Brewing Beer with Mr. Beer - Part 1

Brewing Beer at Home with Mr. Beer
Part 1 Getting Ready

Have you ever wondered about making beer at home?  We did!  The Mr. Beer Home Brewing kit comes with everything you need to brew delicious beer right in the comfort of your own home.  What better way to impress your friends during at a party or the next game!

We will be blogging about our experience over the next 2 or 3 weeks so be sure to stop back and see where we are in our process.  Are you wondering if this is going to be very complicated?  I'm happy to say it's not!

I'm using the Mr. Beer Premium Edition kit, that we sell right here at Make Your Own at Home.  The kit contains everything you need to brew your first batch of beer.  There are a few extra things you will need, such as water!  Don't throw your kit away after your beer is brewed because we have refill kits!  You can purchase your favorite flavor including; Classic American Light, Canadian Blonde, Bavarian Wissbier, Oktoberfest Lager, St. Patrick's Irish Stout, and Northwest Pale Ale, just to name a few!

My kit contained:

2 gallon fermentation keg

lid and spigot assembly for the keg

yeast

cleaner

hopped malt (I'm brewing Classic American Light)

8 reusable bottles with caps (We sell replacement caps and bottles in the store)

DVD on how to use the kit to brew beer

Additional items I used:

a metal spoon

cold water

measuring spoons and cup

a plate

3 quart pot

sugar

spatula

I thought this was going to be complex until I watched the DVD, it's not!! 

The keg goes together very simply.  Fit the shaped gasket with the bevel outwards, slip the spigot into the keg and screw the nut from the inside of the keg.  Test your keg with tap water to make sure it is not leaking.

One of the most important steps when home brewing is sanitation.  Everything you use must be cleaned properly!  After washing your hands and dumping out the tap water from your keg, fill it to the level indicated and add the recommended amount of sanitizer, (the included cleanser).  Swirl the mixture around in the keg, put the lid on top and swirl the mix again.  You want to get every area in your keg clean and sanitized.  Take all the items you will be using, place them inside the keg and swirl again so they are also cleaned.  Open your spigot and let the mix rinse over the plate you will use.  Remove the items from your keg and place them on your clean plate.  Now you can turn your keg over and dump out the remaining sanitizer.

That's it!  We're ready to start home brewing our beer.  Check back next Tuesday evening for part 2 - brewing our Classic American Light beer!

Making Sweet and Spicy Beer Mustard

This week at Make Your Own at Home we made Sweet & Spicy Beer Mustard! If you like very spicy condiments then this is for you.  If you like it a bit less spicy, then check my tip at the end of the blog.

 

This recipe is one of several that are included in our "Make Your Own Mustard Kit" that was featured on Studio 5!  If you missed that morning show presentation you can see it here. 

What I used to make sweet & spicy beer mustard:

Mustard powder
Mustard seeds
Cider vinegar
Honey
Any kind of beer
Water
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Clove
Garlic powder

Everything you need to make mustard is included in the kit.  The only thing you add is the beer.  The mustard seeds are not ground up so you can make your mustard have more or less texture based on your personal preferences.  I like food with texture so I did not grind my seeds up to a fine powder.  You can see what I did  here:

Fresh Mustard Seeds

Course Ground Seeds

I combined the water, mustard seeds and mustard powder in a bowl.

Mix completely

After mixing it, let it set for 10 minutes.

Add the honey, vinegar, brown sugar and mix.

Add the garlic powder, beer, cinnamon and clove.   Tip: here is where you should make an adjustment if you prefer a milder flavor.  Try only putting 1/2 the suggested amount of clove and cinnamon.  Mix it well and taste test it.  If you want more spice, add it. 

This is my finished Sweet & Spicy Beer Mustard. It will be thin but it did get a bit thicker in the refrigerator.  It is very spicy and it really was that simple to make!  If you like a sweet mustard, you will find recipes and ingredients for our Honey Mustard or Apple Cider-Maple Mustard in the Make Your Own Mustard Kit.  This kit has a recipe for all types of mustard lovers.  Give it try!  I'll bet you love it and you can say you made it yourself!

What's next on the Make Your Own at Home blog?  It could be how to make beer with our Mr. Beer Kit or how to make beef jerky with one of our many spice kits.  Stay tuned!

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