I once made wine out of grape juice concentrate in college. Balloon wine= a glass jug, a balloon, and frozen grape juice concentrate. That’s all that is needed to kick off all the fun. 30 days later you can get drunk.
These make great gifts but as an amateur homebrewer, they don’t make great beer. The biggest thing that they don’t tell you about is temperature control during fermentation. Keep a steady 65 and you’ll be drinking some pretty okay beer but hey you made it and it gets the job done
I have been making mead in 1 gallon juice carboys for years. Hell of a lot easier than beer and a lot of fun. Plus making mead makes you seem like a viking.
I would go to your local bakery/restaurant/grocery store and ask them for any 1 or 2 gallon buckets. I like the 2 gallon ones - you can use 6 lbs of honey to make 1.5 gal of mead. All you need after that is honey, yeast (champaigne), and a bubbler to burp it. I don’t boil the water, just room temp and mix it all up. Feel free to chat me up if you need help… it’s a lot of fun, even though it takes about a year to have a good product
Having brewed previous Mr Beer kits, these look substantially better. That said, It’s a gateway. If you get hooked, you’ll wonder how you just spent $500 on brewing equipment to make a case of beer…
Oh cool! A device to have bottles blow up unexpectedly and then shower the room with glass and sticky liquid. If making beer anyway. No idea if this works with wine as the housemates who had the explosions in their bedroom were bootlegging beer.
@Kidsandliz
If it makes you feel any better, I’ve never had anything explode. I have had one carboy bung (heh) pop off, but it just foamed over a little. I kept my carboys in little solid laundry baskets that held in everything for that one issue.
@guyfromhawthorn@Kidsandliz Serious question: any issue with containing the kit in one of those big plastic containers with lids during the process? If something explodes, then it should be strong enough to contain it all inside, no?
@guyfromhawthorn@Kidsandliz@ShotgunX I’m not 100% sure what sort of containers you’re referencing, but overall I wouldn’t expect an explosion from the brewing process with the equipment they provide with these kits. The (relatively) larger risk would be after you bottle the beer. If you bottle too soon (i.e. either the yeast is still actively working and you’re being impatient, or the yeast craps out before finishing the job usually due to cold temperatures), then there is too much sugar in the beer that will re-ferment in the bottle and create too much pressure (sugar + yeast = alcohol + carbon dioxide). You want this process to happen in the bottle so you have beer that is carbonated, but you want to be able to control this process. There are other reasons why a bottle could explode, but by far it is usually due to an incomplete fermentation of sugars due to poor/unclear instructions or sloppy execution of instructions.
I could go on, but this is a forum post. How To Brew is an amazing guide/reference, and the first edition is online for free. I’d suggest poking around, this link will get you started with brewing if you happen to buy a kit like this one from Meh: http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/a-crash-course-in-brewing/what-do-i-do
Also, are you saying that the process would be incomplete in these kits? As in, I wouldn’t simply be able to drink the beer at the end? I would have to bottle it? There are kits with bottles, but this one doesn’t come with any, so I wonder if that’s a necessary step?
As far as these kits go, you could opt to toss the jug in your fridge once it’s done fermenting, but the beer will be fairly flat. You’d achieve better results by adding a controlled amount of sugar (not clear if the kit provides it, the amazon link references the additional sugar added at bottling, but still didn’t notice a mention of its inclusion) and bottling. Glass bottles are traditional, if you saved non-screw top bottles from a 12pk you’d have enough, but you’d need caps and a capper tool. Since it’s not a lot of beer, you could also save up some plastic soda bottles, which are way more pressure tolerant than glass (6 20oz bottles would cover your needs).
Most people who try these kits either continue on to brew in larger batches and buy some additional equipment, or realize that the hobby isn’t for them. What is nice about this is that the price point is hard to argue with as far as testing out if you’ll want to do it again. Unless you really screw the pooch by missing steps or not cleaning things well, you will still at least end up with several bottles of something drinkable (probably enjoyable!) and a sense of direction of if you want to keep at it or not, for what it would cost you for a few pints of craft beer at your local watering hole.
@guyfromhawthorn@Kidsandliz@ShotgunX one last thing before I head to bed: I’ve been brewing close to 10 years now, picked it up in college. I certainly still enjoy it enough on its own merits to brew every once and a while when I have time, or have an event in mind, but making it a social activity is probably what perks me (and others) up the most. Ask a friend if they’re interested as well (they may even split the costs), and learn together, see what parts of it are appealing to each of you in your own way. Charlie Papazian, the godfather of the homebrewing movement in the US has a simple mantra when it comes to his approach: Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew. Not a bad piece of advice that extends beyond this hobby.
I actually kind of like flatter beers (think Guinness), but I get it that that’s probably not a good idea for the styles in the kits being sold today.
I could save a few plastic bottles without any issue by the time I’m ready to brew, probably when it gets a little colder (it’s about 80F in my apartment right now, even with the AC on).
I think that I just want to play around, really. I love beer, but I won’t ever be able to have a real setup in my tiny NY apartment. I’ll just get some refill packs once I’m done with the stuff that comes in the kit. Maybe even add some of my own ingredients, such as vanilla, peanut extract, honey, etc.
I kind of regret not getting one of the barrel-style kits that was sold here before, because it looks much more attractive (and comes with bottles).
I kind of regret not getting one of the barrel-style kits that was sold here before,
Mine is actually still sitting in the box in a corner of my home office since I haven’t made the time to use it yet. But I kind of like the idea of the glass kit and may spring for a PG kit… hopefully not to keep the other kit company in my office all year!
@dperez@guyfromhawthorn@Kidsandliz@ShotgunX
I used to use a capper and recycled bottles and that works quite well. You can find the cappers and a bag of new caps for pretty cheap on Amazon. With that said, I just use swingtops now (like the Grolsch bottles but brown). It’s quicker, easier, and doesn’t require replenishing my stock of fresh caps.
@guyfromhawthorn The irony with the exploding beer bottles is that it was a PhD student in Chemistry and an engineering undergrad that teamed up to make about 10 gallons of beer. They initially started in huge glass jug things - must have been 4 or 5 gallons in each one, and the explosions started after the bottling. They had stacked the bottles in their suite bedrooms and kaboom the fireworks began several days later. The engineering student needed stitched on his lip.
This is the same chemistry student who, when we made a bunch of gallons of ice cream in the house, decided to make avocado as one of them. Tasted like a freshly mowed lawn smells. It it is possible for ice cream to get moldy in the freezer it would have as it sat there for months as no one liked it.
Fun times back then living in a house with 23 other housemates.
Don’t expect award winning booze from these. Do expect to understand the very basics of brewing by the time you’re done. The price is definitely right, so brew up and have fun!
@msayler@ShotgunX I don’t think the first concern is really a concern. That only happens when you distill the alcohol and drink the methanol that is produced before the ethanol.
Give a man a beer, and he’ll be mellow for an hour. Teach a man how to brew his own, and he won’t stop bragging about it to his bearded hipster friends for the rest of his life.
98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 97 bottles of beer on the wall.
97 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 96 bottles of beer on the wall.
96 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 95 bottles of beer on the wall.
95 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 94 bottles of beer on the wall.
94 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 93 bottles of beer on the wall.
93 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 92 bottles of beer on the wall.
92 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 91 bottles of beer on the wall.
91 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 90 bottles of beer on the wall.
90 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 89 bottles of beer on the wall.
89 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 88 bottles of beer on the wall.
88 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 87 bottles of beer on the wall.
87 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 86 bottles of beer on the wall.
86 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 85 bottles of beer on the wall.
85 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 84 bottles of beer on the wall.
84 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 83 bottles of beer on the wall.
83 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 82 bottles of beer on the wall.
82 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 81 bottles of beer on the wall.
81 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 80 bottles of beer on the wall.
@hchavers Whoever is passing out beer one bottle at a time is being a really bad host, and would soon find themselves with a bunch of really angry patrons.
Unless everyone pours it into cups? But then what the hell kind of party is that? You better have some really good, rare, Bourbon County-level stuff being passed around if you want me to play that game.
@hchavers NO fair! I did that yesterday with the Ricola drops bag and this sing-songy comment
– and I stopped after one verse b/c i mean jeez … 456? 99?
I bought the Mr. Beer kit here several years ago. I was quite happy with it so I wound up buying three more kits and then I bought The Mr beer ingredients they run from $14.-$30. And this went on for about a year-and-a-half I really got into it and the beer actually tasted great but now you can get 15 cans of beer for $7.99 so I don’t really think it was worth the effort but I can highly recommend these kits . I think I’m going to try the wine kit now even though I don’t drink wine sounds interesting you get it started you come back in four months and you have some nice wine.the refill kits you buy contain the containers of ingrdients just add 2 gallons of water and yeast also contains a sanitizer ,let it sit for a month then you bottle add a teadepoon of sugar and 10 days later you have about 20 bottles of some great homemade beer good luck and happy brewing.
@mellowirishgent $7.99 for 15 cans is going to be piss water (or you live somewhere where food is really cheap). A six-pack of decent craft beer is going to be around a tenner, and while the quality will obviously be better than what you can make using a cheap DIY kit, I’d imagine that the purpose of a kit like this is more about the road, and not the destination.
@mellowirishgent@Trinityscrew and the pinot grigio kit will crank out 5 bottles of wine for $4.40 a bottle if you are a VMP (and don’t have to pay state sales tax)
@Trinityscrew Ok. I stand by my snarky comments about the beer kits. But my wife just made me buy a wine kit as a gift for a friend. I’ll just slink away now…
Doing gallon batches of beer is pointless. You’d be lucky to get more than a case of beer out of it. If you want to do small batches, look into doing 3 gallons.
@shop6d6ky yea, I was just about to order that one too & am frustrated to notice it’s not there, but am also wondering why Meh hasn’t even REPLIED to your POST yet…
When my grandfather was alive (he was born in 1898, so he isn’t around anymore) his friend made wine. Somehow his friend had a huge backyard, for Brooklyn, and grew grapes. My grandfather and all his friends had grapes in their yards too. (a vineyard that was about 5 foot by 3 foot). They all gave the guy in Brooklyn the grapes. They all got back wine. The problem was some years the wine was good! Some years it wasn’t. That year there was lots of vinegar. (every one of them had a vinegar barrel in the basement) They were too cheap to buy wine, so that is what you drank all year. One glass a day. They were Italian and followed the Mediterranean diet and it works. The weird thing was as a kid you got a small glass of wine. Turned 18 which was the legal drinking age back then, and the same tiny glass of wine! Took a ton of protesting to get the adult amount!
Reminds me of one of the characters in Alan Ayckbourn’s delightful “The Norman Conquests” (Tom the Vet, I think), who advises that after drinking some of Mother’s home-made wine last Christmas, he “lost the use of the right side of my face for an hour.”
@shop6d6ky Lagers are actually a lot more difficult for homebrewers. Basically the difference is in that most lager yeasts will require refrigerator temperatures for fermentation which isn’t a big deal if you happen to have a spare fridge I guess. I think they also have longer fermentation times and require extra effort and expertise to get the type of crisp clear commercially available beers.
I dabbled in some higher gravity (~7%) hellesbock lagers that turned out well, with and without refridgeration (during the winter time).
One thing about every forum on Meh no matter what you say some asshole will have some snide remark looking for reactions .their pros at it.same people every day.I call them the Not So Clever Few.Don’t take the hate bait!!
Well, mine says delivered, but I didn’t notice it on the porch when I got home from Montgomery today…hmmm. Maybe I was right about the damn porch pirates.
I’ll have to take another look when I get home tonight. I still have the beer kit, so guess I will make both side by side…
My flat mate ordered this and contacted them about it still saying “Processing” He got two responses, the first one was they’re just to busy to ship it and the second was some long response about them not knowing how to ship it so it doesn’t arrive broken, but that we should receive it by the 26th. It still hasn’t arrived and it’s still marked “processing”.
Just got the alert my order was cancelled. Hey there, Meh here!
Unfortunately, we have some bad news. We had an inventory issue and had to cancel and refund your order. To prove our apology, we’re offering a coupon code for $5, which you can redeem using code ************* at checkout. Keep in mind, it’s only good until 11/31/19.
Sorry for any inconvenience! Your friends at Meh
Can’t say I am happy about this…
I stuck it out through the whole Quip fiasco. This is leaving a bitter taste…no pun intended.
@jcdunn I have a feeling more of us are going to be getting these emails. Got a notification from the post office that’s it’s shipped, but Meh still says processing. CS gave us two different reasons for why this is happening and told us that it was shipped and would arrive on the 26th.
My broken glass jar and beer making contents arrived today. Based on no trace of impact protection, there are hundreds of others receiving broken glass jars in time for the holiday weekend.
@brispi That’s fucked up, especially considering that one of the reasons CS gave us for the delay was “Sorry about the wait with these. It looks like these got held for shipping due to concerns that they may become damaged or broken in-transit, so we’ve been preparing a new shipping method for them.”
@Irkalla There’s a clear plastic bag around the glass jar. The jar was then stuffed in the store box. The store box was placed into a slightly larger shipping box. Someone needs to take a lap.
There’s a clear plastic bag around the glass jar. The jar was then stuffed in the store box. The store box was placed into a slightly larger shipping box. Someone needs to take a lap.
This is what mine looks like inside, something was leaking? Not sure what liquid would have been in the kit? I got the thunder bay kit. Just throwing it out, i dont want to risk drinking glass or cutting myself.
I received my kit today and the glass jar was broken. I have to wait until Monday to see what Meh… says. The box the kit comes in was just put in a slightly larger box with no padding. ,
I’m so bummed out!
I got my Pinot Grigio and Over the Moon kits yesterday. Both were double boxed with plenty of bubble wrap. Everything seems intact. The spigot hole on the Pinot Grigio kit looks a little rough, though, like it chipped out on the inside. I’ll have to assemble it to see if it seals. My IPA kit arrives today…
Mine arrived smashed as well. I have 2 more on the way and I anticipate the same, but I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll arrive intact. I’ll wait to email Meh after the other 2 get here.
I’m so bummed because these would have been great Christmas gifts, and also because I introduced a friend to Meh for this item. What a great first impression for her if hers arrives broken.
My box did have bubble wrap around the outside of the inner box, but apparently it wasn’t enough.
(I’d add a pic but I’m not sure how to upload from my iPad )
@k4evryng Well, if yours came with padding between the boxes than this must be some really inferior glass used. This probably why Meh was able to get this great deal Good glass packed even the way mine was should stand up to UPS standards on how they handle packages. Better luck next deal!
Sorry about your friend, she had to be introduced with a deal so FUBAR as this one!
@k4evryng Good luck with the picture thing… seems they are having trouble with the uploader currently…
re possible broken meh product for friend’s first order:
on the bright side, she may get to experience meh’s stellar customer service!
@jpr9845 The guy that helped me (Zach) said “I’ll send them from my Tucson warehouse where my warehouse manager will personally pack it to make sure it arrives safely and completely.” Find out on Tuesday, coming UPS.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
Thunder Bay IPA Starter Beer Kit:
Shock the Moon Starter Beer Kit:
Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Making Kit:
Pinot Grigio Wine Making Kit:
Price Comparison
Thunder Bay IPA Kit: $31.99 at Amazon
Shock the Moon Kit: $31.98 at Amazon
Cabernet Sauvignon Kit: $36.25 at Amazon
Pinot Grigio Kit: $40.84 at Amazon
Warranty
30 days manufacturer
Estimated Delivery
Friday, Jul 14 - Wednesday, Jul 19
I once made wine out of grape juice concentrate in college. Balloon wine= a glass jug, a balloon, and frozen grape juice concentrate. That’s all that is needed to kick off all the fun. 30 days later you can get drunk.
/giphy Booz
Vintage? 2019
No wonder we need date rape kits around here.
Finally, after a lifetime of bland and generic vice, my dreams of becoming a bootlegger are going to come true!
In for as many units as can fall off a truck without you asking any questions if you know what’s good for you.
Can you put a couple six-packs in an empty Mr. Beer box and send it to me? That’s the level of DIY I’m looking for.
@awk And maybe a box of wine?
The included grains are British in the write-up, but American in the specs.
@djslack British in the streets, American in the sheets?
All I need is a toilet, some bread, and some peaches from the chow hall.
@therealjrn Juice boxes work amazingly well as a starter!
@therealjrn
https://futurama.fandom.com/wiki/Scruffy_Scruffington#Trivia
These make great gifts but as an amateur homebrewer, they don’t make great beer. The biggest thing that they don’t tell you about is temperature control during fermentation. Keep a steady 65 and you’ll be drinking some pretty okay beer but hey you made it and it gets the job done
@MrMikenIkes hefe and mead are so easy, that’s usually how i tell people to start. don’t really need a kit, just some basics.
@MrMikenIkes @the_inevitable
I have been making mead in 1 gallon juice carboys for years. Hell of a lot easier than beer and a lot of fun. Plus making mead makes you seem like a viking.
@imzwho @MrMikenIkes @the_inevitable Point to a good mead-making write-up?
@imzwho @Limewater @MrMikenIkes the mead subreddit is nice:
Having brewed previous Mr Beer kits, these look substantially better. That said, It’s a gateway. If you get hooked, you’ll wonder how you just spent $500 on brewing equipment to make a case of beer…
@eVil Holy crap I made a highlight!
/giphy not worthy
Oh cool! A device to have bottles blow up unexpectedly and then shower the room with glass and sticky liquid.
If making beer anyway. No idea if this works with wine as the housemates who had the explosions in their bedroom were bootlegging beer.
@Kidsandliz
If it makes you feel any better, I’ve never had anything explode. I have had one carboy bung (heh) pop off, but it just foamed over a little. I kept my carboys in little solid laundry baskets that held in everything for that one issue.
@guyfromhawthorn @Kidsandliz Serious question: any issue with containing the kit in one of those big plastic containers with lids during the process? If something explodes, then it should be strong enough to contain it all inside, no?
@guyfromhawthorn @Kidsandliz
If it makes you feel any worse I have blown a few bottles of sugar wine and champagne because I was too cheap to get the corks with cages.
@guyfromhawthorn @Kidsandliz @ShotgunX I’m not 100% sure what sort of containers you’re referencing, but overall I wouldn’t expect an explosion from the brewing process with the equipment they provide with these kits. The (relatively) larger risk would be after you bottle the beer. If you bottle too soon (i.e. either the yeast is still actively working and you’re being impatient, or the yeast craps out before finishing the job usually due to cold temperatures), then there is too much sugar in the beer that will re-ferment in the bottle and create too much pressure (sugar + yeast = alcohol + carbon dioxide). You want this process to happen in the bottle so you have beer that is carbonated, but you want to be able to control this process. There are other reasons why a bottle could explode, but by far it is usually due to an incomplete fermentation of sugars due to poor/unclear instructions or sloppy execution of instructions.
I could go on, but this is a forum post. How To Brew is an amazing guide/reference, and the first edition is online for free. I’d suggest poking around, this link will get you started with brewing if you happen to buy a kit like this one from Meh: http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/a-crash-course-in-brewing/what-do-i-do
@dperez @guyfromhawthorn @Kidsandliz For reference, I mean a plastic container like this one (sized properly, of course): https://www.amazon.com/Homz-Plastic-Storage-Stackable-Latching/dp/B06ZZXZZ2V/
Also, are you saying that the process would be incomplete in these kits? As in, I wouldn’t simply be able to drink the beer at the end? I would have to bottle it? There are kits with bottles, but this one doesn’t come with any, so I wonder if that’s a necessary step?
@guyfromhawthorn @Kidsandliz @ShotgunX Yeah, those bins would be fine for containing any potential problems.
As far as these kits go, you could opt to toss the jug in your fridge once it’s done fermenting, but the beer will be fairly flat. You’d achieve better results by adding a controlled amount of sugar (not clear if the kit provides it, the amazon link references the additional sugar added at bottling, but still didn’t notice a mention of its inclusion) and bottling. Glass bottles are traditional, if you saved non-screw top bottles from a 12pk you’d have enough, but you’d need caps and a capper tool. Since it’s not a lot of beer, you could also save up some plastic soda bottles, which are way more pressure tolerant than glass (6 20oz bottles would cover your needs).
Most people who try these kits either continue on to brew in larger batches and buy some additional equipment, or realize that the hobby isn’t for them. What is nice about this is that the price point is hard to argue with as far as testing out if you’ll want to do it again. Unless you really screw the pooch by missing steps or not cleaning things well, you will still at least end up with several bottles of something drinkable (probably enjoyable!) and a sense of direction of if you want to keep at it or not, for what it would cost you for a few pints of craft beer at your local watering hole.
@guyfromhawthorn @Kidsandliz @ShotgunX one last thing before I head to bed: I’ve been brewing close to 10 years now, picked it up in college. I certainly still enjoy it enough on its own merits to brew every once and a while when I have time, or have an event in mind, but making it a social activity is probably what perks me (and others) up the most. Ask a friend if they’re interested as well (they may even split the costs), and learn together, see what parts of it are appealing to each of you in your own way. Charlie Papazian, the godfather of the homebrewing movement in the US has a simple mantra when it comes to his approach: Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew. Not a bad piece of advice that extends beyond this hobby.
@dperez
I actually kind of like flatter beers (think Guinness), but I get it that that’s probably not a good idea for the styles in the kits being sold today.
I could save a few plastic bottles without any issue by the time I’m ready to brew, probably when it gets a little colder (it’s about 80F in my apartment right now, even with the AC on).
I think that I just want to play around, really. I love beer, but I won’t ever be able to have a real setup in my tiny NY apartment. I’ll just get some refill packs once I’m done with the stuff that comes in the kit. Maybe even add some of my own ingredients, such as vanilla, peanut extract, honey, etc.
I kind of regret not getting one of the barrel-style kits that was sold here before, because it looks much more attractive (and comes with bottles).
@dperez @ShotgunX
Mine is actually still sitting in the box in a corner of my home office since I haven’t made the time to use it yet. But I kind of like the idea of the glass kit and may spring for a PG kit… hopefully not to keep the other kit company in my office all year!
@dperez @ShotgunX OK… did it
/giphy traceable-outer-slope
@guyfromhawthorn @Kidsandbliz @ShotgunX brewed over 100 gallons with NO issues like everything else just got tired of brewing.
@dperez @guyfromhawthorn @Kidsandliz @ShotgunX My advice for introduction to homebrewing is to seek out a local homebrew club and attend one of their get-togethers. IME, they are usually quite informal and full of fun folks eager to share their knowledge (and their homebrews). Here is a good place to start:
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/aha-events/learn-to-homebrew-day/
@dperez @guyfromhawthorn @Kidsandliz @ShotgunX
I used to use a capper and recycled bottles and that works quite well. You can find the cappers and a bag of new caps for pretty cheap on Amazon. With that said, I just use swingtops now (like the Grolsch bottles but brown). It’s quicker, easier, and doesn’t require replenishing my stock of fresh caps.
@guyfromhawthorn The irony with the exploding beer bottles is that it was a PhD student in Chemistry and an engineering undergrad that teamed up to make about 10 gallons of beer. They initially started in huge glass jug things - must have been 4 or 5 gallons in each one, and the explosions started after the bottling. They had stacked the bottles in their suite bedrooms and kaboom the fireworks began several days later. The engineering student needed stitched on his lip.
This is the same chemistry student who, when we made a bunch of gallons of ice cream in the house, decided to make avocado as one of them. Tasted like a freshly mowed lawn smells. It it is possible for ice cream to get moldy in the freezer it would have as it sat there for months as no one liked it.
Fun times back then living in a house with 23 other housemates.
Seems like a solid deal. The fermenter alone is worth $15.99 without the spigot
https://www.northernbrewer.com/collections/carboys-jugs/products/little-big-mouth-bubbler
What do you mean “Bad News”? Science ROCKS!
Don’t expect award winning booze from these. Do expect to understand the very basics of brewing by the time you’re done. The price is definitely right, so brew up and have fun!
@msayler I’m only concerned that:
And the first concern is at least somewhat negotiable.
@msayler @ShotgunX I don’t think the first concern is really a concern. That only happens when you distill the alcohol and drink the methanol that is produced before the ethanol.
@ShotgunX eyes will be ok, but some, uh… intestinal changes are to be expected
these make really shitty margaritas
@alacrity Naw. All you need to do is dump all those pesky bags and fill the jar with tequila, Triple Sec and lime juice.
@mehcuda67 nope- I use a wand-mixer and blend 'em in the glass. No need for buckets unless I’ve had 17.
@alacrity
Huh? Oh!!
I shall try it for science.
Appropriate order no. for a white wine kit.
/image blonde-contagious-feast
I bought one of these and it didn’t work. Save your money.
@boygenius1991 you did something wrong.
That cab sauv sounds spectacularly nasty!
@UncleVinny Great…of course that’s what I ordered!
Give a man a beer, and he’ll be mellow for an hour. Teach a man how to brew his own, and he won’t stop bragging about it to his bearded hipster friends for the rest of his life.
98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 97 bottles of beer on the wall.
97 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 96 bottles of beer on the wall.
96 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 95 bottles of beer on the wall.
95 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 94 bottles of beer on the wall.
94 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 93 bottles of beer on the wall.
93 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 92 bottles of beer on the wall.
92 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 91 bottles of beer on the wall.
91 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 90 bottles of beer on the wall.
90 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 89 bottles of beer on the wall.
89 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 88 bottles of beer on the wall.
88 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 87 bottles of beer on the wall.
87 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 86 bottles of beer on the wall.
86 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 85 bottles of beer on the wall.
85 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 84 bottles of beer on the wall.
84 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 83 bottles of beer on the wall.
83 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 82 bottles of beer on the wall.
82 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 81 bottles of beer on the wall.
81 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 80 bottles of beer on the wall.
You knew someone had to do it!
@hchavers Whoever is passing out beer one bottle at a time is being a really bad host, and would soon find themselves with a bunch of really angry patrons.
@ShotgunX It’s not rude so long as your number of guests is only 1 or 2.
@ravenblack Don’t forget it’s a health hazard.
Unless everyone pours it into cups? But then what the hell kind of party is that? You better have some really good, rare, Bourbon County-level stuff being passed around if you want me to play that game.
@hchavers why’d you quit!?
@hchavers Copy/Paste I hope!
@hchavers NO fair! I did that yesterday with the Ricola drops bag and this sing-songy comment
– and I stopped after one verse b/c i mean jeez … 456? 99?
If you are a teetotaler, just drink the wine concentrate bag. Something here for everyone!
@hafner That probably has enough sugar to give you instant diabetes.
I bought the Mr. Beer kit here several years ago. I was quite happy with it so I wound up buying three more kits and then I bought The Mr beer ingredients they run from $14.-$30. And this went on for about a year-and-a-half I really got into it and the beer actually tasted great but now you can get 15 cans of beer for $7.99 so I don’t really think it was worth the effort but I can highly recommend these kits . I think I’m going to try the wine kit now even though I don’t drink wine sounds interesting you get it started you come back in four months and you have some nice wine.the refill kits you buy contain the containers of ingrdients just add 2 gallons of water and yeast also contains a sanitizer ,let it sit for a month then you bottle add a teadepoon of sugar and 10 days later you have about 20 bottles of some great homemade beer good luck and happy brewing.
@mellowirishgent $7.99 for 15 cans is going to be piss water (or you live somewhere where food is really cheap). A six-pack of decent craft beer is going to be around a tenner, and while the quality will obviously be better than what you can make using a cheap DIY kit, I’d imagine that the purpose of a kit like this is more about the road, and not the destination.
@ShotgunX Keystone is made by Coors not a pisswater beer 15 for 799 onsale but yes craft is 10 plus bucks but prefer the lower price beers
@mellowirishgent @ShotgunX Nope, it’s pisswater regardless of who makes it.
http://beerinfo.com/worst-rated-beers-in-america/
@cinoclav @ShotgunX guess what the only opinion that counts is mine
@mellowirishgent @ShotgunX I think you’re neither mellow or Irish if you’re drinking that stuff.
@cinoclav @mellowirishgent @ShotgunX Careful, he’s going to start calling you names.
@mellowirishgent @ShotgunX @therealjrn Since our goat is nowhere to be found I had to come here for some abuse.
@cinoclav @mellowirishgent @ShotgunX @therealjrn abuse is my job
@cinoclav @mellowirishgent @ShotgunX @therealjrn @tinamarie1974
Let me know when Meh gets the Mr Meth Starter Kits.
@mml666 Those are pretty fun, but a small problem I found is that they come with everything but the allergy medicine.
@ShotgunX But the Pork Pie hat is a nice touch.
@mml666 I’m now suddenly interested in Mr Bathtub Gin Starter Kits (though preferably without the wood alcohol).
@yeppers Make sure you get the one with the Dorothy Parker cocktail napkins. They’re marvelous, dahling.
@mml666 @yeppers
well shit… I only have a shower stall…
@chienfou @mml666 @yeppers Mr. Mehth?
@mml666 @therealjrn @yeppers
Glen already has the teeth for it…
Can this be used to brew Zoma? a Zima Clearmalt clone?
@Bumplepimp Zima wasn’t bad enough? Someone cloned it?
So I can make 10.6 bottles of 12 oz “clone” beer that I have to wait to enjoy? And it costs me $27 dollars with shipping?
I think I’ll just go to the liquor store and buy a 12 pack of the actual beer that I can enjoy now for $16-17 dollars.
@Trinityscrew the larger kits you can make 2 gallons for 14 bucks
@mellowirishgent @Trinityscrew and the pinot grigio kit will crank out 5 bottles of wine for $4.40 a bottle if you are a VMP (and don’t have to pay state sales tax)
@Trinityscrew Ok. I stand by my snarky comments about the beer kits. But my wife just made me buy a wine kit as a gift for a friend. I’ll just slink away now…
Fyi you can reuse any twist off bottle like miller works perfect to reuse ,with the larger kit it comes with brown plastic bottles with scew caps
Magic-Qaulified-Cake for the Christmas present score!
Wife said I could only buy a 12 pack, so I bought a 12 pack of 16 oz cans.
/giphy thug life
@medz you do know Foster’s comes in a 25.4 oz can, right?
@chienfou Well, I didn’t want to push my luck, but she didn’t appear to noticed this time, so…
What is the expiration date on the Mr. Beer yeast packets?
Doing gallon batches of beer is pointless. You’d be lucky to get more than a case of beer out of it. If you want to do small batches, look into doing 3 gallons.
@Kevin A gallon is 128 Oz. You’d get less than 11 12 oz. beers, actually.
@Trinityscrew and that’s if you actually get 1 gallon of beer — which you typically don’t get in gallon batches.
@Kevin Yes, get the 5 gallon buckets. It’s pretty standard. Try morebeer.com or something like that.
The description mentions a lager - but it’s not in the drop down list??
@shop6d6ky yea, I was just about to order that one too & am frustrated to notice it’s not there, but am also wondering why Meh hasn’t even REPLIED to your POST yet…
Wow, no plug for casemates in the specs or writeup? Color me surprised/disappointed/indigo
Bought it for the container, one-time use for wine, lifetime for kombucha!
/giphy overwhelming-ostentatious-barnacle
@ManBehindPlan same! Got me a
/giphy educated-unclean-picture
@elizadeath is the coolest nick I’ve seen all mourning!
Will the jar with the airlock work for making kimchi or sauerkraut?
@zenoid I think it would, as long as you keep it out of the sunlight. For kimchi, you’ll want to keep it out of your smell zone…
When my grandfather was alive (he was born in 1898, so he isn’t around anymore) his friend made wine. Somehow his friend had a huge backyard, for Brooklyn, and grew grapes. My grandfather and all his friends had grapes in their yards too. (a vineyard that was about 5 foot by 3 foot). They all gave the guy in Brooklyn the grapes. They all got back wine. The problem was some years the wine was good! Some years it wasn’t. That year there was lots of vinegar. (every one of them had a vinegar barrel in the basement) They were too cheap to buy wine, so that is what you drank all year. One glass a day. They were Italian and followed the Mediterranean diet and it works. The weird thing was as a kid you got a small glass of wine. Turned 18 which was the legal drinking age back then, and the same tiny glass of wine! Took a ton of protesting to get the adult amount!
Reminds me of one of the characters in Alan Ayckbourn’s delightful “The Norman Conquests” (Tom the Vet, I think), who advises that after drinking some of Mother’s home-made wine last Christmas, he “lost the use of the right side of my face for an hour.”
Hey meh peoples! Is the lager available?
@shop6d6ky Lagers are actually a lot more difficult for homebrewers. Basically the difference is in that most lager yeasts will require refrigerator temperatures for fermentation which isn’t a big deal if you happen to have a spare fridge I guess. I think they also have longer fermentation times and require extra effort and expertise to get the type of crisp clear commercially available beers.
I dabbled in some higher gravity (~7%) hellesbock lagers that turned out well, with and without refridgeration (during the winter time).
One thing about every forum on Meh no matter what you say some asshole will have some snide remark looking for reactions .their pros at it.same people every day.I call them the Not So Clever Few.Don’t take the hate bait!!
@mellowirishgent kind of like some beers, some ‘jokes’ fall flat…
Fell asleep but fortunately (or perhaps, unfortunately) woke up in time to get me two of the cab kits as gifts for some poor sod…
/giphy magnificent-mammoth-hair
Anybody receive their order yet? Mine is still “processing”…
Guess I got spoiled by my last few items getting here pretty quickly…
@chienfou Estimated Delivery
Monday, August 26th - Tuesday, September 3rd
@whistlingwilly Oh… duh!
read the description dummy!
Thanks! At least now I know the porch pirates aren’t enjoying it…
@chienfou @whistlingwilly Those porch pirates are playing the long game, considering it takes four months to make the wine.
@therealjrn @whistlingwilly Yeah… it’s here. Haven’t opened it yet, but at least it doesn’t seem to rattle so… fingers crossed…
Yeah it’s a huge time frame from order. Hoping it comes soon.
Mine is also still processing… Knock, knock, knock, anybody home?
@acherry65 who’s there?
/giphy upstanding-minor-shelf
Mine was marked shipped 8/24. Still in TX.
Well, mine says delivered, but I didn’t notice it on the porch when I got home from Montgomery today…hmmm. Maybe I was right about the damn porch pirates.
I’ll have to take another look when I get home tonight. I still have the beer kit, so guess I will make both side by side…
@chienfou weird… it showed up 3 days later. I swear I got a delivered notice Tuesday???
My flat mate ordered this and contacted them about it still saying “Processing” He got two responses, the first one was they’re just to busy to ship it and the second was some long response about them not knowing how to ship it so it doesn’t arrive broken, but that we should receive it by the 26th. It still hasn’t arrived and it’s still marked “processing”.
Just got the alert my order was cancelled.
Hey there, Meh here!
Unfortunately, we have some bad news. We had an inventory issue and had to cancel and refund your order. To prove our apology, we’re offering a coupon code for $5, which you can redeem using code ************* at checkout. Keep in mind, it’s only good until 11/31/19.
Sorry for any inconvenience! Your friends at Meh
Can’t say I am happy about this…
I stuck it out through the whole Quip fiasco. This is leaving a bitter taste…no pun intended.
@jcdunn I have a feeling more of us are going to be getting these emails. Got a notification from the post office that’s it’s shipped, but Meh still says processing. CS gave us two different reasons for why this is happening and told us that it was shipped and would arrive on the 26th.
My broken glass jar and beer making contents arrived today. Based on no trace of impact protection, there are hundreds of others receiving broken glass jars in time for the holiday weekend.
@brispi That’s fucked up, especially considering that one of the reasons CS gave us for the delay was “Sorry about the wait with these. It looks like these got held for shipping due to concerns that they may become damaged or broken in-transit, so we’ve been preparing a new shipping method for them.”
The other was that they were really busy
@Irkalla There’s a clear plastic bag around the glass jar. The jar was then stuffed in the store box. The store box was placed into a slightly larger shipping box. Someone needs to take a lap.
@brispi @Irkalla
Obviously that’s to keep all the shards contained in one place!
@brispi @Irkalla (see video and note a few entries below…)
There’s a clear plastic bag around the glass jar. The jar was then stuffed in the store box. The store box was placed into a slightly larger shipping box. Someone needs to take a lap.
…so I guess I should be happy that mine arrived with the glass intact. Even though the two-row pale malt was cut open and spilled everywhere?
@Jasongb yeah i would be happy with that. i threw mine out. i didnt want to end up slicing open a finger on tons of glass.
@Jasongb Weird. I wonder if some of these are returns.
i just got this in the mail and the glass container is smashed to 10000 pieces
This is what mine looks like inside, something was leaking? Not sure what liquid would have been in the kit? I got the thunder bay kit. Just throwing it out, i dont want to risk drinking glass or cutting myself.
Well, it seems that meh missed an opportunity to market these as “vintage toys”
(FF to 1:34 if you don’t want to watch the lead in…)
I received my kit today and the glass jar was broken. I have to wait until Monday to see what Meh… says. The box the kit comes in was just put in a slightly larger box with no padding.
,
I’m so bummed out!
They were quick to refund me for the same prob.
I got my Pinot Grigio and Over the Moon kits yesterday. Both were double boxed with plenty of bubble wrap. Everything seems intact. The spigot hole on the Pinot Grigio kit looks a little rough, though, like it chipped out on the inside. I’ll have to assemble it to see if it seals. My IPA kit arrives today…
@Jetlag Wishing you luck on #2, I doubt the seal will be very good on the first. (especially when the pressure starts rising)
@Jetlag @jpr9845 shouldn’t really be much pressure in a wine kit…
@Jetlag My IPA kit was out for delivery all day but never showed up. I wonder if that’s a bad omen.
@chienfou @Jetlag I am brewing beer, wine did not come to mind.
@Jetlag just wanted to mention I finally got the IPA kit and it survived. All 3 of my kits had various configurations of bubble wrap.
Mine arrived smashed as well.
I have 2 more on the way and I anticipate the same, but I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll arrive intact. I’ll wait to email Meh after the other 2 get here.
I’m so bummed because these would have been great Christmas gifts, and also because I introduced a friend to Meh for this item. What a great first impression for her if hers arrives broken.
My box did have bubble wrap around the outside of the inner box, but apparently it wasn’t enough.
)
(I’d add a pic but I’m not sure how to upload from my iPad
@k4evryng Well, if yours came with padding between the boxes than this must be some really inferior glass used. This probably why Meh was able to get this great deal
Good glass packed even the way mine was should stand up to UPS standards on how they handle packages. Better luck next deal!
Sorry about your friend, she had to be introduced with a deal so FUBAR as this one!
@k4evryng Good luck with the picture thing… seems they are having trouble with the uploader currently…
re possible broken meh product for friend’s first order:
on the bright side, she may get to experience meh’s stellar customer service!
Update: I contacted. Mr Beer and told them about receiving the broken fermenter. New one is on the way no charge.
@jpr9845 The guy that helped me (Zach) said “I’ll send them from my Tucson warehouse where my warehouse manager will personally pack it to make sure it arrives safely and completely.” Find out on Tuesday, coming UPS.