I'm going to start a Beer Brewery

[MetalManiac]

I'm going to start a Brewery in my Kitchen.
I went to Sears today to get a couple of new exchange ratchets for two old ones that the gears had stripped on, and I saw they had Mr. beer Kits on Clearance, and also one Variety pack brew kit.
So I thought to myself, for 25 bucks, I could have 8 gallons of beer.
Ive tried doing this before, and it never turns out worth a crap. Guess I'll give it one more shot;

[Lucid_Lunatic]

I always just made regular old "Blue Goofus" homebrew with malt extract, yeast, sugar and water in 5 gallon buckets.

[MetalManiac]

I think that so long as you take your time you should be fine.
Twilight Odessy is the man with the knowledge in this arena.
You may want to hit him up for some info.

Someone else is also into home brewing but I think TO is the guy whose brain you wanna pick.

I been looking around already, and it seems this Beer kit requires a master Chef, such as yourself, to really get right..Not so simple for an ordinary dolt like me.;

rewDog
12-30-2007, 12:34 PM
Since it is now after Christmas, there are probably going to be a lot of questions from guys regarding the Mr. Beer kits they got for Christmas.

I started off with a Mr. Beer kit as a Christmas present back in 2002, so this list is brought to you from my hands-on experience.
Even though the directions provided will often say otherwise, please believe me, these directions will give you better tasting beer.

Find a Local Home Brew Store (LHBS). They will be able to help you and get you additional supplies and ingredients as you progress.

1) Don't use Booster. Use another can of plain light unhopped malt extract instead. This can either be dry malt extract or liquid malt extract. In either case, it will be better than using Booster or Sugar. Either your LHBS or the Mr. Beer web site can supply it for you.

2) If you can get some better yeast, your beer will turn out much better. I highly suggest using name brand yeast, such as Fermentis Saf-Ale, Danstar Nottingham/Windsor, Munton's, etc. The no-name crap taped to the can is usually dead or weak at best.

3) Rehydrate your dry yeast in a cup of 90 degree (F) water before you pitch it. This will allow the cell walls to become permeable, and more of the cells will be viable. They will grow more and do a better job of fermenting your beer.

4) Cool the wort down to 70F before pitching the yeast, and aerate it very well. Lack of oxygen will inhibit yeast growth, and you will get a bland beer with off flavors as a result.

5) The Mr. Beer directions say to dump the boiling wort into the keg which contains about a gallon of cold tap water. If you are on well water, this may be asking for an infection. If you are on city water, the chlorine in the water will form chloro-phenols, which may be low-moderate in level but will be noticeable as a band-aid or plasticy flavor/aroma in the finished beer. You would be better off if you use pre-boiled well or tap water. Boiling will sterilize the water and drive off any chlorine. If your city uses chloramine, even boiling will not remove it. You would need to use a 1/4 of a campden tablet (1 tablet can treat 10 gallons of water) to remove the chloramine, or go with bottled water.
It is better to put the boil pot in an ice bath to cool it down, though.

6) Do your best to control the fermentation temperature. The good yeasts named above thrive in temperatures of about 65-70F. Going hotter than that will cause harsh fusel alcohols to form and they will make your beer taste alcoholica and "hot".

7) Give the beer a full 2 weeks in the fermenter. Even though the directions say 1 week is enough, that is really not true. The foam (called krausen) will fall, but the yeast will continue to consume their by-products in the following days. This is the time that the yeast essentially cleans up after itself. Without this time, you will end up with "green" beer that has several off flavors. Patience here is key. To help fight the urge, plan or even brew another batch.

8) Give the beer at least 2 weeks in the bottles. Keep them at or slightly above 70F so that the yeast will reactivate and produce the carbonation.

9) Always, always, always pay close attention to your sanitation practices. One-Step is a good no-rinse sanitizer. Star-San is better. Bleach works, but then you need to rinse. What is the point of sanitizing only to put non-sanitized water back on the equipment?

In later batches, you can try steeping 1/4 lb of crystal malt and adding addtional hops into the beers. This is an easy way to add more complexity and flavor into the finished product.

Hope this helps-
belsonc
12-30-2007, 02:02 PM
Well said, BrewDog - I got my start with a Mr. Beer kit as well. A couple of other points I just thought of:

1. They say to use table sugar to prime the bottles - you CAN, but if you're going to the LHBS for yeast anyway, get yourself a packet of priming sugar as well. You won't use the whole thing - but you're paying .75ish for it, so if you don't use the whole thing, oh well. :-) Table sugar, if memory serves, might lend a somewhat cider-y taste to it - someone correct me if I'm wrong on that, please. It may not be noticeable, I know I didn't taste it in any of my early batches, but like I said, for .75... :-) (Also, can anyone offer suggestions about mixing the corn sugar into the beer instead of putting it into the bottles? How much, etc?)

2. If you're going to use soda bottles when you bottle, KEEP THEM IN THE DARK. There's a reason why a lot of beer bottles are brown. :-) Brown bottles are the best for beer, because they block out a lot of the light that will otherwise skunk your beer. Green bottles are good, but not as good as brown, and they put something in Corona so it won't skunk... so you can use soda bottles - I'm sure people here have - but keep the light away from them until you're ready to drink them.
BrewDog
12-30-2007, 02:50 PM
Thanks, BelsonC.

You are somewhat correct about the brown vs. clear vs. green bottles. Green is nearly as bad as clear. That's why so many of the Greenie Imports taste skunky. The best solution is to keep them in the dark, as Belson says.

For priming, you will not really notice any cidery flavors when using sucrose. We tend to suggest using corn sugar because it is what the yeast have been chomping on in your beer (maltose, not sucrose), but both will work (as will fructose, for those who can get it easily).


HTH-
Mad Scientist
12-31-2007, 09:45 AM
Since we tend to see a lot of Mr. Beer questions, should this be sitcky'ed?

At any rate I'll note:

Most water system these days use chloramine, it is far more residual than plain chlorine. Just FYI.

If you re-use any sort of plastic bottle, use one that had bottled water or something mild tasting in it. There is no way to clean that Dr.Pepper flavor out of a bottle, and you will taste it.
Mad Scientist
01-05-2008, 09:56 AM
Seeing as how I just read a new thread about Mr. Beer, I will reaffirm my comment that this thread should be made a sticky, so most of the preliminary Mr. Beer related questions can be pre-answered......
jjpm74
01-06-2008, 11:27 AM
Great explanation! I just bookmarked it so I can reference it the next time I get a Mr Beer question.
got_homebrew

[JollyRoger523]

I've made a few batches and they turned out pretty good. They were not from a Mr. Beer kit but the process is pretty much the same. From everything I've read it seems two of the most important things in brewing good beer is proper sanitation of your equipement and proper & consistent fermentation temperatures.

[misterwhizzy]

I found out last week a guy I graduated with did exactly what you're talking about, except he bought an old warehouse in the Hill Country.. I had some of his beer at the same time. It was pretty good, I have to admit.

[crguti]

Is it worth doing your own beer? Can it be better than the one you can buy in any store?

[MetalManiac]

Keep in mind he's in America

I once met a Canadian girl who gave me Moosehead..but thats a different story.

[80's_Metal]

HA !

I want to do that! sounds fun! AND tasty!!!! I've got too many hobbies already!

[Lazarus1140]

I found out last week a guy I graduated with did exactly what you're talking about, except he bought an old warehouse in the Hill Country.. I had some of his beer at the same time. It was pretty good, I have to admit.

Cool!

[Binnerscot]

Maniac, that stuff you posted above (post #5) is spot on! I have done the Mr. Beer thing for about 6 or 7 years.

[BlueSnMettle]

6 gallons of beer for $12.47. I'm on my way, Jer.
Don't mess it up, it's a long drive. Good luck.

Peace,

Darrin

[Gearjoneser]

I look forward to the drunken posts. haha

[Lucid_Lunatic]

If you bottle it green, it will give you the sh!ts.

[woemoejack]

Sanitizing and temperature control throughout the entire process, from boil to bottling, are the two most important things in home brewing. If you are attentive to these your batches will always come out fine.

[subanots]

wash your fingers

[MetalManiac]

wash your fingers

And remove le 'Eau De Fifi'? Never!

[jeremy]

why do your fingers smell like a dog? you need help man!