The Brew Times
What is Mr. Beer's Booster?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="2HEM2uMs-rQ" video_title1="What is Mr. Beer's Booster?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} This has to be one of the most commonly asked questions that we get. Mr. Beer has used Booster for years and years. We see a lot of people ask what it is or if they need it, so we wanted to break it all down for you. First lets talk about what it is. Our booster is made from corn syrup solids. It is 8% glucose, 56% maltose, 16% maltotriose and 20% dextrins. This is designed to mimic the wort profile you get from brewing. This helps promote a healthy fermentation, healthy yeast growth and it also does not add any flavors. It will also not add any color to your beer which can sometimes be difficult when adding different adjusts. So, it's perfect if you want to keep your beer lighter in color. The booster is designed to increase the ABV of your beer and add a touch of body to your final beer as well. Each packed of booster will add about .65% ABV to your brew. Overall it is just a great extremely versatile adjust to have in your brewing arsenal. Booster can be added to Refill or Recipe or any brew that you are creating. You will want to make sure you add it to your water that is warming and mix until it is dissolved. One unique aspect of the booster is that you can boil hops in it and extract bitterness out of those hops. We did a whole episode on this but basically since the booster mimics the wort profile, hops react the same way in a boil with a booster as they would in a traditional boil. What this does is helps you keep your beer lighter when you're wanting some extra bitterness in your brew but no extra color. Lastly, you do not need to use a booster to brew with Mr. Beer. The cans by themselves make a perfectly good beer. So if you bought a refill can from somewhere other than Mr. Beer it will not come with a booster but that is perfectly fine, you can still brew it up. If you want to increase the ABV we have a video about what other adjuncts you can add to increase your ABV. Cheers!
Read moreThe Brew Times
How to get a good pipeline of beer built up?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="m00AVJiVL_8" video_title1="How to get a good pipeline of beer built up?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} When you run out of beer that is not a good thing. We wanted to provide some tips and advice to keep the beer pipeline flowing! This is a question we get quite often, especially from new brewers. You want to keep the homebrews flowing but you are not sure how much you need to brew or should be brewing. Well first off that depends on how much you drink. If the average person drinks 2 beers a day, that would be about 1 of our 740ml bottles. So 1 batch would last you 11 days. The easiest way to get a pipeline of amazing homebrew built up is to brew more! What we have seen work for our customers is usually brewing about 4 batches a month. That would give you a little more than a bottle day of homebrew, but you might want to have a few extra or share with friends. In order to do this, you will need to have 4 fermenters and then make sure you have enough bottles as well. The brewing is the easier part figuring out carbonating and conditioning time can be a little difficult as that varies from batch to batch. But the best way to get a pipeline going is just to brew and brew and brew. The more batches you brew the more beer you will and the better you will be at the brewing process. A few tips to help you along the way. Don’t think about what you want to drink now, think about what you want to drink 4-6 weeks from now. Make sure to always label your bottles and your batches so you know when your beer was brewed and the fermenter it came from. This can help you track down any infections or anything that might arise in a certain fermenter. Be patient. Building up a pipeline of beer takes a little bit of time, but once you get it going you will have your own bottle shop in your house.
Read moreBest Brew Tips from 50 Episodes
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="ZYocY2xXT6w" video_title1="Best Brew tips from 50 Episodes" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} For this episode, we decided to take our top 20 tips from our previous 49 episodes and put them all into one awesome mega homebrew tip episode. Sanitize- Always make sure everything is that might come in contact with your beer is sanitized. Follow the Directions- we say this a lot but it's very important. All of Mr. Beer’s Refills or HME’s are made by Coopers Brewery out of Australia. They are the largest family-owned brewery in Australia and have been around for over 150 years. They are well known for producing the highest quality malt extract for homebrewing. You can brew with expired Mr. Beer ingredients but your be will be darker than it should be and you will want to get new yeast. You can boil hops in Booster as booster mimics a wort profile. This will help you add bitterness without adding color to your beer. Adding beano to your beer will dry out your beer & create an awesome low carb or low-calorie beer. To keep your fermenter cool for summer you can, have a dedicated room for brewing with its own thermostat, use a chest cooler with frozen water bottles, or getting a mini-fridge with a temperature controller to maintain the temperature. The best type of water to use is any filtered water, RO water or bottled water. You can use tap water if it tastes good to drink and you can use distilled water when brewing with hopped malt extract. When you run out of sanitizer you can use Bleach (make sure to rinse until the smell is gone), Oxy Clean Free or Hydrogen Peroxide. Bittering Hops- Hops you want to boil. You will want to boil these in either, DME or after steeping specialty grains or in booster. The longer you boil the more bitterness you will get. When selecting your own yeast for your own recipe, read the description of the yeast and see what the manufacture recommends to brew with that style. You can use a lot of different adjuncts to bottle your beer from dextrose, honey, maple syrup, vanilla extract, coffee, whiskey or flavor syrups. Adding specialty grains to your brew is a great way to add color, body, and mouthfeel to your beer and good for hop boils. Dual-purpose hops provide great aroma but can also be used for bitterness. They are a great way to add unique characteristics to your beer. If you want to dry hop your beer make sure your using aroma hops to provide the aroma and flavor you're looking for. If you have off-flavors let your beer age for a little longer it might help. Cold crashing is a great way to help clarify your beer and prevent excess trub from getting into your bottles. Use a heating pad or wrap your fermenter in a blanket to help it stay warm during winter. A hydrometer is an essential tool for any brewer. You can check your ABV and see when your beer is done fermenting. Always have fun and make sure you're drinking a beer while brewing some beer, it's required! We hope you guys have enjoyed these last 50 episodes as much as we have! Cheers!
Read more3 Ways to Prevent Darkening Beer When Brewing with Extract
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="8ILHgO8Yik4" video_title1="3 Ways to Prevent Darkening Beer When Brewing With Extract" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} This is a question that we get quite often. People will brew their beers and it turns out darker than usual. So we wanted to talk about 3 ways to prevent darkening your beer when brewing with extract. In a previous episode of BrewTalk, we talked about why brewing with malt extract makes your beer darker but now we wanted to talk about some reasons to help prevent darkening. Malt extract, in particular liquid malt extract or LME, is known to create a darker finished beer because it is a concentrated product created through evaporation. It allows for the brewer to skip the time- and attention- intensive processes of mashing and sparging, since these processes are completed to create extract. A wort is made through mashing and sparging, then concentrated down to a thick syrup (for LME, powder for DME) by using an evaporator and vacuum pressure to remove the moisture. This process causes the wort to darken slightly and can result in darker beer than normal. All Mr. Beer’s extracts are made by Coopers Brewery out of Australia. They are the worlds biggest producer of malt extract for homebrewing and they create the highest quality malt extract with their state-of-the-art low-temperature evaporator. They control the entire brewing process from the grains grown in the field to the malting of the grains and then brewing. The same malt extract in your can comes from the same wort that the brewery uses to brew their beer for commercial distribution. 1. Do Not Caramelize Partially-Dissolved Malt Extract As you pour liquid malt extract into hot water, it does not dissolve evenly or instantly. It instead needs to be stirred to combine with the water because it is thick like molasses. Small, caramelly blobs of the extract can remain, even after attentive stirring. If the bottom of the pot your brewing in is hot, those small blobs can caramelize onto the bottom of the pot. Scorching extract onto the bottom of the pot is sure to darken the wort. To avoid darkening your extract brew, be sure to turn off the heat before stirring extract into the water. You will want to stir until you no longer see small partially-dissolved blobs of extract in your wort, then continue to stir for about a minute for good measure. 2. Do a Partial Mash or Steep using DME Dry malt extract undergoes similar processes to liquid malt extract, however, even more water is removed, allowing it to stay fresher and store longer. Brewing with dry malt extract also provides a lighter finished beer than brewing with liquid malt extract. Many brewers choose to use DME to steep their grains in or do hop boils before adding their LME. This helps keep the color lighter. Boiling with LME will cause your beer to be dark, DME does not. 3. Be Sure Your Extract is Fresh Fresh and properly-stored liquid malt extract is crucial for achieving a lighter finished beer. The older liquid malt extract gets, and the more it is exposed to heat/warmth, the darker the melanoidins in the extract become. If you want to be confident that your beer will stay on the lighter end of the spectrum, you'll want to be sure the Best By date on your extract is far off and you are storing it in proper conditions. Though even with all of these smart tips at your disposal, it's important to remember that lightening your beer will not make it any more flavorful or refreshing. It's a greater priority to choose the right extract for the style of beer you wish to brew than for the color you believe it should have.
Read moreWhy is My Beer Flat?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="ESZj7ZgSuSM" video_title1="Why is my Beer Flat?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} This can be one of the worst experiences to have when you’re going to open your first homebrew or any brew for that matter. We wanted to break down why you get flat beer and some ways to fix it if it happens to you. This can be one of the worst experiences to have when you’re going to open your first homebrew or any brew for that matter. You get all excited to drink this amazing beer. You clean your favorite glass so it’s perfect and shiny. Then you got to open the bottle and the one noise you expected to hear, you don’t. Then disappointment sets in right away. Having an uncarbonated beer is just not a good experience and it really alters the taste of beer as well. The two most common issues resulting in flat beer are: Not giving the beer enough time in the bottles (we suggest a minimum of 2 weeks) or not using enough pricing sugar in your beer. Now if your beer is flat there are a few things you can do to spruce it back up. Before doing anything, you want to be sure that your beer was sitting at the ideal temperature, 70-78 degrees, and you want to be certain that you added the right amount of priming sugar or carbonation drops. If you are certain that your temperature is right, and you added the right amount of sugar then it is mostly like two issues. Either the yeast for whatever reason did not eat up all the sugar you added, or your bottles are allowing some CO2 to escape. The majority of the time it is that the yeast did not eat up all the sugar, in the bottles. What we recommend here is letting the bottles sit for another 2 weeks at room temperature and that should help fix the under carbonation. Another yeast issue is that if you brewed with an expired can then the yeast could just be too old and there are not enough active yeasts left to eat up the priming sugar. In this case, you can sprinkle a little bit of yeast into each bottle to see if this will help. Just be sure you are only doing a little bit as you don’t want to create bottle bombs. If you are using our Mr. Beer bottles then you can squeeze the bottles and if you hear or feel air coming out around the caps, then you have a leaking bottle. Not much you can do that this point, but you will want to replace your bottles before your next brew. Lastly, if you did notice that you did not add enough priming sugar to your bottles, and you are 100% sure that you did not then you can open the bottles and add in some more sugar. Now, this will lose any carbonation that you already had and introduce oxygen to your beer. So we don’t recommend doing this, but if you feel you need to, you can remove the cap, add the missing sugar and then close the cap and let the bottles sit for another 2-3 weeks at room temperature.
Read moreIs My Beer Infected?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="IJt5syUSWgc" video_title1="How to tell if your Homebrew is infected?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} This is a question that we get quite often so we wanted to provide some information so you can tell if your brew is good or not. When you are new to brewing the first time you see the fermentation process it can look a little crazy. Each batch you brew will behave and ferment differently than the batch before, so it is possible that your fermentation will always look different. Some people will dump perfectly good beer thinking it has an infection when it does not. So before you decide whether your beer is a dumper, you will want to visually inspect and possibly even taste it to make sure it's still worth keeping or not. So let's talk about what fermentation looks like. During fermentation you will get foamy bubbles on the top of your beer, this is called krausen and is perfectly normal for brewing. Depending on the batch that you are brewing you may get a very high krausen or a low krausen. Some beers might now show much of krausen at all. This all depending on what you are brewing, the ingredients you are using, temperature, etc. One way to always check for fermentation is to see if you have any trub build up on the bottom of the fermenter. If you do, then your good to go. So just remember that all fermentations will not look the same. Okay so now onto how to spot an infection. An oily sheen on top of your beer that may look kind of like thin white ice sheets with jagged edges is a sign of the beginning of an infection. This infection is usually caused by wild yeast such as Brettanomyces or wild bacteria such as lactobacillus. In some cases, it could be a combination of these or other bacteria/wild yeast. In more advanced infections, this layer of biofilm called a "pellicle" may look very wavy, sort of like ramen noodles. Or it may look like bubbles with webbing coming off it. These are different types of infections, but they are caused by similar bacteria/yeast strains. A pellicle is only formed in the presence of oxygen and is a way for the wild yeast/bacteria top protect itself from oxygen because they prefer an anaerobic environment. So you can still have an infection even without the pellicle formation if your beer was free of oxygen exposure during fermentation. In this case, the only way to know whether it is infected or not is to taste it. Don't worry about getting sick because none of these wild bacteria, yeast or mold can harm you. If the beer tastes bad or rancid, you might wanna dump it. But in some cases, an infection can result in a pretty good tasting beer. Keep in mind that sour beers, which are all the rage right now, are brewed with these wild yeasts and bacteria. If you are brewing with our LBK and you consistently get infections it is possible that it got into some small scratches or the plastic of the fermenter. In this case, we would recommend replacing your fermenter with a new one. If your beer is infected with mold, which will be fuzzy and discolored (usually green but can be white or brownish – but always fuzzy), this can typically be skimmed off the beer. Mold only grows on the surface and will not penetrate the beer itself. Mold cannot survive the alcohol in beer. Fortunately, mold usually takes a long time to grow on beer so as long as you're not leaving it in the fermenter for too long, you shouldn't have this issue. Proper cleaning/sanitizing, and the proper care of your plastic equipment (only soft cloths for cleaning, nothing that can scratch the plastic) will help prevent these types of infection. But always keep in mind that even with the best cleaning and sanitizing procedures in place, you can still get infections from time to time. Don't let this discourage you. Learn from it and keep brewing.
Read moreWhat is that cidery taste in my beer?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="C7xiPISbBjU" video_title1="What is that cidery taste in my beer?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} One of the most common off-flavors in homebrewing. We talk about how to prevent that cidery flavor from showing up and what you can do if you get it in your beer. This is a question we get quite often. You crack open your first homebrew and you have this kind of odd cidery taste to it. It’s not overbearing but you know that it is something that should not be there. That is an off-flavor in your beer. We discussed in a previous video Off Flavors and & How to prevent them, but we thought this cidery after taste deserved its own video. This off-flavor seems to be the most popular one that homebrewers get. The technical term for this off-flavor is Acetaldehyde. The common off-flavors associated with this are green apple, cidery or even rotten apples if its really bad. Acetaldehyde is naturally occurring in the brewing process and is a chemical created by the yeast. So if something is off in your fermentation this flavor will not ferment out and be more noticeable. It is important to make sure that you are doing a few things properly during your brewing process to help prevent this from happening. The first one would be to make sure you have flawless sanitation practices. Makes sure everything item or service that might come in contact with something that will come in contact with your wort is sanitized. This is critical. Make sure that you are oxygenating your wort very prior to pitching yeast. This helps the yeast be healthy and makes sure they are going to eat up all those sugars that are in your beer. Once you pitch your yeast you want to do all you can do avoid introducing more oxygen to your beer. Make sure to keep the lid on unless you are adding some late additions to your beer. In that case, keep the lid off for as short as possible. Also, if you must move your fermenter do so very carefully and keep the liquid as stable as possible. The most important part, in my opinion, is to maintain the proper temperature. If you are too cold the yeast will not perform to its max and if you are too warm it can lead to that cidery flavor. Now if you have this in your beer there is hope to fix it. Keep your bottles at room temperature and let them age. Let them sit for 3-4 weeks and then try one and see if its better. Often times this flavor can be conditioned out of the beer. So never toss your beer, always let it condition and see if your off-flavors clean up. Cheers!
Read moreA Discussion with Dr. Tim Cooper
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" hero_layout="single_hero" image_1="" image_link1="" image_overlay1="no-overlay" image_title1="" image_copy1="" image_text_color1="white" image_cta1="" image_cta_color1="white" image_text_position1="left" image_2="" image_link2="" image_overlay2="no-overlay" image_title2="" image_copy2="" image_text_color2="white" image_cta2="" image_cta_color2="white" image_text_position2="left" image_3="" image_link3="" image_overlay3="no-overlay" image_title3="" image_copy3="" image_text_color3="white" image_cta3="" image_cta_color3="white" image_text_position3="left" image_4="" image_link4="" image_overlay4="no-overlay" image_title4="" image_copy4="" image_text_color4="white" image_cta4="" image_cta_color4="white" image_text_position4="left" image_5="" image_link5="" image_overlay5="no-overlay" image_title5="" image_copy5="" image_text_color5="white" image_cta5="" image_cta_color5="white" image_text_position5="left" video_embed1="eroEPtCeEGc" video_title1="A Discussion with Dr. Tim Cooper" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} We have a special guest host this week, Dr. Tim Cooper. He is the Managing Direction of Coopers Brewery, Chief Brewer and a past president of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling. We talk about how Coopers got into Homebrewing, how malt extract is made and some different things the Brewery does for environmental sustainability. We hope you enjoy our conversation!
Read moreHow to Make Your Own Mr. Beer Recipe
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="6jyfoRplq8M" video_title1="How to Make Your Own Mr. Beer Recipe " video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} If you wanting to play mad scientist and create your own unique brew. We put together some helpful tips and advice to help you do that. We have an extremely wide variety of Recipes. Before creating your own recipe I would go check out what we have as we may already have what you are looking for. You can also look at the archived recipes to see all of our old recipes as well. You can find this in the footer of our website. These recipes could also help provide a good foundation for you to create your unique recipe. Style The first thing you will want to decide on is what beer style you will be making. Depending on what style you want to brew that will help you select your ingredients as you get started. You can choose from your base styles like Lager’s, IPA’s, Stout’s Etc. If you want to get real serious about your style then check out the BJCP guidelines. The BJCP guidelines, or Beer Judge Certification Program guidelines, are used by Beer Judges all over the US. The guidelines will inform you on what ingredients tend to go into your favorite beer, and what aromas, flavors, and appearance characteristics you will be aiming for. If you have a commercial beer in mind, look up that beer specifically. Sometimes the brewery will list hops and grains, and sometimes other homebrewers will post their own clone recipes. Base Malt Now onto selecting your base malt. I would go by two characteristics when picking your base malt. Color and IBU’s. Color more related to lighter beers. If you want to brew a light color lager, IPA or pale ale then you will want a light color base beer. However, if brewing an amber or stout you do not need to pick a dark base. You can always add ingredients to make it darker. You can always darken a beer but you can’t lighten it. Hops Selecting hops can be maybe the most fun part of building your own recipe. There are so many varieties of hops nowadays it can be overwhelming on what to pick. If you wanting to create an IPA or pale ale or something with some bitter bit then go for the bittering hops. It’s always good to add some hops for aroma as well so adding hops late in your boil at flameout or dry hopping is a great way to get more aroma than bitterness. Before you select your hops do a little research on what style you are wanting to brew, and you can usually find hop recommendations for that style. Then read the description of the hops to learn more about what flavors they provide to make sure it is right for your beer. Adjuncts Next, you will want to decide is what specialty malts or adjuncts you will want to add to your beer. These can be things like a booster, dextrose, DME or LME or 2-Row, crystal malt, and the list can go on and on. There are a lot of different adjuncts so make sure to pick something that will be beneficial for your beer. If you want to brew an IPA then maybe a light DME so you can boil your hops in that too for bitterness. If your brewing a big stout, then maybe some chocolate malt and roasted barley. If your not sure about what to pick you can chat with us and we can help you our or you can go to that magical machine Google and there is a ton of information out there about this stuff. Yeast The last part is the yeast. The style of yeast you pick can impact the flavor of your beer greatly. If your brewing a wheat beer you want to pick a wheat yeast, if you brewing a Saison then you want Saison yeast and so on. Some yeast styles are just for certain styles of beer while others can brew a few different styles and are more versatile. Make sure to do some research so you are selecting the right yeast. If you ever have any questions or are not sure just contact us and we would be glad to help you out.
Read moreIs Malt Extract "Twang" a Thing?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="euCDgPkDoV4" video_title1="Is Malt Extract Twang a Real Thing " video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} This is something that we hear quite often being extract-based brewers. When you look around online and in other homebrew forums, they will talk about how brewing with malt extract can have this certain twang to it or off-flavor. However, there is no real proof this is a thing. If brewing with extract gave you a twang, then in every batch you brew would have this twang flavor, but that is not the case. If people keep telling you that malt extra beers have twang or they taste a certain twang in your beer, then the culprit is most likely something different or they just are basis against extract brewing. Which is totally fine. Everyone should brew the way they want to and enjoy the beers that want to. I am going to layout a few things that can lead to this perceived off-taste in your beer. The first one is using high-quality malt extract. You want to make sure that the malt extract you are using is of good quality. You always get what you pay for, so you want to make sure that you are using the best possible malt extract that is available. How the malt extract is prepared, where the grains are sourced from, all that is extremely important. That is why Coopers, our parent company who creates all our Malt Extracts is committed to quality. They control the entire process from the grains in the filed to the malt extract that you are using to brew with. They take special precautions and invest in the equipment needed to make the best quality malt extract. From there own malting house to the top of line low-temperature evaporator that they use to pull the moisture from the wort. This keeps the integrity of the extract as adding heat at this stage can degrade the quality which affects the taste that you get in your final beer. Next, you will want to make sure that you are using fresh ingredients. If you use expired or old malt extracts, it could impact the final taste you get in your beer. This would result in some off-flavors. You get the best beer from the freshest ingredients. Another culprit for this can be sanitization. If you are not being thorough in your cleaning and sanitizing, then you can get off-flavors. It is always important to make sure that you are sanitizing everything that will come in contact with your brew. This is the most important step in brewing. Another reason for this is the lack of temperature control. If you have big swings in your fermentation temperature from day to night each day then that will impact your beer. That can create some off-flavors in your beer. So, make sure to always hold the best consistent temperature that you can. Some have voiced their concern that water choice caused a twang-y finished beer. As in, the water they used was high in chlorine or high in alkaline, and this is noticeable in the beer. For this issue, we always suggest using natural spring water, or filtered water and avoiding tap water that has a noticeable flavor/aroma The last one is insufficient time for brewing. You want to make sure that you are following the directions that are provided with your recipe. You want to give the yeast the proper amount of time to eat all those sugars up. So, if you do get a batch and the first bottle you taste has an off taste or something is just not right then let the beer age. You will want to let the bottles sit out at room temperature for another few weeks. This bottle conditioning will help clean up your off-flavors and can dramatically improve the taste of your beer. Homebrewing, much like baking cookies at home instead of purchasing them at the store, means that your process must be tried, tested, and won't be perfectly executed every single time. Still, the claim that extract will hold you back from brewing a commercial-quality beer or always cause a twang is simply not true. Too many extract beers have won competitions and wowed beer fans for the extract to be cursed with a noticeably peculiar flavor. So check that expiration date, stay determined, and keep brewing.
Read moreBest Way to Keg Your Mr. Beer Homebrew
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="y1DyK9sHXPU" video_title1="Best Way to Keg Your Mr. Beer Homebrew" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} Sometimes bottling can be a tedious process so we wanted to talk about some of the best options out there to keg your homebrew.
Read moreBrewery Spotlight Dragoon Brewing Co.
In our brewery spotlight series for this week, we wanted to focus on one of our favorite local breweries, Dragoon Brewing Co. They make truly amazing beer and one of there founders Eric Greene, was once a Brewmaster for Mr. Beer and is the Head Brewer at Dragoon. Dragoon was started in 2011 and become one of the most successful Craft Breweries in Tucson. They are a great representation of what brewing is all about. They brew 4 base beers that you can get all year long and the rest of there brews are seasonal. Those 4 base beers are the Dragoon IPA, Stronghold Session, Santa Cruz’r and Refraction. These beers are staples around town and always tastes great. If anyone comes to Tucson from out of town, Dragoon is one of the breweries you must visit and try their beer. For our brewery spotlight, we had our amazing brewmasters, Ashley and Zach try Dragoon’s beers and provide some notes on how they taste and their review on the beer. Unfortunately, we were 1 beer short of getting the 4 staples that they offer year-round. Dragoon IPA Taste- This beer has dank, herbal bitterness upfront and all the way through. Earthy and piney, the flavor is in your face. The hop punch sticks around but fades into a tingle on your tongue. A great example of the West Coast IPA. Smell- herbal and dank with bright citrus, almost candy-like aroma Refraction Pale Ale Taste- Bright, lemony flavor with solid malt undertones. A piney punch comes in around midway and compliments the hint of stone fruit. Smell- mild tropical fruits, fresh bright citrus notes with a detectable cereal type note Santa Cruz’r Golden Ale Taste- Good hop bite, toasted-bread comes in and smooths the bitter. Finishes clean with a slight hop linger. Smell- Mild, sweet citrus aroma with a hint of stone fruit and a slight biscuit character.
Read moreBest Way to Add Fruit to Your Next Homebrew
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="qpWqdevu0ZE" video_title1="Best Way to Add Fruit to Your Next Brew" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} Spring is right around the corner, and one of the great things about spring is brewing up those awesome fruit beers. They can be super refreshing and transform your next brew into something amazing! When is the best time to add fruit to your beer? It kind of depends on what you are going for but I personally prefer to add fruit whenever possible to the later stages of fermentation, say day 7 of 14. This gives the most fruit flavor IMO. Fruit can be added to the boil as well, but this increases the chances of blow off and can sometimes yield a lower flavor potential. Will you get a different flavor from adding canned fruit vs fresh fruit to your beer? You will. Canned fruit is usually cooked and it can lose a bit of its flavor intensity compared to fresh frozen fruit. You may also notice a difference in the clarity with canned fruit, as canned fruit tends to contain more expressed pectin, which can contribute to chill haze. What are the best practices for adding canned fruit to your beer? If you are using canned fruit, make sure there aren’t a ton of additives. Fruit water, sugar and possibly natural stabilizers like citric acid, are all your canned fruit should ideally contain. Before adding the canned fruit directly to a fermenter, it’s not a bad idea to sanitize the top of the can and the opener. You can also blend canned fruit to provide a higher concentration of flavor, but you will also need to sanitize your blender prior to doing so. What are the best practices for adding fresh fruit to your beer? You really want to make sure whatever fruit you are adding is sanitary. That is so important. If you wish to add fresh fruit, it’s important to make sure you are stopping any possible bacteria growth with either freezing, cooking or with the addition of distilled alcohol. For example, citrus zests can be easily sanitized by soaking them in vodka. It’s also important to make sure that you are going to enjoy the flavor of the fruit you are adding once the sugar is fully fermented out. You also want to make sure that if you are adding fruit in the later stages that you are ensuring that your fruit has been fully fermented prior to bottling. Will adding fruit cause your fermenter to overflow? It can, this is more likely to happen if you add fruit during the boil or at the start of fermentation. Basically anytime you add fruit around the time of exponential growth (first 5 days or so) you could get a blow over. I find these overflows happen far less when you add fruit later, around day 7. Is there such as thing as adding too much fruit? There is. I usually say the range for fruit is about 1-2lbs per gallon. Too much fruit can cause clarity and bottling issues from time to time, but also you can run the risk of messing with the viscosity of your beer or running into cidery or wine-like flavors if too much fruit sugar is present. It’s also important that whatever you add, should ideally not sit exposed on top of the surface of the beer as it can mold. So just all things to keep in mind. Can you add fruit to your bottles? You can add refined fruit syrups but I do not advise adding actual fruit to your bottles.
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