Bartz_Brew
Member
HA! My 2 year old was climbing on me as I typed the reply!
I know a lot of people use their Mr. Beers to brew {apfelwein}
can anyone give me the recipe scaled down to Mr. Beer size? /quote]
You can cut a 5 gallon recipe basically in half to brew it in Mr. Beer. It's really 2.4 gallons if you fill it up all the way, but that's close enough. You might worry about kreusen and blow-off, but if you modify your Mr. Beer to accept a blow-off tube, or if you use Fermcap-S, then that's not a problem.
Also, is there any difficulty in bottling the Apfelwein?
No. Bottling wine is easier than bottling beer because there is no bottling sugar. Other than that, it's the same.
Can it be served straight from the Mr. Beer or is that a terrible idea?
Some people take wine straight from a demijohn to a carafe, but as I said before, I don't think Mr. Beer is a good fermentation vessel for wine-like fermented beverages.
To sum up: Mr. Beer is fine for making cider (beer-strength fermented apple beverage), but a poor choice for apfelwein. There is a decent forum here on fermenting cider, and I'm sure they could recommend some nice 2.4 gallon recipes to you.
Enjoy!
Not that much taste (the wife says it has too much alcohol taste - what a surprise that I didn't notice that). So my question is: when brewing something closer to a big beer w/ DME, booster and possibly some other sugar derivatives that can increase ABV should I be fermenting or conditining longer?
i've had excellent success with my MrB keg and "big" beers. from what i have been able to glean from hours on this forum is that time and patience are the key to making the best product from your ingredients.
all of my beers have been above 6% (not "big" by any means) and i keep each one in primary (aka the MrB keg) for a MINIMUM of THREE WEEKS followed by conditioning in bottles for another MINIMUM of THREE WEEKS before i even think about drinking one, it's bloody difficult as a n00b (as i'm sure you are beginning to be, if not already, aware of). i find that time can heal most wounds - off flavors, etc.
BUT - i also know that the booster thins out the taste of your brew, which isn't something that will go away with time. a beer made with adjunct sugars will almost always taste lighter, despite the higher abv the sugar contributes. so if you are experiencing 'cidery' or watery tastes with your brew, it could be attributed to the booster and won't go away with time. just use dme in place of booster/sugars and you won't have that problem.
so my advice is use a minimum of a 3weeks primary-3weeks bottle before trying any and if the taste doesn't dissipate to your liking, then try replacing booster/sugar with malt extract.
happy brewing!!
I'll leave them in the fermenter for 2-3 weeks, then leave them in the bottle for 3-4 months (not a typo, I give them months at room temp) before sticking them in the fridge for a week (3 days will chill the beer, but 5-7 days definitely improves the beer).
booster thins out the taste of your brew, which isn't something that will go away with time. a beer made with adjunct sugars will almost always taste lighter, despite the higher abv the sugar contributes. so if you are experiencing 'cidery' or watery tastes with your brew, it could be attributed to the booster and won't go away with time.
just use dme in place of booster/sugars and you won't have that problem.
Warm storage is not good for beer. It's not necessarily bad, but it's not as good as cold storage. Once the bottle is carbed, it can go in the fridge (or cool basement) for as long as necessary.
Cooler is better, when it comes to storage.
(Caveat: be sure that carbonation is complete.)
Again, I see no benefit in room-temperature bulk aging versus simply bottling or kegging when the beer finishes fermenting and clarifies. The sooner you bottle, the sooner you can drink it, with no down sides as far as I can see.
But in the long run, I do think that CO2 layer will be dissipated simply because there is nothing other than the weight of the gas to prevent air from intruding and degrading that protection.
I think you can get yeast bite in as little as a month, but that would probably only happen at VERY warm temperatures in that amount of time. We're on the Gulf Coast where we have already hit 100°F once and 105°F twice in the last week. That's hot even for us, so we're a little extra cautious about that sort of thing. If clarity is the reason for leaving the beer so long, you will find that wine, beer, mead, cider, etc. clarifies noticeably more quickly when not sitting atop a large yeast cake. I'm not sure why this is, but it definitely is the case. For someone who wishes to only bottle extra clear beer, I would recommend you primary ferment in a 4 - 5 gallon pail or carboy for 3 - 6 days and then rack into a 3 gallon carboy for a secondary (three gallon batches). You can add a little gelatin when you rack to really drop out the yeast. Heck, with gelatin in there, you'll have a brilliantly clear beer within a week or so.
I really don't have a reason for any of those. Hops are something I love but I really don't understand as well as I should. I know that long boil and higher AA will yield more IBUs and that wort gravity affects utilization but that is really about it. I don't know the difference between the flavors of the different varieties or how really control the flavor outcomes.
I am a bit of a noob (6 months) and just obsessed...
What would be the benefits/drawbacks of these changes?
One thing to add is that a lot of responses should have the word "I" bolded because it comes down to personal preference. While it's true that hop TIMES have guidelines/rules about the length and what you get from the hops (aroma/flavor/bitterness), the amount of hops and style of hops that you use come down to what I call 'brewers choice'.
What I see a lot of on the boards that I participate in is a recipe being posted and then a lot of people jumping in with "I'd use X instead of X" which can lead to a lot of confusion for new brewers thinking that certain hops don't work in certain situations. They don't get the nuances of where the responder is coming from which could be personal hop preference, trying to stay within a style guideline or a recommendation based on fact like hop boil times.
I'm not responding to anybody's individual post here, just a general observation that we should all keep in mind when responding to new brewers about hop additions. The more detail you can give on WHY you're giving the advice, the more the new brewer will learn.
sigeprudy1901 - One thing you can try is a SmaSh recipe (single malt and single hop) to see what you like. Brew the same thing a number of times and swap out the hops each time so it is a single variable being changed and it will help you decide what you like from each hops.
Good luck.
theDregs said:I have a Mr. Beer dilemma. I just got one for father's day. I am not complaining, I wanted one. BUT, ups or somebody screwed up. My 'booster" was broken open in transit and powdered every thing else in the box. The sanitizer that was supposed to be included with the kit is nowhere to be seen. Worst of all, there is really only one kind of beer my wife and I don't really dig. IPA. Guess what came in the box? Yup! West coast pale ale!
So, I guess I need to buy some sanitizer. That'll be cheap, I suppose. I was thinking of replacing the booster with some malt extract anyway, I'll consider that little decision made for me by the good folks at ups.
Is there any way to cut the hoppiness of the West coast pale al so that I can salvage something from the kit besides the fermenter? Not that I am too upset, the ferment is cool.
I have a Mr. Beer dilemma. I just got one for father's day. I am not complaining, I wanted one. BUT, ups or somebody screwed up. My 'booster" was broken open in transit and powdered every thing else in the box. The sanitizer that was supposed to be included with the kit is nowhere to be seen. Worst of all, there is really only one kind of beer my wife and I don't really dig. IPA. Guess what came in the box? Yup! West coast pale ale!
OH! I figured it was an IPA because I thought the West Coast was all about making IPA's.
I have a Mr. Beer dilemma. I just got one for father's day. I am not complaining, I wanted one. BUT, ups or somebody screwed up. My 'booster" was broken open in transit and powdered every thing else in the box. The sanitizer that was supposed to be included with the kit is nowhere to be seen. Worst of all, there is really only one kind of beer my wife and I don't really dig. IPA. Guess what came in the box? Yup! West coast pale ale!
So, I guess I need to buy some sanitizer. That'l be cheap, I suppose. I was thinking of replacing the booster with some malt extract anyway, I'll consider that little decision made for me by the good folks at ups.
Is there any way to cut the hoppiness of the West coast pale ale so that I can salvage something from the kit besides the fermenter? Not that I am too upset, the fermenter is cool.
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