First time brewer looking for advice

[ghostofmonkeypaws]

Hello all, I'm new to this site and new to brewing - first time brewer, long time drinker. I've gathered all my equipment (nearly), and started reading books on the subject, but my question is this - I'm going to brew a batch of coopers real ale (bought from the-home-brew-shop.co.uk) and on the can it tells me to add a kilo of sugar to the wort. Now, the book I'm reading (Homebrewing for Dummies) tells me to ignore this and just add the gloop from the can. Who do I trust?!

Also, whats the general opinion on reusable caps for bottles? I'm thinking they would obviously be better than buying crowns all the time, but is this a rookie mistake? I bit the bullet and bought one (yes, just the one) from the-home-brew-shop and it seems to do the job (admittedly I've never tried it on beer I've made myself!), I just wonder what the down sides are.

[barl_fire]

I'd avoid household sugar but you need at least one other fermentable other than the can. The main alternatives being brewing sugar, beer kit enhancer which is a mixture of dried malt extract and dextrose, dried malt extract alone or a can of liquid malt extract. Personally for a first time shot at a kit like that I'd go with 1Kg of medium dried malt extract. There's three basic dme's to choose from, light, medium and dark as well as some other variations like extra dark and hopped etc etc. But tailor the dme to the type of brew, dark for stouts and porters, medium for real ale and bitter, light for pale ales etc you get the picture. Coopers Real ale is probably gonna want the medium. If you want to save a bit of money try the Beer kit enhancer as it's cheaper, but like I say avoid just household sugar

[Ditch]

On the can it tells me to add a kilo of sugar to the wort. Now, the book I'm reading (Homebrewing for Dummies) tells me to ignore this and just add the gloop from the can.

Is that 'For' or 'By' ?!

[Friary]

Watcha!

Can't offer much advice I'm affriad because I'm on my first brew as well, probably 3-4 weeks ahead of you, with my beer in it's 2nd week of conditioning. I went to the home brew shop in aldershot as well and bought one of the coopers start kits - I've got a thread a little further down asking various questions etc. I'd be really interested in hearing how you get on and compare it with mine...

Also interested in getting some opinions about the reusable botte caps because I'm currently gathering some bottles (I've just emptied a London Pride bottle tonight and will probably manage a few more over the weekend ) so I can start another brew soon. Not sure whether to go for reusable or crown caps either...

Good luck and as I said, let us know how it goes.

[thedeckking]

Welcome to the wonderful world of homebrew

If you're not sure what fermentables to use then have a go at making the same kit twice. Use dried malt extract on one batch and then plain dextrose (brewers sugar) on the other. I did this and then found it a worthwhile eperiment.

Found this thread about re-usable caps: clicky Seems they're OK for low carbonation if you want to store it for a while but might not hold fizz too well. I like crown caps myself because I get them in a different colour for each batch and can also write on them with a marker if I run out of colours. Save's me hours of making lables and then peeling them off for the next brew.

[ghostofmonkeypaws]

cheers guy for the excellent advice, and thanks to thedeckking for the link about caps - its convinced me to give them a go. as for the fermentable... my fists are a bit tight at the moment so ive decided to use brewers sugar and save the dried malt extract for the next brew - hopefully the comparison will determine what i'll use in future. i do have another question though, no-one suggested liquid malt extract, is there a reason for this or have i just not read far enough through my book yet?

will keep you updated on my progress

[thedeckking]

There's not much difference between liquid or dried. It's the same thing in 2 different states. DME tends to be cheaper and is easier to use and store so most people stick with that. There's always the option of experimenting with both to see which you like best.
I've used brewers sugar quite a bit and from my experience prefer to use it in lagers and use DME in ales, but as with everything it's down to personnal taste. The great thing about home brew is that you can keep trying different things. Just make sure you make a note of what you do each time so you can compare.

[ghostofmonkeypaws]

mon dieu! just re-read my homebrewing for dummies book where it says ignore the sugar. the reason for this is because he says to add 2 cans of beer mix at the brewing stage. but wont this make the beer really bitter? surely the malt extract in the can is pre-hopped? does he think i'm made of money?! the book is filled with excellent advice, but i do find myself reading and re-reading and then re-reading again just to make sure i've understood it. plus, i suppose, there are a million ways to do this anyway, and personal prefence holds the biggest sway.

i hope marty nachel (for he is the author) doesnt read this and start sending me nasty e-mails...

[JayM72]

If you're using 2 can 'premium' kits then you don't need to add any further sugar with the exception of the 1/2 teaspoon per bottle prior to bottling for priming purposes. The kit you have is only a single can so you need to add some other form of fementable ingredients to your brew

[The Home Brew Shop]

The cooper caps are reusable for a few brews, replacements are avaible, just cut of the anti-tamper thing

Coopers are good kits for staters, the coopers starter kit is great as it has everthing and a DVD

Yes, dont use normal suagr for beer, use Brewing sugar instead
or you can mix and match brewing sugar, spraymalt etc.

DONT put it in a airing cupboard to ferment
Coopers do beer enhancers which is basicly brewing sugar and malt extract

if ever stuck just ask,, thats what we are here for

AS for book you can get 10 books and all 10 will tell you a diffent way to do things
always treat a book as a guide and not a manual

You will find once you have a few kits under your belt,, you will learn things and chop and change things to get the beer even better
you might find you like all MALT or may wish to add extra hops

Adrian
The home brew shop

[ghostofmonkeypaws]

hello all, just an update on how my brew went.

first of all, thanks for the great advice everyone gave, it proved very useful when things became a little confusing.

now, my brew was a success, but only a limited one. it was tasty, but had no head once it had conditioned. i reckon this was because i used those reseal cap doo-dahs that that very nice adrian for the-home-brew-shop told me not to use... you were right! i opened one after one week of conditioning to see what the difference would be after two (and also because im very impatient) and it poured with a head and i was very pleased. in fact, i was so excited i shared another with my brother (youll all be thinking 'why are you wasting it you newbie?!'). then like i say it kind of failed after that. not being a wasteful person i still drank most of it and still have a few to drink.

my next kit is a samson newkie brown and to this im going to add some medium dme and a little dark brown sugar. ill start a new thread and tell you all how it goes. id have rather tried another coopers real ale, but with the birthday coming up, father dearest bought that so complain i will not.

again, thanks for the advice everyone, i thought id better be grateful as im sure ill be back and asking loads more rookie questions!