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Brew #2 - MRB - 1776 Ale (ABV 4.2) Finally... a success! After losing to my first brew batch - MRB's American LAGER, I've got a winner. At least, to me it is! Not quite as carbonated as I'd like, and lacking in sustainable head, it's as sweet as I could have asked for. No sourness. No unpleasant aftertaste. Just a nice, sweet Ale. I can do this. I have one brew in the queue - an all-grain English Pale Ale. It should be just fine. We'll see. ON EDIT: Changed MRB's American Ale to MRB's American LAGER

@MRB-Rick Thank you for your post. Knowing that our concerns are relevant to Mr. Beer and that you have addressed them is good for us all. Also the update to our perceived lack of participation in this forum is wonderful. Knowing that the questions that we have spent a lot of time answering are still providing help is awesome. Even though I no longer brew with Mr. Beer products, I use this forum to help those who like me are starting out their journey with Mr. Beer. I hope that somehow my answers and the answers of others here have kept some brewers in the hobby that would have left otherwise. Your post alone will make me continue to check this forum every day as I have always done. Prost, Dawg

Thank you for all your comments on here. To address a few: 1) Security concerns on Facebook are real so don't join if you are concerned at all. It OK. 2) Facebook is a totally different group than the forum here. There is no need to join if you prefer to be here. 3) Every business goes through staffing changes and we have had many people throughout the years. Our former brewmasters include Eric Green who started one of the best craft breweries in Arizona, Dragoon Brewery, Gene Sandoval started Blackrock Brewing, Pat Butler joined Dragoon Brewing, Sam Diggens joined Sentinel Brewing, and most recently we had Josh move up to Pinetop Brewing Co. Then we have others like Tim, Tyson and Renae that were here for a time and then were able to continue to grow themselves (millennials change jobs 4 times between 21 and 32 according to LinkedIn study). We continue to bring in new people with or without experience. Right now we have two current agents with over 25 years experience in brewing not counting the additional 65 years of experience with the other people in the office. 4) It may appear that Mr. Beer participation is lagging in the forum, but instead the amount of searches that go on just show that people are finding the answers that they need. Similar to what many of you have said, they dont go that next step and further participate. With almost a half a million posts, they will find their answer. We have had to adjust our way of communicating and now had more people participating in our support chat on our website more than anything else. This too could possibly take away from participation here. 5) The homebrewing business has changed drastically over the past decade. Interest grew dramatically up to 2012 then slowed, then in 2015 reverse and many people lost interest. The craft beer craze that we all enjoy has some to blame as we all can go to one of many close by craft breweries and enjoy what we once could only brew. 6) With more people working, there is less time to brew. There is almost a perfect correlation to the unemployment rate to the interest in "how to brew" google searches. Most businesses go through this cycle and it will come back around with more interest developing again in short order. When that does happen we will have this forum, Facebook, our site and continue to look at all options where people want to be contacted. This forum is not going anywhere soon. We will continue to upgrade and maintain. We will continue to engage when needed and point new brewers here to get their answers. Please continue to be the warm and engaging group that you all are.

My all-grain English Pale Ale 1-gallon Kit I brewed in March is ready. And the results of the first bottle are: Success! Wow, I can't believe I'm doing this. First goodness with the MRB 1776 and now Success with the no-name brand EPA. This beer is very pale, smooooth, hoppy, and well-carbonated. I'm a happy brewer right now. Thank you to all of you that helped out when I was doing this batch - @RickBeer, @Jdub, @BDawg62, @Nickfixit, @Shrike, @Bonsai & Brew, @D Kristof, and @StretchNM (that's me). Yes, I went through the old thread to find everybody who gave advice and encouragement. Thank you. Despite the sloppy instructions that came with the Kit, we made it work. Pretty dang cool. I would definitely brew this beer again. And again. I guess I'm going to have to break out my pilsner glass for this brew. I know, my logo and labeling needs work. But that's about as professional as I need to be ((( )))

This one's for you, @MiniYoda. I've never been to Kentucky but they tell me that this was a popular style back in the day. Hop times are 45, 15 and 5 minutes. This tasty all-grainer turned out great but I'll find out at Sunday's Lost Cabin Homebrew comp if it appealed to BJCP judges. Entered in the historical category, they will probably group it with other Amber/Common-type beers for judging. I'll follow up with a score then. 🍻 Dark Cream Ale (2-gallon, Mash-in-Sack) Rahr 6-row, 2.25 lb. Flaked corn, 1 lb. Briess Victory malt, 0.12 lb. Briess Crystal 60, 0.12 lb. Weyermann Carafa II (Special), 0.04 lb. Mt. Hood, 0.25 oz. Cluster, 0 25 oz. Mt. Hood, 0 25 oz. Safale K-97 German Ale yeast Step mash grains 20 min. @ 132 F followed by 40 min. @ 152 F, adjusting pH to 5.3 with lactic acid (if necessary). Mash out @ 168 F for 10 min. Sprinkle sparge grain bag with hot tap water. Begin 45 min. boil, hopping as indicated. Chill wort to < 70 F. Pitch K-97, areate, and ferment cool for 2 weeks. Cold crash is optional. OG 1.043 IBU 19 SRM 12-14 ABV 4.5 - 5%

Talking of fermentation temps , I was looking at the "Craft Week" Recipes Mr. B has this week, and noticed that all of them say ferment between 70 and76 deg. Seems a little warm for some of them. I am thinking it is just a boilerplate number not catered to the recipe/yeasts - which is a bit disappointing. I am especially intrigued by the Pennsylvania Lager, but I am thinking even for S-04, 70-76 may be a bit high especially as Fermentis says "ideally 15-20°C (59-68°F)." And this is the Wort temp not ambient. I think I will just keep it at my cellar temp of 62-64 ambient.

room temp 68-70... equals ... inside fermentation temp of 78-85f . yes... too hot. too hot = yeast pee out acetaldehyde = green apple taste. that being said, the hardest lesson for the new brewer is patience and temperature control. get a stick on thermometer from mr beer. stick it on your lbk. look up how to build a fermentation chiller box. you can make a simple one from an igloo cooler, an aquarium thermometer and a 1 liter bottle of ice. experiment with the amount of ice and note how long it keeps termperatures in the cooler at the level desired. shoot for an ambient temp of 62-64f for most ales. too cold? yeast will go sleepies. too hot, yeast make sour apple juice. dont get discouraged. your first 3 beer kits will most likely be a disappointment. persist. learn. you get better. ---- suggestions in you tube video for ruining mr beer kits? the world is full of 'experts'. most dont know jack. the sage advice i gleaned from here ages ago was this: new brewers should do a couple kits exactly as instructed to see the process, what happens, and how they come out. over time you can get experiemental and add things. dont chase alcohol content. chase flavor. add extra stuff to a recipe you change the recipe and no longer match the style. i once added tons of brown sugar to a stout. gack. brown sugar is cane sugar with mollasses. the yeast eat the sugar and leave the mollasses so i ended up with licorice flavored 'stout'. no longer stout. if you added the extra fermentables at the start of the process you can probably go ahead and bottle. just dont expect great beer. remember too that tasting beer in midferment will produce a different flavor than after it has carbed and conditioned. age is your friend...as is patience. --- toss beer? are you nuts? even the appleyist crappy beer is still alcohol. add something to the glass like a shot of bourbon to cut the apple. acetaldehyde wont kill you. the beauty of mr beer and home brewing is that you can drink your mistakes.. most of the time... unless you got a really bad infection like ecoli or acetobacter (vinegar).

Generally, I buy the HMS and booster from Mr Beer, the DME and bags, Milled grains for PM and yeast from the LHBS.

How are them golden hops there @Bonsai & Brew? i got action in my planter

@Fire Rooster i'm gonna do a cascade smash next i think. been thinking about it since you posted that smash article. however, gonna do hops schedule like this: FW hops, whirlpool hops and 7 day dry hop. goal is to get more hop flavor, not the bitterness. thinking about cascade cryo hops too.

Who is Kanye? and where is my old geezer cane?

@Fire Roosterdry hopped my 4 gallon smash today. only used 1/2 oz of the mosaic cryo pellets. recipe called for 1 oz. will keg in a week.

Experimenting is what I have been all about since starting this hobby and I love doing it. 20 batches of beer and 18 were total experiments. None have been bad or undrinkable, some remarkably good for a novice who doesn't know what the heck he's doing half the time.

Yes. I split Cooper's 6 gal kits at regular intervals among 3 LBKs and they are each different beers with maybe different yeasts, hops and malt additions. I use only small pans and never have he 6 gal at once in any container and it has worked out fine for me. The last one was a Dark ale, that was the same additions in each except different yeast and totally different tasting out comes. For others - e.g. I did this ….. 1/3 Cooper's Pilsener HME + 8 oz pils malt + 6 oz booster + 0.5 oz Saaz flameout aroma hop. Ferment below 68 deg with 1/3 supplied yeast + 1/3 37/40 1/3 Cooper's Pilsener HME + 8 oz pils malt + 6 oz booster + 8 oz pils malt PM, 0.5 oz Saaz boil 15 min and remove , 0.5 oz Saaz flameout aroma hop leave in. Ferment below 68 deg with 1/3 supplied yeast + 1/3 37/40 1/3 Cooper's Pilsener HME + 8 oz pils malt + 6 oz booster + 8 oz pils malt + 2 oz Cara 20 PM, 0.5 oz Saaz boil 15 min and remove , 0.5 oz Saaz flameout aroma hop leave in. 0.5 Saaz Dry Hop Ferment below 68 deg with 1/3 supplied yeast + 1/3 37/40 You get your LBKS sterilized and ready with the 1 gall of cold water. You can put maybe 6 cups of water in a pan, bring to near boil and dissolve the Cooper's HME. Split the mixture 3 ways into the LBKs with a ladle. Then you can do the rest of each fermentable additions and hop treatments separately as if they were Mr Beer mixes, and add them to the target LBKs. There is no reason you have to put it all in together. If you want to be "clever" you may save time by combining the additions and splitting them off at various points to the LBKs. but it needs some planning. Just make sure you keep the lids on the LBKs any time you are not adding stuff.

Thanks again. Tried it out tonight w/ 1 oz o Willamette at boil and 1/2 cup maltodextrin. Just hoping for a more solid brew than the first time I tried it. Kevin

AHBA Big Brew day - any other participant events? Will make Lemon Drop Saison at Old Bust Head Brewery in Vint Hill, VA. Lemon drop etc Saison. Steep 4 oz Flaked wheat, with 4 oz Vienna Malt Grain. 4 oz Pils malt crushed. 30 min at 165. Strain and rinse. Boil 0.5oz Lemon Drop hops in bag 10 min in grain liquor wort. Remove hop bag to fermenter. Make liquid up to ~ 4 cups then dissolve 1 pack Mr B Golden LME and 6 oz booster Bring to boil and add 0.5 oz Lemon Drop hops in bag, let sit a couple mins to sterilize then take off heat & move hops to fermenter. Dissolve Czech Pils HME on hot wort, . Add to cold water in LBK, top up to line. ferment with Belle Saison dry hop with 0.5 oz Lemon Drop for last 7 days. Target ABV ~ 4.8% IBUs 27 (from HME) + 10 from late hop boil --> 37 IBUs Original recipe uses total 1oz hop bittering 4 oz late and dry in 5 gal. So this may be a little more bitter. Last brew I was cautious on hops so used only 1 oz rather than the 2. (scaled) It was good but more is OK, but still cautious so only using 1.5 not 5 (scaled).

Bottling the Cooper's Dark Ale + leftover Dark LMEs and HBC438 hop all in similar wort - being a split up 6 gal brew with different yeasts One with S-33 yeast. Minot film on surface, Tastes pretty dry roasty, a little warming, spicy peppery finish. One with Windsor yeast. Clear surface, Sweeter, more rounded than S-33 brew, a little warming, not peppery. Tomorrow the last one - different yeast again- S-04

I'll second that about Ashley and the FB page. Have you noticed the MrBeer staff all seems to be new brewers? If I was just starting out I'd have reservations taking advice from somebody who has only brewed a few batches of their own. It's like a 16 year old who's had his/her driver's license for a few months leading the drivers' training classes.

I’m about ready to start stringing mine up. Tough to see in the picture but the ones that are on the far side of one picture are close to two feet.

Third all grain brew was first SMaSH recipe, first time using pale ale malt, and first time mashing correctly at 151. Beers malt is tasty, beer itself is very crisp and clean, but lacks a notable hop presence. This batch was 4 pounds grain for 2 gallons, prior two were 5 1/2 pounds grain per 2 gallons, ABV too high on those. Slowly getting away from ever opening the fermenter, don't like dry hopping, and will also try that cryo whirlpool at 120. I would like a set it and forget it fermenter, and will do any extra processes to make that happen. side note, using 22 oz glass bottles, and saving three bottles per batch to age.

In that case, the American Lager may provide a better base as you suggest, maybe it depends how bitter you like it though. Does this look good? Kentucky Common: American Lager HME, PM 8 oz 6 row, 4 oz Flaked corn, 1 oz Cara 60, 1 oz Carafa II, 1 oz Victory. Hops - 0.25 oz ea Mt Hood and Cluster, 10 min boil. Safale F-97 yeast. Then I get 1.045 Final Gravity 1.009 ABV 4.76% IBU 29.42 SRM 12.48 Mash pH

👍 bonsai gets me. That’s a very rare thing

I think what @Creeps McLane was trying to convey is that my recipe is a Kentucky Common, which would be correct. The BJCP describes the overall impression of this style as a darker version of cream ale. As I've gotten a bit lazy with my recipe naming of late, that description just kind of stuck.🍻

Congrats!

No, only partly. While the oats do contribute some haze, they're mostly for body. The haze is a mixture of proteins from the oats (and other grains), suspended yeast (this is why NEIPAs use low-flocculating English yeasts), and suspended hop oils. An infection probably won't happen unless you're aging the beer for long periods of time, and since IPAs aren't normally aged and should be consumed fresh, it's probably a non-issue here. I have used oat milk before with some success. It should go into the mash, though, since it's still mostly starch. This is another reason why oats and other flaked products should ALWAYS be mixed with 2-row (or rice hulls). The husks in the 2-row help provide efficiency with water flow. Just putting oats in a muslin sack on their own only creates a gooey and dense "dough-ball" that the water cannot penetrate. That means you're only pulling from the surface of the dough-ball, while the inside stays shielded from water access. Using some 2-row (or 6-row) prevents this. But I guess if they say it tastes like the real thing, who am I to argue? lol

I wasn't sure if Mr. Beer is advising a commando-style dry-hop either but I agree that for a 'malt guy,' this recipe gets brewed this summer. looking forward to all the recipes in this series!

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cocoa-powder-nutrition-benefits Good beer and dark chocolate are also enjoyed. I enjoy beer before dinner and during, would be up alI-night having chocolate anything. Speaking of cocoa, can't wait until this is released-

Today I brewed my 20th batch of beer since I started brewing last September, if I remember rightly. It was another total experimental concoction which included my first use of chocolate. Unsweetened baker's chocolate, 1 ounce flaked with a knife and added to the wort of 3.3 lbs Briess Traditional Dark extract, 1 full lb of Briess Dark DME and 4 ounces of malto dextrin to counter any loss of 'mouth feel' from the chocolate. Can't wait to see how it turns out. 1.067 IG, tastes like a chocolate milkshake. The sweetness should go away after complete fermentation. Oh, and I will add 1.5 oz of espresso (made in my French press) to each 25 oz bottle at charging time. I'll call it 'Mic's Chocolate Espresso Stout'.

experimenting is what it's all about! will dry hop 1/2 oz in a week or 2. next batch, may try whirlpool at 120. will see if big difference.

Looks Delicious! Cheers!

CORRECTION: I reported my ABV as 4.2. That was MRB's expected percentage. My batch has an ABV of 4.0, which I am more than happy with. Next Up: Voodoo, probably with white cane sugar as opposed to brown.

‘Thanks. That’s almost exactly what I want to do. My fridge only fits 2 LBKs, and I like having control over temperature.

Toast. 🍻

Alternatively, you could split it among 3 lbk's and put 2 in the mini fridge and make the 3rd a saison and put it on top of the mini fridge. Saisons need little to no temp control.

In addition, some of my mistakes have gone into a batch of beer chili or chicken marinades. Then there's always cooking some bratwurst in them.

Welcome to your new obsession and this forum. Carry on of course. If you have questions, do a quick search. There's hardly a topic that hasn't been discussed over the last decade including food parings and what many think about Michigan Wolverines. Begin your search with the topics pinned by Rickbeer. He has done an excellent job (better than could usually be expected from a Wolverine) summing up much of the knowledge and advice available for new brewers. Sanitation, temperature control and patience. As Zorak has said, you can always drink your mistakes.

Proper temperature control during fermentation (which I learned about on this forum) was the single greatest factor that improved the quality of my beers.

welcome to the forum. if you are following the instructions, you should be bottling at 21 days and tasting a sample while you are doing that. i learned the hard way about temp control. use a camping cooler and put a few frozen water bottles in there. i found a cheap aquarium thermometer on amazon for like $10 and taped the probe on the side of the lbk. that will get you started. your next batch will be much better.

I have used it too. If you use half, pitch a little vodka on top of the remaining LME before you seal it up to ensure it stays sterile while waiting for the next batch..

Yah, agree with Creeps. That can is approx equivalent to about 5.5 lbs of grain, so should be good for a 2.5 gal batch. Their extract is excellent and I've used it in a number of partial mashes.

Same here.

Lol, my lid doesn't want to come off that way, like a vacuum is holding it shut. I might have to try just throwing the pellets in next time!

i don't even take off the blowoff tube.....just open the latches, lift it up a little and pour in the hop pellets. i don't use hop sacks anymore b/c the brew bucket compacts the gunk so well below the racking arm, and my beer has very little sediment. been doing different types of ipa's so much lately and they all call for dry hopping. just the style i like. will try some variety when i get through my queue.

The reality is that this forum has very little activity. Haven't counted, but if there's 20 people posting I'd be surprised. Facebook is more commonly used than forums like this, but it's not the place for support IMO, but I don't run Mr. Beer. Homebrewing stores are closing. Beer business isn't what it was. Mr. Beer has to be hurting compared to a few years ago. Just my guess.

" The Facebook Group is to help new users connect and share their brewing experiences. We want the group to be an inviting place where questions get answered. " i thought that was the purpose of these forums. this is a place that meets all those criteria. facebook is vile. i dont understand the need for some ppl to expose every aspect of their personal life on social media. oh look everyone.. i just passed a log! here's a photo! (stoolenvy has liked your post). yay! my post was liked! look everyone! i'm so excited that im going to hawaii next week! (photo of self with tickets taken in front of wall of expensive stereo equipment) .. hope i dont get robbed while im gone lol!... everyone here is relatively polite , patient and helpful with newbies. this place is like a haven of calm and help for the new brewer. i'm starting to wonder why the old guard at mr beer have been jumping ship there. hopefully you guys dont go nutso like you did with the radical and uncalled for forum changes that caused many of us to leave years ago.

A Witbier and a Jester King Figlet Ale will be my next beers now that I have got a couple of staples in the works that will shore up my somewhat depleted pipeline. The Wit, I'm glad to give another shot at now that I have a grain mill and can make sure that my wheat is crushed well. That didn't work out well on my last batch, but live and learn. The Figlet ale will be an experiment but I've researched a bit on smoking figs and will try both hot smoking them and cold smoke and pick which would be best to dry hop in the ale. As to which saison yeast to use @Creeps McLane, you do a lot of farmhouse ales so I could use a little advice there and I'm open to suggestions as the only one I've used has been the Belle Saison dry yeast.

Well, Ashley looks to be a bit of a babe. So...uhm.... there's that.... But about the facebook page, I quote for you my Uncle Shamus O'Horgan (and indeed he often did!): ("Aye, always find a good word for those who try, laddie, but never a trophy unless they win!")

I’m near Hershey, PA. Most of them have grown that much in the last two weeks. We’ve had some warm weather and rain.

@Jdub@RickBeer Gonna try cryo hop whirlpool @ 120 degrees, that may give an acceptable level of hoppyness.

SInce you mentioned "cheating", let me reinforce that one of the key qualities of a successful homebrewer is PATIENCE. Making beer takes time. Cutting corners rarely saves time, especially without increasing risk of crappy product. Sure, you can turn a 5 hour brew day into a 4:48 minute brew day, but you're not going to make it a 3 hour brew day. The more you move fermented beer around, the higher the risk that you screw it up.