Posted: 12/30/2012 2:37:01 PM EDT
Anyone do it? I got a Mr. Beer  from my fiance after she returned one of my duplicate gifts. It was 30 bucks on clearance at Dunham's. I can assume the Mr. Beer isn't the preferred brewing set up, but it is a cheap/fast trial to see if I like home brewing. I am kind of excited to try it, it will be a fun project for us.
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| I received a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas last year. I finally got around to making a batch this fall. It had good flavor, was a bit too carbonated. There are things I will tweak with my next batch. Its OK, but I am not a huge beer drinker. If I were to home brew a lot I would probably go to another set-up; but for beginners its good. |
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I got my Fiancee into brewing earlier this year as she is the beer expert and better chemist too. I am not a big beer drinker but I like good beer.
We started at Brew and Grow this summer, nice people, good advice, good store. She now gets everything online from Northern Brewer. They have great service and are usually very quick to deliver. Her 6th 5 gallon batch is fermenting as I type. Her next beer may be a snowdrift vanilla porter. I see a Blichmann Fermenator in her future. http://www.blichmannengineering.com/fermentor/fermentor.html |
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I am in Walworth county, I will look it up, I go to the city every few weeks. I grew up in Milwaukee. What does the acronym stand for? I am please to hear so many have used Mr. Beers to brew something drinkable RDWHAHB = Relax Don't Worry Have A Home Brew |
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I am in Walworth county, I will look it up, I go to the city every few weeks. I grew up in Milwaukee. What does the acronym stand for? I am please to hear so many have used Mr. Beers to brew something drinkable Smokin brew in elkhorn has a bunch of home brew stuff. Their website(smokinbrew.com) lists over 600 ingredients. worth a look. |
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too much shitting around for me. Now, if distilling were legal, I might take a crack just for shits and giggles. but all that work for lower proof alcohol? meh..cheap beer is fine for me. My focus is on Sake next year. In on taste testing. 
And I may grow hops in the future so you can help harvest hops then drink Sake! Only in Wisconsin would you see Non-drinkers posting in a beer thread. I should have moved here 30 years ago like I originally wanted too. This place just seems right to me. |
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Ill give you a suggestion to buy distilled or RO water from the store to use. If you have crappy water it will make crappy beer. Our water tastes fine, but its very hard. hard water is bad too. I just get RO water from woodmans in my own jugs now. Saves a lot of hassle. Not sure where you live but farmhouse brewing supply in Janesville is awesome too ( http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com ). The guy who owns the store, John, is fantastic. Couldnt find a person more eager to help. Great prices on stuff too. As someone else mentioned, if your near Milwaukee then Northern Brewer is the place to go. Got 6 beers on tap right now, and 2 flanders reds that are ready to bottle (they have been aging for 2 years). I just need to get not lazy and clean bottles. ever since I started kegging I hate filling bottles...lol. Have fun with it and let us know how it turns out. |
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Quoted: Ill give you a suggestion to buy distilled or RO water from the store to use. If you have crappy water it will make crappy beer. Our water tastes fine, but its very hard. hard water is bad too. I just get RO water from woodmans in my own jugs now. Saves a lot of hassle. Not sure where you live but farmhouse brewing supply in Janesville is awesome too ( http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com ). The guy who owns the store, John, is fantastic. Couldnt find a person more eager to help. Great prices on stuff too. As someone else mentioned, if your near Milwaukee then Northern Brewer is the place to go. Got 6 beers on tap right now, and 2 flanders reds that are ready to bottle (they have been aging for 2 years). I just need to get not lazy and clean bottles. ever since I started kegging I hate filling bottles...lol. Have fun with it and let us know how it turns out. BrewNinja. I get it now. 6 beers on tap? That is awesome. |
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Yep Woodmans Grocery. You can fill 5 gallon jugs. I use both 5 gallon and 7 gallon jugs (the kind you find in the camping section...the hard kind not the soft plastic collapsing kind). Its something like $.39 a gallon if you do it that way. Really cheap. Got 6 on tap now, but looking to add 2 more taps (1 dedicated root beer tap for non beer drinkers and kiddies). I like too many different kinds of beer, so having only 1 or 2 on tap just didnt work...haha. |
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And I may grow hops in the future so you can help harvest hops then drink Sake! Only in Wisconsin would you see Non-drinkers posting in a beer thread. I should have moved here 30 years ago like I originally wanted too. This place just seems right to me. Welcome Home.
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There's a pretty decent brew shop in Plover (attached to Oso's taproom... ) I'll be hitting it up when I get home I think, something to do with the wife.I think PBS is gone. At least, they took the sign down. There's always NDC up by shippy shoes... they have some beer/winemaking supplies. |
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Ill give you a suggestion to buy distilled or RO water from the store to use. If you have crappy water it will make crappy beer. Our water tastes fine, but its very hard. hard water is bad too. I just get RO water from woodmans in my own jugs now. Saves a lot of hassle.[div] Here in Saukville, other than extra iron, we've pretty much got Dublin/London style water; the cold tap water is perfect for English/Irish/Scottish beers. It does add time to my brew day having to draw cold water for my hot liquor back, though. |
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Your lucky! I would love that profile without having to add salts, etc. When I first started I used the water from our house cause it tasted fine and everyone said it would be OK. I ended up having to dump my first 3 batches until I figured out it was the hard water doing it. You dont see many posts about hard water being a problem so it took awhile to figure it out. Havent had a bad batch since I started using RO water. |
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SO when is teh HTF brewing expo? Show us noobs how to do it. Where do I click "Like" ?
There needs to be some other guys joining in here.....and make it a BBQ & Beer expo. Preferably on a non drill weekend, unlike every other HTF event this year
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There's a pretty decent brew shop in Plover (attached to Oso's taproom... ) I'll be hitting it up when I get home I think, something to do with the wife.I think PBS is gone. At least, they took the sign down. There's always NDC up by shippy shoes... they have some beer/winemaking supplies. Sad if true, I'll have to send up a recon request. |
| I live in Middleton and if anybody ever wants to come by on a brew day let me know. Id be happy to share some homebrew and shoot the shit. I brew outside, so it wont be until it gets a little nicer that I brew again, but if people are interested I could always post on here when my next brew day is. I do all grain on a 1 tier stand I put together. |
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Aside from Silver Creek, which has a 500gal capacity (maximum mash is around 1000lbs grain), the club has a 30gal setup right now, and we've got a 50gal setup that's going into a 1920's Art Deco mansion where we'll do our future club brews. That should be ready around March or so, but the tun is still being fabricated AFAIK.
And if anyone wants to get into distillation, I suggest using a small rotary evaporator. I've got a guy if you need a setup.
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Just so I am clear on all of this, there are beer brewing clubs and one of them is Brewligans as in the ones found here
Brewligans Beer Brewers and Male Models And this club is linked to this organization AHA And membership cards are good for 10% off at Northern Brewer? |
| Yes, we are an AHA club, and that's our site; all AHA clubs get a discount at Northern Brewer, and we also are doing some bulk buying as well to keep costs low. Monthly meeting is tomorrow at Ernie's Wine Bar in Cedarburg at 1830, so stop by if you are local and introduce yourself. |