How to make a Mr Beer kit....better

[@Jeremy-yr8yg]

I bought 23 Mr Beer kits at a store called Dirt Cheap for 20 bucks yesterday! All of them are the American classic light extract. Started 4 of them last night. Excited!

[@PlattR]

That is so cool. You might want to also check out my malt liquor video since you have so many kits to play with.

[@aaronherms9348]

id love one or two more.... gimme a holler if you wanna let go of some cheap

[@gibsonguy7891]

Awesome tutorial! I'm just getting started but am already thinking of how I can "take it up a notch"! thanks for showing me the next steps.

[@nicholasdouglas7250]

I did this with the chzech pilsner after watching this video a while back. Only difference was I added 1/2 oz of Czech saaz for flavor and another 1/2 oz for aroma. It turned out great. This video provided a good second step for me on brewing where I familiarized myself with actual grain and hopp additions. This video actually helped give me a better understanding when I moved up to partial mash and all grain. Thanks.

[@PlattR]

That's the great thing about these Mr Beer kits, you can tweek them a thousand different ways.

[@Percivaldurham]

I'm trying this tomorrow morning. I've done two extract brews and now I'm ready to upgrade a bit. Thanks!

[@PlattR]

+Percivaldurham Good Luck

[@Percivaldurham]

Thanks. I decided to try the Oktoberfest. We'll see what happens. You are a very good teacher. You are very good at explaining things and making it easy to understand for beginners. I'll keep coming back here if I need anymore hints or tips.

[@PlattR]

+Percivaldurham Thanks

[@whitting54]

Be sure to turn the burner off before you add the grains or you could scorch the bag and put a hole in it. I learned this the hard way.

[@conradkostelecky7935]

Mr. Beer website instructions (and Mr. Beer community forum) say you NEVER boil the hopped malt extract (HME) you only boil grain wort and liquid malt extracts (LME). By boiling the Mr. Beer HME's you are boiling off some of the hop flavors, aromas, and bittering qualities that Mr. Beer takes the time to put into these HME's. Otherwise I agree on your method on helping out a Mr.Beer kit. I've been doing them for over a year and have had success on making some very tasty beers. Cheers!

[@mic982]

Good to know. My kit will be here in a couple of days

[@sukhpreetriyat8505]

@@mic982 is it worth it? Im thinking of buying one

[@mic982]

Yes, I think they are. These small 2 gallon kits are an easy way to get started in home brewing. I've now had mine for almost 6 months and I just batched my 13th beer. But that's because I bought a 2nd keg (just the keg alone) to be able to make more beer faster. I've been doing a lot of experiments with mine, but the standard Mr Beer recipes are pretty good as they are. The kits come with bottles, a couple of cans of extract, no other adjuncts, so the beer from those 1st cans is basic, but good. But when you re-order more refills, they come with boosters to give the beer more abv and more mouth feel (richer). OR, you can supplement the cans you get with the kits with your own adjuncts from any home-brewing store. Most adjuncts are very in-expensive. Here's a link for you to learn a lot more about easy home brewing. And...it's a lot of fun. community.mrbeer.com/ Good luck!

[@mylesjohns9526]

we would love to get to know you more as a person!!! What do you do for fun!? How often do you see your parents? Do you like sports? Love the videos keep doing what you're doing. Love from Australia

[@PlattR]

I live in Las Vegas so I have lots of options for fun. I used to love sports but don't watch them much anymore. I'm a pretty simple guy.

[@cartbuilder6179]

I can't wait to try this. Thanks for the tip!

[@nunzio1747]

Great video. Right to the point. No fluff

[@PlattR]

thanks

[@JGraye5]

Cool deal man! I went to my local home brew shop and they suggested pretty much the same thing. Thanks for showing me a way to crank up this kit I've been staring at for a week!

[@PlattR]

good luck brewing

[@jimgam730]

Hey Platt, got a mr beer kit for Christmas and saw this video and decided to try and make it following what you did here. And, tasted it today. Boy was I surprised, it tasted like flat beer, which I've been told is good. So, I just put it into the bottles and should have beer ready to drink in about two weeks. Will let you know how it turns out. Thanks for putting out this video.

[@PlattR]

It should be flat when its done fermenting. The beer should be carbonated when you open the bottles in a couple of weeks. Good luck!

[@oscarvalladares4753]

Just like that? Wow thas looks great, Time to experiment, Thanks.

[@PlattR]

+Oscar Valladares Those kits are fun to play around with.

[@oscarvalladares4753]

Platt R. Yes They are, Unfortunetely Im a total noob making a good beer, but I had to try and repeat, Thanks again.

[@zachdavis3068]

Is there anything I’m suppose to look for while fermenting? I have the clear fermenter and I have a buildup on the bottom of fermenter. Maybe the wort? I thought when it ferments there should be some bubbling? I’m a week in and feel discouraged here. Thanks for any input

[@PlattR]

There is usually some bubbling but you don't always get a foamy head. The build up on the bottom is a good sign. That tells me the yeast is falling out and usually occurs after the yeast's work is done. Take a flashlight and shine it on the side of the fermenter. You should be able to see a couple of bubbles rising.

[@zachdavis3068]

@@PlattR it’s got a foamy ring on the top. Can’t see bubbling. I hope the yeast I used was good

[@PlattR]

@@zachdavis3068 If you got a foamy ring, you should be alright.

[@zachdavis3068]

@@PlattR well beer is complete. The beer kit is shock the moon and it had orange peel hops. I did not do the 3 week conditioning method in bottles. I tried force carbonation for about 3 days. Carbonation went well but I’m not so sure about the beer. Beer has a fruity sour taste. Maybe contaminated? Or is this suppose to be sourish beer?

[@PlattR]

@@zachdavis3068 Nothing really wrong that's just how some of the Mr Beer products come out. It could be a older can of hopped malt extract in the kit. That's why I like to trick up the kits.

[@KRS15136]

Thanks man finally I made the jump to brewing from this video

[@PlattR]

Good Luck!

[@rckstar03]

I have the Aztec brew fermenting now and will be brewing the Oktoberfest next. I want to upgrade the Oktoberfest batch. What ingredients would you recommend (hops and malts) adding to the Oktoberfest batch?

[@PlattR]

WLP820 from White Labs is the yeast of choice. Grain wise there are a lot of options.

[@coreyblackburn9289]

I think it would be great if you add some caramel 60 L and some Crystal 40 L and even some flaked oats!....👍🍻

[@0316aiglesias]

Do you think i can do this with the american light malt extract? I'm not a fan of light beer and i have 2 cans i want to play with.

[@PlattR]

You sure can. You can play around with some darker malts to tweek the color and flavor.

[@maxcox6019]

I'm thinking about trying to make beer myself. I'm a big fan of Guinness extra stout is there a Mr beer kit that is close in taste?

[@PlattR]

There sure is: amzn.to/3cDvTt3

[@jimgam730]

So, how did that beer turn out? Do you have a follow up video on it? I'm now trying something similar.

[@PlattR]

The better turned out pretty good. Some kit beers have a cider-like hint to them but adding in the steeped grains eliminated that.

[@noxiouslotus5760]

do you think adding fruit juice or sliced to give the beer fruit flavors to mr beer will be ok? how much and at what point would u add it?

[@PlattR]

Juice, I am not sure about because a lot of juices have preservatives but sliced fruit works great. They actually sell canned fruit on the Mr Beer website.

[@markruffner660]

What the cooling temperature for larger beers

[@PlattR]

Upper 30's to low 40's

[@treysrocknroll]

does that recipe call for adding the extract at 50 minutes, or is that what you do on your own accord? I thought the extract usually went for the full 60 minutes, but I'm still a newbie. Thanks for posting!

[@PlattR]

this is not an exact recipe. It just a modification I came up with to tweek the MR Beer kit.

[@mic982]

Yep, got some pretty good ideas from the video AND thought of a few more of my own that I'm going to experiment with as well. I like beer in the 6-8% ABV level, so I'm wondering what kind of specific gravity that will be?

[@PlattR]

you looking at 1.060 and higher

[@mic982]

Thanks, man. My Mr. Beer kit is arriving on Wednesday from Amazon. I'll probably stick with the plans for the first two batches, but then I have a mix for some Porter and maybe I'll begin my experiments with that.

[@dhavallsarmalkarr1188]

Hi I have been following your channel. Amazing videos, I am a fresher and I am soon going to brew. I wanted to ask you what temperature is required during fermentation. Average temperature where I live ranges from 25-30°C. Please suggest what can I do. Thank you

[@PlattR]

You'll want to be closer to 20C if possible. Be sure to use ale yeast instead of lager yeast as ale yeast works at higher temperatures.

[@dhavallsarmalkarr1188]

Platt R. Thank you I'll surely try it

[@jamesmcknight4041]

How much grain did you use?

[@PlattR]

2 lbs.

[@paulkenosky6845]

Sweet tip. Thanks!

[@PlattR]

My pleasure

[@jamesfontenot6148]

Can I substitute corn sugar with corn syrup

[@PlattR]

You sure can

[@INKBIRD-official]

Do you need temperature controller when brewing?

[@PlattR]

Inkbird Smart Home As long as you monitor the temperature every few minutes, you should be OK. You can buy specialty brew kettles with temperature gauges built in.

[@hawk67always11]

great video thanks! so what was the final abv reading?

[@PlattR]

I don't have my notes from that brew but I want to say around 4.7 or 4.8. The typical Mr. Beer kit comes out around 3.6, so we gave it a little boost. If you add additional malt or buy one of their booster packs you can bump it up even more.

[@hawk67always11]

Platt R. ok thank you I'm trying to figure out how to get a batch to 9-14% I was able to get a pear wine to 18.6% with pears from my back yard and lots of sugar and honey

[@PlattR]

One thing you'll want to remember is that most beer yeast work up to about 8-9% ABV. Anything above that you'll want to use a barleywine yeast.

[@alizaibgondal5318]

bro would u do something about mic cauz we can't hear u so load on lower volume control but the music in the videos is way louder then any other sound......

[@PlattR]

Sorry, this was one of my first videos and mistakes were made.

[@Dogalog]

We named our beer after you :)

[@PlattR]

That's cool. Thanks!

[@TheArby13]

Anyone just starting adheres to KISS. Why confuse beginners with extra stuff they dont understand. Mr Beer is for beginners. Coopers DIY kits are a step up.

[@PlattR]

I wasn't suggesting this for first timers but if you had done a couple of kits before, why not spice it up.

[@jathmarjames855]

You have a pretty cool name man. Just saying...hard to hear and not recognize.

[@PlattR]

Thanks

[@jimgam730]

Btw, I did a IPA.