Brewing Beer with Mr. Beer - Part 4

Bottling our home made beer

We have been blogging about the Mr. Beer Premium Brew Kit, the steps we did in preparation to brewing our beer and watching it brew over the past 2 weeks.  Check out our previous posts here and here. This past weekend we bottled our Classic American Light.


Mr. Beer

We checked our brew and gave it 2 additional days because it was still a bit cloudy.  When we checked it again there was still a few 'yeast parties' going on but the brew was clear so we went ahead with bottling it.  We took our sanitizer and sterilized both our beer bottles and the caps.  All of this was included in our Mr. Beer kit. 
Once your bottles are sanitized, just pour the cleaner and water out of your bottles.  There is no need to rinse the bottles again.  Don't forget to clean your caps too.  We took a bowl, filled it with the cleaning solution and dropped the caps in! 

Once our bottles were clean we added the recommended amount of sugar to each bottle.  Right now we have flat tasting beer.  Adding sugar will complete the process and carbonate our beverage.


Adding Sugar

Filling the bottles was easy, we just needed to remember to tip the bottle so we didn't have a lot of bubbles in the bottle. 









After all of our bottles were filled, we carefully put the screw caps on the bottles.  If you just keep turning, they will lock in place.  Once everything is nice and secure, we gently turned the bottles over to mix the sugar in.  Don't shake them.

We are conditioning our beer in the refrigerator and it should be ready for a taste test in about a week.  Mr. Beer recommends letting it condition for a longer period of time to improve the flavor of the beer.  Our plan is to taste test one a week and see when we like it the best.  We'll let you know what the results are!  In the meantime, we started a new flavor brewing!

Bottled American Light

Brewing Beer with Mr. Beer - Part 3

Brewing beer at home using the Mr. Beer Premium Brew Kit 
The final week in our brewing keg!

We wanted to check our yeast party in Mr. Beer's brewing keg and let you know how everything is going.  Remember we can't open the keg to check our beer until it has completely finished brewing, so we took our handy little flashlight and peaked through the keg wall.  There are still some yeast floating at the top but not as much as there had been. This means the brewing process is slowing down and coming to an end soon.  We can also see sediment in the bottom of the keg now.  This week-end our Classic American Light Beer should be finished and ready to bottle but that will be our next blog!  If your looking for the first blog in this series, you can find it here.

See you soon and keep brewing!

Brewing Beer with Mr. Beer - Part 2

Welcome back to brewing with Mr. Beer!
Part 2 Brewing your beer

Last week we blogged about the Mr. Beer Premium Brewing kit and the steps we took in preparation for brewing our beer.  You should have cleaned and sanitized everything you are working with. 

Cleaning everything

If you missed that blog you can read about it here.

We took our can of American Light Beer malt, removed the top and took out the yeast packet before placing it in a pot of warm water.  This makes working with the malt easier.  While it was warming, we boiled the specified amount of water in a pot.  Once the water boiled we removed it from the heat.

Warming the malt

Open the bottom of your can of malt.  Yes, the bottom!  We opened the wrong end and it does make a difference.  Do you want very sticky malt all over your kitchen?  We didn't either!

Opening the wrong
 end of the can

Pour the malt slowly in the hot water, mixing as you pour.  Make sure you completely stir the malt and water.  Here is where we used the spatula to scrap all of the malt out of the can.

Stir in the malt

Using cold water we poured the indicated amount into our keg and then added the malt water mixture to it.  This was topped off with more cold water. We didn't add the water slow enough and ended up with it bubbling over the top so be sure you add the water very slowly.  Also you don't want to use distilled water.  The mixture needs the minerals that are in the water.  For that reason, we didn't use filtered water either.  We used refrigerated tap water.

Malt mixture

Foaming up

Once everything was in the keg, we sprinkled the yeast on top of the mixture and put the lid on the keg.  Don't mix the yeast in, just let it sit there.  Our keg was moved to a room that is about 68 degrees and covered it with a cloth for darkness.

Ready to brew

The DVD said we could check for a yeast party after a few days to see if the beer is brewing.  We did and the yeast are partying!  The mixture is hazy but will clear up when the yeast have done their job.  We can't open the keg but can peek inside and check with our flashlight.  

We will blog when our beer finishes brewing in the keg, how we carbonate it and bottle it.  That should be around March 19th.  See you then!

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!

Make sure you follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on all things Make Your Own!

New Years Resolutions and Creations

Welcome to a brand New Year, everyone! We want to thank you for your support and business this past year! We could not be more grateful to our loyal customers.

We have already started on our New Year's Resolutions at Make Your Own. We're working on fresh ideas and planning some exciting new products for you!

What does the New Year mean to you? If it means trying new things, making products with love and spending more time with your family, let us help you create those cherished memories. We have many different things you can make with your family and children, not only are they better for you but they are also cost effective! The time you spend with your family making things you use everyday will build the memories you and your children will cherish year after year. Our products will help your bottom line too! Our Make Your Own at Home DIY product line includes things you can make with your children like bubble gum, lip balm, soap, bath bombs and old fashion root beer or soda pop.  You can also make vinegar, mustard and yes, even hot sauce!  Did you know our Hot Sauce Kit and Mustard Kit was recently featured on Studio5, a morning show in Utah?  Take a look here.  We will be blogging about how to make hot sauce and mustard, as well as how to make beer!  Keep checking back and let us know your thoughts and ideas.

Let the race to Christmas begin!

Well I have to say I was a little disappointed when I visited a local retailer a few weeks ago (late September) and found Christmas decorations and trees already on display! It's not even Halloween yet! It's no secret to anyone out there in the retail field that preparing for the holiday rush takes months of planning and projecting, but that doesn't mean you need to start displaying Christmas stuff 2 months before the actual holiday! Sheesh!

That being said, here at Make Your Own, we are preparing for Small Business Saturday®. This November 24th is Small Business Saturday®, a day to celebrate and support the local small businesses that boost the economy and invigorate neighborhoods across the country.


Make Your Own is proud to take part in Small Business Saturday®, and we’re encouraging everyone to Shop Small® here on November 24th.

Most importantly, get out there, Shop Small®, and let’s make this November 24th the biggest day of the year for small business.

To learn more click here.


We've also been hard at work preparing, researching and testing new products for some brand new kits that are going to be rolling out just in time for the holidays!

Gather the kids around and create your very own version of a Haunted House with cookies!

The Haunted House Bake Set includes: Metal poly-resin coated forms needed to create the haunted house, cat, ghost, pumpkin and moon cookie cutters, complete baking and assembly instructions, recipes, decorating suggestions and tips. Completed house is 7"W x 5"D x 8"H.

We hope your Fall has been enjoyable and 

your harvest was plentiful! 

Happy Halloween!