Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Wednesday, 29 July 2009 01:40
If you’re looking into starting to brew your own beer or are thinking of getting someone a brewing related gift, there are several options out there for the beginner brewer. One good option is simply to get a standard beer brewing starer kit. This is how I got into brewing. There are other options out there that make the brewing process a little bit easier but also a little bit less customizable. This table compares three of those options, the Coopers Brewery Kit, The Beer Machine 2000, and the Mr. Beer Select Beer Kit.
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Size of Fermenter
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6 gallons (23 liters)
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2.6 gallons
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2 gallons
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Produces
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50-12 ounce bottles of beer
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28-12 ounce servings
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about 25-12 ounce bottles
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Ingredients Included?
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Yes – Ingredients for one Coopers Lager batch included
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Yes – Includes ingredients for one batch
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Yes – Ingredients for two batches included
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Time from start to finish
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Approximately 22 days. 4 to 12 days in the fermenter and then 2 weeks carbonating in the bottles.
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7 to 10 days
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You will be drinking homemade beer in 14 days. 7 for
fermentation and 7 for carbonation |
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Comes with bottles
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Yes – Comes with 30-740 ml PET bottles
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Not needed – You can serve directly from the tap.
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Yes – Comes with 8-1 liter bottles
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Accessories
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Hydrometer, Sediment Reducer, Plastic Spoon, Bottling Valve, Airlock, Thermometer, Instruction Booklet and DVD.
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CO2 Bulbs, Defoamer Disk
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Brewing Thermometer, Sugar Measure, Brewer’s Guide
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Additional Promotional Items
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1 Baseball Cap, 1 T-Shirt, 2 Pint Glasses,
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Price
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$99.99
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$114.95
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$99.95
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Additional Features
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Custom Pressure Guage, serve directly from the fermenter
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Cost for additional recipes
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$26 to $33 dollars per recipe
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When comparing Mr. Beer, Coopers Microbrewery and The Beer Machine, you have to realize that each has different products that make it slightly difficult to actually compare. The Beer Machine for instance has a feature where you can serve directly from the fermenter which is cool unless you want to make several batches. If you use the fermenter to serve as well, you can’t start another batch until that batch is done. On a larger level, each of these systems is a substitute for actually getting your own brewing setup where you can brew from scratch like this one or this one.
Also, each of these is also available at amazon.com which sometimes has prices that are cheaper than regular homebrew stores. To check prices on amazon, you can follow these links:
- Coopers Microbrewery (additional recipes)
- Mr. Beer Brewmaster Select (Pale Ale Refill Recipe)
- Beer Brewing “From Scratch” Kit (This is a fully functional starter kit that can be used for custom recipes and is what I would recommend for anyone who will want to bring some creativity into the brewing process)
Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Wednesday, 29 April 2009 09:33
Beer Kit – A Great Gift!
America’s most popular brewing kit.
Complete, easy-to-use. Only $39.95
Okay, I realize thay this is a bit of heresy to beer aficionados, but I’ve been brewing with the cheezy “Mr. Beer” kit for a while, and the beers are pretty darned good.
Since they take care of pretty much all the heavy lifting and sell you the grain and malt extracts, your work is minimal. Really, all you have to do is mix and match ingredients to go for your own unique beer.
Each time I brew a batch, it takes about 30 minutes from breaking out the equipment and ingredients to having my brew keg sitting in the basement fermenting away. I can also have the kitchen cleaned in the same time. Two weeks later, I spend about another 30 minutes sanitizing bottles and then bottling. 1 Hour total for about 2 gallons of beer.
Okay, so major corners are cut, but it’s still a lot of fun, and it fits into a busy lifestyle. Does anybody else want to come forth and admit to such behavior? If so, I’d love to trade recipes for cool new beers.
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