Mr. Beer homebrew

[Bill Berg]

Has anyone ever tried the Mr. Beer homebrew kt? I thought about buying one
and wanted to know if it is any good. I saw there are a bunch of different
kinds of beer that you can get with it. It looks like a good deal.

[Apocalypse]

Poor quality results.

[Joseph J Schaar]

I would not go there. Find a mail order homebrew supply or a local
homebrew store and get statred correctly.
I started 15 years ago and am currently a professional brew with Dogwood
brewing company in Atlanta.
Start correctly so you get the results that you want.

Good luck.

[Mike Poverud]

Bill,
I bought a Mr. Beer kit about 2 months ago, and have been experimenting
with the different kinds of beer they sell (as concentrate, in those
cans). I've had mixed results. When I followed the directions exactly, I
ended up with very cidery, fizzy beer. It tasted more like Hornsby's
Cider than any beer I've tasted.

Best results so far have been achieved by using less sugar (in the
primary fermentation) and aerating the wort before you "pitch" the
yeast. (Translation from beerese: shake the Hell out of the stuff for
about 10 minutes before you put the yeast in - I guess the yeast needs a
certain amount of oxygen to ferment).

I bought a book called, "Brewing the World's Great Beers" by a guy named
Dave Miller. It gave me some ideas on how to change the Mr. Beer recipes
for the better.

I'm not sure if the kit will ever make great tasting beer, but the stuff
has an impressive alcohol content. My friends who drink primarily for
effect love it. Good luck, I hope this helps.

[dutk...@holmes.ipfw.indiana.edu]

On Mon, 3 Feb 1997, Mike Poverud wrote:

> Bill,
> I bought a Mr. Beer kit about 2 months ago, and have been experimenting
> with the different kinds of beer they sell (as concentrate, in those
> cans). I've had mixed results. When I followed the directions exactly, I
> ended up with very cidery, fizzy beer. It tasted more like Hornsby's
> Cider than any beer I've tasted.
>
> Best results so far have been achieved by using less sugar (in the
> primary fermentation) and aerating the wort before you "pitch" the
> yeast. (Translation from beerese: shake the Hell out of the stuff for
> about 10 minutes before you put the yeast in - I guess the yeast needs a
> certain amount of oxygen to ferment).

I got a Mr. Beer for Christmas. I, too, followed their instructions. I was
pleasantly surprized that the first bottle I opened was pretty good. But
the few bottles afterthat wasn't as good-less carbonated and a slight tart
taste. The last of the bottles were not bad. Perhaps it was the extra
aging time. Some of the inconsistency in my batch (West Coast Pale Ale)
may be due to adding the priming sugar (table) separetly to each bottle.

So, after reading a few books and newsgroups I set up my second
batch(Nut-Brown Ale) differently. I used dry malt extract instead of sugar
in my wort. Also, I shook the cooled wort a little bit before I pitch my
yeast. Then I at bottling time, I added a corn sugar solution to a second
container, then added my fermented wort.

In my first batch I let the bottles sit at room temperature for a week and
then another week in the basement (60 deg). Maybe that wasn't a good idea.
For my second batch I going to leave the bottles sit for 2 weeks at room
temperature. I'll be sampling it this Friday, can't wait.

Energo Ed

[MDani86980]

I got a brewers best kit for xmas. Instead of buying the kit for it I
bought a kit made by EDME "devilishly red". You use the the can of malt
extract syrup already hopped. and added 2 lb of light malt extract powder
and used the yeast
provided with the kit. The place I bought the kit at recommended a book
called
the "new joy of homebrewing". The first batch came out suprisingly good. A
little
darker than the red ale I was expecting but real smooth. Next I did the
EDME kit
for pilsner and it is in the bottle now , I should know by this weeked if
it is ok.
Next up is one from scratch (or almost from scratch), an American bock
from
a recipe using specialty malts, malt extract, doing the hop thing and
using lager]
yeast and fermentation method.

[Akula]

dutk...@holmes.ipfw.indiana.edu wrote:
>
> On Mon, 3 Feb 1997, Mike Poverud wrote:
>
> > Bill,
> > I bought a Mr. Beer kit about 2 months ago, and have been experimenting
> > with the different kinds of beer they sell (as concentrate, in those
> > cans). I've had mixed results. When I followed the directions exactly, I
> > ended up with very cidery, fizzy beer. It tasted more like Hornsby's
> > Cider than any beer I've tasted.

Yep, that would be all the sugar they want you to dump in... Try
substituting dried malt extract (DME) 1 for 1, or using honey and/or
molasses. That way you can get the EtOH you would have gotten from
the sugar, without the ugly by-products...

> >
> > Best results so far have been achieved by using less sugar (in the
> > primary fermentation) and aerating the wort before you "pitch" the
> > yeast. (Translation from beerese: shake the Hell out of the stuff for
> > about 10 minutes before you put the yeast in - I guess the yeast needs a
> > certain amount of oxygen to ferment).
>

I have seen mixed testimony and expert opion on wort aeration. I think
that the general consensus is that it can't hurt, and certainly you need
to do it if you are pitching small-sized yeast colonies into your wort.
I dunno if it would be possible to make/use a starter with "Mr. Beer",
but that's certainly a good way to get yeast *really* going.

> I got a Mr. Beer for Christmas. I, too, followed their instructions. I was
> pleasantly surprized that the first bottle I opened was pretty good. But
> the few bottles afterthat wasn't as good-less carbonated and a slight tart
> taste. The last of the bottles were not bad. Perhaps it was the extra
> aging time. Some of the inconsistency in my batch (West Coast Pale Ale)
> may be due to adding the priming sugar (table) separetly to each bottle.
>

Ouch.

> So, after reading a few books and newsgroups I set up my second
> batch(Nut-Brown Ale) differently. I used dry malt extract instead of sugar
> in my wort. Also, I shook the cooled wort a little bit before I pitch my
> yeast. Then I at bottling time, I added a corn sugar solution to a second
> container, then added my fermented wort.
>

Excellent, that's definitely the way to go. There's a lot of great
(free)
pubished material on brewing on the net... I'd only suggest that you
maybe try priming befre bottling with DME or honey instead of sugar.
1 1/2-1 2/3 cups of DME or 1 cup of honey boiled like you did the sugar
(?) before. DME may take slightly longer to produce carbonation, but I
think it makes a better tasting product.

> In my first batch I let the bottles sit at room temperature for a week and
> then another week in the basement (60 deg). Maybe that wasn't a good idea.
> For my second batch I going to leave the bottles sit for 2 weeks at room
> temperature. I'll be sampling it this Friday, can't wait.
>
> Energo Ed

Cheers... let us know how it turned out...
(via UPS if its really good...<grin>)

--
Akula, The Shark From Hell... ---->ak...@erols.com<----

To homebrew, or...well...not to homebrew just isn't an option.