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Do you consider MrBeer home brewing?
Is there much of a difference from brewing with Mr Beer to any other type of home brewing?
Simply put, yeah there is. There are a lot of differences, but there is a main thread: making beer. It just depends on how deep your craving for creating beer is 
No matter what anyone tells you, it's not a bad way to start out. Most of us have at one time or another tried brewing with Mr Beer or the Beer Machine.
It's a useful way to "take the mystery out" of it and give a new brewer a non-intimidating low risk way to see if you like it.
You might want to check out the thread that we had on Mr. Beer (which got heated at times).
I wouldn't go so far as to say that most of us have brewed with Mr. Beer at one point or another - in fact, I'd say most of the active members here have not.
My feelings are that its so easy to do extract brewing, and the fact that you can do it relatively cheaply, there seems to be no reason to use one of these systems. I think a lot depends on why you are brewing.
I agree with webby. Most brewers have not used it. My last homebrew club had over 2 dozen members, and none of them used it. I never did.
There is a big difference between Mr Beer and a more quality kit like you buy at a homebrew shop. As I stated before, my former hangout had several brewers who started off with Mr Beer, and every one (no joke) of them had something in common: negative comments about it. Bad beer, poor product, etc.
Mr Beer is a Walmart type basic, totally elementary, inexpensive beer making kit. If you think about it, this is like buying anything hobby related at a general store, vice a specialty store.
I still recall two active users elsewhere telling me they started off with Mr Beer and were so unhappy with the results, they almost quit, until they tried a regular kit. So yes, I would say there is a big difference just knowing that.
Mr. Beer, Extract, Extract w/Specialty Grains, Partial/Mini Mash, All Grain are all steps to better beer. Each have their own merits but, as in all things, the more involved you are in the process, the more satisfaction you will receive.
Wild
cubx wrote:
I agree with webby. Most brewers have not used it. My last homebrew club had over 2 dozen members, and none of them used it. I never did.
There is a big difference between Mr Beer and a more quality kit like you buy at a homebrew shop. As I stated before, my former hangout had several brewers who started off with Mr Beer, and every one (no joke) of them had something in common: negative comments about it. Bad beer, poor product, etc.
Mr Beer is a Walmart type basic, totally elementary, inexpensive beer making kit. If you think about it, this is like buying anything hobby related at a general store, vice a specialty store.
I still recall two active users elsewhere telling me they started off with Mr Beer and were so unhappy with the results, they almost quit, until they tried a regular kit. So yes, I would say there is a big difference just knowing that.
Perhaps the majority or members at this particular forum have not, but reading across many forums (and I will correct myself, because apparently we are "splitting hairs" or "reading the finer print here) is that many brewers begin using a Mr Beer or Beer Machine kit (Go ahead, check around) my finding have supported this. No one is saying it's the right way to start out brewing, it's just that some seem to have a real problem with it. I mean, it sounds like some people have had their feelings hurt by the concept of it alone. Get over it! So what!? MANY people start out using it. It's not a great way, IT'S SIMPLY....A WAY. PERIOD!
Perhaps those who have a traumatic view of the kits, can start a political agenda against it. What does it matter to anyone? Let newbies brew the way they want. They would simply find out one way or another. It's a container just like any container. I brew GREAT beer in my Beer Machine, and I've shared it with enough people to take me beer tastes off the hook just in case. I don't have to brew with their ingredients, I brew half batches in the containers because of financial constraints. Plastic buckets don't make great beer, glass carboys don't make great beer! Fresh ingredients, careful sanitation, and patience HELP to make great beer. Yeast makes beer.
Stop insinuating that there is something magical about two food grade plastic buckets that make better beer than anyone else's work arounds. You could buy a $500 set up and brew bad, really bad beer...isnt' this true? So, Beer Machines, Mr Beers etc are just plastic containers. it's not a conspiracy! If you have an agenda against it, simply say so. if there are people or members who see it differently, let them have the space to say so. You are not unilaterly and completely the authority on whether this kit is junk because it's truly a matter of opinon.
So, thhhhpppppttttttttt!!!
lgtg - the reason some members have come out so much against the kit is because people asked for their opinions. For myself, I don't have much of an opinion on the kit as I have never used it and can only judge based on what I have been told by others.
That being said, I can see the aversion to a system like Mr. Beer. Its taking something whose underpinnings are relatively involved (understanding what is happening in beer making) and simplifying it to the point of making it a questionable beer-making experience.
I think of it like I would think of baking a cake. If you want to become a cake-maker, would you simply continue to go out and buy pre-made cake mix, or would you eventually learn how to make cake from the base ingredients? Obviously both make cake, and both can taste very good, but if you are just taking ingredients out of a box, adding milk, water, and eggs, then I'm not so sure I would call you a cake-maker.
Don't take offense to people coming out against the beer machine systems or Mr. Beer. The goals of all-grain fanatics are probably different than your goals. For myself, if I just wanted to make beer without getting more involved in the process, then I'd probably use a Mr. Beer system...
lgtg, I think you made a good point: Quality ingredients (I'll include yeast as an ingredient) and a good process make a good beer. To me, the equipment only changes how difficult the procedure (different from process) may be.
I have not honestly tried a Mr Beer kit, but based on what I have read and heard, I tend to be of the opinion that the ingredients are not of a high quality, which tends to produce a lower quality beer. This isn't always the case, and I have heard of some people who have gotten good beer from the Mr Beer kits, but in general this is the complaint I have heard about the kits.
Home brewers today have many choices available, as previously mentioned. In general the steps certainly tend to point to the experience of the brewer. A new brewer may use Mr. Beer or a straight extract kit and the more experienced brewer may do all grain. But, pretty much any brewer can produce good beer. In fact, if you read Designing Great Beers, it is mentioned that many of the national competition winners use extract with grains. So, just because you go all grain does not mean you will be producing the best beers you can.
well said Norcal, thanks. Never said Mr Beer was anything, but I know some people that are brewing in some of the strangest contraptions I've ever seen and the beer is good.
Open fermenters work for some people in some places, coffee pots, fish tanks, etc etc. If the process, methods, techniques and importantly, ingrediants are good. The beer will be drinkable.
This is true. I've often considered borrowing my buddy's Mr. Beer kit to throw some of my own batch into just to compare because after all it is only a container not the recipe. The major problem though in my opinion is convenience. For me it would be too much of a bother. High quality brewing equipment isn't necessarily better plastic or glass but it eases the process of making beer by making it compatible to different styles and techniques which I feel you just don't have the accessability or options with a small dumbed down kit. Just the same if my buddy who RARELY brews (mainly because he feels limited by his equipment) offers me one of his beers I always drink it with an open mind because he's impressed me in the past with his little toy beer making kit.
I am a fan of Mr. Beer.
Been using it for about 2 1/2 months and I'm on my 6th or 7th batch. Haven't had a bad one yet...and I'm fermenting and carbonating at the minimum times.
However, I do agree it is a simplified process. It's the "snap together kit" of model making.
This silly little kit has opened the once "mysterious" craft of brewing. I'm starting to look at bigger kits. Yeah, I wanna expand.
But I do like Mr. Beer.
Currently fermenting Sticky Wicket Oatmeal Stout and carbonating an English Red Ale.
Yum!
"Do you consider Mr. Beer home brewing?" I sure do. You're taking a form of malted barley, hops, yeast and water and making beer.
"Is there much of a difference from brewing with Mr Beer to any other type of home brewing?" The process in general is the same; you add wort to your fermenter, add yeast and go from there. From what I've read, the Mr. Beer 2.5 gal fermenter uses notches in the screw-on lid threads for venting. All the fermenters I've seen online and in my LHBS use an airlock or blowoff hose, which gives a lot more control over venting CO2 & reducing the risk of blowing off the fermenter top/lid. On the other hand, I see a big difference in my 6.5 gal plastic bucket and a 15 gal. stainless steel conical fermenter too. Still, they all do the same thing; contain the wort and yeast until fermentation creates beer. To me, this is more an opinion of quality and size than the validity of the process being called "home brewing".
If you are talking about the ingredient kits, to me they are really no different in spirit than what you can buy online or in your LHBS. I believe Mr. Beer ingredient kits are extract-based, maybe some with steeped grains. This is really no different than the kits I can buy in my LTHB except they're scaled for a 5 gal batch. Again, there may be an opinion on quaility and necessity of ingredients, but it's still all about malt, hops, yeast and water fermenting into beer.
If your term "brewing with Mr. Beer" refers to the ingredient kits, then in my mind your question can be rephrased "brewing with extract kits". Yes, there is a big difference between extract brewing and partial & all grain brewing, in my opinion. Although I'm an extract brewer, I am looking forward to giving all-grain a go. All grain requires more time, more equipment and perhaps a better understanding of specific gravity than we extract brewers generally need.
I got a MrBeer kit for Christmas 2 years ago, bought a 2nd plastic keg off Ebay & brewed around 15 batches of beer & used 20oz pop bottles that 1st year. I also have read the forums where MrBeer takes a pretty-good beating. Hey, I've got zero problems with'em & am thankful for'em; they lit my fire & got me into homebrewing. Their customer service was great & even their "brewmaster" would return phone calls. I've since upgraded to glass carboys & glass bottles. No complaints here.
Besides, even a bad batch of beer will get consumed in the softball parking lot............
Yikes, this gets ugly quick huh? ha ha. Ok, my wife bought me a Mr. beer kit 2 years ago, and it is a great place to start, ham and eggs, bare bones brewing. That's what makes it a great place to start, it's not intimidating at all. I made about 40 batches of mr beer doubling up on the malts using liquid yeast, and their hops to experiment with different flavors. I had 3 kits going fermenting constantly I developed alot of great recipies that I call my own from Mr beer, because it's only a case batch, and you can expiriment like crazy, and do like 4 batches in a day.
Along the way I picked up alot of brewing books, tasted alot of beer, and moved to a normal extract beer setup, then to specialty grains, then to All grain. So to date I have done 2 10 gallon all grain batches, both of these are for the Sam Adams Patriot brewing contest. There is lightyears of difference between All grain and Mr. beer, but one thing they have in common is that you make them yourself, and nothing beats fresh beer, nothing. I would rather drink a mr beer, and call it my own, then buy beer anyday.
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