The Mr. Beer Hate?

[NGD]

I used to hate the Mr. Beer kits because it was the popular thing to do. Now I think they are “okay” because opinions are changing.

sarcasm aside, I’m always tempted to pick one up because they look like fun. Except for the ones I’ve seen at goodwill. Seriously..how old are those ingredients

 

[MountainHighYeast]

I used to hate the Mr. Beer kits because it was the popular thing to do. Now I think they are “okay” because opinions are changing.

sarcasm aside, I’m always tempted to pick one up because they look like fun. Except for the ones I’ve seen at goodwill. Seriously..how old are those ingredients

I honestly liked it. It was definetly the right thing for me to do just to get started. I cant imagine any of you with experience and proper equipment would bother with it. I kept the fermenter though and still use it for mead.

Yeah seriously those "shelf stable" ingredients... just how?

 

[bracconiere]

As long as it's not been in a can for an unknown amount of years sitting on a shelf somewhere.

when i use year's old brown sugar, i just toss a wet paper towel in the jug for a day to loosen it up..... as far as pre hopped...do they sell a DME version? might be better in my rice bran smoothie then table sugar and vanilla powder?

 

[thefigure5]

We all are in this for the joy of creating our own piece of beer Nirvana!

I coined a term, beervana. "What's your Beervana?" might be a good thread. For me it was a bottle of beer and a pint glass in a cold freezer for 20 minutes.

 

[ILovePils]

Mr. Beer kits got me started in the hobby and I still use it to this day after 6 years. I have wanted to get into AG brewing for years and am recently being able to throw money at the equipment, but having a small 2 gal. kit from Mr. Beer, and having some experience from brewing with some AG homebrewers has given me the knowledge that only using the Mr. Beer kit would not allow. I have amassed several tools, like hydrometers, thermometers, worth chillers, etc. all in hopes of getting to AG, and those tools, along with Mr. Beer kits and AG field trips have fueled creativity.

I wish the instructions on the Mr. Beer kits went more in depth, as some have said, as to the WHY of the processes rather than overgeneralizing everything. I had, for the sake of this conversation, researched brewing beer for a year or so before being gifted a Mr. beer kit, so I was able to understand the WHY of the steps that were being presented. I've also made some really good beer with the provided ingredients from the kits, and when I got legit brewing tools, they helped even more. I usually make a Mr. Beer kit and make sure I'm pitching at proper temps, keep the fermenter in my cool basement and shielded from sunlight, measure OG and FG... but I usually do something to the kits that I think is different. I'll add fruits and jalapenos, hell I made the American Ale kit last month and added cold brew coffee and bottle conditioned for a month. The coffee roaster I gave it to loved it.

You can make good beer with Mr. Beer kits. I think the directions should be more in depth, the ingredients should be better quality, and more equipment is necessary to deliver consistent results. I think I used Safale 05 yeast, for example, for my cherry sour, and I'm about to keg it up and carbonate it, I'll let you know how it goes. It was a Mr. Beer American Light Ale kit to start. You could use the fermenter for AG stuff too, it's great for smaller test batches. I do not like that there isn't an airlock, but that can be easily fixed if you know how to fabricate a seal and a lid for the fermenter. You have to sort of want to learn for Mr. Beer kits to be successful, and I think that anyone who gets into homebrewing will want to do that and really expand from there. Cheers!

 

[mlanoue]

As far as I know their cans of hopped malt extract are made by Coopers, which is generally regarded pretty solid quality--at least as far as hopped kits goes. I'm only on my 2nd Mr Beer kit, and haven't actually tried the first one yet, but having done a few Coopers kits in the past I figured swapping out the yeast would be a really simple and cheap improvement. Adding more hops and some steeping grains will also make a big difference I'm sure. Of course, if you start to put in much more than that you may as well just do a recipe from scratch and save some money.

 

[EarlZ]

Hi All, new here and glad I found this thread. I was gifted a Mr. Beer kit because my wife knew I liked craft beer. I gave a small intro in the introduce yourself forum. I have brewed 4 batches so far with my kit. The last two were OK. I am doing one of their partial mash recopies this time. I have a partial mash IPA up next followed by a October fest. For me, this kit is learning the basics. I have some co-workers and friends that have given me tips and that helped a lot. I also started reading "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing", which is a great book. Lots of good information.

One other thing that is nice about the little brown kegs is it fits into a cooler. That is how I am temperature controlling my beer during fermentation. Eventually, I will upgrade my kit from the LHBS here in Austin. Nice store BTW!

Cheers all!

 

[bracconiere]

I have some co-workers and friends that have given me tips and that helped a lot.

DAMN, when i tell people i brew my own, they look at me like a freak. and ask me what i use co2 to heat up! nice you have friends, HBT is my only friend.

 

[mashpaddled]

The ingredient kits are of questionable age but they are a perfectly fine way to learn the basics of brewing.

 

[bracconiere]

The ingredient kits are of questionable age but they are a perfectly fine way to learn the basics of brewing.

caugh, caugh...so is apple juice just add yeast!

 

[ILovePils]

Hi All, new here and glad I found this thread. I was gifted a Mr. Beer kit because my wife knew I liked craft beer. I gave a small intro in the introduce yourself forum. I have brewed 4 batches so far with my kit. The last two were OK. I am doing one of their partial mash recopies this time. I have a partial mash IPA up next followed by a October fest. For me, this kit is learning the basics. I have some co-workers and friends that have given me tips and that helped a lot. I also started reading "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing", which is a great book. Lots of good information.

One other thing that is nice about the little brown kegs is it fits into a cooler. That is how I am temperature controlling my beer during fermentation. Eventually, I will upgrade my kit from the LHBS here in Austin. Nice store BTW!

Cheers all!

Welcome! That's a great book to get started on. One I JUST picked up, as I just got my first all-grain batch under my belt last Sunday, is Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels.

I brewed an Alaskan Amber clone, but came up short on the OG: 1.051, I'll just roll with it and see how it comes out.

 

[EarlZ]

I love Amber beers. Alaskan Amber is a good one.

 

[New Brew]

As far as I know their cans of hopped malt extract are made by Coopers, which is generally regarded pretty solid quality--at least as far as hopped kits goes. I'm only on my 2nd Mr Beer kit, and haven't actually tried the first one yet, but having done a few Coopers kits in the past I figured swapping out the yeast would be a really simple and cheap improvement. Adding more hops and some steeping grains will also make a big difference I'm sure. Of course, if you start to put in much more than that you may as well just do a recipe from scratch and save some money.

They're not only made by Coopers, they ARE Coopers. If you order stuff from Mr. Beer's website, it bills and ships from "Coopers DIY, LLC".

I started with Mr. Beer, like I suspect many others. A friend started with your typical 5-gal "hobbyist" kit (plastic bucket fermenter). His first beers and my first beers were on par with each other as "recognizably beer, but not great", because the flaws with early brewing attempts are 90% in the process and controlling fermentation/oxidation/sanitation. Not because the ingredients are inadequate or only the "illusion" of beer.