After finishing my first beer I must say that Mr. Beer offers a very easy way for new beer brewers to get an idea of how to properly brew beer. Overall I thought that the West Coast Pale Ale was a decent beer but lacked something I couldnt quite put my finger on. It didnt stop me from drinking all of it though…haha.

I went with two weeks in the fermenter, two weeks carbonating, and roughly three weeks conditioning before I had my last two or three bottles. I think the first beer I had was only after one week of conditioning and it definitely got better as time went by.

It wasn’t bad for a first batch. I am excited about the Whispering Wheat Weizenbier that I have had carbing for the last two weeks. Hopefully in two or three weeks I will have another review.

According to the Mr. Beer website, the Premium Edition beer kit comes with everything you need to brew/bottle 1 batch of great tasting beer. Doing a quick search and you get reviews from people on both sides of the fence. On one side you have your beer snobs and on the other you have your newbies (like me). The simple fact is that since I purchased the kit about a month ago I have learned more about beer than I could have imagined. Also, many people (beer snobs included) have stated that this very introductory beer kit is capable of making some pretty good beer with some minor tweaks.

After waiting for a couple weeks for my kit to come in the mail, I finally made my first batch of beer. Included with the Premium Edition kit is the West Coast Pale Ale ingredients and instructions. I have followed the instructions and now have my first batch of beer fermenting. Of course it states that you can have beer in as little as fourteen days, but after reviewing a couple forums the basic process involves 2-2-2. This equates to two weeks in the fermentor, two weeks carbonating and two weeks conditioning. Of course, the more ingredients in your beer, the longer you should allow for fermentation and conditioning.

Surprisingly, there are plenty of websites out there for all your beer questions you may have regarding Mr. Beer or home brewing in general. Here are a couple that I found helpful:

• Mr. Beer Community
• Mr. Beer Fans
• Mr. Beer Yahoo Group
• Beeradvocate

I have actually decided to buy a second fermentor and several refill kits to include the Whispering Wheat Weizenbier, Sticky Wicket Oatmeal Stout, and Wicked Monk. It looks like I will have a new batch brewing for the next six months and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. Hopefully, after learning enough about the brewing process I can get a more advanced home brewing kit to step my game up.

Stay tuned for an update on my first batch made with Mr. Beer, West Coast Pale Ale.

I had quite a few of these back in Japan so I wanted to post some pictures for my personal online beer collection.

So, here goes…

Serving Type: 650 ml Can

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 5.0%

After living in Japan for three years I would say that I consumed a fair amount of Japanese beer. Asahi was one of the beers I drank on the regular and it was good to get my hands on it again.

It is nothing spectacular but when I went out on the town I really got into drinking a lot of Asahi. It was sushi night at our house so I cracked open a bottle of this stuff to be reminded of the “good ole days” back in Japan.

Serving Type: 500 ml bottle

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 5.0%