I did make beer years ago and it was very good. I do not expect the beer machine to make beer that good but is it better than store bought? Its a single fermentation process with the hops, malt ect already done and you just add water and yeast for about 10 days. I dont have the room or area for doing it like I used to. But I will if the beer machine is junk. Is it any better than mass produced beer? Thanks
If you are interested in homebrewing, the Beer Machine is certainly worth a try. Although I've never used one, from what I've gathered I don't believe it is junk. As long as you've got fresh ingredients (may or may not, depending on when the kit was manufactured), the beer should hopefully turn out much better than Bud/Miller/Coors, more malty, and perhaps more hoppy and higher alcohol. Go for it. If you're worried about the freshness of the ingredients, buy some new stuff at your local supply store. It's not terribly expensive or hard to find. I do not think you will be disappointed. Keep in mind, however, that homebrewing is an art that can take some practice. At first, you may have mediocre beer, but in time, you will make truly wonderful beers if you give it the effort.
I started out with mr. beer . Brewed about three batches, they turned out pretty good, so I decided if this little kit isn't that bad why not give the real thing a try. well I have to say after a quick visit to my local home brew supply store I came home with the equipment and supplies for my first batch of real home brew. I had much better results since then Ihave brewed many batches of wonderful beer.
Give the beer machine a try if you like the results after a few batches then go visit your local home brew supplier and get set up for extract brewing. you cant go wrong.
\ bart
I also started out with the Mr. Beer system. After about the third batch I decided that the brewing tub was just a container, so I bought several 2.5 gallon fridge-water-dispenser jugs, with spiggots just like Mr. Beer. It worked well and allowed me to have several batches going at once, as well as the ability to clean the beer up a bit with a secondary fermentation. Then I finally upgraded to the typical 5 gallon system and haven't looked back. Beer machines are a great place to start, but even if you don't have space to upgrade, you'll soon find yourself making space.
JT
Ok I will give it a try. The 2.5 gallon refrig bottles with spigot sounds interesting. Do you use mr beer just add water and yeast packs? Thanks
Yeah, that's what I did while I was using the smaller containers...you might want to double-check on the volume of the mr beer fermenter before you buy containers. I used the mr beer extract cans, plus the booster pack,. plus yeast, but if you are planning on using mr beer, see if you can find a copy of the recipe book for those kits...lots of good stuff in there about combining 2+ cans of extract (plus hops and/or spices in some cases) for some decent beers that go beyond the 5 or 6 ready-made kits. Have fun!
Jason
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