A New Brew!

I decided to get a little more advanced for my next brew.  I purchased an Englishman's Nut Brown booster pack from eBay for $13 (free shipping!), which is decidedly cheaper than from Mr. Beer's web site.  However, I also wanted to venture into some alternate ingredients to further enhance the flavor of the beer.

I purchased 1 pound of Breiss Sparkling Amber dried malt extract (DME).  This is totally different than the Mr. Beer Hopped Malt Extract (HME) I have used in the last two brews.  First, it is in powder form and not canned liquid, which means it has to be mixed with water.  Second, it has no hop components, so it is sweet and not bitter.  Finally, by adding this to the booster kit, I will increase the alcohol content of the beer.


I also upgraded my yeast to a better quality version.  I bought Fermentis Safale s-04, which is specifically designed for English Ales.The upgraded yeast should also improve the flavor of the beer.   The only drawback to the yeast is that I need to ferment at a slightly cooler temperature (65-70).  I took an idea I saw online and put it to use.  I put the keg in a cooler and filled it with water to the same level as the wort.  I put in a couple of cooler packs to lower the temperature of the water.  My plan is to change out the cooler packs with frozen water bottles and continue to rotate to maintain a lower water temperature.

Since I bought the booster kit at a savings, I was able to add both the DME and the yeast and still break even on what I would have paid from Mr. Beer for the kit alone.