I have always wanted to make beer. Being that my girl loves me, she
purchased for me a "Mr Beer". The day after Christmas I did my best to
follow the directions... lets just leave it at I like beer alot :-) .
I reversed the volumes of water that went in to the mr beer 'keg' and
the water that was to get boiled. So I dumped the contents of the keg
in the pot on the stove and boiled that, then let it cool a lot then
added it to the keg which I placed more water in than they originally
recomended as to bring the temp of the resulting mess down, shook it up
and added the pack of yeast.(I did end up at the 2.5 gallon mark they
recomended) It stayed frothy on top through wednesday afternoon, then
no more foam on top. Is this normal / ok? Is it dead? Should I be
concerned slash do something? Am I paranoid? Am I wathching a pot that
wont boil because I am wathchng it?

question 2 :-D

I would like to be able to produce about 5 gallons or so a week of
something like dos equis amber. What would be the most efficient
equipment to use, considering I am a guy whom likes to build his own
equipment? ( my other hobby is telescope making -
[url]www.telescopelab.com[/url] )
I have I nice little airconditioned 10ft square building with a
refigerator in it that I plan to do the beer making in.

Thanks,

PK

[url]www.brew-winemaking.com[/url]
lots of equipment and recipe kits.
You can get an idea of what you need and what you would like to have
and then go out and find it all :)

PK wrote:[color=blue]
> I have always wanted to make beer. Being that my girl loves me, she
> purchased for me a "Mr Beer". The day after Christmas I did my best to
> follow the directions... lets just leave it at I like beer alot :-) .
> I reversed the volumes of water that went in to the mr beer 'keg' and
> the water that was to get boiled. So I dumped the contents of the keg
> in the pot on the stove and boiled that, then let it cool a lot then
> added it to the keg which I placed more water in than they originally
> recomended as to bring the temp of the resulting mess down, shook it up
> and added the pack of yeast.(I did end up at the 2.5 gallon mark they
> recomended) It stayed frothy on top through wednesday afternoon, then
> no more foam on top. Is this normal / ok? Is it dead? Should I be
> concerned slash do something? Am I paranoid? Am I wathching a pot that
> wont boil because I am wathchng it?
>
> question 2 :-D
>
> I would like to be able to produce about 5 gallons or so a week of
> something like dos equis amber. What would be the most efficient
> equipment to use, considering I am a guy whom likes to build his own
> equipment? ( my other hobby is telescope making -
> [url]www.telescopelab.com[/url] )
> I have I nice little airconditioned 10ft square building with a
> refigerator in it that I plan to do the beer making in.
>
> Thanks,
>
> PK
>[/color]
Welcome to the hobby! :)
I have never done a Mr. Beer, or any kit for that matter. I started
right off doing grain/extract recipies. But I believe that you should
be ok. Most of the main fermenting is done in about 3-5 days, so you
are fine there. I would let the beer go as long as the instructions say
and give it a sample. As for question 2, Dos Equis is a lager. These
styles of beer are a little more complicated to do. They require lower
fermentation temps than ales, and the "cleaner" taste will allow for
"mistakes" to show up in the finished taste. Better to do a few ale
batches to get your technique down. As for equipment, do a search for
"homebrew supplies" on Google or whatever your favorite search engine
is. There are a number of good online stores and you might even be able
to find a homebrew shop near your house. A "local" shop will be good
for getting help and meet other people in your area who also brew. You
could also pick up any number of books on the subject. The most popular
of which being, "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" by Charlie Papazian.
This group is also a good place to get anwsers to questions you may have.

Cheers,

--
Michael Herrenbruck
DragonTail Ale
Drunken Bee Mead