BeerBorg

I'm in a bit of a tight spot with my LBKs. For the past year or two, I've adopted a 3-week brewing rotation between my 2 LBKs and my five-gallon system. Since I follow the 3-2-2 rule, I was able to settle in, bottling a new batch every week, then cleaning and sanitizing that vessel and brewing another right away. Kept the pipeline full, and gave me a lot of variety. Initially, I was using Mr. Beer's Homebrew Club, getting an order every two months, using their wide variety of recipes in the LBKs when it was their turn. Best thing about this was the ease of the recipes. Two out of every three brewdays were simple, one-hour (or less) affairs. I'd burn out pretty quickly if I tried to keep up that schedule with AG batches.

But now I'm pretty much done with Mr. Beer. I can't see dancing with someone who shot themselves in the foot, especially if I'm the one paying for the prom tickets. And BrewDemon, while available, and offering familiar extracts, doesn't have a stable of recipes yet. I did buy a couple of HME/LME combos, and brewed them up. Not ready to drink yet. But I don't want to try formulating my own recipes from those extracts. If I'm going to put that much effort into it, I'll make original recipes from DME/steeping grains/hop boils.

They will take a little longer due to the hop boil, but not significantly longer. And they'll be simple recipes, at least at first. The important thing, right now, is getting the pipeline back in shape, even if some of it is fairly generic beer, although I may find that I have fun formulating these recipes and putting some new twists on straightforward beers. I'll be interested in seeing, after not making original extract recipes for awhile, how my experience has changed my perspective on how I formulate these recipes.

Dave - nothing wrong with a quick extract brew! I know many disagree with me, but I think you can make as good of a beer with extract as you can with AG. The key, at least in my opinion, is to start with light DME, and use steeping grains to build your malt profile. And to save time, you can employ the hopbursting method - using larger charges of late hops to compensate for the absence of a bittering addition. 15-20 min boil and you're done!

Please do share your recipes!

Go for it Dave! I've been contemplating going back to DME/Hops brews, my all grains have not been good as of late. I need to go back to basics too.

Sounds pretty good, Dave! I haven't made the jump to AG yet, and I find DME recipes to be pretty easy. Steep grains to change the profile as Russki suggested. And I find a 3lb bag is perfect to make a 5-6% ABV LBK batch. So its as easy as steeping, adding a bag and hop boiling. And, that might actually be the fun part. Gives you a chance to really play around with different hops and different boil times. I thought I posted my Silver City Sunset Amber Ale recipe here, but I can't seem to find it. I can post it for you if you are interested. Since I don't like overly bitter beers, but I enjoy that complexity you get from the different hop flavors I have primarily given my beers hop boils that aren't much longer than 30 minutes. Puts a good amount of hop flavor at the back end for that great complex flavor but not IPA like bitterness.

FedoraDave wrote:I can't see dancing with someone who shot themselves in the foot, especially if I'm the one paying for the prom tickets.

Now, THAT sums it all up!

I still have a bunch sitting in the cellar from various fire sales, but dont see myself really going back except for those occasional deep discounts and system glitches when I can stack for exactly the same reason. But it is certainly nice to be able to throw together a quick HME batch. Perhaps you may want to look at Brewferm, Muntons, or <ehmm> Coopers HMEs to keep on the shelf for when you want a slow day. I know some of the Muntons kits even come with two cans of HME making it easy peasy to brew up half for a LBK day.

I don’t know if I buy into the ‘Mr Beer shot themselves in the foot’ mantra’. If it’s because folks just don’t like the new Mr Coopers Beer extracts, I would understand it.

But from what I’ve gathered from many posts here and on the Mr Beer boards, the only reason folks are pissed is because they screwed up a chat room. Yes there is reason to be pissed, but is there really a reason to spitefully abandon the products as well?

(with apologies to Allen Iverson)
‘We're talkin bout a chatroom. We're talkin bout a chatroom. We're not talkin bout the beer. We're talkin bout a chatroom. When you come to my house, and you taste my beer…. you've tasted my beer right?..... you've seen me give everything I've got for my beer, but we're talkin bout a chatroom right now. ‘

I’m in SED and know that sometimes you just can’t just back out code changes and go back to the old. They are trying to fix it (though it does still suck), but it won’t ever be the same. I accepted and got over it.


I’ll try BrewDemon products and assume I will probably like it and continue use it. But I’m not going to stop buying Mr Beer because of chatroom (we’re talking bout a chatroom) glitches, especially during sales.

That's what's great about the USA. We can agree to disagree.

I have pulled 100% of my support from MrB due to the treatment I rec'd after the website revamp. Smarmy, know-it-all answers that were not only petty and incorrect but didn't solve my issues.

To this day I still can't log in to the MrBeer.com website to purchase anything (even if I wanted to) because they have screwed that account up to the point where password recovery is impossible. After 5 to 6 emails back and forth and no resolution, I'm out. Don't need the aggravation.

I have a LHBS about 3 miles from me and DrewDemon to take up the slack if I want or need their classic HME's.

It's my choice, much like yours is yours, to say "Eff You" rather than to support them any longer. they had every chance to rectify and they failed.

Wingsfan – I agree if you were treated poorly, you have every right to let your feet do the talking. Hell, as you said ‘this is the USA’, no one needs to provide ANY reason why.

When the board was ‘upgraded’, I couldn’t sign in. I tried resetting my password but that didn’t work the first couple times either. I didn’t contact support or anyone, I just didn’t go back to the boards for a while. Only in the past few weeks did I try again and was able to reset my password and log in. As everyone knows, it’s a ghost town with the occasional old-timer tumbleweed blowing through now and then. And quite a few new tumble-dick-weeds too. But hey, my going back there pointed me here (I’m sure to the chagrin of more than a few folks!) so it isn’t all bad.

Even before the chatroom upgrade, I only purchased MRB stuff during sales. I’ll still load up during sales because I like a 45min brew day as opposed to 2-3hrs doing a 20min steep / 60min boil fiver.


..btw – GO BUCS!!!!!!!

I've got nothing against Mr. Beer or using extracts. I am not a fan of the Mr. Beer/Brewdemon products but it's because I can rarely make the quality if beer I like with them and the few times I could, it was just not worth the expense. 2 gallons for $25 or more if I added to the kit and I can brew 6 gallons for $25-$30 with AG even if it takes me 4-5 hours.
The last extract I used from Austin HB with steeping grains, was excellent.

I'm wanting to start doing LME or DME with hop boils and maybe some steeping but still want to keep my time under 2 hours and simple. I'm looking to do some SMaSH brews but think I should probably use up some of the BD and Mr.B HMEs I already have. Before the Cooper's buyout, I'd only grab up ingredients when I could do a batch for $15 or less. Some were as cheap as $10 but I do like the idea of having more room for creativity with choosing my own LME/DME and hop combo.

FedoraDave wrote:If I'm going to put that much effort into it, I'll make original recipes from DME/steeping grains/hop boils.

I may find that I have fun formulating these recipes and putting some new twists on straightforward beers.

That pretty much describes exactly where I've settled in, for the majority of my brewing efforts. To me, creating the recipe is a large part of the fun. Putting new twists on straightforward beers, creating "homages" (not clones) of commercial brews, and perfecting my own recipes. And all of it with a time commitment that doesn't break the bank, so to speak.

Sure, I do the occasional PM or BIAB batch, but original recipes based on DME or LME with steeps/boils is the foundation of my hobby.

As you've said, Dave, they may take a little longer than whipping up a by-the-book MB recipe, but you'll "get back" from the little extra time you put in.

russki wrote:Dave - nothing wrong with a quick extract brew! I know many disagree with me, but I think you can make as good of a beer with extract as you can with AG. The key, at least in my opinion, is to start with light DME, and use steeping grains to build your malt profile. And to save time, you can employ the hopbursting method - using larger charges of late hops to compensate for the absence of a bittering addition. 15-20 min boil and you're done!

Please do share your recipes!

I agree. I'd just add that you should also not be afraid to use a little bit of dextrose to simulate a low mash temp if that's the profile you are going for. Nothing wrong with it used for the right reasons. And if using liquid extract get it fresh bulk, not in a can.