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Just bought my brother in law a kit for christmas but noticed the new kits don't come with bottles so I'm going to give him 6 of my old mr beer plastic bottles I never used. I was thinking of giving him some conditioning tabs as well to make it easier. How many you put in them big bad boys? I was thinking of telling him to put 6 in per bottle. Thoughts?

Also they come with the can of extract of course, but should I give him a bag of booster as well to throw in there for the hell of it?
 
USMCMatt said:
Just bought my brother in law a kit for christmas but noticed the new kits don't come with bottles so I'm going to give him 6 of my old mr beer plastic bottles I never used. I was thinking of giving him some conditioning tabs as well to make it easier. How many you put in them big bad boys? I was thinking of telling him to put 6 in per bottle. Thoughts?

Also they come with the can of extract of course, but should I give him a bag of booster as well to throw in there for the hell of it?

six is too many, booster to the light beer that comes with the kit wouldnt work too well.
 
Just bought my brother in law a kit for christmas but noticed the new kits don't come with bottles so I'm going to give him 6 of my old mr beer plastic bottles I never used. I was thinking of giving him some conditioning tabs as well to make it easier. How many you put in them big bad boys? I was thinking of telling him to put 6 in per bottle. Thoughts?

Also they come with the can of extract of course, but should I give him a bag of booster as well to throw in there for the hell of it?

Matt, if he's a noob and you gave him a Mr Beer kit, he's probably better off just following the instrutions that came with the kit and carbing with table sugar.

Didn't the kit come with booster? Make sure it didnt before you give him an extra bag of booster so he wont be tempted to throw in both bags of booster.

Just my 2 cents
 
Yeah probably, I honestly don't know I assumed that they didn't come with booster anymore. Anyways good advice, I'll just give him the bottles and new valve blah blah blah :) I got beer to bottle ;)
 
The new MB refills don't come with Booster anymore, the HME is larger than the old ones. I think MB is getting away from Booster altogether, their new deluxe refills come with unhopped liquid malt exract instead of booster.
 
Just wanted to let yall know that I stumbled onto the Mr Beer 20629 Brewmaster's Select Home Beer-Making Kit that is listed at $99.99 on mrbeer.com for a pretty fair price of $56.89 before shipping. I know that most people would rather get a nicer setup and brew however if you are thinking about a Mr. Beer might as well get the nicer kit for less. http://homegardenoutdoors.com/produ...-Brewmasters-Select-Home-Beer-Making-Kit.html

Cheers
 
Received a Mr. Beer Kit for Christmas this year excited bout getting started but after reading some of these threads not so excited and more confused.
 
welp got a mr.beer kit for christmas guess i'll brew so much that i have to move to five gallon for more beer and cheaper price. i think the wife wanted to see if i was actually serious about this hobby before going all out lol. welp time to brew. got a question tho can i bottle in 12oz glass bottles and not those dam plastic screw tops?
 
welp got a mr.beer kit for christmas guess i'll brew so much that i have to move to five gallon for more beer and cheaper price. i think the wife wanted to see if i was actually serious about this hobby before going all out lol. welp time to brew. got a question tho can i bottle in 12oz glass bottles and not those dam plastic screw tops?
I bottled my frist two batchs in 12 oz glass
 
IronEagle said:
Received a Mr. Beer Kit for Christmas this year excited bout getting started but after reading some of these threads not so excited and more confused.

Be excited!! I'm a little jealous that I didn't get one this year. I have poured over this thread and mostly I hear it makes pretty good beer as long as you wait longer than it says for each step and you bottle condition your brew. Have fun. Make beer. Drink beer. Then later if you want to upgrade do so and pass your mr beer on to a new future brewer.
 
So I looked around the house found one room that will work great, it is an upstairs bathroom no sunlight, only problem it stays around 60F up there will that be a big problem?
 
Received a Mr. Beer Kit for Christmas this year excited bout getting started but after reading some of these threads not so excited and more confused.

Well, you can be excited. Mr Beer is easy and puts out some decent Beer. I brew Mr Beer and "real" beer. As a matter of fact I have three LBKs brewing Mr Beer and one "real" five gallon fermenter brewing right now. I usually brew about a two Mr Beers to every one real beer. I don't always have the time to brew larger batches and with Mr Beer I can have beer in the fermenter in 20-30 minutes. The key to decent beer with a Mr Beer is let it condition longer than the instructions say, I use 3 weeks in the fermenter, then a minimum of four weeks carb/condition at room temperature.
 
So I looked around the house found one room that will work great, it is an upstairs bathroom no sunlight, only problem it stays around 60F up there will that be a big problem?

60 should be good! I do suggest tossing their yeast in the boil and using something like us-05 or nottingham for american ales. The only Mr Beer batch I did that wasn't good was my first one that fermented at 75 ambient. I became so obsessed with brewing that I switched to 5 gallon all grain batches after my 4th Mr Beer batch, but I still use the lbk for wine and experimental batches. Welcome new brewers!
 
This may be a bit of a silly question, but I a noob, so that makes it okay, right??

I recieved a Mr. Beer kit from my in-laws for christmas this year, after telling them i was looking at getting into the hobby.

I just brewed my first batch yesterday. The kit came with the Classic American Light beer recipe, so that is what I used. I was re-reading through the directions last night and realized I missed a small step... after I added the one gallon of refrigerated water to the keg, the wort, and the remaining gallon(ish) of refrigerated water, I forgot to "mix well" as stated in the directions. Will this create a poor finished product? If so, can I still mix it today, or will that mess it up?

I appreciate your help! Cant wait to get deeper into the hobby!
 
Don't worry about it. IMO you risk more damage to the beer by opening the lid and stirring than letting it go. What's done is done. One thing I've learned in my short time in this hobby is that time cures most (not all) mistakes. I've made the same mistake before and althought the yeast was a little slow getting started, once it got to going it did ok. As far as I can tell there were no adverse effects, might take a little longer to ferment. BTW, do you have a hydrometer? If not I'd recommend you buy one. Just be careful, they like to jump off the table.
 
I am looking to start brewing tonight. It calls for 3qt pot I have 5qt calphalon pot that we use for soup so will this work or do I need to buy a different pot?
 
Don't worry about it. IMO you risk more damage to the beer by opening the lid and stirring than letting it go. What's done is done. One thing I've learned in my short time in this hobby is that time cures most (not all) mistakes. I've made the same mistake before and althought the yeast was a little slow getting started, once it got to going it did ok. As far as I can tell there were no adverse effects, might take a little longer to ferment. BTW, do you have a hydrometer? If not I'd recommend you buy one. Just be careful, they like to jump off the table.

First of all, thanks for the response. I figured I'd be okay, but since I've never brewed before, I thought I'd better ask. I dont have a hydrometer yet. Like I said, I've been looking into the hobby so I know a little about it. However, since the Mr. Beer kit didnt come with one, I didnt think it was absolutely necessary. I plan on upgrading eventually, so I figured I'd get one then. Think I should spring for one now?
 
I have read this entire thread all 426 (as of 3am this morning) and now 427 pages, I got a Mr Beer for Christmas and was excited to get started.
I put my first wort in the LBK at 8am this morning and have fermentation!!!! Now the down side, after reading this thread and 4 chapters of "How to Brew" I found MR Beer akin to make "homemade biscuits" by cracking the tube on the side of the counter. Don't get me wrong I AM MAKING BEER but I don't feel as I of yet I am brewing, I know patience patience patience and sanitize sanitize sanitize .......but damn it I want to cook something! LOL

Darrell ps 5 gal. starter kit ordered at noon today, sould be here in a week! YEA BEER!
 
Thanks I was wondering still debating whether to keep it in the corner of my kitchen counter under the cabinet or up in my dark bathroom upstairs where its about 60F

My advice would be the dark bathroom. Less chance of it getting "lightstruck" and less temptation to mess with the LBK. Waiting can be hard enough without having it right there where you can see it everytime you go in the kitchen.

Try to let the yeast do their thing without hovering over the keg. Tough to do when your new but very important.

Welcome to the obsession:tank:
 
First of all, thanks for the response. I figured I'd be okay, but since I've never brewed before, I thought I'd better ask. I dont have a hydrometer yet. Like I said, I've been looking into the hobby so I know a little about it. However, since the Mr. Beer kit didnt come with one, I didnt think it was absolutely necessary. I plan on upgrading eventually, so I figured I'd get one then. Think I should spring for one now?

You will need a hydrometer eventually, because it's the only way to tell for sure your beer is done and ready to be bottled. That being said, as long as you give this beer enough time in the LBK (I always do 3 weeks), you should be ok without one for this batch.

Welcome to the obsession:mug:
 
Just started my first batch it is American Light that came with kit. I did store it up in the dark bathroom after all.
 
IronEagle said:
I am looking to start brewing tonight. It calls for 3qt pot I have 5qt calphalon pot that we use for soup so will this work or do I need to buy a different pot?

Your pot should work just fine.
 
Another question I don't have a very local brew shop what can substitute for sugar, that I could buy at the grocery? and yeast?
 
First of all, thanks for the response. I figured I'd be okay, but since I've never brewed before, I thought I'd better ask. I dont have a hydrometer yet. Like I said, I've been looking into the hobby so I know a little about it. However, since the Mr. Beer kit didnt come with one, I didnt think it was absolutely necessary. I plan on upgrading eventually, so I figured I'd get one then. Think I should spring for one now?

A hydrometer isn't absolutely necessary. It's a good tool to let you know when fermentation is complete (although I leave my beer in the fermenter for three weeks anyhow). It is also handy for determining the alcohol content of your beer.
 
I was re-reading through the directions last night and realized I missed a small step... after I added the one gallon of refrigerated water to the keg, the wort, and the remaining gallon(ish) of refrigerated water, I forgot to "mix well" as stated in the directions. Will this create a poor finished product? If so, can I still mix it today, or will that mess it up?

There's absolutely no problem at all with not having vigorously stirred the wort and cooling/top off water. Once the vigorous fermentation process gets underway the thicker/thinner layers of the wort get churned around and mixed together and you'll end up with a constant density throughout. The other thing is that, since you're using dried yeast, you can get away with not having infused lots of O2 into the wort because the dried yeast come with the necessary amount of lipids to get through the lag and reproduction phaze. The only, slightly, worrying factor is there's a chance the yeast, that came under the lid of your Mr. Beer HME can, might be a bit old and lacking in vitality. It might be a good idea, in future, to get a reputable dried yeast, Fermentis, and give that a whirl:mug:
 
Awesome, thanks for the responses guys! I really appreciate the help! As of yesterday I had not yet seen any action of fermentation. Hoping by the time I get home from work, its starting to do its magic.
 
My First Batch was fermenting withing 11.5 hrs getting a little anxious to see what it is like after a wk, but gonna let it sit for 2wks though.
 
Now the down side, after reading this thread and 4 chapters of "How to Brew" I found MR Beer akin to make "homemade biscuits" by cracking the tube on the side of the counter. Don't get me wrong I AM MAKING BEER but I don't feel as I of yet I am brewing, I know patience patience patience and sanitize sanitize sanitize .......but damn it I want to cook something! LOL

You ARE brewing. Enjoy it, and enjoy the beer. Good luck!
 
Awesome, thanks for the responses guys! I really appreciate the help! As of yesterday I had not yet seen any action of fermentation. Hoping by the time I get home from work, its starting to do its magic.

Do you have trub in the bottom of the fermenter? If you do the yeast is working. There's not alwaysc a thick layer of Krausen on top.
 
do you guys follow the rule of 4oz of boiled water for the can of extract? thinking about brewing tonight or tommorrow during the snow storm. thanks for the help seems really small but if thats what yall are doin i'll go with it
 
do you guys follow the rule of 4oz of boiled water for the can of extract? thinking about brewing tonight or tommorrow during the snow storm. thanks for the help seems really small but if thats what yall are doin i'll go with it

Yes I use a bowl and use hot water and place the can in it during the process, seems to really help.
 
My wife got me the Mr Beer kit for Christmas this year with "High Country Canadian Ale" included with it. I cooked up my first batch today and have it fermenting now. I don't think I have ever tried a beer similar to this, so I am curious to see how it turns out. What beer would be in this category? My favorites are red ales and stouts, so I ordered some refills from those categories. If everything goes well, I hope to upgrade to a better kit soon.
I have the exact same set up and brewed mine tonight as well. Good luck to you, im sure it'll taste great.
 
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