Well I haven't updated this for a while. I kinda ran out of extra money so I haven't been brewing as much as I would like. I brewed a few more Mr. Beer kits I got as a gift with relative success. They all came out drinkable but not great. And I've made some more Apfelwein. That stuff is great. My second batch came out even better than the first, which was pretty good. I made some flavored apfelwein as well. One gallon each of lemon, cherry, raspberry, and grape. All I did was add a can of 100% juice concentrate to the recipe. I've got them bottled and ageing. They tasted pretty promising (and boozy) at bottling time.
Now the exciting bit. I ordered a 5 gallon beer kit from austinhomebrew.com. The Noble Pils recipe. I made the partial mash so I had a lot more grain and less extract then I have been doing. This makes it cheaper and they say better because you get more complexity when you mash your self. It was a little more work but it wasn't bad. Just put the grain in a bag and keep it in hot water longer to bring out the sugar. It smells great. I'll bottle it in another week. I'll see how it tastes then.
Well money is tight again so it will probably be a while before I get more ingredients. Hopefully I'll be able to enjoy my new beer in the meantime. I'll give a taste review of the new beer and the flavored wine when they're ready.