So, I picked up a Mr.Beer Premium Gold Edition kit from Amazon.ca just before Christmas, and it arrived last Monday.
After lunch today I opened up the kit and decided to start the process. Step 1 was to sanitize… everything, the mini keg, the can opener, a few spoons and a measuring cup. Step 2 was to create the Wort in a large sauce pan using some water and the ‘Booster’ which appears to be corn starch, bring these up to a boil and then mix in the HME, which is the ‘Hop Malt Extract’, which was some funky glue like substance that was really dark brown.
Here is what my first batch of Wort looked like.
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Once the Wort was ready, I prepared the keg by adding in 4 quarts of nice cold water (keg warns about pouring the hot liquid into the keg without it) then added in the Wort mix into the keg and stir well. Had to top up the keg, with an additional ~3.5 quarts or so, again with cold water, until I hit the 8.5 quart mark on the keg. Added in the brewers yeast and waited the 5 minutes that were instructed, then stirred in the yeast and capped the keg.
Here is what the keg with the Wort and yeast looked like, just before I stirred in the yeast and capped the keg.
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Now the keg is placed in a spot where it will stay between 20′ and 23′ Celsius, which is my office (Computer heating… can’t be beat), and it should be ready for the bottling stage in 7-14 days, though I’ll probably give it the full 14. And in case you are wondering, I decided to start off with the Cowboy Golden Lager. I have also decided that I will have to order more bottles, and possibly another keg so that I can always have a batch on the go and a few ready to drink.
I will update more on this when I get to bottling.