skywarrior3 wrote:Not a huge fan of beer. I wonder if you can use this to make mead (honey-wine)?

If you want to make mead, you're better off buying your equipment separately. The required equipment for making mead is minimal.

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

I disagree. Anyone who drinks beer from plastic deserves to drink the type of beer that comes in plastic. Just like anybody that drinks beer from a screw top bottle deserves to drink the type of beer that comes in a screw top bottle. Leaves more of the good stuff for the rest of us.

bought one of these before, loved it! If you add some extra brown sugar and honey while brewing you can easily improve the flavor and %alc. Also I did an extra two weeks in barrel and extra two weeks in bottle before drinking.

I've been a home brewer for a long time and so I thought I'd chime in on this debate.

This is a basic, run of the mill, beer making kit. You aren't going to be making any masterpieces with this kit, but you do have everything you need to make decent to good beer. If you're into stuff that's a little bit more interesting than your big-3 light beers, but aren't planning on doing too much more, or don't know how committed to the hobby you are, this will work for you.

When I got into I spend about 250 bucks on four glass carboys, an auto-siphon, a giant stockpot, a wine thief, a hygromenter (no, i spelled that wrong, hydrometer), a wort chiller, a bottling machine, and so on and so forth. The first few times i did it I came out with beer that could have easily been made in this single stage fermentation set-up.

I will say that this kit is not worth what it cost retail, but that the 20 bones + 5 shipping is a killer price for a beginner beer kit/science project. I'd definitely recommend it for any budding beer enthusiasts.

Now if you DO get this, I recommend buying a fairly large stockpot, a bottle of star san (look it up) and a soft, spongy bottle cleaning apparatus for the big plastic bottle. DONT get anything too scratchy because the plastic scratches easily and scratches harbor all manner of microbes that will haunt your mister beer kit for the rest of its life and ruin all beer made in it ever again. Most people don't even recommend scrubbing the plastic bottles at all because of this. No matter what your home-brew supplier tells you, absolutely NO BOTTLE BRUSHES. Also, go find, and make friends with, your closest home brew supply retailer. They'll not only have the hops and malt you need, but also give you some cool recipes.

boehmcs1 wrote:I disagree. Anyone who drinks beer from plastic deserves to drink the type of beer that comes in plastic. Just like anybody that drinks beer from a screw top bottle deserves to drink the type of beer that comes in a screw top bottle. Leaves more of the good stuff for the rest of us.

And anyone who reads the entire thread will find lots of helpful tips so far from current owners and homebrewers on how to make better beer overall (with or without Mr. Beer), which is really a good thing to see.

Good stuff for all through education!

nikirj wrote:A standard home brewing batch is 5-6 gallons, while this is 2 gallons; if you plan to continue to brew in the Mr. Beer plastic keg you'll be stuck with kits from this company (or you'll have to adjust recipes and buy ingredients separately).

A common critique from others is the lack of creativity in Mr. Beer's pre-chewed kits. Now you warn that the two-gallon size will deprive us of using 5-gallon kits.

Mr. Beer can't win in this rigged game.

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

Beware: placed my order for supplies shortly after midnight this AM and attempted to use the discount code. No go! Emailed the Mr. Beer customer service and got NO RESPONSE from them. Don't expect the discount to be applied as advertised both on WOOT and Mrbeer.com. BUMMER, man!

schoolcb wrote:Get a carboy brush, glass doesn't scratch, plastic does. If you are scrubbing your bucket it won't be long before the nasties take up in the scratches and spoil your beer.

Yes, of course. Because I was going to use steel wool on a plastic bucket.

Does anyone that's used this or something similar have any experience using it in an apartment? I'm just trying to think of good places to store the keg for a few weeks that'll maintain that perfect temperature. Is it good enough to just leave it tucked away on the kitchen counter?

will they card for this when you purchase it and have it shipped?

edit: as in be over 21.

jhcolo wrote:"Today only on mrbeer enter WBD33 at checkout for 10% off your order."

Beware: placed my order for supplies shortly after midnight this AM and attempted to use the discount code. No go! Emailed the Mr. Beer customer service and got NO RESPONSE from them. Don't expect the discount to be applied as advertised both on WOOT and Mrbeer.com. BUMMER, man!

Got mine without any major issues. It rejected at first but that's cause there was an extra space at the end of the code from copy and pasting. Removed the space and got the discount.

Ahh Mr. Beer. My friend got me one of these as a gag-gift a few years back. We used it and were very surprised by the beer we brewed. We never used it again as we'd caught the bug and were on to 5 gallon batch home brewing. What I never would have known, were it not for Mr. Beer is that I can brew better beer in my kitchen than the majority of what I can buy off the shelves in the store. Mr. Beer opened a whole new world to me, and I'm forever grateful. This is an absolute steal at $25, even if you only use it once. Not only is the fun of brewing beer worth at least that much, you get almost a case of beer out of the deal to boot. Get three! I did! For gifts.

dipdac wrote:a hygromenter (yes, i spelled that right)

I don't think you did. I think you meant hygrometer.

I have one.

In my cheese cave.

It's used to measure humidity levels. Not sure what you'd use it for in brewing.

Did you mean refractometer? I've got one of those too... measures fermentables in the wort. Very handy and readily available in both brix and plato.

BCMike22 wrote:I would pass on this. As a homebrewer for five years now, the problem with Mr. Beer can be boiled down to this one unavoidable truth: Even if you do everything exactly right--you're still left with Mr. Beer beer and Mr. Beer beer is bad beer.

I think its a nice way to get started.

In for one!

For anyone interested in really killer refill kit prices, head on over to the Amazon. Way cheaper than the Mr. Beer site.

Mr. Beer Refill Kits

I just tried to order two of these, but in check out it said in red letters, "You've been banned." white tundra frost does that mean?

How long could this purchase be stored before it would need to be used? Is there any expiration date on the ingredient pouch(s)?

I'm curious as it'd make a great present for my brother-in-law's birthday in August.

I hate beer...

I see posts about how to make good beer, what good beer is, that this kit is good, that this kit is bad, etc.

Any beer tastes bad... just like coffee. Hate coffee too... although I bought a Keurig for my girlfriend.

Back to beer... people say that certain beers have flavors... like Sam Adams various versions... how can one taste orange peel over the the overpowering beer?

How can things like beer and coffee (and cigs) be so popular when they taste like crap?

[/rant]

boehmcs1 wrote:If you want to make mead, you're better off buying your equipment separately. The required equipment for making mead is minimal.

Agreed. Two one gallon jugs with one stopper and airlock, 2 lbs of honey, champagne yeast, and yeast nutrient are all you need to start a small batch. Grow your carboy as you grow your confidence. I actually looked into doing mead with MrBeer but found a universal opinion it was not advised.

The MrBeer keg sort of has an airlock but for the 6 month conditioning required after moving to a secondary, I would not trust it to keep out unwanted contamination.

aquastardreamer wrote:Do you mean bacteria? Because you generally don't have "fat" on your hands or on towels ...

If you mean bacteria then yes, scratched plastic is a WONDERFUL surface for bacteria to grow on.

I mean fat. Any of the naturally occurring oils that are on your skin, or in the hulls and germ of the grain you are using if you are using grain, for example.

Once that gets into the scratches in the plastic, nothing will ever get it out, and bacteria will live in it forever.

It's not that glass doesn't scratch, it's that it can always be sterilized.

smurph98gt wrote:Does anyone that's used this or something similar have any experience using it in an apartment? I'm just trying to think of good places to store the keg for a few weeks that'll maintain that perfect temperature. Is it good enough to just leave it tucked away on the kitchen counter?

You want to keep it out of the light if possible. But don't stress out about temperature too much. Most ale yeasts work best in the mid 60's to low 70's Fahrenheit, but they'll manage in a pretty wide band around that. Warmer temperatures will ferment faster but create lots of incompletely fermented byproducts. These can range from fruity esters to solvent-like fusels. Cooler temperatures will generally ferment cleaner, but it will do it much more slowly.

You can at least partially remedy either problem with patience. The yeast can eventually clean up a lot of those higher-order alcohols by just giving it extra time in the bottle. Slow yeast can be left in the fermenter longer to make sure they get the job completely finished. Or if it's too cold for them to get started at all, you can sometimes move the fermenter to a warmer place for a little while just to get them jumpstarted before moving them back to the cooler spot.

A shelf in a closet at whatever room temperature you have is probably just fine.

I spent $40 a year ago on this same kit at shopko. I love it. In fact I just brewed a new batch yesterday.

This woot just got a mention from @wilw

If you follow his twitter stream, you'd know he is an avid home-brewer. : )

smurph98gt wrote:Does anyone that's used this or something similar have any experience using it in an apartment? I'm just trying to think of good places to store the keg for a few weeks that'll maintain that perfect temperature. Is it good enough to just leave it tucked away on the kitchen counter?

I don't know about the counter, but I've used my Mr. Beer on top of the fridge. It came out great. I was just a little suspicious of whether the spigot might leak, and ended up putting a tray underneath to reassure myself, but it wasn't an issue.

My kitchen (especially the corner with the fridge) doesn't get direct sunlight, so I didn't have to worry about that.

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

Who cares what it was brewed in, it's beer. Its about giving people an experience they can enjoy and decide whether or not its a hobby they want to pursue without a larger investment. And, if you've ever had beer from this kit, it's actually pretty good.

smurph98gt wrote:Does anyone that's used this or something similar have any experience using it in an apartment? I'm just trying to think of good places to store the keg for a few weeks that'll maintain that perfect temperature. Is it good enough to just leave it tucked away on the kitchen counter?

It is so easy. You will no problem doing it in your apartment.

disraeli wrote:A common critique from others is the lack of creativity in Mr. Beer's pre-chewed kits. Now you warn that the two-gallon size will deprive us of using 5-gallon kits.

Mr. Beer can't win in this rigged game.

I know, right? Haven't half a dozen "homebrewers" bragged about how they can clone commercial beers? What an achievement that is! How their friends must swoon when they say "It tastes just like that stuff you can get at the convenience store... but I made it! What? We're out? No, no, don't go get more... I'll have another five gallons ready in six weeks!"

CapnJB wrote:I don't think you did. I think you meant hygrometer.

I have one.

In my cheese cave.

It's used to measure humidity levels. Not sure what you'd use it for in brewing.

Did you mean refractometer? I've got one of those too... measures fermentables in the wort. Very handy and readily available in both brix and plato.

hmmm... I know i spelled it wrong now. hydrometer, to measure specific gravity of liquids.

i had a hygrometer in my hermit-crab terrarium.

As far as bottles go. I went to the liquor store and bought a bunch of Grolsch beer in the bottle with the metal clasp and rubber cork. The bottles have worked excellent for me over and over. Plus, I got to drink the Grolsch!

mogthemoogle wrote:Yes, of course. Because I was going to use steel wool on a plastic bucket.

You used the word scrub. Scrub = scratched plastic. Word to newbies, use a sponge, and not one with a "scrubby" on it.

jhcolo wrote:"Today only on mrbeer enter WBD33 at checkout for 10% off your order."

Beware: placed my order for supplies shortly after midnight this AM and attempted to use the discount code. No go! Emailed the Mr. Beer customer service and got NO RESPONSE from them. Don't expect the discount to be applied as advertised both on WOOT and Mrbeer.com. BUMMER, man!

Yeah. I was supposed to get a Mr. Beer hat free after my first order through them. That was a year ago. No hat still.

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

I have not use this at all, but as a Homebrewer, if you want to make mead or cider I would use 1 gallon glass jugs with an airlock and rubber stopper. Jugs cost around $6, Airlock is about $3 and stopper is about $1-2.
For $10 you can have a better setup for mead and cider. Also unless you drop it, glass will last you much longer than plastic.

CapnJB wrote:I don't think you did. I think you meant hygrometer.

I have one.

In my cheese cave.

It's used to measure humidity levels. Not sure what you'd use it for in brewing.

Did you mean refractometer? I've got one of those too... measures fermentables in the wort. Very handy and readily available in both brix and plato.

He meant a hyDrometer. Measures the sugar levels when the wort is prepared vs the levels at the end of fermentation and subtract the two to get %ABV.

todaresq wrote:I hate beer...

Any beer tastes bad... just like coffee. Hate coffee too... although I bought a Keurig for my girlfriend.

How can things like beer and coffee (and cigs) be so popular when they taste like crap?

All are an acquired taste fellow wooter.. If you don't like beer, you haven't tried enough; If you don't like coffee, you haven't found a good one. If you don't like your girlfriend's.. *coughee* ...

Nevermind, you probably get the point. Keep trying and you'll learn to love it.

bmw66x wrote:In for one!

For anyone interested in really killer refill kit prices, head on over to the Amazon. Way cheaper than the Mr. Beer site.

Mr. Beer Refill Kits

On Walmart.com you can have a refill kit sent to the nearest store at no shipping cost and just go pick it up. Very little to choose from but the price is unbeatable as far as I have been able to find.

geoffwilliams wrote:How long could this purchase be stored before it would need to be used? Is there any expiration date on the ingredient pouch(s)?

I'm curious as it'd make a great present for my brother-in-law's birthday in August.

The ingredients are usually good for about a year.

disraeli wrote:A common critique from others is the lack of creativity in Mr. Beer's pre-chewed kits. Now you warn that the two-gallon size will deprive us of using 5-gallon kits.

Mr. Beer can't win in this rigged game.

Nah, you can get a regular kit from the store. Just use half and store the rest. Or buy a second MrBeer and divide the wort.

editorkid wrote:Any random bit of oil, including what you transfer from your fingers when you pick something up, is a fat.

Yes, it is A FAT, but is isn't normally called "fat" unless it is solid at room temp.

TECHNICALLY it is a lipid. Yes, I know this because I'm a biochemist. It is just nice to speak in terms that the rest of the world speaks in so that people can understand the point you are making. That is why I asked for clarification. You would typically call it "oil" not "fat".

smurph98gt wrote:Does anyone that's used this or something similar have any experience using it in an apartment? I'm just trying to think of good places to store the keg for a few weeks that'll maintain that perfect temperature. Is it good enough to just leave it tucked away on the kitchen counter?

I have a shelf in a cabinet below my kitchen counter that I barely use ... if the keg fits in the space.

BCMike22 wrote:I would pass on this. As a homebrewer for five years now, the problem with Mr. Beer can be boiled down to this one unavoidable truth: Even if you do everything exactly right--you're still left with Mr. Beer beer and Mr. Beer beer is bad beer.

Not if you do it right. Go to the premium kits (no "booster") and use Fermentis or liquid yeast, and don't use table sugar. And their new seasonals are still excellent. I actually still get the seasonals and brew a double batch in my 5-gal bucket. I made several good batches with MrBeer (in fact, my homebrew friends actually liked the MrBeer beer better than my Brewer's Best or TrueBrew kit beers, if I didn't tell them it was MrBeer).