MiniYoda

Doing the research now to prepare for brewing Cranberry Wheat next weekend. Should make a nice Thanksgiving beer. Going with the basic fruit wheat recipes of Mr. Beer (one can Weissbier HME, one packet LME Golden), but won't rule out some grains. Options for the cranberry are: 1) Extract. Seems to be what most people on HomeBrewTalk.com is recommending, but.....um.......no. "Ain't Nothin' Like The Real Thing" 2) Canned Fruit. Locally, all I can find is Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce. The product includes high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. My understanding (as always, correct me if I'm wrong) is that these are fermentable. Thus I'll increase the alcohol and lose the sweetness, causing the beer to be tart. 3) Craisins. Not sure if I want to do dried cranberries. An option if I can't find fresh/frozen 4) Fresh. Ocean Spray site says they sell "in a bag", but not locally. I'd have to try to find a store that has them fresh. Didn't see them in the produce section last weekend, but didn't look very hard either. Just need to sanitize them 5) Frozen. 12oz or 16oz, nothing added. So, my options, in order, are 4) Fresh, 5) Frozen, then 2) Canned. If I can get fresh at a good price, done, else I'll go frozen. Now, a second problem. Tartness. I saw on HomeBrewTalk.com to add 1.5 cups of Splenda to 3 pounds of cranberries for the 5 gallon batches. The Splenda would add sweetness without being fermentable. One person did 4.5 to 5 pounds of cranberries for a strong tart version. For the LBK, I'll cut these numbers in half. So, question time: - If I go fresh, I need to sanitze. I've seen to soak in pure grain alcohol, but for how long? - If I go frozen, I still need to sanitize, correct? - Are the assumptions in (3) correct.....the HFCS and Corn Syrup will ferment, increasing alcohol, and without the syrup the beer is more tart? - If I want to go with a sweet cranberry instead of tart, I'd use Splenda correct? Thanks in advance MY

Sorry, guess I should have posted the link http://community.mrbeer.com/topic/36452-recipe-for-helles/#comment-460608

look at my thread "Recipe for Helles". I'm cold conditioning 80 bottles right now, and have explained what my procedure were. Can't say it's the right thing to do, but no one has corrected me yet.

The BYO version, while it looks wonderful, is a bit out of my abilities right now. It would be difficult, without a dedicated fridge, to have a method of fermenting and lagering a 5 gallon vessel. It was a pain to do the four LBK's in my fridge, as I lost the ability to use the fridge for anything else. Maybe when I hit the lottery I'll build a house with multiple fridges in the basement. Tonight I'm moving the 80 or so bottles from the carbonating closet to the fridge, which is currently temp-controlled at 60 degrees, and will be lowering the temp every day by about 2 degrees until I hit the mid 30's. I'll leave them there (about normal fridge temp for me) for at least a month, then start sampling them. Edit......I guess I could always split the recipe into two LBKs. Or cut it in half and make a 2.5 gallon batch. Something to think about........

What is your recipe for the Munich Helles?

This weekend I'm moving the 80 bottles from the carbonation closet (about 70 degrees) to the fridge for lagering. I've been reading up on how to do this, and am seeking advise from all those here. I've read to start at 60 degrees and slowly bring the temp of the bottles down, about 2 degrees per day, until I reach the mid 30's. Is this the ideal method, as opposed to throwing them in the fridge at the mid 30's right away? Does the fact that the beer has already carbonated and is going to be bottle conditioned make any difference?

Great to see that you are enjoying your new hobby. The thing about this hobby is patience. I mucked up a few brews in my time because I was trying to do too much too quick. the key to this hobby is, patience. Read and learn, as your beer ferments and carbonates. It takes time to make a good beer. Personally, I went from a bad mac & cheese to an impressive biscuits & gravy. I wanted to do better, and I learned that if I studied, and took the time to do it better, I had a better result. A lot of time and practice. Enjoy your new hobby, and keep us updated on how you are doing.

the office has informed me of some down-time on my position for a few weeks. I'm still to show up 0630 - 1500, half hour for lunch, but for the most part, I have a lot of.........free time. what to do.....what to do.....what to do..........

Sweet mother of Dionysus

@DrMJG, I agree with you on this. More so, I'm hoping the friend for whom I'm doing this finds the taste of at lease one of the batches enjoyable. I won't be able to clone Munich Helles, as pointed out earlier by the folks at Mr. Beer, but if I can come close enough that she will like it, then mission accomplished.

I bow down to the master

Anyone out there able to find this in their local liquor store? http://www.kentuckyale.com/products/lexington-brewing-company/kentucky-bourbon-barrel-ale Was wanting to clone it, but not sure how easy it would be. No, I haven't searched the internet (yet) for bourbon barrel ales, so I'm sure there are plenty of recipes out there. But I'm wondering if it would be possible to get close to this beer by taking the Bourbon Stout recipe in Mr. Beer's store and convert it. I'd start with changing the base HME from Stout to American Ale, the LME from Smooth to Pale, and then altering the grains. If anyone can get this beer in their store, and wants the challenge of cloning it, let me know. And if you can't get this beer, but still want the challenge of cloning it............let me know

It is not recommended to do 2 gallons in a 6 gallon vessel. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the problem is that there is too much air that can spoil the brewing process. Best things to do with the 6 gallon Mr. Beer fermenter is to either buy 5 gallon kits from other sources, or buy 3 of the same Mr. Beer recipe.

Shazbat. Didn't know that. I'll fix the NA's now, and they will be on the next upload. BTW, I'm open to either adding to this spreadsheet, or creating a new spreadsheet, with non-Mr. Beer recipes. Recipes created by us. Same format as the current sheet, list all details of the ingredients, the temp range/ideal temp, OG/FG/ABV/SRM/IBU, etc. Instead of Mr. Beer as the "Submitted By", it will be submitted by you. The key is this.......it must be 100% ingredients that are either sold by Mr. Beer, or bought at the grocery store (such as "zest of an orange", "coriander", "pumpkin puree", etc. For now (it might change) I'd rather not do grains and/or hops that aren't sold here. Also the link to the recipe.....I'm guessing either a link to the posting on this forum, or a web page that you created. The floor is now open for discussions

Yea, it's been a while. Latest/Greatest version of the recipe spreadsheet Added ChromosBeer, Golden Empire IPA and Thunder Bay IPA Cleaned a few more pink squares, especially "ideal temp". Also, those that are Cider only are listed as NA when it comes to Beer Style, since BJCP doesn't do cider only. Changed the column title Hop Sacks to Muslin Sacks (since they are also used for grains) Note to @MRB Josh R and @MRB Tim. While updating the spreadsheet, I noticed that Calavera Spice Chile Stout, Suava java Cream Ale, Austin Pils and Salty Dawg Gose don't have the "Mr Beer Partial Mash Recipe" logo. No big deal, of course. Just the observance of a fat ole drunk MrBeerRecipes.xlsx