A few months ago, a friend of mine gave me a Mr Beer kit for homebrewing. While a Mr Beer kit is sort of like the Easy Bake Oven of brewing, I figure at the very least it'd introduce me to homebrewing at the most basic level. So far I have made three batches to completion (one batch makes about 20 12oz beers).
Batch 1 was a pale ale. It was terrible. As I told the wife, I'll drink Bud and I'll drink Coors Light and I'll drink Rolling Rock, but my pale ale was undrinkable. That said, an extra month lagering seems to have improved the taste. Still not great, but better. I poured most of it down the drain though.
Batch 2 was an Oktoberfest. A huge improvement over batch 1. I have six liters left and I think another few weeks sitting the fridge will really help. We drank two liters of it over the weekend and enjoyed it.
Batch 3 was a coffee stout. The first batch that I am proud of. A real nice coffee taste. The beer is black, just as the wife likes it (like her men). As with the Oktoberfest, I think this will get even better with a few more weeks in the fridge.
Batches 4 and 5 are in progress. One is a tripel, which is in bottles and will be ready to drink in six months (Monkeyfest 2009 tasting, perhaps?). The other is a cranberry maibock which I made yesterday.
So, the Mr Beer results have been mixed, but have improved with each batch. As someone who has had his fill of good beer, I am pleasantly surprised with the results of Mr Beer beers. I have a real good feeling about the cranberry maibock.
Just felt like sharing.
Batch 1 was a pale ale. It was terrible. As I told the wife, I'll drink Bud and I'll drink Coors Light and I'll drink Rolling Rock, but my pale ale was undrinkable. That said, an extra month lagering seems to have improved the taste. Still not great, but better. I poured most of it down the drain though.
Batch 2 was an Oktoberfest. A huge improvement over batch 1. I have six liters left and I think another few weeks sitting the fridge will really help. We drank two liters of it over the weekend and enjoyed it.
Batch 3 was a coffee stout. The first batch that I am proud of. A real nice coffee taste. The beer is black, just as the wife likes it (like her men). As with the Oktoberfest, I think this will get even better with a few more weeks in the fridge.
Batches 4 and 5 are in progress. One is a tripel, which is in bottles and will be ready to drink in six months (Monkeyfest 2009 tasting, perhaps?). The other is a cranberry maibock which I made yesterday.
So, the Mr Beer results have been mixed, but have improved with each batch. As someone who has had his fill of good beer, I am pleasantly surprised with the results of Mr Beer beers. I have a real good feeling about the cranberry maibock.
Just felt like sharing.
Nice work IAB. Our cousin brews and has made some tasty treats for us! We tried hard cider once with mixed results, but beer we haven't tied, yet!
