newbie brewing kits??

[oldphart]

Okay, I just got a Mr. Beer brewing kit for a first time brewing. I have never brewed beer before and have no idea if this kit works or not. I don't know any of the "beer technical" stuff, just thought it would be kool to make my own beer.
I made the first batch following the direction on a dvd and it seemed to start out pretty good. It has been 5 days and the fermentation doesn't seem to be going as described in the dvd. Started out pretty active but after 3 days it seemed to kind of fizzle out and isn't as active as it was.
So how do I tell if this is beer or some other stuff that doesn't even have a name?

[BDawg]

First - Welcome & congratulations for brewing your first beer.

Many of us (myself included) started using Mr. Beer kits, so you are not alone.

Give it plenty of time in the little keg before you bottle it.
Sanitation really is key. Nothing can ruin a beer like poor sanitation.

I wrote a "How to get decent beer out of a Mr. Beer kit" over on Realbeer.com a few years ago. I hear they have improved the yeast (wyeast smack packs now?) but I'm not sure if they still include "Booster" in there. Anyways, check out my post there and feel free to ask us any questions you may have. (This board gets a LOT more traffic so you'll get a faster answer here).

Here's the link:
http://discussions.realbeer.com/showthr ... r-Beer-Kit

[Ozwald]

And here's some essential reading. Don't worry about the later chapters, but the first few will help you immensely in getting started & understand what's going on. The entire first edition is free online. You can (usually) buy the current, 3rd edition in the BN store.

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

[oldphart]

I used the heck out of the sanetizer that came in the kit and hoped it was done right.

[BDawg]

Good. Sanitation is absolutely essential.
Next is temperature control.

[santamarina]

My first brew was with a Mr. Beer too. The actual product came out like crap, but what I learned was that I liked the "process" of making beer. That was the one and only time I used the Mr. Beer. Shortly thereafter I headed to my LHBS and bought a 10 gallon kegging brew system. It set me back about $500, but the first batch of "real" beer I made was delicious. That was 6 years ago and I still use that original kettle, though I've added a cooler mash tun and now brew all-grain.

The point is: even if your beer comes out horrible, if you liked the process stick with it and make an investment in the best hobby in the world!