I read a lot of the reviews. i have two of these so I can stagger my beer making. I see a lot complaining about leaks. Well if you get the rubber washer correct it will not leak. Also those complaining about leaks clearly did not follow the cleaning directions if so would have noticed the leaks then and there. All the pictures of the ones leaking had the rubber washer facing the wrong way. I learned when cleaning it and filling it with water oh it is leaking. Went back to see where I messed up and swapped the rubber washer around boom no more leaks. Those saying it is only good for a few times for the keg mine have lasted 3 years with no issues. Now I did get rid of their crappy bottles and got just 12oz glass bottles, bottle caps and capper for them. So much easier plus can always just load up the dishwasher with the glass bottles to clean them. Plus I just dislike plastic bottles.

I'm a master distiller and at the distillery we like to play with different fermentations. I decided to play with this Mr Beer system. The instructions are simple and straightforward. We made our first batch and bottled it. Waited the prescribed 14 days then refrigerated the bottles for 48 hours as recommended. The beer came out really nice and fully carbonated. We are on our second batch and will be bottling today.

If you are a beginner and looking for a system that will work and let you make a decent beer at home, you won't go wrong here. It's hard to screw it up. The beers are not world class, but they are very drinkable and I wouldn't be ashamed sharing this with other folks. Well worth the money. After making a number of these beers, you can then decide if you want to move to more complex systems or just enjoy continuing with these. We have had fun making these.

This is a good starter kit and will make the basic brews that come with it. It can also be used to make more elaborate beers, where you're adding your own hops and grains and shaping the tastes a bit more. It can grow with you.

You will see, reading other reviews, that some people were upset they didn't get the beer varieties they expected. My advice is, if this is critical to you, buy the items individually. You'll spend quite a bit more, though. I got the Mexican Cerveza (which I expected based on the product description at the time) and the American Lager (not what I expected). But it really didn't matter much because I planned to try lots of different kinds.

And yes, the fermenter is a cheap, plastic thing, but so what? It works, and I understand they last a while. My keg/fermenter had a bad seal and was not usable when I got it, like some others. But I got on the phone to Mr. Beer, and within hours they had a new one on the way via UPS. Mr. Beer customer service is as good as any I've experienced.

The directions are pretty simple. The only corrections I'd offer is you will have better beer if you ferment a full three weeks and let it sit in the bottle for at least four weeks. Some versions of the instructions downplay the patience needed and say to ferment just two weeks. A couple years ago, the directions said to ferment a week or two, let it sit in the bottle for two more, then dive in. The folks at Mr. Beer have gotten more realistic since then with an emphasis on quality rather than speed.

Now for the beer. I waited five months between purchasing this kit and reviewing it, because I didn't want to make a snap judgment based on scant info. You really have to go through the process several times and have several batches to judge how good it is. I have made one batch each of the past five months and three are now ready to drink. The first was pretty good, the second was so-so, and the third, a cerveza-based recipe called Noche del Lobo, is spectacular.

People who give one- and two-star reviews here and say it's garbage probably just rushed through the process or had poor sanitation. It's also important to keep the beer in the 65-70 degree range while fermenting. I just use an old Coleman camping cooler I had laying around with some frozen water bottles to keep it from heating up too much and producing off-flavors.

Bonus tip: If you order this, or even if you're just thinking about it, go to the Mr. Beer website and find the forum. There's a great community of helpers there.

So for me the bottom line is: $50 for a couple cases (almost) of beer and a great new hobby is a bargain.

Jim

With the majority of online reviews being positive, decided to give MR. BEER a try. With the first keg arriving Dec., 2010, here's a review with results from using both the Premium & Premium Gold Kits to brew the 3-Beer Mix Variety Pack American Series, the 3-Beer Mix Variety Pack and a West Coast Pale Ale.
Procedures used were: - strict adherance to the sanitizing process - exclusive use of Spring Water (not tap) - fermenting temp. observed above 65 deg. F - minimum bottling temp. 70 deg. F - careful to use all the ingredients (spatula to get every drop from the canned contents) - use of exactly measured plain white sugar for bottling - fermenting and bottling gestation done in complete darkness - used the recommended 2 week interval between all 3 stages.
This is the first time to brew and unlike other reviewers, am no expert but enjoy drinking beer when watching my NFL football games.
The results:
3-Beer Mix Variety Pack American Series
- Classic American Blonde Ale - Being the first brew, the anticipation had me opening the 1st two bottles after 1 1/2 weeks of cold lagering. Clear golden color, good carbonation, good head retention, a tad sweet but extremely tasty. My favorite beer.
- Cowboy Golden Lager - Clear golden color, good carbonation, good head retention, pleasing bitterness w/ nice hoppy aroma. My second favorite beer.
- Bewitched Red Ale - Perfect deep color, good carbonation, excellent head retention, this is the best tasting of this American Series Pack. Enticing aroma and a smooth, tasty beer.
3-Beer Mix Variety Pack International Series
- Oktoberfest Vienna Lager - Dark Ale color, good carbonation, good head retention, almost no bitterness w/ full hoppy aroma (my wife's favorite). Easy drinking beer and my favorite of this series.
- High Country Canadian Draft - Clear golden color, good carbonation, good head retention, pleasing bitterness. Another tasty beer and my second favorite in this series.
- Whispering Wheat Weizenbier - Deep golden color, good carbonation, good head retention, caramel finish. Flavorful but the slight sweetness makes it not one of my favorites.

West Coast Pale Ale - Clear golden color, good carbonation, good head retention. Tastes in between the Classic American Blonde Ale and Cowboy Golden Lager. Weakest flavor among all the brews made but still tastier than light beer.

Preferring American style light (Coors, Bud, Miller) beer, the quality from all the Mr. Beer brews I've made are all tastier. Despite the low published alcohol content, the actual "hit" is very smooth. Don't know were some of the reviewers got their "watery" taste and no "head" opinions. More likely, these sub-standard results were due to their using less than ideal sanitazion conditions, using tap chlorinated water, and/or rushing the brewing process.
Got a lot of good tips from various online reviews, which minimized/eliminated mistakes. When one batch of beer is ready for bottling, reserve yourself 3 hours to bottle starting from a fully fermented keg, then re-clean, re-sanitize and have another brew batch inside the keg to start re-fermenting. My greatest advise would be to take your time in all aspects. It will result in a home made beer you can be proud off. Am using 3 fermenting kegs to get brewing into full production. Saving money is one thing, but drinking terrific tasting beer is the all-important consideration. My days of buying retail beer are history thanks to Mr. Beer and Amazon's great service.

I bought my first Mr. Beer kit about 2 months ago knowing nothing about the beer making process. I was skeptical on the product because the kit looked cheap and I was doubtful it could produce the quality beer I expected. But I'm a gambler and the reviews on this product weren't bad. The kit arrived in the mail and I quickly brewed up my first batch of Czech Pilsner. I followed the instructions verbatim, making sure to sanitize everything properly (since this is like 9/10 of beer making). In short, you bring water to a boil, add and stir in the malt, then add cold water to the barrel, poor the hot malt mixture into the barrel, add the included yeast, let it ferment for a week, then you transfer the wort into the bottles and add sugar. After sealing the bottles and letting them sit for a week, your beer is supposed to be drinkable. At least this is what Mr. Beer claims. I tested this process and it tasted like crap. There wasn't a lot of carbonation, and the taste seemed off (had an apple cider after taste). At first I wrote it off that Mr. Beer was a scam. But then I waited. I still had other unopened bottles and figured I could let them sit for a few more weeks to see if this changed anything. I even did some online research to see what others had to say about Mr. Beer. The forums about the issues I was experiencing seem unanimous. You have to let the beer sit for around 4 weeks in the bottle. Afterwards, you put the bottles in the fridge for around 2-3 days to condition them. If you do this your beer will come out nothing less than awesome (assuming you properly sanitized and your yeast wasn't old or expired).

After 4 weeks of sitting, the beer tasted slightly better than what is on tap at the bar. Not just because of the flavor, but the abundance of carbonation (at least this is my opinion). Most mainstream bottled beers lack a high content of carbonation. When I opened my first bottle after 4 weeks, it sounded like opening a new 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola. The carbonation pressure release was immense. When i poured the beer in a glass, the bubbles were abundant and so was the flavor. I would highly recommend this product to any beginners, but only if you let the beer sit for at least 4 weeks in the bottle. I've also read that fermenting the beer for 2 weeks also improves the taste.

A lot of forums say that Mr. Beer was recently acquired by a new Company and the quality of their malt and yeast has dropped. Though I had no issues with my batch, there are better yeasts out there than what come with the brew pack. Let's not forget this is only a beginners kit. After you've brewed a few batches, you'll probably look into upgrading to a Deluxe Brewing Carboy kit. When I reflect back on things, I kind of wish I had gotten a better kit to start with. But for some, this is all you need. Just my two cents.