Beginner questions.... almost ready to brew

[NecroE]

Hi folks -
so, my first set of beer brewing equipment (Brewsmarter Premium) arrived today, and with it a Coopers Canadian Blonde beer kit. So far so good, I've spent the last few weeks watching videos and reading about it and now..... I realise there's some blindingly obvious things I never considered.

So if I could, I'd like to pose some newcomer questions....

1. Water
Am I better going with plain tap water, treated tapwater (using campden powder), or getting a few of those big bottles of supermarket own-brand water?

2. Creating the Wort
In some videos, I've seen people boiling their water in a stockpot, adding the extract, mixing, leaving for a while, then cooling with a coil or ice bath before adding to the FV.
In others, I've seen them boiling the water in a pot, then adding it direct to the FV, stirring in the extract, then adding cold water to bring down the temperature and the brew up to volume.

Does it matter which method I use (bearing in mind I'm starting with a Coopers kit)?

3. Improving the kit
Now that everything has arrived, I'm champing at the bit to get started. Except, now I notice that Coopers recommend using their 'brew enhancer' to improve the beer.
Bugger.
Is it worth me waiting and ordering the enhancer? I already have brewing sugar (rather than household sugar), would I get that much of a difference with the enhancer?
On a side note, I have a local shop which stocks the Muntons Beer enhancer - would it do the same job?
By the same token, should I be getting spraymalt or Malt extract instead of the brewing sugar?


All in all, am I just making things overly complicated for myself, or are any of these things which I (as a beginner) will actually benefit from?

Many thanks in advance

[thaibeer]

Im a beginner. But i can highly recommend using brew enhancer or spray malt.

[thedeckking]

1) What water you use depends on what your tap water's like. If you have hard water or any funny taste/residues in your tap water then go for cheap supermarket bottles instead.

2) With a coopers kit, you can just pour the kit into the FV then add around 3 litres of boiled water from the kettle. After emptying the can I fill it with boiled water to help get all the contents out. Give it a really good stir (I use a balloon whisk, but I know others use a power drill with a mixer on the end. Once the kit is disolved, chuch in the fermentables and mix these in too. Top up with cold water and you should have got to around the right temp.

3) Using beer enhancer (most brands are the same) will give you a better flavour. Enhancer is just brewing sugar and Dried Malt Extract DME mixed 50-50. There's nothing wrong with just using brewing sugar, I'd say do this brew with sugar and the next with enhancer, then you'll get to see the difference for yourself.

Keep thing simple for now, you can start experimenting once you've got a few kits under your belt

[mrmojorisin]

i would suggest brewing what you've got, do as per the instructions though brewing slightly short (20-21l) won't hurt. that way you have a base line from which to build and you are starting with the basic set up so minimal difficulties. get another brew on asap and learn and develop as you go.

[Ditch]

Keep thing simple for now, you can start experimenting once you've got a few kits under your belt

This.

get another brew on asap and learn and develop as you go.

And this. Much else, right now, would be superfluous and just wreck ye head. And, yeah; 20 L brews too. Always

[mikeyt]

My method, by no means exclusive, is as follows:

Sterilise everything to the max, and rinse well.

In a seperate 25 litre bucket (with tap fitted at the bottom), fill up with tap water, add half a crushed camden tablet, stir and leave until needed.

Using my trusty kettle (1.7 litres) boil, and pour into a pan in which I stand the Coopers (other brands are available) can. Leave until needed.

Boil the kettle again, empty into another saucepan, add the sugar to dissolve and boil for 5 mins. Note that it I am using spraymalt, this is notoriously difficult to get into hot water so I slowly add it all to cold boiled water in the saucepan, before cranking up the heat and boiling this for 5 mins.

Add this sugar / spraymalt solution to the FV.

Open up the can of Coopers and tip the contents into the FV. Boil the kettle again, and pour the boiling water into the empty Coopers can.

Start to stir the thick malt extract into the liquid and try to get it as mixed in as possible. After 5 minutes, add the boiling water from the can, which will basically get the ramaining malt extract from out of the can. Continue to stir and mix it all in well.

The bucket with the treated water sits on my kitchen work top, with the tap hanging over the side. My FV sits on the floor directly beneath. I open the tap, let the water drop into the FV and continue to stir - the water dropping from such a height aerates it, and aerates the wort when causing all the splashing! Continue to stir. You get a fair bit of froth on the surface, so stop just short of your final required volume - some of the froth will later settle back down into the liquid.

Stir for a further 5 mins, or as long as your arm can - I use a kitchen whisk, elbow grease, and generally last the length of one song on the radio - so probably more like 3 minutes!

Take a sample of the wort into a 100ml measuring cylinder to check both temperature and SG. The temperature should be in the region of 25'C-30'C I think, and if I'm happy with the SG I pitch my yeast, put the FV under the stairs with an airlock and leave.

Then clean up before the wife comes home!!

[NecroE]

Thanks guys - that helps a lot.

I've decided to use bottled water for now - basically I have it, and while I don't think there's anything 'wrong' with my tap water I just don't feel like risking it at this stage. Plus, I don't have an extra bin or camden yet. But I'll pick some up next week, basically to try.
I'll just stick with the brewers sugar for this one - again, because it's what I have and I'm probably better keeping it simple for my first one. Assuming I don't screw up the sterilisation, I'm looking forward to it.

But I'm curious as to why the recommendation to drop to 20 litres rather than the expected 25 or so?

Does it influence the flavor of the brew, ferment faster or what? Or is it for practical reasons, like if I screw up there's simply less to dump?

Also, if I decrease the volume of water, should I decrease the amount of brewing sugar I use as well, or just stick with the same recipe?

[simco999]

People brew kits to 20 L or less to improve the strength and flavour.

If you decrease the volume use the same amount of DME etc.

If everything is sanitised you will make beer.

[Monkeybrew]

Dont make the same mistake that I did with my first ever Wherry brew.

40 pint kits are brewed to 23L as standard and not 25L as you mention above.

I mistakenly brewed my Wherry to 25L for some unknown reason!

I would personally just brew your first kit to 23L with the fermentables that you mention, and use it as a base to build on as you gain knowledge and confidence.

As long as you pay attention to sanitation and good rinsing, be methodical and you will make some decent beer

Welcome along to a very addictive hobby!

[NecroE]

Thanks again guys, that gives me a bit more confidence going forward rather than second-guessing myself and trying to make the 'perfect' choices first time.

Another question, if you don't mind.

Bottling. Not how to, but what in.
Over the last number of months I've been saving up Glass beer bottles, brown/dark glass, 500ml and fairly heavy - think of the Hopgoblin bottles for example. I have probably about 30 of them at this point.
I also got 40 of the PET Ox-Bar bottles with my equipment.

I've been trying craft ales for a few years now, and I always thought that the standard wisdom was that glass was best for preserving the beer, brown glass better than others for preventing skunking.

Also, Beer from a plastic bottle just seems wrong.

Now however, I find these PET Ox-Bar bottles, which are obviously more convenient and claim to preserve the brew better since they actively draw out Oxygen.
But still, they're, y'know, plastic.

I realise that I sound like a bottle snob, but what's other peoples experiences with the PET Ox-bar bottles?

[Yeasty Rob]

Those PET bottles are fine. I got them in a kit I bought a year or so ago and still use them for short term storage. They will outlast normal PET bottles, but still not great for long long term.

However, for longer term I bought four crates of 12 x Grolsch from my local Makro. They were the same price as homebrew shops sell empty flip top bottles for, and I had some fun emptying them with a few mates

Glass is much better and I've kept beers in the garage over 6 months and its been lovely when I've opened it, really nicely matured.

[Cully]

A caveat for swing top bottles; I used bernard dark ones for a coopers lager and dunno if I slightly overprimed one, but it came of with such force on opening it the plastic/ceramic stopper bit flew off the metal cradle and put a dent in the wall next to the kitchen window. If it had hit the glass it would have probably continued on and knocked some poor passing punter out in the street!

Hobgoblin bottles are hard to cap if you dont have a bench mounted capper, I believe. I found that magners/Bulmers cider bottles and Timothy Taylor landlord ones about the best all rounders.

[NecroE]

[quote="Cully"]
Hobgoblin bottles are hard to cap if you dont have a bench mounted capper, I believe. I found that magners/Bulmers cider bottles and Timothy Taylor landlord ones about the best all rounders.[/quote]

Well that's annoying - I love the wychwood brewery stuff so I have a fair few of their bottles. Guess I'll try capping one or two sooner rather than later so I'm prepared.

I'll probably end up bottling half in the PET and half in the glass bottles, just to compare.

[Monkeybrew]

Lurking around supermarket glass recycling areas at weekends can be quite fruitful.

Also chat up your local and see if they will let you have some of thier empties.

There is something satisfying about flipping the crown cap off of a glass bottle of your own brew