First Batch - West Coast American Pale Ale

First batch with the Mr. Beer kit has been cooked and is now fermenting! The picture above shows what all came with the kit.

The standard refill of West Coast Pale Ale comes with a can of W.C Pale Ale Hopped Malt Extract, packet of Yeast, a pouch of Booster and a packet of their One Step Sanitizer. Done correctly, this Pale Ale will yield two gallons of brew for and alcohol content of 3.7% ABV and lightly hopped for an International Bitterness Unit of 14 IBUs.

I will first remind you that this is my FIRST EXPERIENCE EVER in making my own beer! I was not sure what to expect and how hard it would be, but I had the basic ingredients and was ready to get started.

One of the nice things about Mr. Beer is that it comes with a 4-Step instruction pamphlet that makes everything very simple and near impossible to mess up! So, with my emotions running wild and my mind imagining many things from explosions to a tall cool one with a nice foamy head I gathered what I needed!

Items I needed:
1. 3-quart pot
2. Metal Spoon or Whisk (Do NOT use wood or plastic)
3. Can Opener
4. Measuring cup/spoons
5. Plate (you can use a bowl)

Sanitizing:
After I gathered the needed materials I assembled the tap on the Mr. Beer 2-gallon Keg/fermenter. Then, using the one-step sanitizer included with the kit I filled the keg with lukewarm wather to the 4-quart mark, added sanitizer, screwed on the lid and swirled to make sure the solution made contact with all parts of the keg.

*NOTE* Make sure you do this over the sink or in a safe area as the keg has ventilation notches to release pressure during the fermentation process. Yeah...I made a little bit of a mess.

Per the instructions I opened the tap several times onto the plate. This created a sanitized surface for my utensils. Then, I placed all brewing utensils (can opener included)into the keg to soak for 10 minutes.

I drained the keg, removed all utensils, placed them on the sanitized plate and was ready to brew (there is no rinsing required as this is a one-step sanitizer).

BREWING
It is my understanding that it takes a minimum of seven days at room temperature to ferment the beer. Ideally, 2 weeks is good in the event that you are new and do not have additional tools such as a hydrometer to ensure that the fermentation process has finished.

Again, I filled the keg with water (cold) to the 4-quart mark. I removed the yeast packet from under lid of the HME (hops, malt extract) and placed the unopened can in hot tap water. This is done to make sure the liquid will pour easily.

Next, I placed 4 cups of water (using the sanitized measuring cup)into a clean pot (3-quart or larger is needed) on the stove. I slowly sprinkled in the Booster which came with the kit while continually stirring to avoid clumping as suggested. Booster is essentially dextrose (corn sugar) and maltodextrins. This adds both body and alcohol content to the beer.

Once I had the booster dissolved I stirred the HME into the same pot. Th HME and mixture of water and booster is called WORT and pronounced "WERT". Again, stirring for quite awhile until everything was dissolved I was ready to pour the wort into the keg. After pouring the wort into the keg I added more cold water until I reached the 8.5-quart mark. Again, I stirred vigorously to mix.

Next came the yeast. Sprinkle the yeast into keg and allow to sit for 5 minutes, then stir vigorously and screw on lid.

Finally, I placed the keg out of direct sunlight as suggested (into the pantry closet) as the location seemed to meet the suggested location specifications of a consistent temperature between 68 degrees and 76 degrees F.

So, within the time period of one hour I now have 2-gallons of West Coast Pale Ale in the keg and fermenting where it will stay until at least the 23rd.

I hope this gives you a general idea of how easy it can be to start your first batch of beer.

Brewing Beer - Why?

Ever since I can remember, I wanted to brew beer from home. Why not? I love beer and I love to create! With the current economic world crisis it only made since to take the plunge and finally learn the craft of brewing beer from home!

For years I remember seeing the home brew kits during the holidays at large retail stores screaming to "make your own beer" or make your own cola. I always wanted one, but never until recently thought it would be something I would partake in.

On February 9th I took my 63 year old mother out for her birthday. After a Chinese lunch and the movie Avatar in Extreme Digital I took her to the Outlet Mall on Las Vegas Blvd. There I was, reluctant to go into the store called, "Kitchen Collections"; to my surprise I found the Mr. Beer home brewing kit for $29.95 - supposedly ten dollars cheaper than normal price.

This was it! I am going to do it I thought! So, after much discussion with the retail clerk about how many ounces are in a gallon I purchased the starter kit.

Now the proud owner of the Mr. Beer Deluxe Kit I was excited, nervous and ready to open this "magical" box of beer to be made!

The Mr. Beer Deluxe Kit allows you to brew up 2 gallons of beer in as few as seven days, and you will be drinking your first batch in just two weeks. (Note that that is a "MAYBE" time period and standard suggestion time takes around six weeks.) It is designed with simplicity, results, and ease of use in mind -- providing reliable results every time you brew.


INCLUDED IN THE KIT:
1 Fermenter with Lid & Tap Assembly
1 Standard Refill
8 Reusable Plastic Caps
1 Brewing with MR.BEER® -- Brewer's Guide
1 Easy to Follow 4 Step Brewing Instructions

To read more about the Deluxe Kit visit:
Mr. Beer Deluxe

So, here I am with a 2 Gallon Fermenter, and a standard refill of West Coast Pale Ale w/Booster.
Essentially all the ingredients I needed to make my first batch of a crisp, sparkling and refreshing beer Light in color and body. Also included in the kit is:
(1) hopped malt extract (HME)
dry brewing yeast
Booster™
One-Step™ sanitizing cleanser
(8)Reusable Plastic Caps

My understanding is that the Alcohol Content of a standard refill is 3.7%.

For those that like to think ahead I would like to touch on the Plastic Caps:
In the kit you will receive Eight reusable plastic bottle caps - work great with our plastic bottles, or with any PET plastic soft drink bottle.

Not familiar with what a PET bottle is? I wasn't either at first but did a little research for you!

A PET bottle is Polyethylene terephthalate, commonly abbreviated AS PET or PETE. It is a thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in synthetic fibers; beverage, food and other liquid containers.

PET bottles are typically one seventh the weight of an equivalent glass container, do not break or smash, and are already well established for carbonated soft drinks, particularly in the larger two and three liter sizes.

One suggestion is to collect plastic soda bottles (before you need to bottle your beer) and use caps supplied with the kit. Soda bottles come in many sizes and are perfect for bottling your beer. USE ONLY BOTTLES THAT HAVE PREVIOUSLY HELD CARBONATED BEVERAGES. You will be brewing 256 ounces of beer, so collect enough bottles to hold this amount.

You do have the choice of glass in instead of plastic, but that will be covered when we get to that point of the beer making process.

One thing I need to mention about the kit is that it includes a, "Brewing with MR.BEER® -- Brewer's Guide".
This is a great resource for both questions about the MR.BEER® Home Microbrewery System and home brewing in general. Get answers to a lot of your practical brewing questions and enjoy a few of MR.BEER's most popular recipes!

Most importantly and what saved me was the instructions. This is a complete, 4-Step instruction guide that takes you through the simple brewing process from start to finish.


About Alcohol Content:
The basic beer mix will provide a beer with an alcohol content equal to a standard commercial beer, but you don't have to stop there. The alcohol content of the beer is determined by the total amount of malt extract, sugars and fruit added to the beer mix.

So, there you have it! A little background on how and why I decided to brew my own beer and information about the product I will be using first!

Next post I will describe my experience with my first batch from what materials were needed to cooking and fermenting.

So, in review:

Many will find they have different reasons to brew their own beer whether it be out of curiosity; they want to make quality, good tasting beer with higher alcohol content; they are looking for a way to save money; they REALLY like to drink 10 or 20 beers and do not want to be bothered by having to run out and buy more beer or they are creative and like to see (AND TASTE) the fruits of their labor!

My reasons are all of the above and probably a few that I have yet to think of! So, what are yours?

Suds to you!