I have a friend that has two of these so the output can be higher. He loves them.

Ok, so I've figure out through this thread and such to throw out the booster and ingredients this comes with and to get better ones available through their website.

Today only on mrbeer enter WBD33 at checkout for 10% off your order.

SO - what do you guys that have been through this recommend to buy to replace it with on their site? I know I'm not going to be producing some worldwide award winning batch but what a better thing to start with to get going for a beginner who wants to try this out for fun before dumping a bunch of money on a better setup/methods?

I've used this for a couple of years and got it the last time it was on woot.
The four most important things for making good beer with this are cleanliness, refill selection, and temperature control, and patience in that order.

Follow the 2-2-2 method. 2 weeks in the keg at temperature 68-72, 2 weeks in a bottle at room temp, then 2 weeks in the fridge.

The premium refills get better the longer they can condition.
I would recommend the American Devil IPA or the Witty Witbier if you're looking to make some good beer with this. Don't let the mix that ships with the kit determine if you'll continue to use this because the West Coast Pale Ale wasn't to my liking but is a good one to learn the basics on. There are so many more options to be explored for fairly cheep.

Also check out Amazon because their buy 3 get 1 free usually includes Mr. Beer refills.

Cheers and thanks Woot!

I've been trying to sing "16 pints of beer on the wall" and maybe it's just me but it keeps coming out flat!

Wolffhardt wrote:Why doesn't everyone realize that we get it, okay? We know that you spent hundreds of dollars to make your own beer, and we're awfully proud of you for doing that. However, spending 250 dollars on a hobby that we haven't tried yet instead of spending 270 dollars on the hobby, but being able to back out after 20 dollars of it if we don't like it? That's the more sensible way. So please stop acting like avoiding this 20 dollar purchase is going to ruin your fun somehow.

I'm not sure where you are getting your numbers. My basic first kit cost me $90 and included primary fermenter, better bottle carboy, two airlocks, hydrometer, sampler, bottle capper, bottle caps, Brewer's Bible, a case of bottles, a pack of labels, and a pump bottling tool. I also bought a kit (my first time brewing, so I went with a kit) for an extra $30. So $130 to get started.

This is $20 now, but in the long run you are only making 2-gallons of beer for the same price I make 5-gallons of beer. Plus if you want to do anything more complicate like an all-grain recipe you are stuck because those really need a primary and secondary fermentation to really bring the flavors out.

Plus I pointed out I just sold my first brewing kit for $70. If I had decided not to stick with the hobby I would have only been out $60, but I got 5-gallons of beer and a better quality product. Your spending $10 a gallon with Mr. Beer and I spent $12 a gallon for my setup (assuming I sold it right after).

I just think it is a shame people will spend $20 on this kit to "Try out brewing" when this is far from what real brewing is and produces a low quality product. I would hate for anyone to be turned off to the hobby because their Mr. Beer kit turned out a crappy beer which is unlikely to happen in a homebrew system, especially if you have a homebrew store or get the "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" which I have found to be an excellent resource.

njkrut wrote:Ha ha ha ha. I've been wanting these since they posted them back in 2010!

Late Christmas present to me maybe... Any opinions on whether these are better than DIY? I know Boulder, CO has a store all about brewing your own I've considered visiting but this seems easier?

The extract brewing that Mr Beer users generally do is easier than partial or all-grain brewing. Basically, the ingredient kits come with the stuff you ferment. You don't have to create it yourself by boiling grains for hours. Definitely the way for beginning brewers to go. The finished product is actually pretty good assuming you follow the instructions (sanitizing being the most important). I would avoid the kits that come with "Booster" though. That is basically just corn sugar and is used to give the beer extra body and a bit more alcoholic kick. Mr Beer's website sells "Premium" kits in which all the fermentable material is actually malted grain extract. Makes the beer much tastier.

If you're interested in learning about homebrewing, Mr Beer is a great starting point. I've moved on to bigger kits (this only makes about a case worth per batch) but it's an easy and cheap way to get your feet wet. I used Mr Beer to make a few cases of wheat beer to serve at my wedding and it was a huge hit. Lasted about an hour. Follow the instructions, use the premium ingredient kits and you shouldn't be disappointed.

You coal to use a glass jar that size, the pressure would very likely blow the jar apart since it's not designed to blow off the pressure created by the fermentation

Let's put it this way guys: if you are drinking so much beer on a weekly/monthly/annual basis that you feel the need to save money by manufacturing your own beer then you are probably an alcoholic. If you are just into the whole science and art behind it fine, but if you are doing this to save money then you likely have a drinking problem.

Yes, would be immoral!
We only used apples and a jug for ours back then!

as a 10+ year homebrewer, I tested this out of curiousity and it makes decent beer, a bonus that it does 2 gallon lots. NOTHING wrong with making beer in food grade inert plastic. And if someone's came out flat, they did something wrong or had bad ingredients. This is a great way to jump into homebrew, then work your way up.

I had bought 3 of these previously on woot, I kept one for myself, gave 2 away as gifts. I have to say it's a good idea, but the biggest waste of money ever. there isn't a good seal on the little fermenting tub. I made 2 batches of this junk, and it tastes terrible. If you really want to get into home brewing I would put the money towards a legitimate glass set up. I have tried my friends brews who use the real deal set ups and it tastes like beer, not some gross half fermented water. I have heard of very limited good results using this kit (try looking it up on some other beer brewers forums, this is one of the worst out there in the eyes of "pro" home brewers). You don't have to take my advice, but I can bet that you will wish you had after you try this out. Its a fun little science experiment but I think it is better to just purchase your favorite brew at the local grocery store, it's a lot less work and has excellent quality control...plus you don't have to wait months to try out your creations!

Have it already! Good little kit. Makes about 8 liters of beer. However do NOT follow the suggested instructions. double the times (ex: 7 days = 14 days) for the beer to actually turn out correctly.

rebeltreble wrote:I'm not sure where you are getting your numbers. My basic first kit cost me $90 and included primary fermenter, better bottle carboy, two airlocks, hydrometer, sampler, bottle capper, bottle caps, Brewer's Bible, a case of bottles, a pack of labels, and a pump bottling tool. I also bought a kit (my first time brewing, so I went with a kit) for an extra $30. So $130 to get started.

This is $20 now, but in the long run you are only making 2-gallons of beer for the same price I make 5-gallons of beer. Plus if you want to do anything more complicate like an all-grain recipe you are stuck because those really need a primary and secondary fermentation to really bring the flavors out.

Plus I pointed out I just sold my first brewing kit for $70. If I had decided not to stick with the hobby I would have only been out $60, but I got 5-gallons of beer and a better quality product. Your spending $10 a gallon with Mr. Beer and I spent $12 a gallon for my setup (assuming I sold it right after).

I just think it is a shame people will spend $20 on this kit to "Try out brewing" when this is far from what real brewing is and produces a low quality product. I would hate for anyone to be turned off to the hobby because their Mr. Beer kit turned out a crappy beer which is unlikely to happen in a homebrew system, especially if you have a homebrew store or get the "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" which I have found to be an excellent resource.

I got my numbers from everyone suggesting to "just go spend xxx" amount of money, and that xxx climbing everytime someone made the same post. The problem with your theory is that if someone expects this to give them the same product as your setup? They're probably too dumb to use your setup in the first place. However, if they're buying this to determine whether they even enjoy the thought of making their own beer or have the time/patience to do it (As I am) then it's really going to get the job done just fine. I, and many others, would prefer to spend the 20 bucks to determine if this is for me instead of the $130 and the time involved to sell it all back at a loss if I decide I don't like it. If I don't enjoy it? I'm not going to sell this for 12 dollars on Craigslist. I'm just going to throw it out, that's kind of the point.

As the last guy said, if I told you that you are going to REALLY like Paintball but the only real way to get the full enjoyment and/or fun out of is to buy the ~1000-2000 dollar setup instead of the ~150-200 setup before you even play? I suspect you'd find my comments pretty offputting.

So like I said, everyone buying this? We know you think you are better/smarter then us, and it's fine. We're okay with that.

In-4-1!

I wouldn't go so far as to say that you are an alcoholic if you are homebrewing to save money. If you truly were an alcoholic, I think you'd have a hard time brewing enough beer to stay drunk.

But for me, as a homebrewer (I wouldn't recommend Mr. Beer - but YMMV), I enjoy the process and I enjoy getting a quality microbrew style beer at a megabrew price.

And FWIW the booster that is included here is nothing more than corn sugar or some other fermentable sugar. It's an inexpensive way to raise the alcohol content and thin out the beer. Corn sugar is much less expensive than malt extract and allows them to get the beer in an appropriate ABV range for the style without have to use as much expensive malt.

The stuff that comes in the can is a pre-hopped malt extract. They take the barley and mash it (this converts the starches to sugars) then rinse (sparge) the sugars from the grain creating your unfermented beer (wort). They then boil this down adding hops and reduce it until it becomes a syrup and then it is canned for you. They do all the hard work for you but it leaves you no control over the process. You are essentially rehydrating the beer they made and then fermenting it. This is also why extract beers tend to be darker than their all grain counterparts. The double boil allows for greater carmelization of the sugars, darkening the beer.

This is making beer as much as putting a frozen pot pie in the oven is making a Chicken Pot Pie. But it's not a horrible place to start either.

ThatPoshGirl wrote:That's fine, but a two gallon glass jar, with a spigot, is probably less than $5 at some places. Even if you want the convenience of the kit, there is no reason to use the plastic jug. Glass is also a lot easier to sanitize.

???

Everything I have ever used for a primary is plastic. Ale Pales, Better Bottles, and so on.

I rarely secondary (which is where glass comes into play), unless I want to dry hop or add fruit, or to a beer that really needs to be crystal clear.

Not sure what you're prattling on about here.

My wife got me this kit for my birthday about a year ago. Mine came with a basic Pilsner beer kit. I don't normally like Pilsners and prefer a darker, more flavorful beer, but I thought that I'd give it a try. The process for making beer is very simple and takes about 15 minutes from sanitizing the keg to filling it up and putting it in the proper environment for the yeast to do its thing. I used the maximum times for everything to happen, which was 3 weeks for the beer in the keg and a couple months to warm condition the beer once it is in the bottle. When I opened the first bottle of cold beer that I had made, I was very impressed with the overall appearance and taste of the end product and so was everyone that tried it.

If you want a simple method of making beer, this is the kit of you. It comes with everything you need, except for a 3 quart pot, a spoon, a can opener, and a 1 cup measuring cup. If you follow the directions and wait for the beer to ferment and condition, you should be happy with the end product. If you want to be more then a casual beer maker, you might want to look somewhere else because this kit has done all of the hard work involved with beer making for you, so you will learn very little how beer is really made. There is a bit of tweaking you can do with the beer in these kits, adding flavorings and such to the wort and this is described in the including recipe book with the kit.

By the way, the basic refills cost around $10 - $15 a piece and you can find some good prices on Amazon.

To all those who insist that one needs a "real" brewing kit to make good beer, I suggest you check out the Mr. Beer forums, or the Mr. Beer thread at homebrewtalk, or the Screwy Brewer's site. People who have made crap beer with a Mr. Beer probably would have made crap beer no matter what they used to brew/ferment it. You can make batches using the Mr. Beer extract from cans, or you can use dry malt extract, or you can use grains. As a city dweller, I actually prefer the small size of the Mr. Beer fermenters vs. a 5-6 gallon bucket. I may ultimately move up to making larger batches, but I've made over a dozen batches using my Mr. Beer fermenter and they've all been good.

You don't remotely need to spend $150-200 to get into brewing. This is a great kit and a great price if you want to dip your toes into home brewing for a minimal investment (money, time, and space).

I saw the Root Beer refills on the MFG's site. Has anyone tried it? How was the taste?

ThatPoshGirl wrote:Anyone who would brew beer in plastic doesn't deserve to drink beer.

You don't know what you're talking about.
While Mr. Beer is not the best kit, most homebrewers use plastic fermenters because a stainless steel one can be over a $grand easily.
You can make fantastic beer that YOU wouldn't deserve to drink in a plastic fermenter.

I've been brewing for almost 10 years, fermenting in a 5 gallon bucket, and only now am I looking at making the jump to a stainless fermenter.

eyedoctodd wrote:You don't know what you're talking about.
While Mr. Beer is not the best kit, most homebrewers use plastic fermenters because a stainless steel one can be over a $grand easily.
You can make fantastic beer that YOU wouldn't deserve to drink in a plastic fermenter.

I've been brewing for almost 10 years, fermenting in a 5 gallon bucket, and only now am I looking at making the jump to a stainless fermenter.

I got my start with Mr. Beer. Was it good? Not particularly. However, I also drive a Hyundai and don't expect to beat a Porsche in a drag race. But it was enough to get my curiosity going about the whole operation. I've been brewing for about 4 years now and would never look back.

And I wonder if the person who said that is aware that you can make excellent beer in a plastic fermenter - namely, an Ale Pail. It's effectively a spackle bucket, but of food grade plastic...

I bought this kit on woot a year and a half or so ago. It was very easy to use and kind of fun. The beer that resulted from the supplies in the starter kit it comes with wasn't incredible, though better than naty light, keystone etc, and it was pretty neat that I started with water and ingredients and two months later out came beer.

I did the math back then and found that buying the nicer beer batch ingredient kits from Mr. Beer to make what I would assume would be better tasting beer would up being comparable in price to buying the same volume of Bud or Miller, etc.

Basically, this won't save you much money to make your own beer, but if you want to enjoy the craft and sense of accomplishment of doing it yourself, and don't mind waiting many months to brew a few batches and figure out what works nicely, then this kit is for you. At the price, you can't really go wrong.

This is a great deal. While Mr. Beer is not ideal or made for all grain brewers it is an excellent choice for those interested in getting their hands dirty in beer making. They sell extracts. I know folks that do extracts with a large set up as well. Extracts are great for starting out and for those you may not have the time to do full out brewing.

I actually have 3 fermentors. Mr Beer has a ton of recipes and regular refills. I have two types going at almost all times and one that I use for batch priming rather then bottle priming (you can find info on doing this in some of the home brewing forums that cater to Mr Beer brewers).

I would highly recommend not using the plastic bottles. For a small investment (~$30) you can pick up some 22oz glass bottles, bottle caps and a capper at your local home brew store.

Also most Mr Beer refills and recipes say they are good to go in two weeks. Yes you can have beer in two weeks but you will be much happier with the results with at least the 2-2-2 method mentioned earlier. Two weeks fermenting, two weeks carbing and two weeks conditioning. I follow a 2-2-4 (4 weeks conditioning). The longer it conditions the better it will taste.

If you had any interest in beer making this is an excellent start. I'm close to moving to a full set up and trying my hand at all grain, but I have been extremely pleased with Mr Beer and their recipes. I wish the folks that are nay saying this would welcome the idea that this may bring more folks into home brewing and away from the water the large breweries are trying to pass off as beer.

good kit to start with. I got addicted to brewing to the extent of growing my own hops, building a hop dryer, buying raw barley and sprouting it, roasting the speouted barley into malts, many stages of specialty malts(color/flavor),cultured my own yeasts, then kegging into 15 gallon kegs (no bottling). made my own malt roaster, made my own mash tun. this can be a very addictive hobby.
A word of warning, I left a 5 gallon carboy on the dining room table, came home from work and had to clean wort off the ceiling. airlock must have plugged and built up pressure.. sure stunk for the next six months.. sure was a lotta fun.

This came up last year before Christmas and I got one for my brother in law, who loves his beer. He bought a second one mid year (regular price, not a woot deal) so he could brew 2 batches at the same time. This year for Christmas he wanted and was delighted with refill kits to make more beer with. Based on my experiences I'd recommend this kit to anyone who likes beer and does some cooking.

ThatPoshGirl wrote:Anyone who would brew beer in plastic doesn't deserve to drink beer.

The only way this could be more wrong is if you hadn't used punctuation.

I've lost track of the exact number, but I've brewed close to 500 gallons of beer and 100% of them have been fermented in either plastic buckets or plastic Better Bottle carboys. I only have one glass carboy and I only use it for bulk aging barley wines or for fermenting cider. There is absolutely nothing wrong, or as you are implying uncivilized, about fermenting in plastic. Idealy I'd like to have SS conicals, but until woot replaces their Texas air with $100 bills I'll stick with plastic fermentors.

njkrut wrote:Ha ha ha ha. I've been wanting these since they posted them back in 2010!

Late Christmas present to me maybe... Any opinions on whether these are better than DIY? I know Boulder, CO has a store all about brewing your own I've considered visiting but this seems easier?

I'm a homebrewer in Boulder and the store there (Hop to It) has everything you need to get started. Granted it might cost you $60-80 for a kit there, but it's much more worth it than a $20 kit over which you have little control.

Honestly I think the rule with Mr. Beer kits is this:

If you get a Mr. Beer kit, you must make a beer that first day. No delays.

It seems like a silly thing (a plastic bottle shaped like a keg?) but really it does work. The trick is to follow the directions, use the sanitizer to sanitize the keg, let it sit for at *least* a week, better to do two weeks, and then bottle it in the plastic bottles with a bit of table sugar (follow the directions).

Then let it sit in the bottles for another week at room temperature, toss a few bottles in the fridge, and start drinking it.

The only problem I have had with carbonation is with flip-top bottles, they seem cool but they can leak out the carbonation pressure leading to flat beer. The plastic ones are *FINE*; use them.

And you will make pretty darn good beer. Their refills are delicious, try some of the two can ones. I recently brewed up their "Winter ALE" special, and it came out delicious, dark, and has 8% alcohol content. Enough to knock me back with a single 12 ounce bottle.

uacdcalvin wrote:I'm a homebrewer in Boulder and the store there (Hop to It) has everything you need to get started. Granted it might cost you $60-80 for a kit there, but it's much more worth it than a $20 kit over which you have little control.

A lot of home brewers look at Mr. Beer and go "Oh, yeah, right", but they usually agree that it makes a good beer. Granted it's two gallons at a time instead of five, but really I don't drink a lot, and a smaller batch allows me to try a wider variety of recipes.

For $20 you'll have a lot of fun, and if you really want to you can then buy a bigger set. For me though I am totally happy with what it is.

meep116 wrote:Has anyone used this to make hard cider?

you don't need this to make cider. get a bottle of apple juice (make sure there are no preservatives), pour some out, put some wine yeast in it, shake, let it sit on the shelf for a week. give it a squeeze once in a while, and when it's hard, crack it open (slowly!) and pour a glass. there'll be some sediment in the bottom, but it's just yeast, and it's good for you. oh, make sure it's a plastic bottle you're using, too.

gesnerj59 wrote:I'm holding out for "Mr. Moonshine"

Really? I'm holding out for Mr. Pruno.

dawgdave99 wrote:

....from a former "Mr. Plow".

best simpson's episode. ever

When I was in high school, many of my friends had girlfriends and talked about how great sex was. Alas, I was a virgin. Some of my friends told me to just find a girl who was interested in me and 'get in the game'. Other friends insisted that I should only try to have sex with the prom queen or college chicks. "Why waste your time on something sub-standard?" Who to believe, I asked myself.....

So one weekend at a party, the school hussy took an interest in me, and I had sex for the first time. It wasn't anything spectacular, but I have to say I really enjoyed it none-the-less. It made me want to perfect the trade, and it turned into a life-long hobby. Some of my experiences haven't turned out too well, but most have been great and a few were out-of-this-world.

Thankfully, I didn't listen to my snobby friends who insisted that my first time had to be with a supermodel.

I told you that story, to tell you that I'm still a beer-making virgin. So using my own life lessons, I'm ignoring the beer-snobs in the thread and buying one of these to 'get in the game'!

I agree with most people here.

Mr. Beer can be good if you're not absolutely sure about getting into the hobby, since it is very time-consuming and an expensive hobby once you find yourself upgrading your equipment.

If you're 80-100% sure you want to do this for at least a couple years, I'd recommend skipping this and going straight to a standard 5-gallon equipment set.

Lisa21222 doesn't agree with ThatPoshGirl, who says "Anyone who would brew beer in plastic doesn't deserve to drink beer." I brew from scratch, but my primary fermenter is a plastic bucket, The wort goes into a glass carboy after the first week, but I suspect trying to clean the sediment produced during primary fermentation via the narrow neck of a carboy would be a nightmare. Scrubbing out the bucket is a cinch.

Not to mention you won't save money, you cant brew a case cheaper than you can buy a case of PBR. Also, if you are an alcoholic and are trying to fuel your habit by brewing you will be pretty disappointed at the time it takes to make it.

g1knj99 wrote:You coal to use a glass jar that size, the pressure would very likely blow the jar apart since it's not designed to blow off the pressure created by the fermentation

Actually, that's what the airlock does.

A plastic barrel, where all premium microbrews come from, to say nothing of the can-o'-wort.

This may give you the knowledge of how beer making works, but more than likely your beer will turn out bad and you'll be unhappy. find a local homebrew club, or someone that knows how to homebrew and split a batch with them. a newbie set loose using one of these will not produce good results 90% of the time.