So whats next?

[Togorok]

So now that I have played with the mr beer stuff I am ready to move on. My question is where should I go? Am I going to have to buy a whole bunch of new equipment? I know I have read alot about splitting 5 gallons between two lbks thats fine i have 6. I have been looking online at brewers best kits these seem a little more advanced has anyone messed with theses? Does anyone have any recommendation as to how they moved on from mr. Beer ( mr. Screw up a great source of knowledge forum)

[jivex5k]

Personal experience here:

I started brewing 5 gallon kits from NorthernBrewer.com
I did it by splitting the batch between 2 LBKs, and it was a huge pain in the rear!
Why?

I have a small sink, and cooling a 5 gallon kettle with ~3 gallons of boiling water in a little sink is horrible.
It was a pain to split the yeast and wort evenly between both LBKs, never had an issue but it worried me

So, if you do make the jump I'd suggest reading this thread I made:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=21

Here's a thread on how to make your own wort chiller to save a few bucks too:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=41

[JimH]

I guess some "logical" steps would be to improve on the MB stuff first. Start with some DME/LME. Add in a hop boil with the DME/LME. Start doing some steeping grains. Move on to original recipes based on DME/LME. Go AG. It only gets better from there.

As for me, perhaps I was lucky enough to chat with enough experienced brewers over in the Taproom enough times and I felt comfortable, so I started crafting recipes. It's only been a few batches, but I just planned out a couple batches. Bought 1 bag of Crystal 40. Split that into 3 batches (1 MB batch using 1/4lb, Murican Wheat using 1/4lb, and Amber Ale using 1/2lb). A 3 lb bag of DME is just about perfect for a LBK sized batch, maybe only use 2.5lb if you want to save a 1/2lb to spice up a MB HME. So, start with about a 1/4lb grain steep (super easy, we can teach that!), add in some water and DME, and do a hop boil. The hop boil is easy, just need to figure out where you want to go, what type of beer, etc. Download qBrew, it helps you figure all this out, and its free! So, after a little bit of these simple steps, you can move on to partial mash or even AG. Me, right now I am digging what I got going. Steep some specialty grains, 3lb bag, and depending on the beer, around an ounce of hops. Doing a simple single hop recipe would be a good start, and I would even be willing to share my recipes! (I posted them over on MB, haven't posted them here yet.)

[haerbob3]

tell us what you have done. Have you steeped grains, partial mashed and/or used LME/DME??

[gwcr]

Also check out the "going from 2.5 to 5 gallon" thread in this section. Nice writeup.

[Beer-lord]

I always suggest that if you're sure you're gonna stick with this awesome hobby, by the best you can afford and it will definitely be worth it. You might want to check with your LHBS if you have one in your area.
Go slow and don't try to go mad scientist right off. Ask questions, read alot and then just brew. Start simple with kits with small grain with extract.

A hint for extract brewers is to boil as much as you can instead of small boils and adding water at the end to tip up. If you do 30-60 minute full boils, you're beer will definitely be better.

[Togorok]

My experience is limited to mrb stuff done about 10 of their basic recipes adding hops lme and dme not much more rhan that...

[Togorok]

My beer drinking experience well thats another story

[jimjohson]

So now that I have played with the mr beer stuff I am ready to move on. My question is where should I go? Am I going to have to buy a whole bunch of new equipment? I know I have read alot about splitting 5 gallons between two lbks thats fine i have 6. I have been looking online at brewers best kits these seem a little more advanced has anyone messed with theses? Does anyone have any recommendation as to how they moved on from mr. Beer ( mr. Screw up a great source of knowledge forum)

fwiw by the time i had done 3 "MrB kits" i had finished howtobrew.com and just started cooking extracts & hops. cheaper than ordering hmes on line and you can just buy enough to brew 2.5 gallons batches for the lbks no need to split. if you don't already have one, get a program like q brew to help set up your recipes.

[gwcr]

My path was straight MB, then steeping some grain with MB, then BIAB MB sized batch, BIAB 5 gallon and now 5 gallon with a mash tun. Once you steep some grain, the other methods don't seem like that big a leap. Take it at your own pace. You'll find your own stride.

[brewin bull]

I did two or three Mr. Beer recipes as is. Then we did the recipe collaboration and I have pretty much done all extract with steeping grains and hop boils I have a blast with it. I still use my lbk's to ferment as they are the perfect size for my brewing space.

I just play with qbrew and come up with something or work with people in the community to work out recipes.

[jivex5k]

My experience is limited to mrb stuff done about 10 of their basic recipes adding hops lme and dme not much more rhan that...

I'd say the next step would be doing a hop boil, and steeping grains.

Steeping grains is as easy as it sounds. You get your water heated up to around 160~170F, throw the grains in a sack (you can get a grain bag wherever you get the grains from), and steep them for 20 minutes or so. Just like it was a big tea bag, moving it around helps.
Only certain grains called "specialty grains" will benefit from steeping.

Some people say you shouldn't squeeze the bag when it's done for fear of tannins, I always do anyways haven't had an issue yet.
I want that extra malty goodness!!

Hop boiling is a bit more complicated, but not much.
First of all, don't ever boil HME, it already has hops and boiling it will eliminate the balance of the hops in it.
Second, don't boil them in just water!

So, you boil hops in LME, DME, or UME(Liquid/Dry/Unhopped Extract) UME is the same as LME, just Mr. Beers way of clarifying it doesn't have hops in it.
So anyways, you want to follow something called a hop schedule, which will look something like this:

1 oz Magnum (60 min)
.5 oz Cascade (15 min)
.5 oz Casecade (5 min)

This means you must boil those hop amounts, for those lengths of time. Easy isn't it?
The reasoning behind it is fairly straightforward. Hops will contribute flavor, aroma, and bitterness to beer. The ratio at which it contributes this factors directly correlates to the boiling time.
60 minutes for bitterness
15 minutes for flavor
5 minutes for aroma

You can also use a "hop sack" so you don't leave your hops in the beer, but for smaller amounts of hops a lot of people go "commando" and don't use one. The hops that get into your fermentor will fall to the bottom with the rest of the trub, and you can always put your LBK in the fridge a couple days before bottling to help more floaties drop to the bottom.

Hop boiling really opens you up creatively and it's particularly fun smelling and tasting all the wonderful varieties available.

[Beer-lord]

I squeeze the bejeezus out my grain bag. Always have and never, ever, ever have I had a tannin problem. It's just another one of those myths in my opinion.
Jive has some great advice. A little hops and some added steeping grains can go a long way to making great beer.

[jimjohson]

+1 on the squeezing. below(i hope) is a chart to help with the hops

[gwcr]

I squeeze the bejeezus out my grain bag. Always have and never, ever, ever have I had a tannin problem. It's just another one of those myths in my opinion.
Jive has some great advice. A little hops and some added steeping grains can go a long way to making great beer.

Yep. Tannin extraction is a factor of pH level and temp, not your ability to squeeze the crap out of a grain bag. Squeeze away!