BeerBorg

John-
Thanks for the welcome!
The kit I'm brewing is the West Coast Pale Ale. All I know is it smells good.
I already have the next one, it is the Bewitched Amber Ale.

I figured that this one would be pretty simple to Brew. AND, I like Amber Ales.

I was already planning on brewing a stout after that.

That all sounds good. I think the West Coast Pale was one of my first brews too.

Welcome Mike!

Keep in mind that that West Coast Pale Ale is VERY OLD (in 2012 Mr. Beer was bought by Coopers and they discontinued all the old refills, including West Coast Pale Ale. So that can was at least 5 years old, and probably 3 or 4 years past the date on the can). Sitting in that can it has undergone what's called the maillard reaction, i.e. it's darken considerably. Some of it will also have become unfermentable, meaning your beer will end up sweeter than intended. Lastly, the yeast was probably years past viability, so while it may be fermenting, it's likely pretty stressed out. The good news is that it will still make beer, and every batch going forward will be better.

When you buy your next refills, I would strongly recommend immediately refrigerating the yeast packets which will dramatically improve their quality if you store them for a long time. You can safely use one 2 years past the date on the packet if you do that. If it's kept in a high heat environment, it cuts the viability very quickly.

After you get this batch out of the way, for BAA I'd recommend 3 weeks fermenting, and keep the temp of the wort during fermentation in the high 60s at most. Then 4 weeks in the bottle at 70 or above. BAA is one of the better Mr. Beer refills.

Welcome to The Borg Mike. The west Coast PA was also the first beer I made and liked it a lot at the time.
Good Luck and Happy Brewing

Welcome to the Borg Mike. Looking forward to hearing how that one comes out.


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Hiya, Mike!

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I just received a new 24L system from MB yesterday, an early christmas present to myself.
Tonight I started a batch of Irish Stout in it.
This is a backup for the LBK batch of West Coast Pale Ale that was over 5 years old.

The Pale Ale looks pretty dark, but it smells like beer, so I'll proceed with bottling it when the time comes!

I'm hooked! This is a lot of fun.

Mike

It is exciting. I started with a MrBeer kit for Christmas.
Now I have a 15 gallon kettle, 9 kegs, a chest freezer, kegerator, two carboys, three bucket fermenters, half a dozen books, 50+ pounds of grain.....
But I did buy it a little at a time over 5 years.
Let us know when you bottle those brews.

Hello All! Brew brothers and sisters... pop the top and lets get our Brew ON! I'm JimmyB - been brewing a few years now. Started out all-grain mashing to distill, then discovered hops, LME'a and DME's - (kinda backwards from the traditional brewing learning curve). But its all just bliss on top of more bliss now! Catch you in a forum... Slainte mhaith!

Hi Jimmy, Welcome! That is an interesting path. Do you use any of your distilling gear to brew?

Here is my story and I'm sticking to it.

1 week in I added a dissolved cup of Corn syrup.
I let it ferment for 9 more days and then cold crashed it for 48 hours.
It smells like beer and tastes like beer, so it must be beer!
My hydrometer I got from Mr. Beer reads 1.012 at 42 degrees. I calculate it is about 5.12ABV

It is darker than a pale ale, but that is understandable as the Pale ALe kit was 5-6 years old.

Mcmurdo Mike wrote:Here is my story and I'm sticking to it.

1 week in I added a dissolved cup of Corn syrup.
I let it ferment for 9 more days and then cold crashed it for 48 hours.
It smells like beer and tastes like beer, so it must be beer!
My hydrometer I got from Mr. Beer reads 1.012 at 42 degrees. I calculate it is about 5.12ABV

It is darker than a pale ale, but that is understandable as the Pale ALe kit was 5-6 years old.

Why did you add corn syrup a week in? For what goal?

If you take the FG at 42 degrees, you need to temp correct for whatever the hydrometer is based on, which would likely change it to 1.011.

You didn't list the initial gravity, but since you added a cup of corn syrup a week in, the ABV calculation would be thrown off by that. 5.12% would be highly unlikely with the can of West Coast and a cup of corn syrup, likely around 4%.

Mike, you definitely made beer. If it tastes good, that's a great start.

RickBeer wrote:

Mcmurdo Mike wrote:Here is my story and I'm sticking to it.

1 week in I added a dissolved cup of Corn syrup.
I let it ferment for 9 more days and then cold crashed it for 48 hours.
It smells like beer and tastes like beer, so it must be beer!
My hydrometer I got from Mr. Beer reads 1.012 at 42 degrees. I calculate it is about 5.12ABV

It is darker than a pale ale, but that is understandable as the Pale ALe kit was 5-6 years old.

Why did you add corn syrup a week in? For what goal?

If you take the FG at 42 degrees, you need to temp correct for whatever the hydrometer is based on, which would likely change it to 1.011.

You didn't list the initial gravity, but since you added a cup of corn syrup a week in, the ABV calculation would be thrown off by that. 5.12% would be highly unlikely with the can of West Coast and a cup of corn syrup, likely around 4%.

I am not sure why I added the corn syrup, thought it would add something to the beer.
It turned out good though darker than a pale ale as expected.

I just bottled my Irish Stout, it tastes really good! Can't wait to taste it carbonated and COLD!

I have a Baltic Porter that I will bottle tomorrow.
Its been in the fermenter for 2 weeks.

Sounds like you are off to the races Mike. I think I tried to brew every two or three weeks when I started, both for a pipeline, and to learn. My learning curve was slower, it took a while to produce decent beer, longer to make professional quality beer. Now I brew less frequently, bigger batches, enough to keep me supplied at home.