Home Brewing Kits- Has anyone ACTUALLY brewed a good beer?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Reluctantly, I have finally decided to dust off a “Mr. Beer” home brewing kit my wife bought for me for Xmas over a year ago. I say reluctantly because from I have been told, the end product is usually, well, not that good.

This particular kit has a plastic 240 oz “keg”; “booster”; and some Pale Ale mix that comes in a can. Your supposed to boil all this crap into some water, let sit for so many days, then pour the brew into bottles, add sugar, and let sit for several more days.

Somehow, I am betting that if home brewing were all that successful, we all would be doing it, and all the beer companies would get into it, rather than spend millions on breweries.:rolleyes:

But has anyone actually made a good beer with one of these kits? If so, any special tips you can offer that might not be in the instructions?:cool:

2

Well, I know people who have made some pretty good homebrew, but they ordered the stuff individually. No “Mr Beer” kits for them!

3

Mr. Beer: No. Other kits: sure. A friend had this Mr Beer set up and it looked REALLY chincy. Advice-- bottle into real bottles, not plastic. Never platic. Also go to a brew supply and get some better yeast. The malt and hops it comes with are probably ok, but upgrade from the dry yeast. There are these swell liquidy packets where you feed the yeast for a couple of days before actually brewing. Also look around on the web for better instructions than the ones the set up comes with re water, temperature, sanitation, etc.
It’s a labor of love and when you use ingredients that are good enough to make a godo brew it’s more expensive-- about 25 bucks for 5 gallons after the initial investment in equipment. Someone even more of a zealot will likely be in shortly. We have a batch of english ale going at this very moment. . .

4

Man my old roomie and I made our own beer for over a year. We kept three batches working all the time in rotation. It was a lot of work but the beer was good for the most part. Start with the pale ale, they seemed to be the least likely to taste like crap even if you don’t get it exactly right. I echo tne last post; NO PLASTIC. Another piece of good advice is to allow your brew to work in an area where you do not have to move it to bottle it. The grains settle to the botom and you will want to leave them there so don’t move your brew before you bottle if you can help it unless you like to chew your beer. Happy brewing.

P.S. When you feel confident try a blueberry stout…mmmmmmm

5

You’re not going to get great beer with Mr. Beer. That being said, there are a few things you can do to get better (even enjoyable) beer.

  1. Don’t use corn sugar as part of your fermentables. Corn sugar will give the beer a cidery taste. If there is a homebrewing store near you, get a hold of dry malt extract (DME) and use that instead…they can tell you how much to substitute.

  2. As has already been suggested…get some good yeast. Lord knows hold old that dry yeast that you have is.

  3. There is a Mr Beer web site that has an FAQ and maybe some hints to try…

  4. I found a link to a nice list of suggestions from a rec.craft.brewing post here

  5. If you can, I highly recommend getting a starter kit from a homebew shop or online. I like Northern Brewer’s kits. This is the way I got into homebrewing…I made many an enjoyable brew with this kind of basic starter kit. And it can be used as part of a more advanced setup later if you like. (I currently brew all grain beers).

  6. I’m sure Homebrew will be along shortly to add his lame 2 cents… :stuck_out_tongue:

6

Yes, I have, and did so for a couple years as a diversion. The fact that I rarely drank ended it.

The hints I can offer for doing it all successfully are:

  1. Cleanliness to the extreme.

  2. Follow the instructions to the letter.

  3. Did I mention cleanliness?

7

Regardless of the fact that the Mr. Beer kit will make lousy beer, you’re especially doomed. Beer kits don’t age well. If yours is over a year old, abandon all hope.

That having been said, definitely try real homebrewing. I did it for years and made some really fine stuff. If you’re happy with Bud and Lite beers, then maybe it’s not for you. But if you like real beers with actual flavor, the results can be great.

As to “Somehow, I am betting that if home brewing were all that successful, we all would be doing it”, you have to remember that we as a species are inherently lazy. Homebrewing takes time and effort: several days of forethought to get a yeast starter going and to buy the ingredients, anywhere from two (extract) to four or more (all-grain) hours on brew day, at least two weeks of fermentation (longer if lagering or doing some secondary hopping), a couple of hours to bottle (less if you keg), a couple of weeks to age/carbonate. All that for about two cases of beer.

I personally haven’t done it for a couple of years, but with a toddler around, there never seems to be the time. I do miss it though.

8

Same here. It got to be too much work and there are so many good beers on the market these days.

9

If you’re interested in taking a serious shot at homebrewing, I recommend getting a copy of Charlie Papazian’s The Complete Joy of Home Brewing. It’s packed full of good advice and real recipes (some for beginners and some exclusively for the high priests of brewing–barkshack gingermead, anyone?).

Of course, I only brew mead myself, and you can’t get kits for that.

10

I sampled the beer from about 3-4 home brewers and they all tasted fine. Actually, I asked for seconds.

Wusses who enjoy bottled “lite” beer weren’t as impressed.

I was genuinely surprised, and at least one was a rather standard “kit” beer.

For the record, I enjoy beer from a tap, and never “lite”. I still cannot fathom how an adult male could drag his ass to a pub and order a “wuss lite” in a bottle. :rolleyes:

11

Actually I’m still too embarassed by misspelling Guinness in another thread to feel worthy to post to any beer threads. :frowning:

But, I’d say you’ve given good advice here. I always felt that Mr. Beer kits were the work of Bud-Miller-Coors in an effort to discredit homebrewing. If somebody’s entire exposure to homebrewing is through those kits, they probably won’t think highly of the craft, so the big boys don’t lose another customer.

12

I’ll second the first and third hints, but I have to disagree pretty strongly with the second. Beer making is an art, and much of the fun is in experimenting and trying new things.

Although it is important to understand all the processes involved, so perhaps it is a good idea to follow instructions exactly the first few times.

But once you understand what’s going on, feel free to alter things. Vary the types and amounts of hops. Try different grains. Experiment with adding herbs and spices, or fruit. It’s fun!

Balance recommended Charlie Papazian’s excellent book, and I think his motto says it best: “Relax. Don’t worry. Have a homebrew.”

13

A friend and I have been brewing for about 18 months, and out of the 25 or more batches we’ve made, only one was rotten. All the others were excellent. And it’s really not that hard, as long as you sanitize everyting, you’ll be fine. And sanitizing is a breeze. I do recommend having a partner, or at least, an assistant. True, you have to share your beer, but it makes everything a lot easier, especially bottling.

14

My older brother has made some very nice beers himself. I don’t know what system (if that’s what they’re called) he uses. But he’s tried different recipes, and even experimented a little, and a lot of what he’s brewed have been very tasty, indeed.

15

One of my best friends has been brewing for a little over a year.
He makes great beer.

I chipped in for a Northern Brewer Nut Brown Ale kit with him a while back… I got a case of beer for it. I just drank my last one, and am close to weeping for the loss.

Homebrew done right, GRAND!

He also makes a mighty fine wine!
Gonna try my hand at a hard cider here real soon…

16

Good advice so far, and I’d definitely have to agree with what Ferrous said.

Follow the instructions for the first few batches, or until the process starts to come naturally to you. There are two ways you can deviate from the instructions to make better (or conceivably worse) beer. One way is to substitute or add ingredients, and the other is to alter the brewing method. When you feel confident enough to start experimenting, I’d suggest you experiment with ingredients only for awhile. You’ll end up with truly great beer, and that’ll get your confidence up to start messing about with the brewing method.

For your first batch, definitely make the standard Mr Beer brew that you’ve been given. If you do it right and keep everything clean, you’ll wind up with a drinkable product. It won’t be good beer, but you won’t spit it out in disgust. It’ll also serve as a benchmark for you to see how many lightyears ahead are your later brews.

For the second lot, take beagledave’s advice and get your hands on some dried malt extract to use instead of sugar. You’ll need to use about 30% or so more malt than you would sugar to achieve a similar alcohol level. You’ll enjoy drinking this one.

Now you’ll be able to start experimenting with adding extra hops of different varieties (early in the brewing process for increased bitterness, or late for heightened aroma). Your beers will keep getting better. You may make the occasional dodgy one, but that’s how you’ll learn.

After that, you can start screwing about with the process itself. You might try double stage fermentation for clarity, for example.

Brewing can be hard work. That’s why more people aren’t doing it, but you will be making beer better than anything you can buy at the pub, providing you:
-don’t skimp on ingredients. Pay the extra for the quality stuff; it’s still cheaper than paying the breweries to make your beer for you.
-keep everything to a hospital grade of cleanliness.
-Don’t be tempted to break into your stash too early. If you’re thirsty, keep buying beer until you have a stockpile of aged homebrew.
-Research. There’s plenty of stuff on the net and in books to turn you into an advanced brewer in no time at all.

17

I agree; I was looking at this from the aspect of just starting out. When one is still climbing the brewing learning curve, one should not be too overly daring.

I also recommend the Charlie Papazian book - it’s about the best overall book on the subject for the beginner/mid-level homebrewer.

18

“Mr. Beer” kits have been much maligned, but then I would expect nothing else from a bunch of effete snobs. A casual perusal of the Google/Usenet resident rec.brewing hand-wringers will bear this out.

“My Wort is supposed to be 21.45 degrees F, and I just measured it, and it’s 21.44 degrees F, should I just throw it all away and start over??”

By all means if you are interested, find either a real or online home brew shop and buy the right stuff, it isn’t particularly expensive nor difficult * once you get the hang of things *.

If you insist on Mr. Beer, you should deviate from the ‘recipe’ (I freely admit without any coercion to have used Mr. Beer products in the past) with outstanding results. I lived in europe for years and I know what truly good beer tastes like, and it isn’t some over-hopped skunk special for 9 bucks a six pack in a yuppie fern bar.

Do not use cane sugar. The “Mr. Beer” products are produced in New Zealand and are not that bad of quality. The use of cane sugar requires extensive lagering times, more on that later.

I recommend the Wheat malt or “Weissen” and use pure malt extract in lieu of sugar, this will make a smoother product.

You can buy fancy gear or use sanitized buckets, your choice. I used cleaned and sanitized 2 and 3 liter soda bottles with absolutely no problem.

Follow the directions carefully and let your mix sit in the “keg” for ~ 10 days. You can set the keg in your fridge the last day or two for a ‘cold break’ if you like. Let the carbonating (careful, here) beer set for 2 weeks, a bit longer than the MB directions call for.

Now. To “Lager” means store in deutsch. You could drink your beer right after carbonation, but it would taste like shit, generally speaking. This is the hardest part of home brewing, and why it is essential to have some beer on hand, some in the carboy, some carbonating, some lagering, some… well, you get the idea.

30 days minimum cold storage, in a cool dark garage, your fridge, even. Longer if you can.

I have made absolutely wonderful beer using “Mr. Beer” products, it’s just not high-speed low drag professional type stuff. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” must have been coined by a braumeister, however. Read everything you can get your hands on before taking it too far. Relax, and have a home brew.

19

An effete snob checking back in-- lager, does indeed mean “to store.” A Lager Beer is one which ferments on the bottom and must be fermented using a different sort of years and at a lower temperature and take longer, hence the lagering. As opposed to ales, which are top fermenting and take a shorter period to finish up, and which you will most likely be making unless you have a special fridge.

20

If you’re really interested in getting into brewing, I’ve found a few truisms apply (at least to me).

  1. Just about anyone can make a good beer from malt extracts, if they follow the advice above (cleanliness and following instructions). If you want to make a really good, or even great beer, you have to go to the trouble of using whole grains. But if you like beermaking, the extra effort is more than repaid in better-tasting beer.
  2. Kegging your homebrew has advantages over bottling. It takes up less space, can “finish” in the keg, and you have more control over the carbonation. If you give it away, you can tap it into a growler. I got hold of some old 5-gallon soda kegs, and they work great.
  3. Experimentation is half the fun, after you have the basics down. Even my “scratch” recipies have come out really well.
  4. Having a brewing partner is important. Since I’ve been a born-again single, all my brewing stuff is gathering dust. It just doesn’t seem worth doing alone.