BeerBorg

I didnt think id buy any more mr beer products but seen a 2 pack international series on sale for like $25 so i figured what the hay.....i have a cervasa and an oktoberfest


well i will probably use differents yeasts instead of the fromundas... and i have done something like this with the classic american light where i added some wheat dme and boiled some hops for about 20 mins before i added can and used t-58 yeast.....turned out ok


anyone do this with the oktoberfest? in particular with a lager yeast and really make a lager out of it

also anybody do anything with the cervasa like change out yeast or add some flavoring hops?

Gman20 wrote:...also anybody do anything with the cervasa like change out yeast or add some flavoring hops?

Haven't brewed it yet, but I have a can of the Cerveza. I plan to use 1lb of light DME and add maybe 1/2 to 1 oz of Hallertau at 5 min. Ferment with Nottingham in the low 60s.

that sounds good.....ive heard the cervasa wasnt too flavorful kinda like the CAL

FWIW, I made a really good steam beer out of the cerveza, some amber DME (1# I think), about a 20 minute boil of some northern brewer in the DME, and California lager yeast. I'd do it again if I had a can of that stuff laying around. Basically just used it as a base malt to save me some bittering boil time.

yea i been looking around the net.... one idea is to mash some grains then boil for an hour and add some hops in last 20 mins still would switch out yeast too.I havent tried a steam beer yet tho not not sure if i wanna make it with out trying one first

The recipes section of the MB site is searchable by HME. You might get some ideas there.

I had a Northwest Pale Ale HME and found a recipe there (Tiger's Eye Amber Ale) that involved adding some DME and 7C's hops, which I bought at my LHBS. Turned out really good.

Oktoberfest recipes.

Cerveza recipes.

I haven't tried a different yeast with the Octoberfest, but I did make both the Howling Red Ale and the Octoberfestivus recipe and am happy with both. Probably favoring the Octoberfestivus one. For what it's worth, though, I think I like the Mr. Beer Octoberfest HME best of all of them that they sell.

You can make a good dubbel out of the Oktoberfest (either Mr. Beer or Brew Demon, but I like Brew Demon aka OLD Mr. Beer version better). Use that, some extra light DME/LME or Pils DME/LME, about 8oz of D-90L or D-180L or a mix of the two, and a Belgian yeast. You can make a good quad with them too, same ingredients, just moar! Really it's that simple, the candi syrup and Belgian yeast do the magic, and the Oktoberfest has enough going on to give you a good malt base to build on without needing to use anything else. I prefer 3787/WLP530, but you can use any Belgian yeast you like as long as you can keep it in the temperature range it likes.

I have used both of these HMEs in recipes that I have been pleased with. I used the Oktoberfest in a Weizenbock that was a companion to a RCE collaboration: I had this recipe in mind as a partial-mash when Knightmare liked the idea of a Weizenbock, but we both wanted to do the RCE all-grain -- so I did the two recipes side-by-side. The all-grain version scored 37 at the 2013 California State Fair, and not being able to enter both in the same subcategory, the MrBeer-based one scored 33 as a Dunkelweizen. I considered it out-of-style as a Dunkelweizen, but the judges didn't comment on that. The MrBeer Oktoberfest HME recipe is: 1.87 lb Oktoberfest HME, 1.5 lb wheat (mashed, along with the specialty grains), 4 oz Biscuit malt, 4 oz Munich, 2 oz Midnight Wheat (could substitute Carafa), 2 oz Special B, 0.2 oz Halletauer and 0.2 oz Saaz hops in a 35-minute boil, 1/8 tsp ground clove, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, and WB-06 yeast.

With the other half of the combo pack, I used the Cerveza HME in a Blueberry Blond: 1.87 lb Cerveza HME, 1 lb light DME, 1 quart blueberry juice (100% juicce, pasteurized, no preservatives or other additives, from Whole Foods Market), 1/2 oz US Goldings and 1/4 oz Zythos hops in a 15-minute boil, 1/2 tsp irish moss, and US-05 yeast. To get the desired flavor, I ended up adding 1 oz of blueberry flavor extract a couple of days before bottling.

Both turned out well, although I'm moving more away from HMEs to not need to guess what's in the HMEs as I refine recipes. But as shown in the State Fair result, you can get good results using the Mr Beer HMEs.

Here's what I did with the Cerveza: added 1 lb of Amber DME, Citra & Simcoe hops both @ a 15 minute boil, then Amarillo hops @ 5 minute boil. It turned out real tasty, kinda like a West Coast IPA/APA.

Good Luck!

Cheaptrix wrote:Here's what I did with the Cerveza: added 1 lb of Amber DME, Citra & Simcoe hops both @ a 15 minute boil, then Amarillo hops @ 5 minute boil. It turned out real tasty, kinda like a West Coast IPA/APA.

Good Luck!

so you just used the mr beer yeast??

Yep, just used the plain old Mr. Beer dry yeast. Brewed this twice now and both batches turned out awesome. I was thinking about trying a different yeast next time I brew it. To clarify, I did not boil the Cerveza Extract. Boil Amber DME until hot break (rolling boil), then hops as mentioned above. Add the Cerveza Extract as usual after removing from heat.

i ended up mashing a pound of 2 row. then added some cascade hops..... .25oz at ten mins and .25oz at 5mins also threw in some orange peel and used us05 yeast

bottled the other night.....hydrometer sample tasted pretty good!! cant wait to try it in a few weeks

I quite enjoyed my true lager Oktoberfest using the Mr.B extract as a base.

Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest/Marzen

Type: Partial Mash
Batch Size: 2.40 gal

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.10 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 27.09 %
1.21 lb Oktoberfest (24.2 SRM) Extract 29.80 %
0.75 lb Malteurop 2-Row (2.0 SRM) Grain 18.47 %
0.75 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 18.47 %
0.25 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 6.16 %
0.40 oz Mt. Hood [6.00 %] (60 min) Hops 13.9 IBU
1 Pkgs German Bock Lager (White Labs #WLP833) Yeast-Lager



Beer Profile

Measured Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.08 %
Bitterness: 25.9 IBU
Calories: 231 cal/pint
Est Color: 11.5 SRM