A brief encounter with Mr. Beer

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Foreword: For those that don't know, Mr. Beer is the Easy Bake Oven of brewing. No boil required, just open up packets and toss it in. I am not trying to look down on anyone who uses Mr. Beer as i think it's an excellent product to get people interested in brewing.

So a client of my Dad's "brews" beer. Has been at it for a year. His wife appeared at my Dad's office to offer some homebrew. He told her that I also brewed and showed some of my labels. He brought it home and I see the Mr. Beer caps on top. I was excited to try this as I've always wondered how they turned out. The beers were Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Stout and Blue Lightnin'. She said the Stout came in at 9% ABV, but further research showed that it should come in around 7% ABV. I'm pretty sure a hydrometer isn't included in the kit.

We poured the beers and noticed immediately a very "yeasty" smell. Almost so much that I didn't want to drink it. Then the chunks appeared. We found out that they added fresh fruit to the bottles. Not all of the chunks were from fruit. Some of them just looked like ingredients that had not been mixed well. *see video below

This stuff was undrinkable. If my first homebrew had turned out like this, that would have been it for me. This guy's been doing it for a year. It was so over carbonated that one of them just exploded when we opened it, and the little that I did drink had the mouthfeel of a Sprite.


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I told my Dad to tell the guy to come sit in on a brew day with me. I would like him to at least work up to extracts. I brew All Grain so I offered to let him use my equipment and he can just order an extract kit and I'll walk him through it. He's paying the same prices at Mr. Beer for 2 gallon batches when he could be making 5 gallon batches that are drinkable.

Hopefully this guy will accept and I can get him on track to making some good (read drinkable) beer. I'm sending him a beer from every batch I've done to help with the conversion.





I found this video on youtube where Andy Dick drinks some Mr. Beer and asks what the "crustaceans" are in the glass. The other dude is such a tool. Notice when he says it's been in the bottle for a week and this was the last one. :smiley3:

Video

Yuck. That looks disgusting. "Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Stout" sounds really disgusting.

Besides, it is the time of year to make cider! :smiley4:

Are those "sea monkeys" in there. I don't know how you brought yourself to drink that. It looks like what comes up after you have one beer to many. :smiley11:

I know it's Halloween and all...but is the BEER supposed to be scary also?

Woof, looks like something that came out of me after some bad mussels. :smiley11:

So the Mr Brew kit isn't all that good then? For someone who wants to get into homebrewing, that wouldn't be the answer?

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Originally Posted by Cabaiguan Juan

So the Mr Brew kit isn't all that good then? For someone who wants to get into homebrewing, that wouldn't be the answer?

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Well, I know a lot of people get started with Mr. Beer then advance from there. Most people start with extract kits and then advance if they want to. Extract brewing is more hands on than Mr. Beer. It's easy and fun. Should take around 2-3 hours start to finish.

Here's some videos so you can see what's involved with each one.


Mr. Beer

Extract Brewing: Part 1

The second picture, looks like my homebrew right after pitching the yeast!!

Rich

Hopefully he'll take your invitation and you can show him the light. Don't let him toss out the Mr. Beer kit. Those come in handy for small experimental batches.

Mr. Beer type brewing typically turns out like this. My bro did it once for fun with similar results. Chunky, yeasty, carbonation all over the place, etc. I gave my father and other brother one of my extract homebrews. They had a "oh no, not again!" look on their face, but after pouring it they looked completely surprised. After trying it, they said "You MADE this? It's clear, it has a head, and it tastes pretty good!".

The problem is that Mr. Beer gives very shallow and simple instructions on beer making. If you want to do it right, you have to read up.