booster that came with the kit. But I did add some honey. I have no idea what the ABV is. But, after three and a half liters of the stuff I can say for sure that they have got a good amount of alcohol.

Thanks for all the advice,

Kornbread

 

[Revvy]

But, after three and a half liters of the stuff I can say for sure that they have got a good amount of alcohol.

Thanks for all the advice,

Kornbread

Yeeehaw!!! Congrats! Ain't it a great feeling to be drinking your very own beer! It only gets better!

 

[Revvy]

I'm on vacation, and since I have no life I'm finally getting around to working on the article about All Grain brewing with a Mr Beer....

I just mashed in my grain... Here's the first pic.

I'm doing a summer blond ale with lime...

The recipe is...

Late Summer Lime

2.5 gallon batch.

6a-Light Hybrid Beer

Grain
3 pounds 2-row
.5 pounds Crystal 10
.25 Pounds Carapils
.25 Flaked Corn

Hops
.25 oz Perle Hops @ 60 (bittering)
1.00 oz Argentinian Cascade (a sub for saatz or tetnanger) @ 5

Fruit
6 3/4 ounces of Rose's Key Lime Marmalade (dissolved in warm water) @ 10
zest of 2 limes @ Flameout

Yeast
Wyyeast 1338 European Ale Yeast

OG estimate 1.043 (Style Og 1.040-1.055)
FG estimate 1.013
IBU's 18
ABV 4.0 (approx)
4.3 Srm's (golden blonde color)

An unmodified 2 gallon cooler is the mashtun. I put a folding steamer in the bottom to lift the grain above the drain spigot. The I rubberband a large grain bad inside to set the grain in.

Here's the grain...

 

[Revvy]

Well I did it and it is in the fermenter. Everything went well...My OG hit the top of the range for the style!

Here's a few more pics from the brew...

Draining the 2-gallon Cooler/mashtun

Aerating the Wort

Pitching the yeast

In my temp controlled fermentation chamber.

I'm using a t-shirt to wick the water up and around the keg...Last I checked it was in the high 50's...Too bad I didn't use a lager yeast... Hopefully there won't be too much of a lag before the yeasts kick in.

I'll post the article as it is coming along....

BY the way Mr Beerers....This batch cost me around 15 bucks!!! Not counting the yeast which was from my harvested yeast. The grainbill came to just under 10 bucks, the other 5 was hops. What is the going rate for a mr beer ingredient kit, $30?

 

[431brew]

Just finished brewing my new batch(#2)last Wednesday,
Dang it smelt good when I was brewing ! can't wait to try it .
Heres the recipe

1 can Octoberfet Vienna Lager
1 can Mellow Amber UME
1 cup of honey
1/2 tsp. cinnamin (ground)
1/8 tsp. cloves (ground)
and a dash of vanilla exract
looks to be about 5.5% abv.


QUOTE]

Jeffrey, how long until you try it? Sounds good, and I have a can of OVL that I have been trying to figure out how to use. Even thought about trying to trade with someone for a can of West Coast Pale Ale, but this recipe looks good!

 

[FSBrewer]

on the AG brewing, I don't understand the part about rubber-banding the bag. What are you doing exactly? You want to get the grain in the cooler with warm water, right?

 

[kornbread]

My brothers and I are going to a bluegrass festival this coming weekend. ( http://www.waysidepark.com ) My brother called me last night and told me to: "make sure you bring some more of that homebrew."

Pretty cool huh? :fro:

Kornbread

 

[Revvy]

on the AG brewing, I don't understand the part about rubber-banding the bag. What are you doing exactly? You want to get the grain in the cooler with warm water, right?

I'm just keeping the bag from falling inside the cooler, and keeping the bag open so I can stir the mash every now and then with my paddle.

 

[Rezilynt]

I will have to let my ex brother-in-law know about this. His dad has been brewing in a Mr. Beer for the last 8 years. I'm sure he'll want to try it.

 

[FSBrewer]

I'm just keeping the bag from falling inside the cooler, and keeping the bag open so I can stir the mash every now and then with my paddle.

Then at the end of the mash you dump it in so it goes through the strainer and out the spigot?

 

[Revvy]

Then at the end of the mash you dump it in so it goes through the strainer and out the spigot?

No I don't dump it, it flows through naturally when I open the spigot, the bag just acts like a big tea bag...or serves the same purpose as a braid or manifold in a Mashtun...It keeps the grain in the cooler and the wort goes out the spigot...The steamer keeps the grain bag from blocking the openning on the spigot.

 

[FSBrewer]

Forgive me for being slow here, I've never done All Grain, but I'm looking at your photo and I see what looks like a plastic bag in the cooler holding the grain, which wouldn't act as a very good tea bag! So what have I missed here?

 

[Revvy]

Forgive me for being slow here, I've never done All Grain, but I'm looking at your photo and I see what looks like a plastic bag in the cooler holding the grain, which wouldn't act as a very good tea bag! So what have I missed here?

you dump the bag of grain into the grainbag in the cooler....The plastic bag is how I got the grain home from the store...

Here's a picture of the mash in the cooler...if you look you can see the muslin grainbag wrapped over the lip of the cooler. I'm holding a sample of the liquor which I'm going to use to do an iodine test to check for starch to sugar conversion...I really didn't need to do the teat, the sample smeeled just like how malt extract dilluted in hot water smells.

 

[Revvy]

Just an update....After 24 hours the AG brew had a beautiful thick krauzen. The beers been in the fermenter for the last 12 days...Today I made room in my fridge and am cold crashing it overnight to try to get it as clear as possible....either tomorrow or tuesday I will bottle it.

This week I also brewed up 2 other 2.5 gallon batches, using the same procedure...a porter and a blonde...Since the mr beer was occupied I fermented them in 2- 3 gallon water jugs.

 

[FSBrewer]

does this
http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_...& Coolers&psid=FROOGLE&sid=KDx20070926x00003a
look like it would do the job?

 

[Revvy]

does this
http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_...& Coolers&psid=FROOGLE&sid=KDx20070926x00003a
look like it would do the job?

Not only does it look like it could do the job, it is exactly the same one I have, bought at the same place for the same price!

(Great minds think alike.)

I bottled yesterday! Only 3 weeks of waiting to try it out....

 

[BearsWickedBrew]

Thought I'd add my $.02 to the Mr. Beer thread...

Don't underestimate the benefits of bottle conditioning followed up with some solid time spent in the fridge.

I brewed the Mr. Beer Canadian Draft Lager & I didn't put a whole lot of effort into it. It fermented in my closet for probably 4 months without any temp control or anything before I got around to bottling. When I first tasted the beer (after being bottled for a week or two)...it was absolutley terrible, it had so many off-flavors (the taste was similar to the smell of the trub). I felt bad throwing it out, so its been sitting for several weeks...I even threw a bottle or 2 in the fridge that have been sitting in there for about a week or so. I popped one last night and it seemed like somebody had switched my beer....it was completely different from the others that I had tasted in the past...and it was actually pretty good.

 

[mmc]

I dunno...Have you done the "roll the bottles to agitate the yeast" trick?

Waitaminute....you're using used pepsi bottles? Have you replaced the bottle tops or are you re-using them too? I'm just wondering if it's the seals on the bottles....I know that the 22 ounce mr beer bottles say you can reuse the tops But I'm wondering if the tops/seals on the pepsi bottles aren't re-usable...

Update on my flat beer problem: quick answer is the corn sugar I've been using. For more details, read on. After 4 or 5 flat batches, I decided to go back to what worked for the first couple batches I made. Rather than batch priming with corn sugar, I primed each bottle individually. I did half with corn sugar and the other half with regular table sugar. I sampled these a few days ago. The bottle primed with regular table sugar had a good head and was well carbonated. The bottle primed with corn sugar had no head at all and was flat. It didn't taste bad or anything, it was just flat. I bought the corn sugar at the local home brew store. Any idea why it wouldn't carbonate the beer? At least I now know what the problem is. I'm bottling two batches tonight and will be using table sugar!

 

[Revvy]

Update on my flat beer problem: quick answer is the corn sugar I've been using. For more details, read on. After 4 or 5 flat batches, I decided to go back to what worked for the first couple batches I made. Rather than batch priming with corn sugar, I primed each bottle individually. I did half with corn sugar and the other half with regular table sugar. I sampled these a few days ago. The bottle primed with regular table sugar had a good head and was well carbonated. The bottle primed with corn sugar had no head at all and was flat. It didn't taste bad or anything, it was just flat. I bought the corn sugar at the local home brew store. Any idea why it wouldn't carbonate the beer? At least I now know what the problem is. I'm bottling two batches tonight and will be using table sugar!

I really have no clue, most of us use corn sugar all the time, added to the bottling bucket...approx, 4 ounces for 5 gallons, and 2 ounces for a 2.5 gallon mr beer batch...then leave them alone for 3 weeks at 70 degrees. Maybe your corn sugar was "bad" somehow....

 

[shootermcgavin7]

I just purchased a Mr. Beer with a second fermenter.


I followed the first batch pretty much to the letter, to ensure that I understand exactly what the hell I'm doing.


My 2nd batch, I'm going to add 1lb of dried malt to the recipe.

This may sound incredibly idiotic, but the homebrew store 4 miles away has four different kinds of dried malt: light, amber, dark, extra dark.


I'm still using the malt extra syrups that come with the Mr. Beers....am I simply going to have to experiment with the dried malt extracts to see which gives the flavor I want?

 

[Revvy]

I just purchased a Mr. Beer with a second fermenter.


I followed the first batch pretty much to the letter, to ensure that I understand exactly what the hell I'm doing.


My 2nd batch, I'm going to add 1lb of dried malt to the recipe.

This may sound incredibly idiotic, but the homebrew store 4 miles away has four different kinds of dried malt: light, amber, dark, extra dark.


I'm still using the malt extra syrups that come with the Mr. Beers....am I simply going to have to experiment with the dried malt extracts to see which gives the flavor I want?

THe different colors of dry mal correspond to let's say the different crystal malts in extract w/gain or all grain brewing. They obviously contribute a darkness to the beer, but they also contribute flavor...obviously the darker you get the more roasty/chocolate like the flavors become...so obviously it you are making a lighter beer, like a kolsch or blonde ale, you would use the lightest male extract possible (either pilsen, which you didn't mention,) or extralight. And obviously you'd be using dark and extra dark for you brown ales, porters and stouts.

Having said that when I buil an extract with grain recipe I usually always use extralight drymalt extract for my base malt...then I get my color and complex flavors from my steeping grains.

Hope this gives you an idea...

 

[shootermcgavin7]

Having said that when I buil an extract with grain recipe I usually always use extralight drymalt extract for my base malt...then I get my color and complex flavors from my steeping grains.

Hope this gives you an idea...

In my "inexperienced brewer" mindset, I think you said:

"If you don't know what the hell you're doing, use extra-light dry malt on your first go-around."




Point taken.

 

[Yooper]

In my "inexperienced brewer" mindset, I think you said:

"If you don't know what the hell you're doing, use extra-light dry malt on your first go-around."




Point taken.

Well, I think he sorta kinda said that, but not really.

But..............since you already have the recipe all set, and your just using the extract to boost the fermentables (increasing ABV) and give more body, the lightest extract is fine. I use the lightest for every day use. When you have a certain recipe in mind, you may want to use some grain to give color and flavor to your wort, and still use the lightest extract.

 

[Revvy]

In my "inexperienced brewer" mindset, I think you said:

"If you don't know what the hell you're doing, use extra-light dry malt on your first go-around."




Point taken.

No I was saying the XLDME is a very good foundation dry malt to use for anything...It is kinda like chicken, or tofu for vegetarians...It can take a lot of flavors (marinades for chicken and tofu & Steeping grains in the case of DME) without necessarily imparting any flavors of it's own.

And the other shades of extracts correspond to having more and more darker shades of crystal malts added to it, or in the case of the food...you could think of it as having soaked the chicken/tofu in anything from white wine (clear) to soysauce. to extra dark chinese garlic/blackbean sauce....or any combination thereof....