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Lovely! I’ll take one (or several)!

Way cool! In!

By all means, come on down! We've got 7,000 square feet of goodies (including Mr. Beer Refills!) and a knowledgeable crew to help you out! Happy Fermenting! Scott Birdwell DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies Houston TX www.defalcos.com

Of course, it is impossible to "remove hops" from a pre-hopped malt extract. Historically, this has not been a problem as most malt extract manufacturers tend to under-hop their malts (I'm guessing the logic is that you can always add more. . .). What you can do is add some unhopped amber malt...

It's probably not worth the effort for a gallon. One thing to keep in mind is that Cowboy Lager & American Blonde are both the "old" New Zealand canned malts, so they're beginning to get a little long in the tooth (it's been a year and a half now since Mr. Beer was sold to Cooper's out of...

Several questions: 1) This was the "new" Cooper's can, right? Not the older New Zealand West Coast Pale Ale? 2) How long did you leave the wort in the fermenter? 3) Temperature of the room? Regardless, you should flush the Little Brown Keg thoroughly with warm water, open up the faucet...

You could use the Cooper's Yeast and condition at a reasonable room temperature for a week or ten days. I might argue that you might lose some of the "lager benefits" of conditioning at these warmer temperatures, but it might not make that much difference, especially if you refrigerate the beer...

Two weeks at 55°F + 3 - 5 days in the mid 60's should do fine. I would crash cool to 32° after that. Storage time in the fridge should be determined by the strength of the beer. As a rule of thumb, give it about a week for every 10 points of original gravity. i.e. 1.040 = 4 weeks, 1.060 = 6...

It sounds like Mr. Beer has served its purpose: you've learned how to make beer at a very basic level and you've developed a passion to learn more. Now might be a good time to go to a more traditional set-up. If you still want to brew 2 - 2 1/2 gallon batches, you could opt for a glass or PET...

If the beer tasted good when you bottled it, but then went south in the bottles, you just might be right that poor sanitation at bottling was the problem. If the beer smelled &/or tasted bad at this stage (I taste the beer at every step), then it wasn't the bottles that let you down, it was...

Which yeast did you use? Were these the older cans (pre-Cooper's)? If so, the yeast would be getting pretty old by now and may have been slow to kick off? Regarding your sanitizing question, yes, you need longer contact time for the no rinse sanitizer to be effective. The Avinatore is a...

I would expect a final gravity to drop down to 1.010 or less with the addition of the brown sugar to the recipe. You're a long way from that point. Bread yeast is not my "first choice" either. In fact, it's near the bottom of my preferred options here. But, again, better active bread yeast...

It sounds like your yeast is old and weak. It has fermented some (the brown sugar would have boosted your O.G. into the low 1.040's and now it's 1.029), plus you saw a little foam on top. At 70°F for a couple of days, it should have gone crazy if the yeast had been fresh. I would still...

Yep! Now way you're going to hit 1.044 - 1.054 with one 1.2 lb. can in 2+ gallons, unless you add a LOT of booster! FWIW - 1 lb. LME/1 U.S. gallon = 1.036. The booster should be in the same ballpark. It's been a while since I've seen the old WCPA recipe, but I don't recall it calling for...

1.029 is about what I would expect the original gravity to be for the West Coast Pale Ale (1.2 lbs. malt extract) & some booster in 2+ gallons. Apparently, it has not fermented at all. If you have access to a homebrew shop near you, I would go buy a package of Cooper's or Munton's, and...

If you are only using hopped malt extracts, and/or you don't mind sweetening the beer by adding unhopped extract to the recipe, then, yes, you're right. But, the original poster stated that the beer tasted sweeter than he expected for an IPA. You're going to need to add hops to balance that...

Just keep in mind, any time you add hops to the kettle, you are compromising between bitterness, aroma, flavor, etc. The alpha acid is the primary substance in hops that contribute bitterness to beer. In order to impart the bitterness from the hops into the beer, those acids need to be...

The likely reason the IPA seemed malty is that you added the additional malt (good idea), but no additional hops. The softpack contains unhopped malt extract which will increase the alcohol content and body of the beer. But, if you will actually taste the LME in the softpack, it will taste very...

1. If the malt manufacturer has added real hops (flowers &/or pellets) in various stages, then boiling will change the bitterness/flavor/aroma profile. If the malt extract was bittered with hop extract rather than real hops (as is the case with many brands), boiling will not affect...

The Mr. Beer kits are fine for using as a base, especially if you want add at least some additional malt &/or hops to fill them out a bit. Otherwise, they're a bit thin & watery. However, while you can always add more, you can't subtract what's already been added. Hopped extracts can make...