@conandlibrarian I bought it last time around, it seems really cool and all but I realized I didn’t want to be bothered making beer, and regreting my purchase I gave it to a nephew who will hopefully get more use out of it than I. So you are correct to be wary.
I got one of these kits years ago. The manufacturer screwed up the molds a bit and the two halves didn’t quite line up, so all of the wort dripped out around the vavlestem overnight. It was a big mess.
@jandrese would have happened to me too, but I took the warning in the manual to check for leaks to heart, and then spent a bunch of time carving away at the plastic to get a contiguous surface that would actually seal…
Umm… My first real horse WAS a Thoroughbred. We got her as a rescue. There’s nothing particularly special about Thoroughbreds, despite what the racetrack snobs will try to tell you. Now, if you’d said Lippizanners, I might have been a little more persuaded by the analogy. In fact, it’s far easier for someone to start out on a Thoroughbred, than a Shetland pony.*
*This is because Thoroughbreds might be high-strung, but Shetlands are flat out MEAN. If you actually hate your child, get them a Shetland pony.
@Pavlov Morgans are fantastic horses. When I was in Pony Club, one of the two ringers we had for games was a Morgan – a lot of people just see the compact size and don’t realize how fast those horses can move.
I miss having horses. I can’t afford it, now and I don’t have the space. Man, who would’ve thought that a sale on a beer brewer would stir up so many memories (especially since one of the biggest beer lovers I ever knew was a pony).
@Pixy,
Our first horses were Shetland ponies. My grandfather sent a mare and its colt down for us kids. They also turned out to be the last horses we ever owned. As you say, they are mean.
The mare bucked my brother off for no reason and broke his wrist. The colt chased me into the hen house where I cut up my foot on a piece of tin because I was too scared to look where I was going. And, lastly, the colt literally ran over my little sister and stepped on her stomach. That’s when my dad decided to send them back.
It’s been 50 years and I have still never gotten on another horse!
Various cow horses to start. Then registered QH’s, trained cutters and reining horses.
Then started going English as well as western and wound up on a several Thoroughbreds and Welch ponies (actual true ponies as rare in Texas). And Arabians, including several that were supposedly gifts from the King of Morocco to a local doctor who had been of serious assistance to Morocco during some sort of natural disaster in the 50’s - flooding I think. The Moroccan Arabians were relatively tall, commonly above 16 hands. They were aristocrats and they knew it. And there were a few German warmboods. There were two trainers from Eastern Europe who had made their various countries’ Olympic Teams before they escaped to the West.
And my friends’ horses. Every one of the ones I rode frequently dumped me on my ass or my head at least once. Some were serial dumpers. That makes you a better rider.
(the getting dumped may have had something that do with a riding philosophy: “Hmmm. Haven’t tried that yet. Let’s go!”)
I miss riding terribly, but lack time and a life to fit the demands. Growing up it was easy to keep horses even in the city. If someone had land bordering a city park, the city would let you just fence off a bit for your horses. Stables were pretty commonplace. General Dynamics ran a stable and sporting complex for their employees.
Now doing that in cities costs insane $. If you live in a city and keep your horse rural to save $, you face long drives. In the small towns it seems almost all the kids still ride constantly.
@Freedom1958 Your average horse or pony will actually try NOT to knock you down, but Shetlands? All bets are off with them. It’s like bantam roosters – they may not be big, but they make up for it with sheer attitude.
@f00l Ours were pretty much all rescues, so we had a mix of everything (one of my dad’s best friends is a farrier, so sometimes when it was obvious that someone couldn’t look after a horse – or were just downright scared of it, like with that Thoroughbred – it would end up coming our way). It’s the quirks that make me nostalgic… like the beer drinking (she would steal and break the bottles if she saw them) or the one that liked steak and eggs.
And you’re right, get back up on the horse that threw you isn’t just an expression, it’s a way of life. Which is how I decided I would rather ride English or bareback than in a Western saddle. At least then there’s no horn to come up and get you in the stomach when things get rough (and the shorter stirrup for English allows for a better grips at a lower centre of gravity).
I actually really liked starting out on one of these; you ignore the finicky stuff and your first couple batches are entirely about learning the process (the boil, cooling, aerating, priming, bottling).
From there I bought missing gear (hydrometer, racking cane, etc).
The half-size batches are actually a great way to start. No need for a giant kettle or burner, they make about 24 bottles per batch, and when you start playing with recipes they hedge your bets.
So you sanitize the shit out of everything and then just plop those sugar balls in the bottles with your grubby hands. Maybe use a hand condom or something.
Didn’t even give us enough time to finish the batch from the last time they sold this?
I would have gone for a second barrel (rotating two at a time seems sufficient), but perhaps if they offered something other than the stout again.
@wickhameh I have 4 now so its gonna produce 2 gals a week just about rite , my first batch is ready Sunday then into the bottles for another week or so
@mellowirishgent you can get the malt for 11 dollars and up on amazon just search mr beer supplies 2 day delivery, just bought a few yesterday a 22 pack for 11 bucks do the math and its fun , i now have 4 kits and ordered the hacked root beer should be yum…The one Meh is offering is one of the more expensive malts so its really a good deal
Hmm… and before I’ve had a chance to get a batch through the last one, so I’ve got no way to tell if I’m going to like the results at all. I do think I screwed up the first batch a bit though, so I’m kind of eager to preemptively start another one… meh, I guess I can /buy 1.
@daveinwarsh “for use instead of priming sugar”, it says. I guess the idea is that after the yeast have uh, fermented the… beer liquid… then you dump those in the bottles so that the yeast, uh, eat more sugar.
@InnocuousFarmer The main ingredient is glucose, so it’s pretty much a pre-measured sugar tablet. Perhaps the yeast consume glucose a little easier than sucrose?
This might be fun to try brewing. However, homebrewers usually make 5 gallon brew batches. This is for 2 gallon batches. The price looks good though. Equipment for 5 gallon brews is about $85 and ingredients run about $30 per batch. 5 gallon batches make 48 bottles of beer.
@aWes0m3 don’t you know, Mad Cow Disease started with a bunch of bovine that couldn’t hold their alcohol! They went mad while intoxicated and never were the same again.
So messed up because although i bought another today .last night on amazon i bought the kicked up hacked root beer and it came with the same ingredients basically but also comes with the root beer ingredients for 35 bucks …so you get the whole kit 2 kegs beer malt and hacked root beer good deal … 2 kits for price of one …but the meh deal is also excellent now i have enough for 8 gallons
Made a Mr Beer kit when I was 22 or so. Worst beer I’ve ever tasted. I was 22 as I said, so of course I still drank it. Now I’m a regular homebrewer, kegged my first cider last night! It’s fun, easy, makes alcoholism into a hobby, but it can certainly be a bit tedious.
Idea for you when your beer is done. I use an old mr beer kit for my red wine vinegar. Any spoiled old bottles i haven’t finished the dregs of go in there and a little yeast at one point. It is always going and i use red wine vinegar in salad dressing several times a week and occasionally in vinaigrette chicken.
I’ll break it down the keg 10 bucks the bottles 13 bucks the malt 18 bucks the sugar drops 7 bucks the sanitizer 1 buck the yeast a buck add it up 50 bucks and the shipping so 25 shipped is a steal and takes less then 10 mins to prepare …
Bottles: 25 oz. “designed for brewing” bottles with caps
Everything you need to make 2 gallons (16 pints) of beer (except water)
All of the equipment included is this kit is reusable
“An authentic blend of grainy roasted malt, malted barley and hops. This is a rich, dark brew exhibiting coffee and chocolate aromas, a perfectly balanced, roasted bitter character and dry finish”
Brewing extracts: all natural, GMO free, no added sugar
The proprietary brewing yeast is designed to perform well at a wide variety of temperatures
What’s in the Box?
1x Fermenting keg
11x Bottles with caps
1x Irish Stout brewing extract
1x Packet of yeast
1x No-rinse sanitizer
1x Bag of carbonation drops
@lichme *Drink me all and then piss me out.
This beerly gets me excited…
This suds for you…quit brewing about it at “yeast” you could give it to your friends !
Is this what you need to do kegel exercises?
Hey! it’s a margarita dispenser with a DIY fiber supplement
I think it is good I have no money right now as this is exactly something I would buy, but never use.
@conandlibrarian Buy useless stuff with money you don’t have, i.e. credit. It’s the 'Murican way
@conandlibrarian I bought it last time around, it seems really cool and all but I realized I didn’t want to be bothered making beer, and regreting my purchase I gave it to a nephew who will hopefully get more use out of it than I. So you are correct to be wary.
I looked into it. That thing’s not a condom.
@vanslaterco Ironically, a condom helps prevent yeast
I got one of these kits years ago. The manufacturer screwed up the molds a bit and the two halves didn’t quite line up, so all of the wort dripped out around the vavlestem overnight. It was a big mess.
@jandrese would have happened to me too, but I took the warning in the manual to check for leaks to heart, and then spent a bunch of time carving away at the plastic to get a contiguous surface that would actually seal…
Umm… My first real horse WAS a Thoroughbred. We got her as a rescue. There’s nothing particularly special about Thoroughbreds, despite what the racetrack snobs will try to tell you. Now, if you’d said Lippizanners, I might have been a little more persuaded by the analogy. In fact, it’s far easier for someone to start out on a Thoroughbred, than a Shetland pony.*
*This is because Thoroughbreds might be high-strung, but Shetlands are flat out MEAN. If you actually hate your child, get them a Shetland pony.
@Pixy My first horse was a Morgan. Still love the breed to this day. Great horses.
@Pavlov Morgans are fantastic horses. When I was in Pony Club, one of the two ringers we had for games was a Morgan – a lot of people just see the compact size and don’t realize how fast those horses can move.
I miss having horses. I can’t afford it, now and I don’t have the space. Man, who would’ve thought that a sale on a beer brewer would stir up so many memories (especially since one of the biggest beer lovers I ever knew was a pony).
@Pixy,
Our first horses were Shetland ponies. My grandfather sent a mare and its colt down for us kids. They also turned out to be the last horses we ever owned. As you say, they are mean.
The mare bucked my brother off for no reason and broke his wrist. The colt chased me into the hen house where I cut up my foot on a piece of tin because I was too scared to look where I was going. And, lastly, the colt literally ran over my little sister and stepped on her stomach. That’s when my dad decided to send them back.
It’s been 50 years and I have still never gotten on another horse!
@Pixy
Various cow horses to start. Then registered QH’s, trained cutters and reining horses.
Then started going English as well as western and wound up on a several Thoroughbreds and Welch ponies (actual true ponies as rare in Texas). And Arabians, including several that were supposedly gifts from the King of Morocco to a local doctor who had been of serious assistance to Morocco during some sort of natural disaster in the 50’s - flooding I think. The Moroccan Arabians were relatively tall, commonly above 16 hands. They were aristocrats and they knew it. And there were a few German warmboods. There were two trainers from Eastern Europe who had made their various countries’ Olympic Teams before they escaped to the West.
And my friends’ horses. Every one of the ones I rode frequently dumped me on my ass or my head at least once. Some were serial dumpers. That makes you a better rider.
(the getting dumped may have had something that do with a riding philosophy: “Hmmm. Haven’t tried that yet. Let’s go!”)
I miss riding terribly, but lack time and a life to fit the demands. Growing up it was easy to keep horses even in the city. If someone had land bordering a city park, the city would let you just fence off a bit for your horses. Stables were pretty commonplace. General Dynamics ran a stable and sporting complex for their employees.
Now doing that in cities costs insane $. If you live in a city and keep your horse rural to save $, you face long drives. In the small towns it seems almost all the kids still ride constantly.
@Freedom1958 Your average horse or pony will actually try NOT to knock you down, but Shetlands? All bets are off with them. It’s like bantam roosters – they may not be big, but they make up for it with sheer attitude.
@f00l Ours were pretty much all rescues, so we had a mix of everything (one of my dad’s best friends is a farrier, so sometimes when it was obvious that someone couldn’t look after a horse – or were just downright scared of it, like with that Thoroughbred – it would end up coming our way). It’s the quirks that make me nostalgic… like the beer drinking (she would steal and break the bottles if she saw them) or the one that liked steak and eggs.
And you’re right, get back up on the horse that threw you isn’t just an expression, it’s a way of life. Which is how I decided I would rather ride English or bareback than in a Western saddle. At least then there’s no horn to come up and get you in the stomach when things get rough (and the shorter stirrup for English allows for a better grips at a lower centre of gravity).
I want more possum skull chronicles.
@rileyper YESSSS!
I like my beer premade.
bold-frigid-porter I think I got the perfect order code for this.
/giphy bold frigid porter
@aWes0m3 Ah, but it’s a stout, not a porter.
@Kawa Ugh! So close! #yolo
@aWes0m3 For the last order, my number was wormy-boiling-manager. I thought that was fairly spot-on.
Why this again?
@SKostohryz Profit margin.
I ordered one but then had to cancel realizing it would probably not get here in time before we left for Christmas holiday travels.
Sorry, Meh.
SmartPost sucks, BTW. Especially at Christmas.
@justbuyit Meh, who cares, justbuyit
Im guessing they will be selling this again in about 3 weeks or so when the first batch is done?
@DrSayre that would be the 3rd batch
I actually really liked starting out on one of these; you ignore the finicky stuff and your first couple batches are entirely about learning the process (the boil, cooling, aerating, priming, bottling).
From there I bought missing gear (hydrometer, racking cane, etc).
The half-size batches are actually a great way to start. No need for a giant kettle or burner, they make about 24 bottles per batch, and when you start playing with recipes they hedge your bets.
So you sanitize the shit out of everything and then just plop those sugar balls in the bottles with your grubby hands. Maybe use a hand condom or something.
Didn’t even give us enough time to finish the batch from the last time they sold this?
I would have gone for a second barrel (rotating two at a time seems sufficient), but perhaps if they offered something other than the stout again.
@wickhameh I have 4 now so its gonna produce 2 gals a week just about rite , my first batch is ready Sunday then into the bottles for another week or so
@wickhameh Well it takes a few weeks to ferment and a few more to carbonate after you bottle… And I got mine bottled on Wednesday.
@mellowirishgent you can get the malt for 11 dollars and up on amazon just search mr beer supplies 2 day delivery, just bought a few yesterday a 22 pack for 11 bucks do the math and its fun , i now have 4 kits and ordered the hacked root beer should be yum…The one Meh is offering is one of the more expensive malts so its really a good deal
If I add Fromunda cheese instead of yeast will it have more head and be more frothy?
@gak0090 There is only one way to find out.
They got drunk?
My thirst for instant gratification kills this meh.
Irish Stout, eh?
Is that dog whistle for fat gingers?
These Dad jokes are making me thirsty.
Hmm… and before I’ve had a chance to get a batch through the last one, so I’ve got no way to tell if I’m going to like the results at all. I do think I screwed up the first batch a bit though, so I’m kind of eager to preemptively start another one… meh, I guess I can /buy 1.
@InnocuousFarmer No? What?
/buy! /buy, damn you!
@InnocuousFarmer
/giphy bye bye bye
sorry, had to
@conandlibrarian Boooooo
Fun idea for many I’m sure. But too much work for me.
Carbonation drops?
@daveinwarsh “for use instead of priming sugar”, it says. I guess the idea is that after the yeast have uh, fermented the… beer liquid… then you dump those in the bottles so that the yeast, uh, eat more sugar.
Bubbles are important.
@InnocuousFarmer The main ingredient is glucose, so it’s pretty much a pre-measured sugar tablet. Perhaps the yeast consume glucose a little easier than sucrose?
@InnocuousFarmer Thanks, I didn’t see that. I used to brew a lot & didn’t see the ‘use for priming sugar’ thing.
This might be fun to try brewing. However, homebrewers usually make 5 gallon brew batches. This is for 2 gallon batches. The price looks good though. Equipment for 5 gallon brews is about $85 and ingredients run about $30 per batch. 5 gallon batches make 48 bottles of beer.
@donver yep, and its easy to cut a recipe in half. 5 gallons is no joke.
I’m too lazy to do this. Plus I don’t trust myself not to make myself sick with madcow, salmonella, listeria, tricanella, or whatever.
@smjnga as long as you pitch in yeast and not raw hamburger, then there’s practically no way to let pathogens grow in there.
@smjnga Mad cow? What the hell?
@aWes0m3 don’t you know, Mad Cow Disease started with a bunch of bovine that couldn’t hold their alcohol! They went mad while intoxicated and never were the same again.
@u8myfoood Mad cow disease was the original name for what is now named Premenstrual syndrome.
So messed up because although i bought another today .last night on amazon i bought the kicked up hacked root beer and it came with the same ingredients basically but also comes with the root beer ingredients for 35 bucks …so you get the whole kit 2 kegs beer malt and hacked root beer good deal … 2 kits for price of one …but the meh deal is also excellent now i have enough for 8 gallons
Hubz is going to start a new hobby this holiday season.
/giphy makeshift flashy bug
Made a Mr Beer kit when I was 22 or so. Worst beer I’ve ever tasted. I was 22 as I said, so of course I still drank it. Now I’m a regular homebrewer, kegged my first cider last night! It’s fun, easy, makes alcoholism into a hobby, but it can certainly be a bit tedious.
@SpiritualGorila Awesome !!
This seems like a decent gift.
/giphy vigorous-violet-judge
C’mon meh, sell a fucking still kit for $25 and I’ll be impressed.
I need these by Christmas if I’m not going to get them I need to cancel
@terri47 It’s iffy according to the estimated delivery date in the specs.
Idea for you when your beer is done. I use an old mr beer kit for my red wine vinegar. Any spoiled old bottles i haven’t finished the dregs of go in there and a little yeast at one point. It is always going and i use red wine vinegar in salad dressing several times a week and occasionally in vinaigrette chicken.
@CaptAmehrican Whats the recipe please? ty
@CaptAmehrican
apologizes
@f00l that you are organized
And so productive.
I’ll break it down the keg 10 bucks the bottles 13 bucks the malt 18 bucks the sugar drops 7 bucks the sanitizer 1 buck the yeast a buck add it up 50 bucks and the shipping so 25 shipped is a steal and takes less then 10 mins to prepare …
Specs
What’s in the Box?
1x Fermenting keg
11x Bottles with caps
1x Irish Stout brewing extract
1x Packet of yeast
1x No-rinse sanitizer
1x Bag of carbonation drops
Pictures
Everything included
Irish Stout
Chug chug chug chug
Price Comparison
$43.98 at Amazon
Find a relevant price comparison? Please share it in a comment in this thread
Warranty
30 Day Mr. Beer
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Thursday, July 16th
Wife hated her gift. For sale on Facebook @$25… No takers, one gentleman wants to know lowest dollar… Any suggested responses