Well I have to say, I'm impressed with my Mr. Beer and it has sparked a desire to brew more. I'm going to do another batch soon and in the Summer, my father is giving me all of his old brewing equipment. He used to make some impressive brews - especially Lagers and Stouts, but stopped a few years ago. Hopefully, he'll share a few of his recipes - he was very much into tweaking recipes.
My kit came with a Cowboy Lager and I tweaked it myself by adding a cup of Tyringham maple syrup to the mix. I was told on another site that maple syrup was a bad idea, (sounded good to me), but I must have dodged a bullet, because the beer is absolutely fantastic...It still needs some time in the fridge to settle some more, (another 2-weeks). It's still in a cooler sitting next to my furnace and it's hitting the fridge next Thursday. I started this on December 25th....
The one thing I have to work out is temperature control, as I live in a circa 1750 farm house on the side of a mountain. I kept the keg wrapped in sleeping bags near my furnace while it fermented and had a remote thermometer in with it. The temperature stayed surprisingly consistent with basement temps at 53-56 degrees and keg temperatures varying in the 67-degree scale. This was below the recommended temps, but infrequent checks of the keg showed activity, so I let it ride.
I may be wrong here, (I'm such a newbie), but I think time was my friend with the less than ideal temperatures. I surpassed the instructions recommendations for time in keg and time conditioning before refrigeration. Again, I started this process Christmas Day and bottled on the 15th of January. I'm letting this stuff ride until next Thursday before I refrigerate.
I had one bottle that I didn't quite fill all the way and I pulled it from the cooler on Monday night and put it in the fridge. It was the last of the keg when I was bottling, so I figured: "what the heck" and made it my sacrificial lamb. Just for the hell of it, I broke it out on Wednesday night and was so relieved to hear the "pshhhhht" sound when I flipped the cap. I poured it slowly into a glass, (the bottom was a tad bit sludgy) and took my first sip....damn! This stuff is good! I mean, really, really good! I must have gotten lucky with the maple syrup, because this beer is tasty...
Looking forward to my next go round and really getting things going with a more elaborate kit when my father makes it down to storage....[cheers]