Mr. Beer.......?

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meuret1

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I have attempted to brew a decent beer with the Mr. Brew set. I am upgrading to a 5 gallon system with the glass carboy and all the proper equipment. I bought a mix for an IPA and was wondering if its even worth attempting because I have not had a good beer yet. Any suggestions?

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Add 8oz DME to it and do a hop addition (flameout and/or dry hop). Use Danstar or Fermentis dry yeast instead of the MB yeast. Pitch and ferment around 64-65*F (beer temp, not air). You can turn that kit into a pretty decent beer.
 
Yeah, don't assume that because you make crappy beer with crappy kits that you're cursed. Take care of your yeast health (make a starter) and temperatures (water bath or temp controlled space) and you can make damn good beer.
 
In the beginning, many of my Mr. Beer kits tasted like schist (for a number of different reasons). They were eventually bought by Coopers of Australia and I heard their kits got better. I have had some decent Mr. Beer kits from a fellow brewer. Once you brew a better kit (AHS/Northern Brewer/Midwest, et al), you'll see the light.
 
What do people do with the mr. Beer keg thing afterward. Saw a brand new mr.beer setup at a thriftstore for 6 bucks and was tempted. Only thing i could see using it for would be making starters. My wife gave me the evil eye and said i needed it about as much as i needed another hobby!
I so wanted to say the same about her purse she was looking at!:eek:
 
I could see using the Mr Beer fermenters for test batches, should be about perfect size for trial runs.
 
I started with the Mr Beer kits and brewed three of them before moving on to designing my own recipes, extract and then all-grain. The first kit was crap. I then brewed their Irish Stout and Porter, having read up on proper temperature control through fermentation and they came out OK. The kits themselves are not bad, but by the time most people move beyond the Mr Beer thing, they have become more aware of the importance of steps such as temperature control during fermentation and boiling the wort. The little keg fermentor does come in handy when I've run out of carboys.

I agree with the thoughts above about supplementing the kit with some DME and adding some flavor and aroma hops.
 
I tried Mr. Beer and the Beer Machine, and never was able to make a decent beer with their kits.

I'd suggest buying a quality kit from a homebrew store that has grains, hops, and fresh yeast and easy to follow directions, and make that type of kit. It makes a HUGE difference in the final flavor of the beer.

I think of Mr. Beer like Campbell's soup. Not terrible, but not good either. A better kit with a boil and hops and some grain is more like a homemade soup with fresher and richer flavor and just a better quality.

Many people are satisfied with Mr. Beer- I have a friend who likes it a lot. But for those who aren't, and want something more like a commercial beer, a quality kit makes the difference.

For a 5 gallon batch, a 5 gallon carboy is a bit too small though as the beer will get some foam on top (called krausen) that can overflow out the top of the carboy if the carboy is nearly full. I"d suggest getting an "ale pail" bucket for 5 gallon batches to avoid blow-offs.
 
I still use the mr beer fermenter. I have two. Makes 2 cases of beer. I still use partial grain kits. Advantage of mr beer fermenters is space and yeast dumps into a bottom holder. No racking needed. Just my two cents.


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After you've moved on from Mr. Beer, the little kegs are good for experimental brews. It should make only 1 case of beer, 2.25 Gals = 288 oz./12 oz. = 24. Math aside, I rather have a smaller amount to drink if the experiment goes bad.
 
I started with The Beer Machine...great starter kit. I made a couple of OK brews with it. However, hindsight being 20/20, I'd definately recommend stepping up to an extract kit though if you really want a decent brew for a starting point. Like others have said, perhaps a Coopers kit or something your LHBS put together. Before you know it, you'll be hooked and doing AG! hehe
 
I use my LBK almost constantly. It always has a cider or small test batch of beer, more recently cyser and mead.
 
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