Incredibly Amateur Homebrewing
Given the utter lack of interesting booze news today, I will instead drone on about my decidedly amateur homebrewing experience. For the last one-and-a-half years, I’ve been using a Mr. Beer kit to brew beer, and today, I decided to purchase more ingredients due to their current 25% off sale.
Mr. Beer is something of a brainless and simple way to brew one’s own beer while still allowing for more complexity and creativity, if desired. They provide recipes and premade mixes, but the truly interested could still delve into creating their own recipes and developing their own mixes. On the other hand, if you’re that interested, you may want to invest in better equipment, as this kit is very rudimentary. Some people may even just say it’s just crap. However, I’m tending towards easiness and brainlessness to save time and brain power, so this kit is just right for me. Money is secondary, though in the end, this is still cheaper than buying comparable brews from package stores.
Anyway, here’s today’s order which should last me another year:
- Linebacker brew pack
- Classic American brew pack
- Octoberfest’s brew pack
- 2 Witty Monk brew packs
- West Coast/Mellow Amber brew pack
- Honey Brown Ale
- Booster
- High Country/Mellow Amber brew pack
- Boysenberries
- 2 Brewometers
This totaled a bit over $100 to snag the free shipping. In fact, if you’re already ordering around $80 worth of stuff, you might as well add $20 more to get the free shipping. Returning to saving money, you can easily pick up these kits for dirt cheap if you look in the right places. For example, my first one came from a friend who was moving and didn’t want to ship this: basically free. The second keg I found at Marshalls in the clearance pile for around $25. Plus, Mr. Beer frequently runs sales and promotions. For example, you can get the keg alone right now for $10, and in all honesty, this is all you need. The kit is just full of other stuff that’s not wholly necessary. You can pick up bottles and caps on your own easily enough, and I believe instructions are on the site itself. Plus, the beginning brew pack isn’t the best of the beers anyway.
As for my order, the last two brew packs will be incorporated into a pumpkin lager and a “jingleberry” recipe, which includes the Booster and boysenberries. The other stuff will be brewed on its own, and for the record, my absolute favorite in this bunch is Witty Monk. This is a seriously good beer. You will be amazed when you try it. In fact, you’ll be amazed that these all turn out to be real beer. I certainly was!
For more detailed information, stay tuned as I actually document the making and tasting of these beers in the future. (I’ve neglected doing this in the past.) The next two batches, Cowboy lager and American Devil, should be started tomorrow. Until then, you can read more about homebrewing at any number of sites, including a couple on my blogroll.
