Mr Beer...

[Larzean]

So my girlfriends mom found out that I brew and got me a Mr Beer kit for Christmas. Anything special I can do to spice it up? Was thinking of swapping the yeast for like us05 and maybe try to get some additional hops in there? I think it's classic American light, so in guessing something like a Coors Light? Any advice is appreciated!

 

[rayfound]

Personally had a similar thing happen. Gave away the tinned extract. Kept the fermenter and the yeast for cider.

 

[julioardz]

Steep some grains into it before the boil, add your own hops, dry hop it, or use it as an experimental batch for a yeast strain that you haven't tried. Do you like Belgians? Maybe you can try a Saison yeast in it. That's probably what I would do.

 

[freebeertomorrow]

Add some DME instead of the Alcohol booster packet, which I believe is just corn sugar. Second the steeped grains and hops. Fresh yeast is probably not a bad idea.

The little two gallon fermenter and PET bottles should be great for cider and the corn sugar too, or maybe just use it for bottling.

 

[thaworm69]

This sounds like a cool project. Usually a brewer starts out with a MR. BEER, but now you kind of have to make it being a "regular home brew expert" =) I say use what you have learned and show Mr Beer a thing or two! Maybe you can get the "future mother in law" to get you a nice conical!

 

[BobbiLynn]

That happened to me too. I still have the can of "west coast pale ale". Ended up tossing the booster after it turned hard as a rock. Not sure why I still have the can o' beer mix, it expired 2 years ago. Every time I see it, I feel guilty that I never used it. So I guess I have no additional suggestions. Just make sure you use it so you don't have to suffer with years of guilt like me. Not to mention the lies and deception when you are asked how you liked the beer. First it was "Oh, I haven't had a chance to brew it yet." Then that turned to blatant lies, "Oh, it was great!". I have gotten good use out of the little fermenter though.

 

[BigFloyd]

So my girlfriends mom found out that I brew and got me a Mr Beer kit for Christmas. Anything special I can do to spice it up? Was thinking of swapping the yeast for like us05 and maybe try to get some additional hops in there? I think it's classic American light, so in guessing something like a Coors Light? Any advice is appreciated!

Here's what I did with that exact same kit. A lady at work had gotten it for her husband and he didn't want to brew, so she gave it to me.

.5 lbs German medium Crystal – steeped 30 min
Just a smidgen of Black Patent - steeped30 min (not needed, but I had some on hand)
.5 lbs Briess Light Golden DME
Mr. Beer American Light HME refill
.5 oz 2012 Fuggle hops pellets at finish
OG 1.044
Pitched the Mr. Beer ale yeast (dry – rehydrated) at 73F
Primary at 68F (measured on side of LBK)
Dry hop with .5 oz Fuggle at one week
FG 1.011, ABV = 4.4%
Batch primed to 2.3

It's quite tasty. If I were going to do this all over again, I'd up the DME to 0.75lb and add a couple ounces of Maltodextrin (or maybe steep 4 ounces Carapils instead).

 

[Calder]

I've had a couple of Mr. Beer kits that I've played with to check out what certain hops are like. The ones I have had have about 20 to 25 IBUs in 2 gallons. That one only gives 11.

I've created recipes with extract for 2 gallons where I have boiled LME and added tons of a hop I wanted to taste (I've done Bravo, Cluster, Amarillo, and Sorachi Ace). All hops have gone in from 15 minutes (a very short boil) and factoring in the IBUs from the Mr. Beer I have tried to make a Pale ale of the order of 1.056 and about 45 IBUs. Don't boil the Mr. Beer extract, add straight to fermenter. To get to about 1.056, you need to add about 2 lbs of LME.

Don't use the booster in it. That is a mix of Maltodextrin and corn sugar. Add it to some 5 gallon batch you are trying to keep light in color as a replacement for 3/4 lb of LME.

Toss the yeast in the boil and use as nutrient. That's about all that yeast is useful for.

 

[freebeertomorrow]

So, inspired by this thread, I went on Craigslist and found a Mr. Beer listed for $40. I talked the guy down to $10 and became the proud owner of a Mr. Beer Premium Gold edition, including 2 refills: Cowboy Lager and American Blonde Ale. Turns out, these are discontinued flavors, but the exp date on the bottom was 2014, so no worries.

Opening the box and laughing at the contents was probably worth the $10, not to mention the Mr. Beer stickers to put on my kegs.

So, there's no way I want 2 batches of 3.7% ABV light beer, so some hacking was in order.

I decided to use both cans, plus one of the booster packs, plus some hops and grains. I also decided to do a 30 minute boil to make the hops worthwhile. So, here's my "recipe".

1 gallon boil
4oz crystal 40, steep until boil
1oz black patent, steep until boil
20 oz Cowboy lager HME
20 oz American Blonde HME
.25oz Palisades 30min
.25oz Palisades 15 min
12 oz Booster (Corn syrup solids) at flameout
Pitched slurry of Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale Yeast, cause I had it.

Add water at flameout to make 2 gallons, chill add to Mr Beer fermenter. Wort was fairly dark and reasonably hoppy.
OG 1.056
If FG is 1.010, I'll hit a respectable 6% ABV.
I'm guestimating an IBU of 30 or so, based on the other Mr. Beer kits and my own additions, couldn't find values for my cans.

Was fun and easy, hopefully will at least be drinkable. I have some friends who'll drink about anything, so no worries.

 

[Larzean]

I haven't had a chance to order grains and hops to play with this just yet, but hopefully this weekend I can sit down and do that and maybe order a couple sets of ingredients for half batches to put into the 3.5g buckets I ordered the other day!

 

[Hackwood]

I had fun with a Mr. Beer kit that I picked up at a yard sale for $5-10. The LBK is very good for 2 gallon "test" batches. I also use the bottles for my son to have rootbeer/cream soda. I have since taken the offer from Brew Demon to hack my LBK for their new LBC and will be doing basically the same with it. I DO know that I will keep my eyes open for another inexpensive LBK for more test batches and to compare the LBK against the LBC!

The LBK can be a useful tool.

 

[BigFloyd]

So, inspired by this thread, I went on Craigslist and found a Mr. Beer listed for $40. I talked the guy down to $10 and became the proud owner of a Mr. Beer Premium Gold edition, including 2 refills: Cowboy Lager and American Blonde Ale. Turns out, these are discontinued flavors, but the exp date on the bottom was 2014, so no worries.

Opening the box and laughing at the contents was probably worth the $10, not to mention the Mr. Beer stickers to put on my kegs.

So, there's no way I want 2 batches of 3.7% ABV light beer, so some hacking was in order.

I decided to use both cans, plus one of the booster packs, plus some hops and grains. I also decided to do a 30 minute boil to make the hops worthwhile. So, here's my "recipe".

1 gallon boil
4oz crystal 40, steep until boil
1oz black patent, steep until boil
20 oz Cowboy lager HME
20 oz American Blonde HME
.25oz Palisades 30min
.25oz Palisades 15 min
12 oz Booster (Corn syrup solids) at flameout
Pitched slurry of Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale Yeast, cause I had it.

Add water at flameout to make 2 gallons, chill add to Mr Beer fermenter. Wort was fairly dark and reasonably hoppy.
OG 1.056
If FG is 1.010, I'll hit a respectable 6% ABV.
I'm guestimating an IBU of 30 or so, based on the other Mr. Beer kits and my own additions, couldn't find values for my cans.

Was fun and easy, hopefully will at least be drinkable. I have some friends who'll drink about anything, so no worries.

I couldn't really tell from your post.....did you boil the Mr. Beer HME?

Since it's already hopped extract (with additions for bittering, flavor and aroma), boiling HME strips away the flavor/aroma hops and ups the bittering quite a bit. Just sayin.

 

[freebeertomorrow]

I did worry a bit about boiling the HME, but since I was adding fresh hops, not too much. I've had mixed results adding DME/LME at flameout, so I went ahead and boiled it. When all is said and done, I have about $12 in this project, so I'm not too stressed.

 

[michael_mus]

So my girlfriends mom found out that I brew and got me a Mr Beer kit for Christmas. Anything special I can do to spice it up? Was thinking of swapping the yeast for like us05 and maybe try to get some additional hops in there? I think it's classic American light, so in guessing something like a Coors Light? Any advice is appreciated!

You narrowly missed the BrewDemon promo, but (having taken delivery of mine this weekend) I would have suggested you do-so. They were giving free (buyer pays shipping) BrewDemon fermenters to brewers who sent in a specific piece, cut from the bottom of their Mr. Beer.

Still, plenty of utility there. Cider, small brew/test brews, etc.

 

[2_gal_brewer]

I have been making Mr Beer kits of all kinds for over a year and I have made nothing undrinkable. I have also experimented adding other extract malts and hops to the mix. They do have a bunch of recipes on their website from which you can make a fairly smart guess as to what to combine to make what you want - I did generally find they are a little under hopped, but it is easy to add more. I like it because I can lift the full 2 gal keg and move it but not a 5 gal. one. I like to make lots of small batches of varied kinds to drink. It tastes best IMHO after maturing for at least 6 weeks. Some is even better after 3 months so don't hurry it. My wife likes it because I make very little mess in the kitchen and don't stink the house up with brewing smells. Just had a glass of their American Porter made with Briess Golden Light DME - nice with lunch - malty like an Oktoberfest. Most hoppy I made was a Diablo IPA with added dry hop of 1 oz Cascade for a week, that is very tasty. So I think the kit has its uses and some advantages, but it all depends on what you want to do and drink.