Mr Beer - Read all about it and ask questions

[Bigarcherynut]

Well I checked my Bewitched Amber Ale again after 2-1/2 weeks and most all of the small bubbles are gone from the top and I took the top off the LBK and it looks like everything that is floating on top is yeast and a lot of it. Is it normal for that much to stay on top? What can I do to get it to fall or is it still fermenting? Didn't have this on my other batches.

 

[skitter]

You sure its yeast and not Co2? Bewitched Amber took 2 weeks and then 3 bottled

 

[brewski09]

Take some pics and post them for us please.


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[Bigarcherynut]

Here is a picture. Not the best but hope it tells you something. The black circle shows what I think is yeast. The other is the same it looks more orange becuase of the light coming through the LBK. It's a light tan color. I did start a cold crah and over 50% has dropped out. The yeast supplied was a different type from my other Mr. Beer refills. Can't remember the name on the package but was gold compared to the silver packets supplied with the other refills.

I did take a gravity reading and it was 1.010 compared to a starting OG of 1.064. Figured the fermentation was complete so that's why I cold crashed it.

Tasted my sample and it tastes fine. Just haven't experienced the floating stuff before. Most everything has dropped out by the end of the second week.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for your input.

 

[skitter]

I've seen stuff like that before and bottled with no harm, I bottle condition for 3 weeks though not 2 before putting them in the fridge

 

[brewski09]

Looks like a low floc type of yeast. I think the coopers gold yeast is a low floc English ale strain. Not the best but works fine. I get a little of that sometimes on my batches too and it's just yeast particles. Cold crashing helps. The bubbles are just co2 releasing from suspension and nothing to be worried about. If you rack to secondary more of that junk will come out of suspension.

 

[BigFloyd]

Here is a picture. Not the best but hope it tells you something. The black circle shows what I think is yeast. The other is the same it looks more orange becuase of the light coming through the LBK. It's a light tan color. I did start a cold crah and over 50% has dropped out. The yeast supplied was a different type from my other Mr. Beer refills. Can't remember the name on the package but was gold compared to the silver packets supplied with the other refills.

I did take a gravity reading and it was 1.010 compared to a starting OG of 1.064. Figured the fermentation was complete so that's why I cold crashed it.

Tasted my sample and it tastes fine. Just haven't experienced the floating stuff before. Most everything has dropped out by the end of the second week.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for your input.

You should be fine. You can sometimes get little stubborn yeast floaties no matter what you do. Most of them probably won't make it to the bottling bucket

I never use a secondary except for long-term aging or adding fruit (which is rare for me). Cold crashing the primary for 5-7 days in the mid-30's does a great job producing clear beer, yet leaves enough yeast to bottle carb.

 

[Bigarcherynut]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Feel a lot better about bottling now. I'll give it a few days in the cold crash then bottle.

Have a good one.

 

[brewski09]

You should be fine. You can sometimes get little stubborn yeast floaties no matter what you do. Most of them probably won't make it to the bottling bucket

I never use a secondary except for long-term aging or adding fruit (which is rare for me). Cold crashing the primary for 5-7 days in the mid-30's does a great job producing clear beer, yet leaves enough yeast to bottle carb.

What we have here is a difference in process. I secondary and advocate for it to clear a beer up. However, I've had great, clear beers without secondary adding too. I also don't feel out having my beer on the yeast for a month. No of flavors from autolysis here.

 

[SulBruin3]

I brewed a blond ale on jan 26 fermented 3 weeks and has been in bottles carbing since Feb 16. I have good carbonation but still has sweetness to them. Bottle primed about 1/2 teaspoon for each. Should i uncap and add more yeast to finish up priming or just wait it out??

 

[bpgreen]

I brewed a blond ale on jan 26 fermented 3 weeks and has been in bottles carbing since Feb 16. I have good carbonation but still has sweetness to them. Bottle primed about 1/2 teaspoon for each. Should i uncap and add more yeast to finish up priming or just wait it out??

It doesn't need yeast. The fact that it has good carbonation shows you that there was enough yeast to turn the remaining fermentable sugar into CO2 (and a little alcohol). Residual sweetness in a beer is due to unfermentable sugars. It's possible that the blonde ale doesn't have as many hops to offset the sweetness. You may just prefer hoppier beers.

 

[bzwyatt]

Yeah +1 t I bpgren.

Sounds like it is just the way the recipe was designed to be.

 

[brewski09]

+1 on the yeast being good. What yeast did you use? What were your starting and finishing gravities? It may be a lower attenuating yeast too.


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[skitter]

Sounds like the yeast was good, next time possibly pick a recipe that isn't finish so sweet. Some recipes have added un-ferment-able sugars

 

[skidoo2003]

Can you have a yeast that stalls out and may look like it's finished by FG readings, but still hasn't completed its process? Is this the reason to look at attenuation of the yeast to determine if the yeast did its job? Wondering if yeast that comes with mr beer kit yeast stalls out and can give the sweet taste and lower abv.

What is the best temp for the mr beer yeast?

Is it ok good/bad practice to ferment at a lower temp for 2 weeks, then bring up the temp a few degrees (3-5) for a week? Or shouldn't really matter?


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[brewski09]

Can you have a yeast that stalls out and may look like it's finished by FG readings, but still hasn't completed its process? Is this the reason to look at attenuation of the yeast to determine if the yeast did its job? Wondering if yeast that comes with mr beer kit yeast stalls out and can give the sweet taste and lower abv.

What is the best temp for the mr beer yeast?

Is it ok good/bad practice to ferment at a lower temp for 2 weeks, then bring up the temp a few degrees (3-5) for a week? Or shouldn't really matter?


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I wouldn't quite say it stalled out if it finished a little sweet. I would just call that under attenuated. That is possible if the east isn't healthy or there isn't enough nutrient or oxygenation was poor. Sometimes it just under attenuates. There is variability with the same east strain. If it's an all grain recipe it could be a mash temp or starch conversion thing too, but that's not an issue with me beer kits. The best temp to ferment the yeast in the me beer kits is to toss it in the trash and replace it with good yeast. If you do use it, I would to. It at about 64-66 for 3 days, then bring it up to 68 for maybe 2 days until the activity I high Krausen dissipates, then 70, maybe 71. For a day or two, then chill it down. This is a little advanced of a temp schedule and may be hard to do, but is a good target. Look up Coopers Gold Ale Yeast for info about this east strain as it should be what thy are supplying nowadays. The temps ogives are with a fish tank style LCD thermometer strip placed low on the mr beer keg itself. I hope that helps a little.



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[BigFloyd]

Can you have a yeast that stalls out and may look like it's finished by FG readings, but still hasn't completed its process? Is this the reason to look at attenuation of the yeast to determine if the yeast did its job? Wondering if yeast that comes with mr beer kit yeast stalls out and can give the sweet taste and lower abv.

What is the best temp for the mr beer yeast?

Is it ok good/bad practice to ferment at a lower temp for 2 weeks, then bring up the temp a few degrees (3-5) for a week? Or shouldn't really matter?


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If the beer reaches a stable FG close to what was expected, it hasn't stalled out even if the beer has some residual sweetness. This could be from the recipe, the way the extract was made (mash temp) and the variety of yeast used (some have a higher avg % attenuation than others).

The best ferment temp profile for a clean result using the MB yeast is similar to many other ale yeasts (like S-04, US-05, WLP001, Windsor, etc.). Using the beer temp (not air temp), pitch into 60-62*F wort, keep it in the 63-64*F range for the first 4-6 days until the krausen falls then step it up to around 68-70*F until finished.

 

[Randolf]

Hey All, anyone here know why Mr. Beer took Patriot Lager off their product line? All the recipes using that hme are now posted as out of stock. I messaged Mr. Beer and their answer was,"Long Story,will have a replacement in 2-3 months". I asked this same question on other forums and wondered what the thoughts were here.

 

[skitter]

Damn, every time I made that I added Carapils + 1lb DME and everybody loved it. Guess Ill have to find an AG alternative

 

[brewski09]

Mostly American 2-row, 10% Munich 10L, some 20-40L crystal/caramel malts (5% to start?). That should get you close and then you can tweak it from there. Hops are now open game instead of premade. I suggest looking up a clone for Sam Adams lager or yeungling lager if you want to make something more precise.


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[bpgreen]

The best temp to ferment the yeast in the me beer kits is to toss it in the trash and replace it with good yeast.

The old (pre Cooper's buyout) Mr Beer yeast was a good yeast, but the problem with it was that the package was too small. The newer kits have larger yeast packets, so that's no longer the problem it once was. I don't know what yeast they use, but I would suspect it's the normal Cooper's ale yeast.

 

[ericbw]

The old (pre Cooper's buyout) Mr Beer yeast was a good yeast, but the problem with it was that the package was too small. The newer kits have larger yeast packets, so that's no longer the problem it once was. I don't know what yeast they use, but I would suspect it's the normal Cooper's ale yeast.

I had decent results from Coopers, but there was always a slightly sour taste. I assumed it was from the yeast, so I stopped using it. I now realize that it was probably from adding extract early, and who knows what other mistakes in the process. I should try it again, since it's so much cheaper.

 

[johnflanagin]

Hi,

I was planning to double up my Mr. Beer recipe. Do I pitch both the yeasts?


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[bpgreen]

Hi,

I was planning to double up my Mr. Beer recipe. Do I pitch both the yeasts?


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Yes.

 

[brewski09]

I had decent results from Coopers, but there was always a slightly sour taste. I assumed it was from the yeast, so I stopped using it. I now realize that it was probably from adding extract early, and who knows what other mistakes in the process. I should try it again, since it's so much cheaper.

I don't think adding the extract early will cause a sour taste. A more bitter taste with the Mr beer extract being hoped but not sour. I use unhoped extract for full boils with no sourness. I would attribute sour to acetyldehyde personally in most cases, which would actually be a yeast issue on some level.

 

[jimmyjjohn]

I got started with Mr. Beer, but moved to all-grain brewing within 6 months.

 

[skitter]

I got started with Mr. Beer, but moved to all-grain brewing within 6 months.

Likewise, still using the kegs though

 

[ericbw]

I don't think adding the extract early will cause a sour taste. A more bitter taste with the Mr beer extract being hoped but not sour. I use unhoped extract for full boils with no sourness. I would attribute sour to acetyldehyde personally in most cases, which would actually be a yeast issue on some level.

Interesting.

I was using DME and grains. Not hopped extract. Maybe sour is the wrong word. For sure there were some green flavors from not aging long enough. But also something nastier.

I had great but bland results from Mr Beer's nut brown.

Then I did an extract and grains Red that had that almost good taste. After a while I went back to that recipe with all grain and it's a hit.

So I attribute the improvements mostly to process.

 

[brewski09]

Interesting.

I was using DME and grains. Not hopped extract. Maybe sour is the wrong word. For sure there were some green flavors from not aging long enough. But also something nastier.

I had great but bland results from Mr Beer's nut brown.

Then I did an extract and grains Red that had that almost good taste. After a while I went back to that recipe with all grain and it's a hit.

So I attribute the improvements mostly to process.

I would suspect process, most likely not enough yeast or nutrient, but of course can't say for sure without trying it. I say that because that's what my issue was when i went back and tried some older beers i had saved. I add the yeast energizer from LD Carlson to everything now and am quite happy with the impact it's has on all my beers, meads, and fruit wines. Any nutrient will work though. Theoretically the grains or extract has enough of everything, but I do think it makes a difference. If you want access to some great recipes, I would pick up Jamil Zainasheff's book. All of the recipes in there have medaled in competitions and aren't that hard to follow from what I've seen. I also try to find clone recipes of my favorite beers. You learn a lot that way too.

 

[skitter]

I have a bag of yeast nutrient someplace, haven't used it in forever though, probably should on my high gravity beers...