Making Beer. I just got one of those Mr. Beer Kits. Any tips brewmasters?

Do a fun run with the Mr Beer kit to get the idea, then get something like the stuff below from your local homebrew supplier or an online vendor (ie Williams Brewing). The Mr Beer kits are a good starter but somewhat restrictive as to your ability to get creative. Another good resource is BYO (Brew Your Own Magazine), good tips, tricks and recipes. http://byo.com/

stillajwexelder

my uncle bought a few and they turned bad. It turns out that he did not sterilize sufficiently and that affected production. So care with the cleanliness

mustang

what bigwilly said:

Find the nearest wine/brew supply house, even if its 50 miles away. The people are a great resource and they frequently have clubs.

I did wine, not beer. I'm not sure about beer, but with the acid you have in wine, you are best off with GLAZED, unpainted crocks. Plastic is so-so and oil components can leach out of it. Pay the extra at the supply house for "the ones that you are supposed to use".

Go w/ the mail order, if the prices are better. Do that after getting the education rubbing shoulders with the locals.

Read some books on the subject. The one that brought it home to me was from England. It described the "process": it is PASTEURIZATION!!!!

1) STERILIZE- scrub, clean & boil (DO NOT USE BLEACH: it can taint the flavor) Use dishwashing detergent, then rinse with boiling water. That's for the utensils; the materials have to treated as well: water- boil it, let it cool. Sugar- mix with water, making syrup , then boil. I boiled my fruits (I'm going from winemaking). You get the picture: clean and hot, then let it cool. Apply this background to your existing instructions.

Winemaking uses a sterilizing tablet: potassium or sodium bisulphites. They release sulfur dioxide gas, which bubbles through and kills more microbes. This may not apply.

What does apply is STERILIZE.

2) INOCULATE- After all is mixed, add the yeast. It is best to use the yeasts that you get from the supply house, rather than something off the grocer's shelf. The cultures from the supply house are "tuned" for the purpose: as my flight instructor says, match the plane to the mission. Yeast can be simply sprinkled on top the mix, then stirred in/under.

Grapes/fruit will ferment on its own; I just threw away some grapes that did that. If you notice a white film on grapes and plums, that is a natural yeast, called must. I've been curious to try scraping this off and using it.

BTW, that is how the 49'ers made the famous sourdough bread, I have heard.

Different yeasts do different things, as I mentioned above: to that end, if you want vinegar, use a vinegar yeast from the supplier.

DO NOT MIX PROCESSES: wine crocks for wine, beer for beer, vinegar for vinegar.

If you use "pot luck" or whatever is on the skin of your fruit, or floats by in the air, sometimes you get wine, sometimes vinegar.

Using the above steps controls the environment. After sterilization, inoculate with the proper strain of yeast: this will be the winner. There can be other stuff present, but the dominant strain takes over.

Maintain cleanliness and control the environment. Wine crocks are covered with a wet cloth; open and stir the "cap must" daily. This plows under the stuff from the air and the winner in the brew dominates the intruders.

You see, the microbial process is not only adversarial, it is an ongoing war

Enjoy!!!

Mustang

UnConfused

NICE - thanks for the tips/help

mustang

I kept records: I figure the first bottle cost me 150$.

Towards the end it was 75 cents a bottle.

Mustang

Octarine Prince

I gave away my Mr. Beer kit to a friend, but we had helped some other friends with their batches before.

Unless you want to make beer-vinegar, SANITIZE/STERILIZE like a madman.

PrimateDave

I never tried a Mr. Beer kit. I used to have a set up somewhat like the larger photo posted by bigwilly. I bought "kits" containing the malts, hops, bottle caps, and instructions. It was a lot like brewing a very large pot of tea followed by fermentation and bottling.

The Mr. Beer does look interesting. You should give it a try.

Mr. Beer review on YouTube

Dave

bigwilly

Dave, If you've used a boil type process with standard equipment (I used the term kits incorrectly earlier) I don't think you'll be stoked on the Mr Beer setup. The results I've sampled from Mr Beer haven't been too impressive, but the persons involved weren't too impressive either

Regarding LHBS (Local Home Brew Suppliers) and clubs, the two are generally not realted (at least not here). The LHBS will be able to provide good basics and coaching to get you started. That way you can prepare a couple of batches your own way. After that if you'd like to get more into it, I'd consider a club. Personally, I used to be active with PDX Brewers here in Portland and found the variety of approaches and experience levels to be helpful in developing my own home brewery (don't mention "home brewery" to your significant other until their hooked on your homebrew ). I'm still involved to an extent though I haven't brewed much of late. I'm still working my way thru some mead and Russian Imperial Stout I brewed on 6/6/6.

PrimateDave

bigwilly, I was just replying to UnConfused since he already has the kit. I'm not going to try a Mr. Beer kit myself. I much prefer ales, dark and malty. That Russian Imperial Stout of yours sounds good. It has been many years since I brewed my last ale. I have since basically settled on buying a bottle or two of any micro brew I happen upon that catches my eye. Expensive, but less time consuming than home brewing. I may try again some day.

Dave

Making Beer. I just got one of those Mr. Beer Kits. Any tips brewmasters?

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