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Great questions! For our recipes, we get no guidance from Coopers, it's all us. Sometimes there's a commercial beer we want to emulate, sometimes we just try something and it comes out well, or it sounds good so we brew it. There is a test kitchen in which our Twitch stream takes place, so that's the best place to see it. We don't want to have too many recipes up on the website at once, because it gets confusing, so we typically stick to around the 80 or so top sellers. Lately we've been experimenting more with limited-release recipes, often having one or two ingredients that we get in a limited stock, sell through, and discontinue. It's been proving pretty popular. There isn't a set number to release, but we all brew as much as we can. So, sometimes we have a plan, and go through a few trials until we nail it, but sometimes it's just a happy accident.

The amount of extract I'm able to get out of the can nowadays, versus when I first started is night and day.

A great day today with the MUG Midwest team. we got a late start, well deserved considering the beers we enjoyed Friday evening. finally got our act together and made it to 3 floyds. The tour was very good. If you make it to this place, definitely do the tour of their facility. lots of beers sampled, and FINALLY @C-ya joined us. Due to a personal matter, I left, and freed up my seat for him. About 6:30pm we gathered in Josh's room for another beer sampling. C-ya brought an excellent Oktoberfest beer. We went through all 12 of Bonzai's beers, and our official beer judge said they were mostly excellent. Two had issues, and I'll PM him directly, but overall great beers Sadly, c-ya, creeps and friend Jeff will be leaving tomorrow. Josh and I will be in town, but probably do things on our own until late tomorrow when he has to leave. I want to thank *EVERYONE* at Mr. Beer for this event, and letting Josh join us. Creeps, C-Ya, and Jeff, great meeting you guys, and hope to see you in October Yoda

Sitting at home wishing I was at 3 Floyd's. Was going through some of my older inventory and ran across some of my original Belgian Spiced Ale (brewed in June 2015). Decided to chill some so that I would have something to toast you guys with. Opened one tonight and all I can say is Wow! It's mellowed wonderfully. The spice came through nicely on the nose. Still wonderfully carbonated. A good malt presence with a warming spice finish. This brew has definitely aged well!!

When doing most recipes, I start with the numbers of a particular style first (usually going by the BJCP guidelines, but there is a lot of room for experimentation): ABV, SRM, IBU, OG, FG, etc. Once I have the numbers down for the style or clone I'm brewing, I then take a look at the ingredients themselves. Then I try to combine them in a way that matches up to all of those numbers. I use a couple of different software programs for this, including Beersmith and Qbrew, but I also use a special in-house spreadsheet that helps verify the numbers in case the software was inaccurate. Other times, I just throw a bunch of ingredients together and see what happens.

Don't worry, guys. There's another hazy on the way. Stay tuned....

I am just gonna say it - Helles Boch is the best tasting brew I have made with the least amount of effort yet! It may not be the best tasting overall (I'd say for me that is Lock Stock and Barrel Stout) but the taste per effort is highly favorable! The only modification I made was to steep some caripils in the brew water first.

If only it were as simple as you state to make good beer. You didn't mention anything about maintaining a good temperature. Nor did you mention making sure that the wort you are pitching into is both aerated and the correct temperature for pitching yeast. Yes, you can just follow the directions and make mediocre beer and then get discouraged and quit the hobby. Or you can take a week to read and get as much useful information before beginning a hobby that can last a lifetime. I think I would rather do the latter at the cost on 1 week of time.

So it looks like I will be attending this event with you guys, at least for the weekend. I will also be bringing a bunch of free MRB swag for attendees and possibly a few AZ beers to share, including a few of my own. If anything changes from the original itinerary on the top post, please let us know. We will look into doing a livestream on location, but I may just video the event and show some highlights in a later live stream. We'll figure it out. Even if there are only a couple of us there, we'll still have a good time (more beer for us, right? lol). See you all in a couple of weeks!

Cleaned used bottles today. Mostly followed @RickBeer ‘s advice. Cleaned 50 bottles today. Used hot water soak to remove labels. Wanted to mention what bottles were the most friendly to home brewers trying to remove labels. This is not comprehensive, but just my top 4. 1. Odell’s-hands down the most friendly. Label practically fell off in the water. 2. Sam Adams-after a soak just took a light scrape and it all came off. 3. Sierra Nevada-came right off after a soak 4. Paulaner-came off so easy. Honorable mention: deschuttes, real ale brewing, revolver (easy to peel off plastic label), modelo. Had a few that were literally impossible. Some use plastic labels and probably requires a solvent of some type to remove the glue. Just gave up or left the label on. Won’t buy those again. After label removal, filled up sink with oxy clean free and hot water for another soak. Shook the poop out of them and rinsed with hot water and hung on my new bottle tree. Ready to rock. I have to admit I did calculate what my time is worth professionally vs saving $50 in not buying 2 cases of new glass. Much less satisfying buying online. Plus I do love working on anything beer related. Jdub

I put my last bottle of American Porter that I bottled 10/11/17 in the fridge. It is a trub bottle that I almost forgot about. I'm sure it'll be delicious, as was the rest of the batch.

What a load of crap! I am actually privy to the process of how new recipes are created: Step 1 - @MRB Josh R sits in the janitorial closet, in the dark, and thinks. This takes a great deal of effort, and causes him to profusely sweat, so he's not in the closet for quiet, but to keep his sweat stink away from others. Here is a picture of him thinking about new recipes: Step 2 - When he doesn't come up with enough recipes, he gets punished. You'll see a picture of the punishment that @MRB Rick imposes on @MRB Josh R below, showing Josh and @MRB Tim being punished for lack of creativity. Step 3 - Finally, our heroes go in the warehouse and see what they have excess of, and then create recipes. Here they are chasing a helpless warehouse employee: Step 4 - Recipes are completed, typed into the website and published.

I feel the same. Plus, if I make a batch of beer that turns out "meh" I'd rather have two gallons of it to drink than five.

Lol, @Creeps McLane on a roll! Guess I'm odd man out, but I like these little LBK'S and producing a couple batches every 3 weeks. Storage would get to be a problem if I started going larger as I have other hobbies that take up space.

That's pretty good. I always reserve a cup or so of the boiling water that I mix with the extract, and pour it into the can to get every last drop. Every once in a while I'll read a post here about how Mr. Beer overestimates the ABV, and I've always been very close, so I wonder how much extract people are wasting.

I ferment in coolers. When I open the lid I get a fermentation aroma blast! So absolutely.

Made good use of this sale and ordered some accessories and refills. Brewing thermometer for my first partial, Calavera Spiced Chile Stout, and the Abbey Dubbel recipe. Also added some yeast, hop sacks, and hops. With free shipping this was a timely sale offer for me!

I feel like I should be kicking myself for reading this...

I think you're a bit confused, or asking it wrong. First, what's the difference between LME and DME. Liquid Malt Extract has water in it. Dry Malt Extract has no water in it. They serve the same purpose, but they are not equivalent. Why? Because of the water... 1 pound of LME = 0.8 pounds of DME 1 pound of DME = 1.25 pounds of LME Now that you've established that, you need to figure out what you're trying to do with it. LME and DME have two purposes. 1) Raise ABV - By adding the correct amount of either LME or DME, you can raise the ABV by a certain amount. I recommend utilizing a program like QBrew to figure out the impact. In a standard Mr. Beer 2.13 gallon batch, a 0.55 pound package of LME raises ABV by about 1%. If you added that same amount to 2.5 gallons, you'd raise the ABV less. If you added it to a 1.5 gallon batch, you'd raise the ABV more. If you use more than 0.55 pounds, you have more of an impact obviously. I would never add more than a pound of LME (0.8 pounds of DME) to any Mr. Beer recipe as it dramatically changes things (unless the recipe called for that much). 2) Appearance and flavor - There are many kinds of LME / DME. Mr. Beer sells 4 kinds of LME - Pale, Smooth, Robust and Golden. Golden is their wheat LME. Each LME tells you what flavors it may add. https://www.mrbeer.com/ingredients/unhopped-malt-extracts A good guide is to see what the Mr. Beer LMEs add is to see which ones come in each Deluxe kit. Mr. Beer has figured out what goes together best, and its a great cheat sheet. https://www.mrbeer.com/refills/deluxe-refills LME is best added to warm water, remove the pot from the flame, pour in the LME while stirring constantly. When it's well blended, put the pot back AND KEEP STIRRING. DME can be added to cold water and slowly stirred in, a little at a time, or added to warm water like LME. The trick is to not let the humidity from the pot get into the bag, clumping things up. Some people measure it out ahead of time into a glass bowl and add it. Both are very, very sticky and a PITA to work with.

My Lock/Stocks are sitting at 16-months and I've got about nine left. Each time I open one it's better than the last time.

Ok did this last weekend. Lock Stock and Barrel Recipe but added approx 3 oz hand crushed Special B to the steeping portion of the process. I added 1/2 cup of molasses to the boil (I could not find treacle locally), I substituted a Robust LME for one of the Smooths. I put it it all in the fermenter filled to the 9.5 liter line, stirred up, then I realized I FORGOT THE COCAO! Well, I have leftover grains and malts for another batch. The oak is soaking in 8-9oz of 100 proof spiced rum.

Finally made it home. Kind of a crazy drive. This is my yard in the middle of February this is what i came home to

We got to border of WI and IL and stopped for the day. Crazy blizzard = one more day of vacation. Thank god we have beer

So you're saying you could be any one of those fine gents???? OK

Here is my advice for what its worth as I do not have the experience that the above members have but I am speaking from recently learned situations. 1. Cold crash for 3 days 2. Clean spigot before you bottle with sanitiser 3. when bottling do so at an angle so you have no air bubbles (even better use a wand if you can) 4. condition longer than you think you need to. 6 weeks should be the best I usually go for 4 because I am impatient. 5. When you chill your bottles let them set for 3 days i learned this one on my own not sure how the others feel about this but it seems to taste much better after 3 days. 6 do not get discouraged if you american light does not turn out the way you thought. This was my least favourite so far and my first but most is probably due to being my first. y second was Octoberfest and it was amazing. 7. read read talk to these wise brewers on the forum and check out the feeds on twitch they will answer your every question even ones you didnt know you had.

Thanks everyone I will follow your recommendations. As my husband is always reminding me, patience is not my strong suit. So, probably I was jumping the gun hoping I could drink some within about a month. I will wait longer, try some more later. Anyway. It was my first batch & didn't have temp control, etc etc. I didn't think about taking the rings off - I thought they were supposed to stay there All good recommendations. With the recent Mr Beer sales I've bought a bunch more stuff, some refills, a hydrometer, more temp strips. Plenty to keep me occupied for a while. And I'm trying out temp control with my 3rd batch currently (in cooler with ice bottles). And, after reading posts on That Voodoo That You Do, I see now my patience is going to be tested! 4-6 months. Well there's other beer out there I can drink in the meantime. And husband teases me, & says he's going to buy me a TShirt that says "Beer taught me patience" or are those already out there to buy? OK guys, not many gals on these forums, I noticed. But, hey, I think Mr Beer's LBK is a great way for gals to get into this hobby. I can easily manage all steps myself, (I seriously doubt I could carry a full 5 gallon carboy) and my hubby just stays out of my way unless I ask for help. He's not interested in brewing beer, but then he's never been much of a cook either. If my beer is good enough, I'm sure he'll help me drink it will let you know how things turn out.........

The sediment on top of the beer is likely just yeast rafts. If you are at 15 days, I would recommend that you leave it at least 3 more days and then cold crash. Some of the "rafts" will probably fall while you are moving the LBK (not an issue), just don't actively stir or splash the wort when moving it.

If you purchase the DME from your local homebrew store, it will likely be in a 1 lb bag. My suggestion is to pour out the amount you want to use into a bowl before trying to adding it to the water. If you don't and try to pour from the bag, the steam will begin forming syrup on your bag. Picture cotton candy on a humid August afternoon. When you add the HME, the water only needs to reach a low boil. High boil risks caramelizing some of the sugars in your extracts.

Hi all, Just started brewing my first kit its the American lager kit so far one week completed of fermenting just thought I show any thoughts welcome love the brewing process GOPR0143.MP4

I am in the middle of doing some yeast comparisons. I started with a very basic lager recipe: 9.5lb Weyermann Pilsner Malt (1.6°L)0.5lb Vienna Malt (3.2°L)0.5 German Perle - 60 min - 12 AAU0.5 German Perle - 25 min - 8 AAU0.25 German Hallertau - 25 min - 2 AAU0.75 German Hallertau - 10 min - 4 AAUMash temp 148° - 75 minEst OG: 1.058Est FG: 1.011Est IBU: 26Est SRM: 2Est ABV: 6.3% (6 gallon recipe) Ferment at 56 degrees I made six gallons, and split to two 3 gallon fermenters. One fermenter got the Southyeast Labs HS2 New Abbey Ale yeast that I've used and reharvested several times. This yeast was harvested from honeysuckle plants at Blackberry Farm (a luxury resort and brewery in Walland, TN). It "really shines in Belgian and abbey ales. It produces notes of red wine and finishes with cracked peppercorn." The other 3 gallons got the Bootleg Biology S. arlingtonesis yeast picked up when we did a tour of the Bootleg Biology yeast facility in a Nashville homebrewer meetup [with another online homebrew group]. This is Bootleg's original flagship yeast, and is a hybrid lager yeast (can be used at low ale temps as well). I will be doing another 3-gallon batch with this recipe and the new Bootleg Biology Brulosophy Blend yeast that went on sale this week. It is billed as "the only all-purpose, clean yeast culture meant to make almost any beer style!" The development of this yeast blend was a fun project to follow. You can read/listen to more about it at the Brulosophy podcast website. The intent is to see how the exact same recipe plays with different yeasts. By tasting the hydrometer pull, the HS2 is all in the Belgian pale range, while the Bootleg #1 is more a biscuity, clean lager taste. WIll be curious to see how the Bootleg #2 differs. Intending to bottle the first two this weekend (or next, if I don't get around to it). Picking up Bootleg #2 yeast tomorrow, so might brew it next weekend.

I’ve brewed 4 PM recipes so far (none ready yet). Very easy and more fun. I assume that they taste a lot better too.

Welcome Dunkin dog, Many tips and tricks and plenty of advice. First piece of advice, seeing that you are just now joining the forum and your kit arrives today, don't brew it today. Take at least a week and read, read and then when you think you have read enough, read some more. Give yourself a week to research what advice this forum has to offer and make sure you are set up for success before you brew your first batch. You will be thankful you waited a week. Dawg

Jumped in early and tried the trub bottle tonight after 3 days chilling. I am thinking I have yet to make a good chili beer. It is better than my first attempt and better yet with a squeeze of lime in it. Definitely has some residual heat and jalapeno aroma. Tall but very short lived head. I doubt I'll dump this one but I won't likely be handing it out to friends either. Thinking the next time I venture into the chili beer arena it'll be the Calavera Spiced Chile Stout . Just my .02.

I remember back in '04 when I first started this craziness,y I took a CAL refill, added one pound of light DME, and one packet of Cascade, which I boiled for 10 minutes. I left the hop sack in, and fermented with US-05. That was a really good beer. Heck, I may make it again since I just reminded myself of it.

Josh has arrived and we are all hungry, ao we're going to 3 floyds now for a bite and a beer

Wait a minute... @Bonsai & Brew is on untappd and he hasn’t added me as a friend yet? Wtf, man???

Just wanted to give an update. I brewed the American Resolution Hazy IPA again in the fastferment, only this time, I used the muslin bags for the hops. I only emptied the small jar twice before bottling day, no issues or clogs. Got a 21 twelve oz bottle yield. Still waiting on carbonation to see if the hop flavor is any different. Tasted a little while bottling, seemed to be good. Seemed a little less hoppiness than the other batch, but it may be too early to tell. Bottom line, I guess, is use the muslin sacs to prevent clogs. Just remove with sanitized tongs when ready to bottle. Got a Velvet Velociraptor in there now, Brewed it before in the fast fermenter, and everyone that tried that one has said it is the best beer I have brewed so far.

Brewing a 5 gallon extract batch w/hop boil in about 15 mins! Will be talking about hop additions, hot breaks, and cold breaks. Join us!

Novacaine was created before my time here, but yeah, that's pretty much what happened from what I heard.

I'm thinking that's how Novacaine came about. MRB Josh found an American Ale, Aztec Cerveza, and St. Pat's that were all expired, threw them together with an LME and some hops, and VOILA!, one of MRB's most expensive recipes. The thing is, it's good. REAL friggin' good!

Creeps, Good advice, message well received. Thanks

I’m not a professional, nor do I make professional beer. Temp control is by far one of the most important parts of brewing however, so many brewers brew by the season. What state do you live in? Do you have four seasons? I live in Wisconsin which mostly sucks but I can brew lagers in the winter, Hefeweizens in the summer and all the pale ales I want in the spring and fall. Dont get get me wrong, it’s super nice to have full control. I want my Saison at 80, I set my controller to 80. I want my lager at 55, then I set it to 55. Im Just saying there’s options. In the winter I have a closet under my stairs that’s like 53ish so that’s where my lagers go. Then when I’m ready to give them a D rest, I just move the fermenter on the other side of the wall for a day or so and then Back in the closet it goes. I know ive preached this before but there is no magical number that works for all yeast. Grab a packet of something you’ve never used before, find out what styles it’s used for and brew with it. Don’t limit yourself to 64 degree Ales or think you can’t do lagers without a controller. There like 7 billion yeast strains out there. Get to know some. Im not yelling at you specifically. Im just trying to educate. I’ve never seen my brewing idol Don Osborn with an inkbird in his closet. Not that I know of at least. Rant over. Thank you for your time. @Fire Rooster spiedel makes some seriously nice products. But in the end, it’s still just another plastic bucket style fermenter. Save the cash and buy an ale pail. Wait for the devil Northern Brewer to run a promo on big mouth bubblers and get a brew hauler strap for it. So much cheaper. @every Brewer on here, it’s easy to get caught up in the thoughts of “im just ______ away from being able to do ______”. Trust me, that never ends. Ask my wife, she sees the packages arrive all the time. Shop smart, don’t be impulsive and learn contentment. That’s my advice to any Brewer anywhere.

Updated after the last sale: - Witch's Flight - CALEX#2 - Foggy Days California Common - Winter Dark Ale #1 - Brew de Ale ze Bub - Thunder Bay IPA - Shameless Stout (will go partial-mad scientist on this one) - Tangerously Hoppy IPA - Winter Dark Ale #2

For me it's a silicone spatula: I scrape that can clean like a hobo's dog going at a can of Alpo.

I just poured my first bottle of ChromosBeer. It's damned good!

I may have to go with @MRB Josh R just to make sure he handles himself We'll see

Ordered a 3 pack today on amazon prime along with some $12 Oktoberfest and porter refills. Will go to my HBS on Friday to get grain and yeast. Can’t wait. Love brewing!