Find a Local Home Brew Store (LHBS). They will be able to help you and get you additional supplies and ingredients as you progress.

1) Don't use Booster. Use another can of plain light unhopped malt extract (UME)instead. This can either be dry malt extract (DME) or liquid malt extract (LME). In either case, it will be better than using Booster or Sugar. Either your LHBS or the Mr. Beer web site can supply it for you.

2) If you can get some better yeast, your beer will turn out much better. I highly suggest using name brand yeast, such as Fermentis Safe-Ale, Danstar Nottingham/Windsor, Munton's, etc.

3) Rehydrate your dry yeast in a cup of pre-boiled then cooled under 80 degree (F) water before you pitch it. This will allow the cell walls to become permeable, and more of the cells will be viable. They will grow more and do a better job of fermenting your beer.

4) Cool the wort down to 70F before pitching the yeast, and aerate it very well. Lack of oxygen will inhibit yeast growth, and you will get a bland beer with off flavors as a result.

5) The Mr. Beer directions say to dump the boiling wort into the keg, which contains about a gallon of cold tap water. If you are on well water, this may be asking for an infection. If you are on city water, the chlorine in the water will form chlorophenols, which may be low to moderate in level but will be noticeable as a Band-Aid or plasticy flavor/aroma in the finished beer. You would be better off if you use pre-boiled well or tap water. Boiling will sterilize the water and drive off any chlorine. If your city uses chloramine, even boiling will not remove it. You would need to use a 1/4 of a campden tablet (1 tablet can treat 10 gallons of water) to remove the chloramine, or go with bottled water.
It is better to put the boil pot in an ice bath to cool it down, though.

6) Do your best to control the fermentation temperature. The good yeast’s named above thrive in temperatures of about 65-70F. Going hotter than that will cause harsh fusel alcohol’s to form and they will make your beer taste alcoholica and "hot".

7) Give the beer a full 2 weeks in the fermenter. Even though the directions say 1 week is enough, that is really not true. The foam (called krausen) will fall, but the yeast will continue to consume their by-products in the following days. This is the time that the yeast essentially cleans up after itself. Without this time, you will end up with "green" beer that has several off flavors. Patience here is key. To help fight the urge, plan or even brew another batch.

8) Give the beer at least 2 weeks in the bottles. Keep them at or slightly above 70F so that the yeast will reactivate and produce the carbonation.

9) Always, always, always pay close attention to your sanitation practices. One-Step is a good no-rinse sanitizer. Star-San is better. Bleach works, but then you need to rinse. What is the point of sanitizing only to put non-sanitized water back on the equipment?

10) In later batches, you can try steeping 1/2 # of crystal malt and adding additional hops into the beers. This is an easy way to add more complexity and flavor into the finished product.

After sanitizing all equipment, fill the Mr. Beer fermenter with cold water up to the 4 quart mark on the back.
Heat 4½ quarts of water to 160 degrees F. Carefully crack/crush the grain with a rolling pin. Place the Malt Barley in one of the steeping bags, tie it closed and place it in the hot water. Poke it around every 5 minutes while it steeps for 30 minutes. Remove and discard the grain.

11) Read! Knowledge is power. Pick up a brewing book for your brewer's library that will take you to the next level.

12) Enter a homebrew into a competition - or several! Get objective feedback on your brew, and possibly become an award-winning homebrewer.

Very nice job putting this together Banjoman. The only thing that I would add is that Wheat Beers are ready to bottle after a very short time. The 2 weeks to ferment is for most beers, but not the wheat beers, I would bottle or keg after 1 week. That is a basic wheat beer recipe with no additions to the keg. Anybody disagree?

Nice Job Banjo...I vote this be made a sticky for all the new brewers to come.

Great post!!! Probably covers about 98% of the questions/problems people have starting out.

Really great post, Banjoman.

I hope you don't feel I am throwing water on your fire with my two cents.

I chose to start brewing with Mr. Beer. It wasn't a gift out of the blue. I had seen a friend do a partial mash brew and that was way more than I wanted to start with. I guess the thing is, I wanted to see if I could really make beer. And it is interesting, at first friends and acquaintances grimace and ask if that is even legal. And as you find you really can make beer they begin to ask if you have another batch ready.

For my first batch I did what a lot of people do which is decide I and going to "kick it up a notch". I had numerous ingredients and went with Bewitched Red Ale/Mellow Amber/Booster/Brown Sugar. But having received a second keg I brewed up a standard batch of Octoberfest Vienna Lager w/booster and having that turn out well really convinced me to keep brewing. That convinced me I could make beer. It was lacking a real flavor kick but it was fine to have with a sandwich.

Now maybe I am just haggling terminology, but to me that OVL brew was a "decent" brew. To me the methods you describe should be producing good to great beers and it seems your post should be more "So you have made a decent beer, here's how to kick it up a notch". Well, sorta. It has both "kick it up" suggestions as well as some basic stuff.

JMO

I know that a lot of people dislike Booster, but I don't think it needs to be discarded out of hand. I wouldn't buy it separately, but if I buy a standard refill and it's there, it gets used. I also use additional malt extract (or do a partial mash), so the Booster isn't a big part of the fermentable sugar content. I think the reason Booster is seen as "bad" is that it is often used with only 1 HME and the Booster. That doesn't make a good beer, but 1 HME, 1-2 LBS of DME or LME, a hop boil and Booster makes a good beer.

Thank you for your comments everyone. I wasn't trying to get ostentatious with this post but after KNeace commented that we were talking outside the understanding of our new members (on another thread) that I decided put in a post that would sum up what most basic Mr Beer brewers need to "kick it up a notch" and enjoy this obsession.

Would the Admin consider a "Sticky" as I hope this covers most of the basics, to help the newer brewer make their experience more enjoyable, and in the (hopeful) progression to advanced phases of brewing.

I don't think it was ostentatious at all. I think it was an excellent post and I wish I had that information before my first two batches.

You Sir can sticky it yourself ! But I'll do it for you ! Great Post !!!!!!!

Great post Banjo!

Very helpful post, Thank you.


Damian in Philly

Great post, Banjo.

If I may add... temp control... temp control... temp control...

If you can pitch your yeast at a specific temp and hold it steady for a couple weeks at that specific temp, you will make good beer. Temperature fluctuations will ruin the best preparations.

I absolutely agree with BP. I wish I had that information with my first couple of batches as well. Great information and very easy to follow even if you don't have a lot of terminology down yet.

Yeah, nice post banjo. Some of it is in the FAQ but it's a great reminder for this season's newbies.

Very good post, but I'd like to say a few words in defense of booster. Now hear me out, I've got a valid point. Now, who had the soapbox last? *looks around* Ah, there it is! *gets up on the soapbox*

I don't think booster is really the problem...it's the way it ends up being used. Booster is not something to base a recipe around. It should be used to provide an ABV boost to an already good recipe without having much impact on the flavor or body, and not as more than 1/4-1/3 of the total fermentables.

So let's look at the West Coast Pale Ale that comes with most Mr. Beer kits: 1 can WCPA HME, 1 bag of booster. Using the above premise, the "base" recipe would be 1 can of WCPA HME. Not a great recipe by itself. It'd be a *very* light beer, without a lot of taste. Boost the ABV of that and...you get a less light beer, still without a lot of taste.

Now, let's upgrade that to a premium refill...1 can WCPA with 1 can Pale Export UME. We get a beer with more body and more flavor! Wow, what a difference an extra can of extract makes! Now, add booster...similar taste, similar body (maybe slightly lighter, but you'd be hard pressed to be able to tell in a side-by-side comparison.

Finally, like just about any other time you add fermentables, your beer *will* need additional conditioning time.

And that's all I have to say about that. Thanks for listening.

*gets down off the soapbox*

Great post! And some very good points made by all. I really do wish this post and suggestions were around before I started. I recall tearing my box open on Xmas day 09 and that night it was in the fermenter. It was only after I brewed it that I found this website that same night.

Thanks again guys for the great info. I know many new users will get good results if they follow these simple guidelines.

First off I wanted to start by saying I just joined here and I look forward to getting to know everyone here, I looked for an introduction thread and didnt notice one. I just finished my second batch from the MR beer I got for Christmas. First was the Pale ale that comes with the kit and I got a hard cider. Both turned out really good just from following the directions. I got a lot of looks from people when I got the kit for christmas

almost like "Oh you poor boy dont you know you cant make anything worthwhile with that." so far I beg to differ. not only has the last two batches turned out tasty but I am having a blast and learning more and more everyday. even now Im looking forward to the next couple of batches and im also looking to add on production wise with several 1 gallon and 1/2 gallon glass bottles so I can continue to brew up a lot of small batches.

so I just wanted to say Hi and I hope to Hang out here more and more

I am now wishing I had found this before I threw together a batch of Vienna Lager this morning, straight from the kit. It's my second batch, the first of course the standard ale that it came with... not good in my opinion, but hubby liked it well enough. I have now realized it did not stay in the fermenter near long enough or condition long enough, my current batch will be kept out of hubby's impatient hands and glass!

The forums here are wonderful and will make it so much easier for me to move away from the kits and into experimenting a little more.

http://www.mrbeerfans.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.MrBeerFAQ

those should help too

Great post!

I agree, it needs to be sticky.

One thing i would add is the cooling part. An AG acquaintance turned me on to this:

He didn't want to pop the bucks yet for an immersion chiller, so he pre-makes sterile ice cubes to cool his wort.

Just boil some water, let it cool a little, then dump it in a sanitized Tupperware container and put the lid on. The lid will pop off due to the steam a couple of times, so be ready to replace it. After it cools down to a comfortable temp, put it in the freezer.

When you start brewing, pull the Tupperware container out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter for awhile to melt a little so that the cube will come out easily. When you're ready to cool your wort, you can add the ice cube to your brew pot, or to the fermenter.

He suggested an 8 cup Tupperware container for a 3-4 gallon boil, so I've been using a 4 cup for a Mr Beer sized batch. It gets my temps down pretty quickly.

I got a Mr. Beer as a gift from my girlfriends mom. It made some great beer and I absolutely love it and everyone here at Mr.Beerfans.com Especially Drock.

But that opened the door for me to spend a few hundred more at Mr.Beer.com and get some more equipment and ingredients. Now I'm making some great beer that I actually bring to party's and suggest people try all with the LBK and all Mr.Beer ingredients.

A good musician never blames his instrument.

Wow. I am making great beer and I spent less than a hundred. The process is the same regardless of the equipment.

Cheers!

Yep, made plenty of good beer with the Mr. Beer...so I wonder...if you are so dissapointed with Mr. Beer...why bother to Troll our forums?

heh yea a Mr Beer kit that can make gross beer is better than mine... mine just sits there

lol... kind of funny to be posting this in a thread titled "how to get decent beer with a Mr. Beer kit"... because if you follow the directions in the thread, you'll get really good beer.

even jamil zainasheff started with a Mr. Beer kit. so obviously it's not Mr. Beer....

the same things made your bad beer in a mr beer kit... high fermentation temps, too much simple sugar in the recipe, poor yeast health, etc... will make bad beer in More Beer's overpriced equipment. feel free to contribute something useful to the site... or partake in all the useful information that is up here.

Who is this guy?

Someone trying to generate traffic for their website?

Anybody listen to the 3/7/11 episode of Brew Strong? Jamil said he ran into the Mr Beer folks at GABF and told them he wanted to rebrew some of their stuff now that he understands fermentation. He did and said, "I thought the results were quite good". Jamil continued... "It depends a lot on fermentation and sanitation."

To avoid underpitching your yeast use the Mr Malty Pitching Calculator
To brew a 1.060 beer you should be pitching 5 grams and 3 grams for a 1.040 beer.
In other words... the single yeast packet under your HME lid isn't enough yeast according to Mr. Malty.

Good tips. I have been using bottled water by the gallon ($0.88/gallon at WalMart)to avoid the chlorine and well water issues. Only adds $1.76 to the price of a batch. I did notice some chemical tastes before and attributed them to the chlorine in the tap water. Now those off flavors are gone.

I will defintely be referencing this thread often! Great info. Thanks!

GOTTA LOVE RIVERTOWNE!!!

No doubt, man. Im there at least once a week. 2 times if its been a good week, lol.

Psh, suburbanites!

Rivertowne is great, but I rarely make it out there. My roommate hits it up a lot, though.

Outstanding tips, Thanks for the helpful reminders I find myself sometimes getting a little to lax and it's always good to read and get back on the horse....

Das ist SPAM

I find that using filtered water works OK for me. We have a PUR filter unit on our kitchen tap and I use that. We are on well water and our water is hard. I have plenty of Mr. Beer ready made mixes, but I would also like to learn how to make my own malt syrups. I've had my Mr. Beer for a couple of years and every batch so far has been very good!

making malt extract is pretty difficult... best left to the professionals. we just buy the syrup and use that to make our own wort. assuming you want the syrup to make your own wort, you can use any LME (liquid malt extract) or DME (dried malt extract... basically powdered malt extract) from online or from the local homebrew shop. they come in a few varities... pilsen and light, which are very light in color for beers like pilsners, lawnmower beers, cream ales, and the like. amber malt is amber colored with a great caramel malt flavor, and works great for amber beers, oktoberfests. wheat LME/DME is for wheat beers... hefeweizien, wits, american wheats, etc.

basically, you can craft a recipe using one type or multiple types of extracts to make a wort, figure out what kind of hops you want in the beer and add them to wort as it's boiling, cool, then pour into the fermenter and add yeast.

of course, it can be a bit more complex than that... i recommend reading the intro and sections one and two of the online version of John Palmer's How to Brew to give you a better idea.

feel free to ask around the forums, too... most (if not all of us) have done extract batches in the past, so we can help you out as needed!

If what you were after is starting closer to from scratch, you can try all grain brewing, where it's up to you to get the sugars out of the grains. Lots of folks on here do that.

The resurrection of an old thread. Gotta love it. In truth if you're going to try to bring back an old one this is probably one of the better ones to revive.

Thanks Mami, I enjoyed writing this post and to this day I remember hating to wait for the booster to dissolve. I still have some in the basement and will never use it again.
I still have some Mr Beer yeast hanging around that I use during the boil for yeast nutrient.

To the new brewers, My humble opinion is to make a decent or better beer, Use these steps and you will never look back !

Being a newb....

The one thing I've learned is... Do not use the 2-2-2 week method.. You need to use this.. 2 weeks fermenting, 2 weeks carbonating.. and 6 weeks conditioning.. It's not even close.. The flavor of the brew after the 6 week conditioning is MUCH better..



What's a spider online anyway?

We recommend the 2-2-2 as a minimum. You're right, many of the MrBeer kits improve with age. The main goal is to avoid the "you can have beer in as little as 14 days" thingy MrBeer advertises. Yes, you can technically make a kit in 14 days. You can also technically make beer using water from a mud puddle. I wouldn't recommend either.

A spider is a bot sent by search engines to catalog the forum and optimize it for their searches. Us old schoolers should all remember the early days when Webcrawler was the search engine of choice and used the spider motif.

Didn't that get bought by AOL, then slowly killed off?

Maybe, but the term remains. We get Google spiders, Bing spiders and especially BaiDu spiders (forgive me if I mispelled the chinese spiders) out the wazoo!