As a homebrewer, part of me wants to immediately scoff at anything “Mr. Beer.” However, I got my start in brewing with, ultimately, a glorified Mr. Beer kit.
Here’s the deal. If you have any interest in home brewing, this isn’t a bad deal. It lets you get a little bit of exposure to the process to see if it’s something you enjoy or not. You can even go on to do small batch extract brews with this kit, buying ingredients from a local brewshop or an online retailer. That’s where it really starts getting fun.
Just to set some expectations: From everything I’ve heard, Mr. Beer kit beer seldom comes out great. That’s probably due to the fact that it’s either pre-hopped malt extract or the hops and yeast are just plain old. Fresh ingredients are a big part of quality beer. However, there is no reason you couldn’t do decent quality small batches with this kit if you buy fresh ingredients.
Also, sanitation is king. If you decide to get this kit, I highly recommend getting a product called StarSan. It’s a food-grade, acid based, no rinse sanitizer that will make your life worlds easier and help you to make better beer.
If you find that you enjoy brewing… well… get ready to spend some money because once you fall down the rabbit hole you’re going to want to buy it all. I will say, if you ever get into 5 gallon+ brewing, the investment in kegging / kegerator is essential if you don’t want to get burnt out on bottling.
@Akom The Mr. Beer kit I got years ago came with a packet of StarSan. The “what’s in the box” list here is a bit vague, but I suspect it is basically the same thing.
@Hamhands@baqui63 The problem with the fermenter is it doesn’t have a proper airlock. It just has a screw on cap that you leave loose while fermenting, potentially allowing contamination.
“Brewing beer is neither complicated nor expensive,” writes the builder of this handsome Texas-themed HERMS system. “It’s the responsibility of the brewer to make it as complicated and expensive as their wifes [sic] will allow.”
@Jetlag I cannot speak for your jurisdiction, but here in NY, it is perfectly legal for minors to buy the stuff to make beer (my daughters used to get me things for my birthday and Christmas all the time).
I am not certain about the legality of a minor brewing beer, but drinking it is also perfectly legal for minors in NY. The law prohibits selling or giving alcoholic beverages to minors, except for a parent or guardian providing it to their own child or ward.
I once used a Mr. Beer kit to brew some beer. And it actually made beer. I even drank some of it and it didn’t kill me. But it did taste vaguely like skunk urine. Which was weird because I used the recipe for goat urine. I’m sure this one is less uriney, though.
I’m a home brewer already and got my start from one of these. It really is a fun hobby. Maybe pick one up as a White Elephant gift or something for wacky Uncle Stu?
@2palms I’m also a home brewer who got started with a couple Mr Beer Kits. Makes me cringe thinking about how bad it actually was back then, but I don’t take credit from Mr Beer. It got me started and was a good starting point
@2palms Home brewer who started with Mr. Beer here too. The Mr. Beer kits are actually pretty good. I still use the fermenter that came with it to brew test 2-gal batches. The fermenter is a nifty design; I like how the little pseudo-airlock works.
I’d recommend the kits for starting brewers. You can get beer out of one that’s every bit as good as a “real” home brewing setup. The process is basically the same. Only difference is the quantity and the level of control you have over the process.
@moosetoga Is there a pseudo-airlock on the fermenter? I bought a kit from w00t years ago and the fermenter had just a threaded cover that you left kind of loose.
Started home brewing in college with one of these under my dorm bed. I’ve still got the bug 20 years later but now I’ve got a kegerator and propane burner. Mr. Beer is an accessible way to try out the hobby but it helps if you have people to pour it for who aren’t too picky.
@Pantheist it will taste like garbage… you can buy better extract kits. In homebrewing the expense isn’t ingredients, it is equipment; and this is good cheap equipment.
Hope that “designed for brewing” bottles means they are designed to prevent the exploding bottle action you can get after you bottle it and it ages. When you get to that step be very careful to follow the directions exactly. I lived in a co-op and a PhD student in chemistry and an undergrad engineering student decided to make a ton of homemade beer. One evening things started going bang bang bang. Some of the bottles were exploding. Big mess in the engineering student’s bedroom where a handful of bottles exploded. They then moved them all to the kitchen were a couple more blew up but at least the glass was contained as they threw sheets over the pile.
@Kidsandliz Somebody didn’t check the final gravity to make sure fermentation was complete. Too much sugar after primary fermentation…adding more carbonating sugar…hungry yeast…boom!
@mehcuda67 Probably LOL, however I do recall they wanted it in someone’s room so that others didn’t swipe some…That same PhD student decided to go on a house wide homemade ice cream making binge and made avocado ice cream. He didn’t have to worry about anyone stealing that out of the freezer. It tasted like a freshly mowed lawn smelled. If ice cream can mold in the freezer due to old age, this one would have.
Plastic soda-style bottles are generally safer for novice home brewers. It’s easy to stop the fermentation process by just putting the beers in the fridge. Do this when your bottles “feel” like a factory-sealed Pepsi bottles and they won’t explode all over your dorm. I think this may be some of why Mr Beer sells their kits with plastic bottles. Also: they ship more cheaply and are less likely to be broken in transit.
and then they discover, uh, it’s really really hard and not really all that much fun
But extract brewing is insanely easy: you heat some water, add the extract(s), boil it, pour it into the bucket with some more water, and then pitch your yeast once it’s cooled to a safe temperature. It’s easier than most cooking.
I started making homebrew with one of these kits years ago with pretty good results. I am now brewing all-grain and kegging my beer. You can usually get starter kits pretty cheap, especially this time of year, at Austin Homebrew or Northern Brewer. An interesting recent development is that Anheuser-Busch Inbev purchased Northern Brewer/Midwest Supplies. InBev buys Northern Brewer. Some brewers have understandably chosen to now avoid buying from them after the buyout. The American Homebrewers Association is a good resource for learning how to homebrew, beginner to advanced.
@Stumpy91 Didn’t realize Northern Brewer was sold. The Minneapolis location is a block from child’s daycare so have never needed an excuse to drop in. This could give me an excuse to avoid. InBev is gobbling up everything lately. Sads…
@connorbush you’re kind of being a snooty jerk. most of their beer is garbage, yes. But, Bourbon County is still amazing… as long as you ignore last years contamination issue.
@Hamhands … Really? I was asking a question. I genuinely wanted to know if @mistamoose had noticed any change since the transition to InBev. Being that the claim was made that Bourbon County was the best there is, I assume that the mehmber had more experience with the liquid than I. With the 10 Barrel acquisition, I noticed very little change. With the Goose Island buyout, I noticed some sever change upfront; however, it then seemed to go back to the norm. Do I still enjoy some Goose beers, hell yeah! Did I feel like they could have gone with a more hands off approach? Sure. Including a question with my statement left the door open to collaboration and retort. Had it just been a statement I could see how it would be snooty. Understandably, a forum involving a beer-related good would have comments from people interested in beer. I value the opinion of fellow mehtizens and fellow beer enthusiasts and went seeking feedback from a peer. Why is that snooty?
I love Meh, Mediocre, and the forums. In no way did I intend to come off snooty. In my first sentence of the original comment I did show some disapproval; however, it was not contempt toward another–more sadness toward the takeover by InBev. I apologize if I came off as disdainful or snobbish.
I looked up snooty because I truly felt awful. I never want for my forum comments to create a hostile environment.
snoot·y
/ˈsno͞odē/
adjective
1. showing disapproval or contempt toward others, especially those considered to belong to a lower social class: "snooty neighbors" synonyms: arrogant, proud, haughty, conceited, aloof, superior, self-important, disdainful, supercilious, snobbish, snobby, patronizing, condescending, uppity, high and mighty, la-di-da, stuck-up, hoity-toity
@connorbush That was how I learned of the InBev takeover. Something seemed… really lacking in beers I had previously enjoyed. Poked around and quickly learned, why yes! Something had changed!
I’ll still get a Bourbon County every year but otherwise… meh.
@bdp As an FYI: Flat = either your yeast was no longer viable when you bottled (i.e. it all died), or your bottles weren’t fully sealed. If all of them were flat, it was probably your yeast.
Cider = Probably either got infected with something or got inoculated with natural yeast from the environment, which can create tart or funky flavors.
Watery = Possibly too much volume to start? Depends on what you were brewing.
@bdp I had no carbonation trouble, but flavorwise their recipe makes for a very thin beer. Plus, the spout attaches right where the two halves of the barrel were joined together, making a rough surface that is almost impossible to seal. I even tried whittling the mold lines flat with a sharp knife but it was no use.
@bdp I actually made quite a few batches with my Mr Beer kit from w00t! It was a gateway to a more conventional setup where I am now doing all-grain brewing and kegging my beer. Cheers.
If you click on that Warranty link for the 30 days from Mr. Beer, you’ll find yourself staring at some bloke what wants you to stare at him for the whole fripping 30 days.
Has anybody else had issues with the spigot assembly leaking?
I’ve meticulously adjusted the tightness of the nut and the best seal I can get leaks at a rate of 1 drop/~5 sec.
I’ve contacted Mr. Beer support to see whether my kit included the correct nut because there is no wide flat side like the instruction illustration indicates.
I’m going to try sanding the opening of the keg so it’s flush, but figured I’d check in here to see whether other folks are experiencing similar concerns.
@wooterondo Yeah, I’m having the same issue. I keep reaching in to screw around (heh) with the tightness, but have yet to get it to stop completely after four or five tries. Not ready to give up on it yet, though. The top of mine was also cracked, so wondering if this was a low quality batch.
I noticed they’re offering a different spout on Mr. Beer’s website.
@wooterondo I basically had to wiggle mine in by turning the entire spigot assembly counter-clockwise, then holding the nut and turning the spigot clockwise to tighten it just a bit more.
@wooterondo those plastic faucets can be fragile. Don’t tighten it too tight or you can break it. Also don’t sand down anything, that makes for a great bacteria hiding spot.
Check out a home brewing store for a faucet replacement.
@Kevin Good advice against sanding vs. the bacteria that can set into the crevasses, thanks!
Mr. Beer’s support already responded to my ticket so I figure I’ll see what their resolution is before hitting up a local store for a faucet replacement.
@wooterondo if you don’t want to wait for the replacement faucet. Wrap the current one in some teflon tape. Wrap some on the threads, and try to get a layer on the outside. It might look ugly, but it might work. Be sure to run some sanitizer though the faucet before the wort.
@Kevin I had the same problem–a big plastic weld / unevenness between the two halves of the keg, on the outer surface, that were preventing the rubber seal from sealing.
I filed down the plastic and got the dripping to stop. I think I’m going to take my chances with the bacteria–I’ll be sure to give it lots of exposure to the sanitizer.
That whole assembly is really bad. The nut on the inside doesn’t even cover the hole, there’s tons of play in how you can move the tap around…
@wooterondo The flashing and molding is much worse than the older Mr Beer kegs. If you trim down the flash with a knife (not sandpaper), it gets a little better.
@connorbush Have not heard the words “party ball” since 2007. This brings back (hazy) memories from college. Appreciate the reminder of those relics. Can these be purchased any longer?
@greychr Yes. It will work fine. Mostly, though, you don’t have to let your sodas ferment. So you will use the bottles but not the fermenter.
Soda = sugary water plus flavor plus carbon dioxide. You can get the carbon dioxide from yeast action if you’re mindful about keeping your carbonated bottles in the fridge. But there will always be a little sediment in the bottom of the bottle, and often an off flavor from the yeast.
To avoid the danger of over-carbonating your bottles and blowing them up if they get too warm, and to avoid the sediment and off flavors of bottle-carbonating with yeast, most sodas are not brewed at all. They’re mixed like Kool-Aid and then force-carbonated.
The first rule is cleanliness- make sure everything is sterilized and sanitized! That site is where I found out the problem I had was too high temps when fermenting (in the summer)! The kegs must be kept at a stable temperature range while fermenting. Get on Mr. Beer’s email list and stock up when they have their big sales. You can also use other kits from home brew stores if there’s one in your area. Watch the proportions though. I had a batch explode once too, like Hank’s in Breaking Bad.
My favorites are Mr. Beers Corona copy, which is ready in like two weeks start to finish, The Oatmeal Stout, and one of the wheat ales. I even made a spreadsheet with all of their recipes (at the time I made it) with required ingredients, ABV, time to completion, etc. I’d be happy to email it to you if you want. {chipcayer at yahoo} (I told you I had a lot of time on my hands!)
Just talking about it makes me want to go down in the cellar and see what I could brew up!
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
Just bought one, unused-floral-privateer … I am lazy and may wish I’d just bought beer but…for a bucket list cross off it’s worth a batch, and I do like stout.
@zr57 I have been brewing for 10 years and I picked one of these up just for the equipment, nice to have a 2-gal system for messing around with. A standard homebrew kit is for 5 gallons which is a heck of a lot of beer if it turns out crappy
These Mr Beer kits don’t include hops, but the malt syrup is already hopped. This is a good start to brewing, if you don’t want to spend 300 bucks on all the right equipment. But, doing it the right way will yield much better results.
@MrGlass You’re totally allowed to customize. The recipe in the kit is “pre-hopped malt” - it’s barley syrup and hop extract. The water you use will affect the flavor of your beer and so will the temperature that you hold it at after you add the yeast. But those are the only variables if you’re working clean, so your batch of Irish Stout will taste pretty much like everyone else who buys it and brews it.
For a stout you could try adding a cup of strong freshly-brewed coffee or a few tablespoons of cocoa nibs. Probably add them during your boil to sanitize them. Or a sliced jalapeno? Around here (San Diego) I see a lot of spicy stout beers.
For more experienced brewers who get the idea to try a new flavor combination, it’s tough to commit to a standard 31-gallon batch just because it sounds interesting. Even home-brewers making 5-gallon batches don’t want to screw up a whole batch by tossing a bunch of jalapenos or canned pumpkin or juniper berries or whatever in at the last minute. So these smaller 2-gallon fermenters are great! You can make a whole batch of decent “house recipe” beer, and then customize some 2-gallon side-batches.
That might be your biggest struggle with customizing it. You won’t have a “plain vanilla” batch to compare it with, so you can’t take credit for improving the recipe! Hm… maybe you better buy two just in case…
…great, now I want to brew a stout with vanilla beans…
@MrGlass the only way I would make it your own is to add some flavoring or somthing after primary fermentation. You could soak some oak chips in burbon and toss those in the fermentor for a few days for an Oaked Irish Burbon Stout. Use the oak very sparingly.
For other style beers you can take a wheat beer and add some grapefruit juice to make a shandy.
You can pretty much add in anything after primary fermentation. The thing to watch out for is that the sugar you add will get fermented out and taste differently.
Mr Beer kits are the Easy-bake oven of brewing beer… Just like making a cake from a box, but pay attention to sanitizing everything, temperature, etc, and your beer will come out just fine.
I bought my wife one of these a few years ago; now she’s an all grain brewer, we have a bunch of equipment, including kegging gear. We still use our Mr Beer vessel for seconds batches (session), and the filling spout is convenient at times. Sanitize/Sanitize/Sanitize is our only advice.
FYI-- These kits are usually $20 at department store closeout sales, post holiday…But not usually for the Stout variety. I’ve also seen refill kits in bins/shelves with red labels on them for under $10. Many home brew stores have 1-2.5 gallon ‘kits’ too that aren’t necessarily Mr. Beer branded.
I suppose I’ll
/buy 2
For a friend/relative for a holiday gift
@neveraging only if you do it yourself. Can’t tell if you’re joking or not, but beer is anti-microbial on its own so no need to pasteurize, and the process for brewing includes boiling the ingredients for a period of time sufficient to kill any bugs. Cold filtered, I believe, is hogwash. It’ll be safe to drink as long as you take all necessary precautions.
I used Mr. Beer for quite a while. Most of the brews came out awesome. The failures I had were related to the temperatures being too high while fermenting. I stocked up on a bunch of the ingredients while they were on sale. Then I lost interest. The last time I looked at their site, the price for a kit was ridiculous, even at 20% off. The main point of home brewing is to save money. You can’t do that any more with Mr. Beer. Take this deal for example- You’ll end up with just under a case of good stout beer, for $30. Go to the store instead.
@TCayer That’s like saying, "Why buy a LEGO Millennium Falcon for $80 when you can just buy a toy one for $50? The point is about putting it together more than saving money for the most part. However, in some cases (like my Soda Stream), it is good to run a break-even analysis.
@wickhameh I retired in 2009, and was a stay-at-home-dad for my three year old for a few years. I had lots of time. I actually have 4 kegs and would make 4 batches at staggered intervals. I had loads of fun doing it, and for well over a year, that’s all my friends and I drank. I even made home-made labels on my computer. I bought a full-on brew kit with secondary, etc on ebay, but haven’t tried it yet. But at the end of the day, if I opened the fridge and there’s a Corona or a craft beer, and next to it is one of mine, I’m pushing mine aside and grabbing one of those.
I just checked my order and delivery is supposed to occur some time from Nov 24 to Nov 29. Somehow I doubt they will actually show up on Thanksgiving Day!!
So I’ve been a bit busy last few weeks and am only getting to dusting off my Mr. Beer now. Has anyone tried their kit yet? Maybe @jasontoon has the followup video ready?
@MrGlass Mine’s sitting in the middle of my kitchen floor, fermenting away, probably I hope. Only four more weeks until I can drink some of what will probably be the poison that kills me.
@InnocuousFarmer Let us know how it tastes! The tap water is awful by me, so I’m going to wait till have time to purchase a few gallons of bottled water.
Full process took 24 days 3 weeks fermenting(could be 2 weeks) 2.5 days carbonation process and chilling and bingo irish stout that is dark and delish and way beyond expectations after about 12 oz i have a nice buzz… think i’ll leave the other 10- 25oz. bottles a week or so to as they say develop lol… so very happy with this Meh purchase
Popped open a few bottles last week. Beer was better than expected but not incredible. I’d drink it before your standard bottle but it doesn’t really hold up to the craft brews I normally buy. So, I guess my verdict is that the beer is mediocre (surprising, I know).
I also had a weird issue where my beer was not very carbonated. Not sure what happened, though I’m starting to suspect I didn’t tighten the caps enough.
Oh, and if your thinking about making more than one batch, make sure to buy the relevant cleaning supplies ahead of time. They don’t come with the kit, and cleaning is much harder if you dont do it ASAP.
@RiotDemon
Boring answer: I was trying to get a receipt to return another product purchased here. The kit popped up in the process and I misread the “comment” window to be in regard to reviewing the product. This was likely due to my “Shut Up” comment section plugin. I figured I would let the world know how I felt about the home brewing kit whilst attaining the aforementioned receipt. And here we are now.
As a homebrewer, part of me wants to immediately scoff at anything “Mr. Beer.” However, I got my start in brewing with, ultimately, a glorified Mr. Beer kit.
Here’s the deal. If you have any interest in home brewing, this isn’t a bad deal. It lets you get a little bit of exposure to the process to see if it’s something you enjoy or not. You can even go on to do small batch extract brews with this kit, buying ingredients from a local brewshop or an online retailer. That’s where it really starts getting fun.
Just to set some expectations: From everything I’ve heard, Mr. Beer kit beer seldom comes out great. That’s probably due to the fact that it’s either pre-hopped malt extract or the hops and yeast are just plain old. Fresh ingredients are a big part of quality beer. However, there is no reason you couldn’t do decent quality small batches with this kit if you buy fresh ingredients.
Also, sanitation is king. If you decide to get this kit, I highly recommend getting a product called StarSan. It’s a food-grade, acid based, no rinse sanitizer that will make your life worlds easier and help you to make better beer.
If you find that you enjoy brewing… well… get ready to spend some money because once you fall down the rabbit hole you’re going to want to buy it all. I will say, if you ever get into 5 gallon+ brewing, the investment in kegging / kegerator is essential if you don’t want to get burnt out on bottling.
@Akom SANITATION IS KING****** … had to exemplify this.
@Akom this post needs extra stars. it need to be the top post. I do all grain and I’ll probably by this for the 2 gal fermentor for small batches.
@Hamhands, @akom I have also brewed for years and am considering getting this solely for the two gallon fermenter.
@thumperchick… any chance you can move @akom’s post to the top of the thread? It really is an excellent summary.
@baqui63 Thanks, you’re too kind.
@Akom The Mr. Beer kit I got years ago came with a packet of StarSan. The “what’s in the box” list here is a bit vague, but I suspect it is basically the same thing.
@Hamhands @baqui63 The problem with the fermenter is it doesn’t have a proper airlock. It just has a screw on cap that you leave loose while fermenting, potentially allowing contamination.
@Akom From the link that @JasonToon put in the write-up:
@baqui63 I don’t have the ability to pin posts, unfortunately.
I’m 13 years old so I’m gonna order 10 of these and hide them in the basement.
@Jetlag you can only order 3…
@Jetlag I cannot speak for your jurisdiction, but here in NY, it is perfectly legal for minors to buy the stuff to make beer (my daughters used to get me things for my birthday and Christmas all the time).
I am not certain about the legality of a minor brewing beer, but drinking it is also perfectly legal for minors in NY. The law prohibits selling or giving alcoholic beverages to minors, except for a parent or guardian providing it to their own child or ward.
I once used a Mr. Beer kit to brew some beer. And it actually made beer. I even drank some of it and it didn’t kill me. But it did taste vaguely like skunk urine. Which was weird because I used the recipe for goat urine. I’m sure this one is less uriney, though.
@rv617 Urinate. But if you were nicer, you’d be a ten.
this will make really shitty margaritas.
A pretty stout deal
Im not an alcoholic, Im a chemist!
@Bayamonprieto77 I love how craft beer has made my alcoholism seem like a neat hobby.
@connorbush Brewer = Alcoholic + Patience
@connorbush Even as an amateur brewer/ chemist, best thing is I can always drink my failures!
I’m a home brewer already and got my start from one of these. It really is a fun hobby. Maybe pick one up as a White Elephant gift or something for wacky Uncle Stu?
@2palms bought this after reading this comment and only because of your White Elephant mention. Meh should shoot you a commission.
@2palms Do White Elephants drink beer?!
@2palms I’m also a home brewer who got started with a couple Mr Beer Kits. Makes me cringe thinking about how bad it actually was back then, but I don’t take credit from Mr Beer. It got me started and was a good starting point
@2palms Home brewer who started with Mr. Beer here too. The Mr. Beer kits are actually pretty good. I still use the fermenter that came with it to brew test 2-gal batches. The fermenter is a nifty design; I like how the little pseudo-airlock works.
I’d recommend the kits for starting brewers. You can get beer out of one that’s every bit as good as a “real” home brewing setup. The process is basically the same. Only difference is the quantity and the level of control you have over the process.
@moosetoga Is there a pseudo-airlock on the fermenter? I bought a kit from w00t years ago and the fermenter had just a threaded cover that you left kind of loose.
Started home brewing in college with one of these under my dorm bed. I’ve still got the bug 20 years later but now I’ve got a kegerator and propane burner. Mr. Beer is an accessible way to try out the hobby but it helps if you have people to pour it for who aren’t too picky.
@belowi the master brewer, of the brewery for which I work, started on a Mr Beer kit. Thirty years later: Brewmaster. (your experience may vary).
I already have a home brewing kit. Just add beer.
Eleven bottles? Is that a brewer’s dozen?
I kindof want it, but I’m afraid it will come out tasting like garbage and I’ll wish I just bought beer instead.
@Pantheist it will taste like garbage… you can buy better extract kits. In homebrewing the expense isn’t ingredients, it is equipment; and this is good cheap equipment.
@Hamhands hm… decisions…
Meh. Let me know when you sell Mr. Plow
This deal ales me.
@mehgrl I wonder how this deal was “pitched”
Hope that “designed for brewing” bottles means they are designed to prevent the exploding bottle action you can get after you bottle it and it ages. When you get to that step be very careful to follow the directions exactly. I lived in a co-op and a PhD student in chemistry and an undergrad engineering student decided to make a ton of homemade beer. One evening things started going bang bang bang. Some of the bottles were exploding. Big mess in the engineering student’s bedroom where a handful of bottles exploded. They then moved them all to the kitchen were a couple more blew up but at least the glass was contained as they threw sheets over the pile.
@Kidsandliz Somebody didn’t check the final gravity to make sure fermentation was complete. Too much sugar after primary fermentation…adding more carbonating sugar…hungry yeast…boom!
@Blahbbs Hah! And it was a chemist who hand a hand in the exploding beer. Love it! LOL
@Kidsandliz No doubt the PhD student convinced the undergrad to store it in his room…
@mehcuda67 Probably LOL, however I do recall they wanted it in someone’s room so that others didn’t swipe some…That same PhD student decided to go on a house wide homemade ice cream making binge and made avocado ice cream. He didn’t have to worry about anyone stealing that out of the freezer. It tasted like a freshly mowed lawn smelled. If ice cream can mold in the freezer due to old age, this one would have.
@Kidsandliz I believe the bottles are PET but they don’t specify in the description. They were in the old kits but they look different in the photo.
Plastic soda-style bottles are generally safer for novice home brewers. It’s easy to stop the fermentation process by just putting the beers in the fridge. Do this when your bottles “feel” like a factory-sealed Pepsi bottles and they won’t explode all over your dorm. I think this may be some of why Mr Beer sells their kits with plastic bottles. Also: they ship more cheaply and are less likely to be broken in transit.
But extract brewing is insanely easy: you heat some water, add the extract(s), boil it, pour it into the bucket with some more water, and then pitch your yeast once it’s cooled to a safe temperature. It’s easier than most cooking.
I started making homebrew with one of these kits years ago with pretty good results. I am now brewing all-grain and kegging my beer. You can usually get starter kits pretty cheap, especially this time of year, at Austin Homebrew or Northern Brewer. An interesting recent development is that Anheuser-Busch Inbev purchased Northern Brewer/Midwest Supplies. InBev buys Northern Brewer. Some brewers have understandably chosen to now avoid buying from them after the buyout. The American Homebrewers Association is a good resource for learning how to homebrew, beginner to advanced.
@Stumpy91 Didn’t realize Northern Brewer was sold. The Minneapolis location is a block from child’s daycare so have never needed an excuse to drop in. This could give me an excuse to avoid. InBev is gobbling up everything lately. Sads…
Goose Island Bourbon County is the best there is.
@mistamoose not since the AB InBev buyout. I used to enjoy their brews. Have you noticed any changes in flavor or quality since the acquisition?
@connorbush you’re kind of being a snooty jerk. most of their beer is garbage, yes. But, Bourbon County is still amazing… as long as you ignore last years contamination issue.
@Hamhands … Really? I was asking a question. I genuinely wanted to know if @mistamoose had noticed any change since the transition to InBev. Being that the claim was made that Bourbon County was the best there is, I assume that the mehmber had more experience with the liquid than I. With the 10 Barrel acquisition, I noticed very little change. With the Goose Island buyout, I noticed some sever change upfront; however, it then seemed to go back to the norm. Do I still enjoy some Goose beers, hell yeah! Did I feel like they could have gone with a more hands off approach? Sure. Including a question with my statement left the door open to collaboration and retort. Had it just been a statement I could see how it would be snooty. Understandably, a forum involving a beer-related good would have comments from people interested in beer. I value the opinion of fellow mehtizens and fellow beer enthusiasts and went seeking feedback from a peer. Why is that snooty?
I love Meh, Mediocre, and the forums. In no way did I intend to come off snooty. In my first sentence of the original comment I did show some disapproval; however, it was not contempt toward another–more sadness toward the takeover by InBev. I apologize if I came off as disdainful or snobbish.
I looked up snooty because I truly felt awful. I never want for my forum comments to create a hostile environment.
snoot·y
/ˈsno͞odē/
adjective
@connorbush That was how I learned of the InBev takeover. Something seemed… really lacking in beers I had previously enjoyed. Poked around and quickly learned, why yes! Something had changed!
I’ll still get a Bourbon County every year but otherwise… meh.
@Hamhands yeah the contamination thing was beyond gross.
Tried Mr. Beer once. Was pretty meticulous in my brew. Still came out tasting like flat watery cider. Meh.
@bdp me too! I had high hopes but was really bad.
@bdp As an FYI: Flat = either your yeast was no longer viable when you bottled (i.e. it all died), or your bottles weren’t fully sealed. If all of them were flat, it was probably your yeast.
Cider = Probably either got infected with something or got inoculated with natural yeast from the environment, which can create tart or funky flavors.
Watery = Possibly too much volume to start? Depends on what you were brewing.
@bdp I had no carbonation trouble, but flavorwise their recipe makes for a very thin beer. Plus, the spout attaches right where the two halves of the barrel were joined together, making a rough surface that is almost impossible to seal. I even tried whittling the mold lines flat with a sharp knife but it was no use.
@bdp I actually made quite a few batches with my Mr Beer kit from w00t! It was a gateway to a more conventional setup where I am now doing all-grain brewing and kegging my beer. Cheers.
Beer meh day -this suds for you
Brew you
Victory Hop Devil. My fav.
Anniversary gift for the Mrs!
@jake5snooze Yes, I too have taken that route with a number of “gifts”. Never worked out quite the way I imagined…
@jake5snooze Stands to reason she likes to cook, she should like to brew.
Seems like a good gift idea.
If you click on that Warranty link for the 30 days from Mr. Beer, you’ll find yourself staring at some bloke what wants you to stare at him for the whole fripping 30 days.
/giphy oppressive-gentle-part
Has anybody else had issues with the spigot assembly leaking?
I’ve meticulously adjusted the tightness of the nut and the best seal I can get leaks at a rate of 1 drop/~5 sec.
I’ve contacted Mr. Beer support to see whether my kit included the correct nut because there is no wide flat side like the instruction illustration indicates.
I’m going to try sanding the opening of the keg so it’s flush, but figured I’d check in here to see whether other folks are experiencing similar concerns.
@wooterondo Yeah, I’m having the same issue. I keep reaching in to screw around (heh) with the tightness, but have yet to get it to stop completely after four or five tries. Not ready to give up on it yet, though. The top of mine was also cracked, so wondering if this was a low quality batch.
I noticed they’re offering a different spout on Mr. Beer’s website.
@wooterondo I basically had to wiggle mine in by turning the entire spigot assembly counter-clockwise, then holding the nut and turning the spigot clockwise to tighten it just a bit more.
Not the easiest seal to make by a long shot.
@wooterondo those plastic faucets can be fragile. Don’t tighten it too tight or you can break it. Also don’t sand down anything, that makes for a great bacteria hiding spot.
Check out a home brewing store for a faucet replacement.
@Kevin Good advice against sanding vs. the bacteria that can set into the crevasses, thanks!
Mr. Beer’s support already responded to my ticket so I figure I’ll see what their resolution is before hitting up a local store for a faucet replacement.
@wooterondo if you don’t want to wait for the replacement faucet. Wrap the current one in some teflon tape. Wrap some on the threads, and try to get a layer on the outside. It might look ugly, but it might work. Be sure to run some sanitizer though the faucet before the wort.
@Kevin I had the same problem–a big plastic weld / unevenness between the two halves of the keg, on the outer surface, that were preventing the rubber seal from sealing.
I filed down the plastic and got the dripping to stop. I think I’m going to take my chances with the bacteria–I’ll be sure to give it lots of exposure to the sanitizer.
That whole assembly is really bad. The nut on the inside doesn’t even cover the hole, there’s tons of play in how you can move the tap around…
@wooterondo The flashing and molding is much worse than the older Mr Beer kegs. If you trim down the flash with a knife (not sandpaper), it gets a little better.
Bubble Brew
Seems cheaper to buy two gallons of Miller High Life, but maybe I’m messing up the mathes.
@stinks I miss the party balls
and beer boxes
@connorbush Have not heard the words “party ball” since 2007. This brings back (hazy) memories from college. Appreciate the reminder of those relics. Can these be purchased any longer?
@404Error no longer. They made a newer version sort of mini kegerstor that was sold by target up until last year. Now just nothing.
@connorbush I thought party balls was a medical condition.
… (HIC!!)…
This thing any good for brewing root or ginger beer?
@greychr Not sure if one could adapt this exact kit but I found this http://www.mrbeer.com/mrrootbeer-root-beer-kit
@greychr Yes. It will work fine. Mostly, though, you don’t have to let your sodas ferment. So you will use the bottles but not the fermenter.
Soda = sugary water plus flavor plus carbon dioxide. You can get the carbon dioxide from yeast action if you’re mindful about keeping your carbonated bottles in the fridge. But there will always be a little sediment in the bottom of the bottle, and often an off flavor from the yeast.
To avoid the danger of over-carbonating your bottles and blowing them up if they get too warm, and to avoid the sediment and off flavors of bottle-carbonating with yeast, most sodas are not brewed at all. They’re mixed like Kool-Aid and then force-carbonated.
If you’re staying low budget and want to try force-carbonating your soda, https://kegkits.com/Soda_Carbonation.htm has a pretty approachable system.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01039C0Z0 has a similar solution that’s ready-made. But you will need a CO2 source either way, and that can get spendy…
Only thing more meh than this is Beer-in-a-bag.
Okay, so my neighbor and I are going to get this for some bro-bonding.
misleading-foxy-cougar
I don’t think I’m going to look that one up at work…
@wickhameh You GO! It is a fun hobby! Here’s a web site dedicated to Mr. Beer specifically which can help you if you have any problems:
http://community.mrbeer.com/?utm_source=mrbeerfans
The first rule is cleanliness- make sure everything is sterilized and sanitized! That site is where I found out the problem I had was too high temps when fermenting (in the summer)! The kegs must be kept at a stable temperature range while fermenting. Get on Mr. Beer’s email list and stock up when they have their big sales. You can also use other kits from home brew stores if there’s one in your area. Watch the proportions though. I had a batch explode once too, like Hank’s in Breaking Bad.
My favorites are Mr. Beers Corona copy, which is ready in like two weeks start to finish, The Oatmeal Stout, and one of the wheat ales. I even made a spreadsheet with all of their recipes (at the time I made it) with required ingredients, ABV, time to completion, etc. I’d be happy to email it to you if you want. {chipcayer at yahoo} (I told you I had a lot of time on my hands!)
Just talking about it makes me want to go down in the cellar and see what I could brew up!
@wickhameh
/giphy misleading-foxy-cougar
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
$44.44 at Amazon
Find a relevant price comparison? Please share it in a comment in this thread
Warranty
30 Days Mr. Beer
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Friday, July 17th
Just bought one, unused-floral-privateer … I am lazy and may wish I’d just bought beer but…for a bucket list cross off it’s worth a batch, and I do like stout.
I don’t do “chia beer”. Pass.
Malt is 15 $ , drops are 7 - total 22 at Amazon. For 3 $ I am buying 11 bottles and keg. Am I missing something ? In for 2
@zr57 I have been brewing for 10 years and I picked one of these up just for the equipment, nice to have a 2-gal system for messing around with. A standard homebrew kit is for 5 gallons which is a heck of a lot of beer if it turns out crappy
These Mr Beer kits don’t include hops, but the malt syrup is already hopped. This is a good start to brewing, if you don’t want to spend 300 bucks on all the right equipment. But, doing it the right way will yield much better results.
Legit excited about this. Already looking up crazy recipes.
Anyone else want to find something better to do for a first try than plain irish stout? Feels like a crime to not put a personal touch on it.
@MrGlass You’re totally allowed to customize. The recipe in the kit is “pre-hopped malt” - it’s barley syrup and hop extract. The water you use will affect the flavor of your beer and so will the temperature that you hold it at after you add the yeast. But those are the only variables if you’re working clean, so your batch of Irish Stout will taste pretty much like everyone else who buys it and brews it.
For a stout you could try adding a cup of strong freshly-brewed coffee or a few tablespoons of cocoa nibs. Probably add them during your boil to sanitize them. Or a sliced jalapeno? Around here (San Diego) I see a lot of spicy stout beers.
For more experienced brewers who get the idea to try a new flavor combination, it’s tough to commit to a standard 31-gallon batch just because it sounds interesting. Even home-brewers making 5-gallon batches don’t want to screw up a whole batch by tossing a bunch of jalapenos or canned pumpkin or juniper berries or whatever in at the last minute. So these smaller 2-gallon fermenters are great! You can make a whole batch of decent “house recipe” beer, and then customize some 2-gallon side-batches.
That might be your biggest struggle with customizing it. You won’t have a “plain vanilla” batch to compare it with, so you can’t take credit for improving the recipe! Hm… maybe you better buy two just in case…
…great, now I want to brew a stout with vanilla beans…
@MrGlass the only way I would make it your own is to add some flavoring or somthing after primary fermentation. You could soak some oak chips in burbon and toss those in the fermentor for a few days for an Oaked Irish Burbon Stout. Use the oak very sparingly.
For other style beers you can take a wheat beer and add some grapefruit juice to make a shandy.
You can pretty much add in anything after primary fermentation. The thing to watch out for is that the sugar you add will get fermented out and taste differently.
Mr Beer kits are the Easy-bake oven of brewing beer… Just like making a cake from a box, but pay attention to sanitizing everything, temperature, etc, and your beer will come out just fine.
I bought my wife one of these a few years ago; now she’s an all grain brewer, we have a bunch of equipment, including kegging gear. We still use our Mr Beer vessel for seconds batches (session), and the filling spout is convenient at times. Sanitize/Sanitize/Sanitize is our only advice.
FYI-- These kits are usually $20 at department store closeout sales, post holiday…But not usually for the Stout variety. I’ve also seen refill kits in bins/shelves with red labels on them for under $10. Many home brew stores have 1-2.5 gallon ‘kits’ too that aren’t necessarily Mr. Beer branded.
I suppose I’ll
/buy 2
For a friend/relative for a holiday gift
@caffeineguy It worked! Your order number is: black-earthly-skirt
/image black earthly skirt
WTH … why not? One for me one for the SIL.
/buy 2
@chienfou It worked! Your order number is: artsy-airborne-tub
/image artsy airborne tub
I’m meh on this, but it’s exciting to see new stuff on Meh.
In the end, do these get cold filtered or hear pasteurized?
@neveraging only if you do it yourself. Can’t tell if you’re joking or not, but beer is anti-microbial on its own so no need to pasteurize, and the process for brewing includes boiling the ingredients for a period of time sufficient to kill any bugs. Cold filtered, I believe, is hogwash. It’ll be safe to drink as long as you take all necessary precautions.
@neveraging In the end it just gets peed out.
I love beer meh, but if I buy this, I will hate beer since I’m pretty sure I will suck at making it.
the refills of stout are actually $14, that’s $1 more than $13.
/giphy math lies
/youtube math lies
math lies
I used Mr. Beer for quite a while. Most of the brews came out awesome. The failures I had were related to the temperatures being too high while fermenting. I stocked up on a bunch of the ingredients while they were on sale. Then I lost interest. The last time I looked at their site, the price for a kit was ridiculous, even at 20% off. The main point of home brewing is to save money. You can’t do that any more with Mr. Beer. Take this deal for example- You’ll end up with just under a case of good stout beer, for $30. Go to the store instead.
@TCayer That’s like saying, "Why buy a LEGO Millennium Falcon for $80 when you can just buy a toy one for $50? The point is about putting it together more than saving money for the most part. However, in some cases (like my Soda Stream), it is good to run a break-even analysis.
@wickhameh I retired in 2009, and was a stay-at-home-dad for my three year old for a few years. I had lots of time. I actually have 4 kegs and would make 4 batches at staggered intervals. I had loads of fun doing it, and for well over a year, that’s all my friends and I drank. I even made home-made labels on my computer. I bought a full-on brew kit with secondary, etc on ebay, but haven’t tried it yet. But at the end of the day, if I opened the fridge and there’s a Corona or a craft beer, and next to it is one of mine, I’m pushing mine aside and grabbing one of those.
Instant ice water: just add hot coffee.
(signed) --Mr. Coffee.
/giphy overt-violet-wilderness
I just checked my order and delivery is supposed to occur some time from Nov 24 to Nov 29. Somehow I doubt they will actually show up on Thanksgiving Day!!
So I’ve been a bit busy last few weeks and am only getting to dusting off my Mr. Beer now. Has anyone tried their kit yet? Maybe @jasontoon has the followup video ready?
@MrGlass is your first name Doug?
@MrGlass Mine’s sitting in the middle of my kitchen floor, fermenting away, probably I hope. Only four more weeks until I can drink some of what will probably be the poison that kills me.
@Pantheist The real question you should be asking is, is my last name Glass?
@InnocuousFarmer Let us know how it tastes! The tap water is awful by me, so I’m going to wait till have time to purchase a few gallons of bottled water.
@MrGlass Jason didn’t but @matthew sure did.
@MrGlass I don’t think his real last name is Glass either, it’s just the only way I know him. Works for IBM as a consultant. Not you?
@Pantheist my wife tells me his last name really is Glass.
Full process took 24 days 3 weeks fermenting(could be 2 weeks) 2.5 days carbonation process and chilling and bingo irish stout that is dark and delish and way beyond expectations after about 12 oz i have a nice buzz… think i’ll leave the other 10- 25oz. bottles a week or so to as they say develop lol… so very happy with this Meh purchase
Popped open a few bottles last week. Beer was better than expected but not incredible. I’d drink it before your standard bottle but it doesn’t really hold up to the craft brews I normally buy. So, I guess my verdict is that the beer is mediocre (surprising, I know).
I also had a weird issue where my beer was not very carbonated. Not sure what happened, though I’m starting to suspect I didn’t tighten the caps enough.
Oh, and if your thinking about making more than one batch, make sure to buy the relevant cleaning supplies ahead of time. They don’t come with the kit, and cleaning is much harder if you dont do it ASAP.
Gross.
@zvstrack just curious why you bumped a thread that is years old for this enlightening comment?
Haha saved this for the first comment.
@zvstrack Curious, queer even.
@RiotDemon
Boring answer: I was trying to get a receipt to return another product purchased here. The kit popped up in the process and I misread the “comment” window to be in regard to reviewing the product. This was likely due to my “Shut Up” comment section plugin. I figured I would let the world know how I felt about the home brewing kit whilst attaining the aforementioned receipt. And here we are now.
But it really was gross, was it not?