Anybody still using Mr. Beer?

[billp]

I started with Mr Beer along time ago, and somehow never quite made the switch. I tried one batch of DME/boiled hops beer last spring and it was ok, but not noticeably better, at least not better enough to justify the large increase in time and effort.

I'll probably try the full boil again at some point, but until then, is there anyone else still using the "Mr Beer Training Wheels" on their brew-bikes?

[BlackDuck]

I’m not. I went to all grain a number of years ago. It was quite an investment in stuff, but in the end, I think it was well worth it. I feel that all grain really gives you a blank canvass to come up with your own recipes. Then finally drinking them is the best part. As long as it’s drinkable beer of course.


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[HerbMeowing]

No longer brew with MrB ingredients having switched to mashing grains some time ago; however ... I still use the 'LBK' fermentor.

[The_Professor]

.....I tried one batch of DME/boiled hops beer last spring and it was ok, but not noticeably better, at least not better enough to justify the large increase in time and effort.....

I do find your comment that you were not impressed with an extract, steeping grain, hop boil odd.
I do not find your comment that you are satisfied with what you are brewing as odd.

I did move to brewing other extract kits and it taught me a lot about different styles of beer. I felt those beers were better than what I was brewing with Mr. Beer kits. I also thought they were good enough that I did not need to consider all grain brewing, which I did not really understand.
I decided to try a cream stout mini mash one day and realized how easy it would be to make the "mini mash" part an all grain Mr. Beer size.

Well, kinda easy. My first attempt was a failure but the mini mash thing had moved me to the understanding all grain mindset.

It does move from and hour or so using Mr. Beer, to a few hours/half a day for extract kits, to most of the day for all grain.

There is nothing wrong with your beers being good and fitting into your schedule. I would suggest trying a couple more extract kits though.

[mashani]

I use the 3 gallon Coopers fermenters they sell (they are simply the ideal fermenter for me), but not the kits anymore. I actually don't like some of the Mr. Beer extracts due to the bittering hop that Coopers uses. I actually have brewed every extract they made at one point or another because a couple of us here won "one of everything" they made in a contest - the exception would be any new seasonal kits over the years.

I would like the Brew Demon extracts better since they are the old Mr. Beer ones.

But I just do all grain brewing right now. All in one electric brewing makes it easy. Yes it takes more time, but most of that time I'm ignoring it and doing other things.

There is nothing wrong with brewing with those kits though if you like the result. They are easy and they do take a lot less time and you can tweak them if you like.

[billp]

I do find your comment that you were not impressed with an extract, steeping grain, hop boil odd.
I do not find your comment that you are satisfied with what you are brewing as odd.

To be clear, I didn't use steeping grains. I was talking to the proprietor of my local home brew shop, where I regularly buy pretty much everything except the Mr Beer HME. He said the best way for me to try brewing at the next level was to make a 2.5 gallon SMASH (Single Malt And Single Hop) beer using extract and doing the full 60 minute boil.

I like Czech Pilsners so he set me up with three pounds of Briess Czech Pils DME an ounce of Czech Saaz hops, a smackpack of Wyeast 2278 Czech Pils and a detailed set of instructions about when to add how much hops to the boil, fermentation temps, diacetyl rest, etc.

I made some beer. It was good. I would even say it was somewhat better than the analogous beers I've made with Mr Beer "Grand Bohemian Pilsner" and extra Pils LME, fermented with SafLager W-34/70 using the same fermentation temps, diacetyl rest, etc. And it was a few dollars cheaper.

At the end of the day, I'm not sure it was enough better to justify the extra time I spent on it. Maybe the key was the lack of steeping grain.

I feel like I'm most of the way there as far as brewing at the next level, I've got all the equipment including the burner, brewpot, temperature controlled fermentation, etc.

Maybe I should start with an ingredient kit that includes steeping grains....

Lots to think about, thanks y'all

[The_Professor]

To be clear, I didn't use steeping grains......

The steeping grains are not always necessary and would not be totally needed in your smash. Steeping grains are added for both flavor and color adjustment for many beer styles. Many but not all extract kits use them.

I can totally understand how you could be happy if you are already brewing the Mr. Beer lagers you enjoy. Just getting the lager process right makes a great beer.
It sounds like you are both happy with your brews and biting at the bit wondering if there can be something else.

[bpgreen]

I used hopped extract for the first few years I brewed. I did a few batches without prehopped extract during that time and also did some mini mash batches with both hopped and unhopped extracts.

I started doing more extract batches with full boils in part because my LHBS settings LME at a low price (almost ridiculously low if you bring your own containers and buy in bulk).

I never did an extract with steeping grains because it didn't seem much different from doing a mash.

A pilsner doesn't need steeping grains, because you want it to be extremely light in color and also fairly low in IBUs. One downside to that is that there's no margin for error. With an IPA, adding more hops can cover up a lot of flavor problems.

I bought the equipment to do all grain, but never did it until I got the mash and boil. I usually either do an overnight mash or set it up to start the mash when I get up. So it takes longer than a mr beer batch, but not as long as a traditional all grain batch.

If you're happy with mr beer, there's no reason you shouldn't keep brewing with them.

[mashani]

I'm going to toss out an idea for you, something I did for many years.

You can use a simple pale colored malt extract as a "bittering addition and base malt". IE the Mexican lager or such. Something without a lot of hop flavor.

You can then steep grains and add some unhoped extract if needed, and boil your own flavor / aroma hops. This makes your entire boil duration 15 minutes or less.

You can make many different styles of beer in this manner.

You can even make IPAs like this, if you use say 1oz of high AA hops @15 minutes and 1oz @flameout, the 15 minute addition is going to give you enough extra bittering for a basic IPA. The key is high AA hops in this scenario.