For MrBeer coupon, click here.
“Not bad. In fact, my first home brew wasn’t as good as this.”
That was Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, and what he had to say when he gave a MrBeer beer kit a try for himself. And believe us—he wasn’t drunk when he said that.
Oliver described the “Mr. Beer Process” in three steps: “We sanitize, we brew, and then we bottle.”
And how much did it cost him to make a 2-gallon beer?
It took him $40 for the complete kit—and a 2-gallon beer worth $.25 cents to $1, depending on the size of the bottle that’s being used.
That’s not bad, considering it tastes good. Comedian Andy Dick once had a test run of the Mr. Beer as well, and all he had to say was: “That’s smooth. That’s probably the smoothest beer I’ve ever drank.” And unlike those that have been shipped and exposed to outside air, Mr. Beer’s aroma is more intense because it comes straight from the plastic beer keg.
Mr. Beer has been in the business of creating the world’s easiest home brewing systems and supplies since 1993. They use barley, wheat, and hops for their malts, and are brewed on their modern facility on South Island NZ. They use a complex process of cracking, heating, and separating grains and then adding in hops to produce the color, balance, and flavor that beer is known for. However, the difference is that with Mr. Beer, all the excess water is removed, and the concentrated malt extract that’s left would be canned for shipping.
Their most popular product is the Premium Edition Mr. Beer Kit, which comes with a 2-Gallon Fermenter, first batch of beer (Standard Booster Recipe with Hopped Malt extract, dry brewing yeast, and No-Rinse Cleanser), eight amber-colored bottles with caps and labels. These bottles are designed to accommodate carbonated beverages, and are FDA approved.
Other Mr. Beer products also include Cider Kits a nd Root Beer kits—and they taste good as well.
With such high-tech procedures, does it guarantee perfect beer all the time?
Not necessarily. It depends on how you brew it.
“It’s a little bit sweet and needs a little bit more carbonation.” Oliver observed, after tasting his first batch of beer.
But here’s where he made a teeny-tiny-itsy-bit mistake: he didn’t wait long enough for the beer to ferment.
A good way to avoid this is to let the beer sit longer than a week to reduce its sweetness. The longer it ferments, the less sweet it becomes.
As with everything else, patience really IS a virtue when it comes to brewing your own beer. According to Drew Vics, a.k.a “The Brewologist”, you can have home brewed beer in two weeks, but if you want it to taste its best, then wait for four weeks—or three and a half, if you can’t wait any longer.
A good solution for that “le ss head” or “less carbonation” problem so often encountered by first-time brewers is to dissolve no more than 3/8 of a cup of sugar or confectioner’s corn sugar into 1 pint of hot water and then let it cool. Then divide them evenly among your bottles instead of adding each sugar in each bottle (as what the direction says). This results in better and more even carbonation.
Really, it doesn’t get any simpler than that. Vics put it succinctly: “Mr. Beer makes a good beginner home brewing kit, and it is a great kit to keep around and reuse, even for the more advanced brewer. This is a great way to get your feet wet, and learn the basics of the home brewing process.”
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[Via - Odd News]
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Link Of The Day - Product Naming
Before the rise of the Digital age, research and forensic scientists, biologists, and botanists, painstakingly identified each and every living organism by searching their various ranks in the Nomenclature Code rule book. Using advanced technology however, has made it possible to simplify these steps in just a couple of clicks on the computer. Determix has created Lysandra Online, an internet-based, biological database that classifies all organisms using interactive catalogues and identification guides. Everything is basically there; and unlike a trip to the library, it wouldn’t take a day to find a strange organism’s Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species classification—all in one sitting.
This is good news to scientists all over the world. Lysandra Online is co-authored by leading specialists in the fields of zoology and biological sciences; and it uses complex algorithms to search for an organism’s specific hierarchies. It makes things even easier by adding illustrated catalogues, handy navigation, and print output in its features. And here’s the best part: it can organize random search lists from the general catalogue and even create mini-presentations. Some of its published works include beetles and butterfly classification, butterfly identifcation database, and all that can be easily accessed via website.
The best part, however, is that it’s free. All its database and facilities are available after installation, and some of its demo databases don’t even need registration. Today, it is used as an accurate guide to biological classification, and Determix has now released a commercial version of its database that contains completely illustrated tools, maps, and pictures for better identification.
[Via - MadConomist.com]
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Need business name ideas? PickyDomains.com, world’s first risk free naming agency
Need business name ideas? PickyDomains.com, world’s first risk free naming agency
A London bakery recently experienced the worst-case scenario of offering a Groupon for a small business, and it cost the owner thousands.
Need a Cake bakery owner Rachel Brown decided to put up a 75% discount on a dozen cupcakes on the site, which dropped the price down to $10 from $40.
Apparently, people really love getting cupcakes cheap, because she was rushed by throngs of customers in a cupcake frenzy. 8,500 people signed up, and her crew of eight had to make 102,000 cupcakes to meet the orders.
Brown lost $3 per batch because she had to hire 25 extra workers to help, and she ended up losing $20,000 because of it, which is a ton for a small biz. It wiped out her profits for the year, reports the Daily Mail.
“Without doubt, it was my worst ever business decision,” she told the BBC. “We had thousands of orders pouring in that really we hadn’t expected to have. A much larger company would have difficulty coping.”
This is just the latest in Groupon small business horror stories. A story popped up in September about a Portland cafe losing $8,000 because of a Groupon, which prompted a personal letter from founder and CEO Andrew Mason.
It brings up the always-present question about the daily deals site: does Groupon suck for small businesses?
Well, it looks like most small businesses think so. An overwhelming majority of 70% hate Groupon, if the latest survey from iContact is to be believed.
As for Brown and her bakery, the experience may have cost her 20 grand, but what about all the exposure she’s getting for her store? Great, right? It doesn’t hurt, but it probably wasn’t worth the cost.
Small businesses like this bakery thrive on relationships with their local customers, not crowds of outsiders coming in to snatch up a free lunch.
Getting new customers is great, but in this case, the bakery rewarded the wrong customers. Those 8,500 people that rushed for the Groupon probably won’t be coming back to pay for the same cupcakes at quadruple the price.
Only those the store has nurtured relationships with for a long time (in Brown’s case, 25 years), should be the ones rewarded. They’re the ones that keep coming back for more.
[Via - BusinessInsider.com]
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Top 10 Pathetic Personals
1. Remember that summer you spent with your parents in Hawaii and how mad you were that they made you go? And how you were hopelessly bored until you saw the most gorgeous man you’d ever encountered strolling down the beach looking at you, skillfully removing your skimpy bikini with his piercing eyes? And how you spent the last month imagining him taking you in every possible way, masturbating feverishly day and night, wishing he would reappear, but he never did because you were 15 and he would have gone to jail? That was me, and you just turned 18.
2. Mmmm Pez! Rabid Wonder Woman fan looking for someone in satin tights, fighting for our rights and the old red, white ‘n blue. You look like Linda Carter? Big plus. Know all words to theme song? Marry me.
3. Angry, simple-minded, balding, partially blind ex-circus flipper boy with a passion for covering lovers in sour cream and gravy seeks exotic, heavily tattooed piercing fanatic, preferably hairy, either sex, for whippings, bizarre sex and fashion consulting. No freaks.
4. I’m about 5*2 and about 118lbs. I have light brown hair and gray/blue eyes. I wear glasses, I have my belly button pierced and I am slightly tan(because of the sun). I am planning on going to college to be a probation officer. Hop to here from you soon!!!!
5. When I was thirty my dates had to be young, tall, handsome, rich, intelligent. Now I’m 64, they only have to know how to read and use the telephone!
6. Me–trying to sleep on the bus station bench, pleading with you to give me a cigarette; you–choking on my odor, tripping over your purse trying to get away; at the last moment, our eyes meeting. Yours were blue. Can I have a dollar?
7. Bitter, unsuccessful middle aged loser wallowing in an unending sea of inert, drooping loneliness looking for 24 year old needy leech-like hanger-on to abuse with dull stories, tired sex and Herb Alpert albums.
8. I am black and a woman. With children being slaughtered in Rowanda.
What difference does it make how big my breasts are, how long my legs
are, or how much money you or I make? To hell with long walks, holding
hands, candle lit dinners, and all of that other crap that people never
continue doing after the first date anyway; that didn’t even take place
in Cinderella (I’ve seen the movie). If there is a man out there who:
isn’t a crackhead or crack dealer,
isn’t an alcoholic,
doesn’t have any kids,
doesn’t smoke,
doesn’t beat women,
isn’t wearing women’s underwear as you’re reading this ad,
isn’t a liar,
isn’t looking for fun behind his wife’s back,
isn’t into being hit, peed on, or tied up while having sex,
doesn’t want to hit, pee on or tie me up while having sex,
likes having sex,
CAN have sex,
is not
in jail,
on probation,
has a court date pending,
isn’t a
misogynist,
racist,
classist,
elitist,
lawyer,
politician,
member of the military,
policeman (Malice Green, Rodney King),
bible boy, or
a pompous ass.
What you have to be is HONEST, HONEST, HONEST!!! If you’re out there,
if you exist, call me. Please don’t make me give up on men. Prefer
letters.
9. Austrian-born, Cambridge-educated philosopher/engineer/kindergarten teacher and published author (one book of philosophy, one of spelling) seeks companion/housekeeper adept at soup preparation and prepared to travel to Norway on a moment’s notice. Must like: silence; dampness; impenetrable intellectual speculation; detective novels. Must despise: clarity; optimism; fellow academics. Age, race, gender unimportant. Respond (’Y’ or ‘N’ only) to L. Wittgenstein, box 354.
10. Things I won’t do for love include replacing corroding soil pipes and trepanning at home. Everything else is A-OK. Eager-to-please woman (36) seeks domineering man to take advantage of her flagging confidence. Tell me I’m pretty, then watch me cling, at box no. 3286.
[Via - Webiot.com]
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Need business name ideas? PickyDomains.com, world’s first risk free naming agency
When Michael Kern came across a 14-wheeled “flowboard”–basically a skateboard-snowboard-surfboard hybrid–in 2001, he knew he had to jump on an opportunity. His 20-year-old company, Sport Technology, bought the licensing rights, then the original board-maker’s company, and now also produces the Snowskate, which replaces the wheels of a skateboard with four mini-skis for free-footed mayhem on the slopes. It’s available at major retailers, including Target, Walmart and Toys”R”Us, as well as through more than 60 independent toy, specialty and catalog retailers. Company revenue in 2010 was around $10 million, more than double the year before; 2011 revenue is close to $20 million; and Sport Technology forecasts $36 million for 2012. A bad-ass (and lucrative) crossover.
[Via - Business Ideas Blog]
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