Mr. Beer brewing

[fr33th3w33d]

I went into the CVS today for some eyedrops. In the kids toy aisle of all places i found a Mr. Beer home brewing kit. Being a content beer enthusiast, this thing caught my attention immediately. The strange thing is that i've been interested in brewing lately, and have been thinking about opening a brewery/bar or something similar later on down the twisty ass road that is life. whether a pipe dream or not, cause im sure everyone says this kind of crap at some point, this thing seems like fun and looks like a simple introduction to making the stuff that i love so much.

grow your own weed, make your own beer

anyway, has anyone on this board had any experience with one of these Mr. Beer brewing kits? or brewing in general?

edit- http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Beer-Deluxe-Microbrewery-System/dp/B00005O68L

 

[Stoner4Life]

no idea which unit my friend uses, he's pretty good at it too.
I'll see him at work tomorrow & ask him. He makes some really
robust tasty beers. Wine making is cool too, one friend makes
a wicked 'Onion' wine, it's sweet and light & unlike an onion.

 

[HotCha]

Do not buy Mr. Beer. It is nonsense.

If you want to make some good beer, look for a homebrewing store in your area and talk to the folks there. They'll get you started with good gear and a good book. If you can't find anything like that in your area, check out www.northernbrewer.com. They have a great online catalog and an awesome forum filled with more helpful people than you can wave a stalk of barley at.

 

[Saibai]

Hell yeah, loved brewing. Its great, but with beers working out at about...oh, pretty much free, it can turn u into alcoholic quicker than u can say "malty liquid"

 

[fr33th3w33d]

Do not buy Mr. Beer. It is nonsense.

If you want to make some good beer, look for a homebrewing store in your area and talk to the folks there. They'll get you started with good gear and a good book. If you can't find anything like that in your area, check out www.northernbrewer.com. They have a great online catalog and an awesome forum filled with more helpful people than you can wave a stalk of barley at.

yeah, well im sure i could find some good gear and such, but good things usually costs a good amount more, this things like 50 bucks.. im not looking to set up anything too huge, just get used to the process.

 

[marx2k]

Ok... is it more expensive to brew your own decent beer or buy decent beer from the store? I'm guessing the storebought beer would be cheaper, right? Mainly because they buy ingredients in bulk and have already overcome (or are in the process of overcoming) economy of scale?

 

[fr33th3w33d]

well once you have your set up finished, your beer is basically free minus the cost of ingredients, over time im guessing the set up will pay for itself.. hell sell some beer to friends on the side or something.

 

[marx2k]

The problem with selling beer is that while you (and I) might be used to fine beer at a slightly elevated price, most of the people around us are used to Budweiser and Budweiser prices.

I love the local microbrews. I have at least 5 restaurants and pubs in a 5 mile radius that brew their own beer on premises.

 

[fr33th3w33d]

The problem with selling beer is that while you (and I) might be used to fine beer at a slightly elevated price, most of the people around us are used to Budweiser and Budweiser prices.

I love the local microbrews. I have at least 5 restaurants and pubs in a 5 mile radius that brew their own beer on premises.

well im not recommending anything commercial, just saying if you come up a few bucks short, sell a batch or two of brew..

also, the whole microbrew pub thing, i gotta look into how to start one of those things.

 

[TwoOhSix!]

That thing looks like a big POS plastic toy, don't plan on getting any quality brew out of that. Do some more research, it's not that hard to do. And marx2k, after you get your setup ready it's much cheaper to buy ingredients and brew it than spend that money at the store on microbrew.

 

[marx2k]

Yep. I figured that most of the money went into the initial investment. Personally, I will stick with the local microbrews. However, brew shops are great places to buy some equipment for your grow

 

[FallenBuddha]

i am an avid home brewer, i do all grain brews now, and it is far more cost effective for me to make my own than to buy it. i am a shameless beer snob, i prefer higher gravity (alchohol content) beers, preferring belgian ales over all. i can make a 5 gallon batch of something similar to westmalle trippel, a crisp golden trappist ale at 9.5% a.b.v., for $.46 a pint. besides price, other benefits of going all grain include :clearer beer, better flavor (extracts have a bit of a plasticy note in the after taste), and the knowledge of exactly what you have put into your brew. for beginners though, extract is a good way to start, then after extract move onto partial mash (where you steep grais in the brew kettle before additiion of the extract to get flarings, colorings, aromatics, as well as some sugar content).

like growing, homebrewing requires equipment to start up, and like growing its easy to build some of your own equiptment. a large pot, a thermometer, bucket for fermenting with air lock, a glass carboy for secondary fermentation and aging, a racking cane ( a plastic rod wit a special tip bent at 90 degrees for attaching a tube to for syphoning wort and beer) a hydrometer with beaker to measure specific gravity (sugar content which = potential alcohol) a bottling bucket with hose and bottling wand and a capper. all grain requires all that plus mash/lauter tun ( i use converted gatorade coolers modified with copper manifolds for extracting the sugars from the grain), a grain mill is optional as most homebrew shops will crack your grains for you, also a wort chiller is optional (used to cool the wort, the sugar and hop solution before yeast is added) and of course bottles.

i will say there is nothing like a night of smoking your own homegrown and drinking your own homebrew, just a total feeling of accomplishment. and homebrewing is a hobby you can tell your friends about. as for starting your own brew pub, hire a profession brewmaster, trying to become one from the start will only yield headaches.

peace -fb

 

[D0nC0smic]

what he said brewing your own is at the absolute worst half the price of buying good beer, and the crap appliance that was mentioned at the beginning of this thread is pretty much worthless

 

[marx2k]

So whats the startup cost to brew yourself one good bottle of beer?

 

[FallenBuddha]

to do your first run, extract style, equiptment and ingredients, about $150.00, but then after that like $45.00 for 5 gallons, (thats doing extract version of a 5.5% ale).

peace -fb

 

[marx2k]

AND it has a decent taste? VERY nice. How many hours of work do you say goes into it from thought to drink on the first batch?

 

[Sammet]

I've made some beer, took 21 days in one of these,

BrewZer Beer Making Kits
http://www.boysstuff.co.uk/product.asp?id=10125&random=&cid=&src=Search

Uk equivelant of the kit you said was bad at the start lol

It wasn't too bad, but you get what you pay for. The proper kits are really decent. I made my own elderflower wine and peach schnapps with a proper kit.

I wonder why they don't have those microbreweries here in the UK, all the pubs seem to be chained to a large brewerer. I've been in a few in Colorado and Arizona, some good beers

 

[Jack D Ripper]

you definately DONT need that. Get a 6 gallon GLASS jug. You dont smoke out of plastic... why would you homebrew in plastic? I have an IPA and Irish stout fermenting atm. Ill post some pics of everything youll need to get started (all available at a hardware store for < $20)

btw... 5 hours of work MAX from "thought to drink"

 

[fr33th3w33d]

you definately DONT need that. Get a 6 gallon GLASS jug. You dont smoke out of plastic... why would you homebrew in plastic? I have an IPA and Irish stout fermenting atm. Ill post some pics of everything youll need to get started (all available at a hardware store for < $20)

btw... 5 hours of work MAX from "thought to drink"

seriously? i am a bio/chem major and i dont think alcohol ferments that quick. shouldn't it take like atleast a week?

as for the brewing kit, i know its shit, obviously for 60 bucks and a big plastic jug your not gonna get proffesional brew, but for shits and giggles, i think it wouldn't be a bad idea if i could add my own ingredients and stuff.. like i said im not looking into anything to serious, just to try it out i guess..

 

[Jack D Ripper]

it takes like 4 weeks, but there is no work involved. you just watch it bubble for 2 weeks, swich to a 2nd stage fermenter, give it another week, then add sugar, bottle it, and let it carbonate for a week. 5 hours of work and 4 weeks of waiting