Need advice on my first batch

I have all the ingredients for my first batch and want to be sure I understand everything.

I bought the light Black Rock (NZ) malt extract. I bought all my supplies seperate and did not buy a kit.

The instructions off the net said to boil 7 litres of water and then add the extract and let it cook for 20 minutes. I am then suppose to add 6 cups of white sugar or 8 cups of corn sugar and I've elected to go with the corn sugar. As soon as the sugar has dissolved, I am going to splash pour it into 10litres of cold water in the carboy. I am then suppose to top it off with about ten more litres of cold water and add the packet of yeast. Is this too much cold water to add? I am asking as it did not say a specific amount.

I am then going to place a lid on top loosely and store it in a room at room temperature. I do have a hydrometer (hoping for a 1.010-1.015 reading) to check and the beer should be ready for bottling in about 10 days.

I am going to use 2 litre plastic bottles. Should I refrigerate all after bottling or is it OK to leave at room temp?

Thanks for your help.

Not familiar with the recipe or extract so can't help you there, but I can tell you that storing your bottles at room temp will be fine.. BTW, how much extract is in the recipe? 3.3 lb?

I think we need more information. It looks like you're going to use 7+10+10 27 litres. In real measure 19 litres is about 5 gal. so I'm thinking your top off should be 1 or 2 litres.

However I don't know how big you batch is intended to be so I could be all wet. Also I don't know how much extract etc. so I could be wrong.

When do you add hops? Is the extract hopped?

If the extract is hopped I guess the general steps look okay. Otherwise, you have to figure out where they go and perhaps boil longer.

Cool the wort before you splash it much.
The SG readings look more like final gravity than original.

Keep bottles at room temperature at first to aid carbonation, then cool.

So, summarizing, I need more information to tell you if you have this figured out correctly.

Regards.

If you can post a recipe that you are trying to use, it would be easier to give you advice. Please take no offense to this, but from the post it sounds like you are throwing stuff together and hoping for beer. Post a recipe, or what ingriedients you have, and Im absolutely positive there will be people more than glad to help. Hope it turns out good nonetheless.

I did a little research, and that black rock kit is 1.7KG. If I'm right, you will be adding approx. 1kg of corn sugar to your batch of beer. If you hit your og-fg marks, you will have a beer that is at 3.2% ABV which is fine for a session beer. However, assuming that all this is correct, tasty-brew recipe calculation says that you are using 35% sugar. This will probably make your beer very thin, and not very tasty. I'm not against using corn sugar, or cane sugar, but I believe in keeping the sugar under 15% when its called for in the style, like an ESB. My advice is to replace 4 cups of corn sugar with 2lb of light liquid malt extract.

% Weight Weight (lbs) Grain Gravity Points Color
55.2 % 3.70 Amber Malt Extract Syrup 20.0 6.7
14.9 % 1.00 Corn Sugar 6.9 0.0
29.9 % 2.00 Light Malt Extract Syrup 10.2 0.8
6.70 37.1

Thanks for the quick replies.

The Black Rock malt extract is a 1.5kg (3.3#) can and does not say 'pre hopped' on it. The beer making store employee told me I had everything to make the beer and did not mention hops to me. Do I have to make a trip back to the store for hops???

Here are the instructions that I read on the internet:

Brew
1. Pour 10 liters of fresh, cold water into the 10 gallon plastic pail (carboy). If the pail is new, wash it out first with a mixture of water and baking soda to remove the plastic smell.
2. In your largest pot, bring 7 liters of water to a boil.
3. Add one can of malt extract. Stir and cook uncovered for 20 minutes.
4. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
5. As soon as the sugar is dissolved, pour contents into the carboy. Pour, or 'splash', the contents quickly, which adds air to the mixture. The more air the yeast get initially, the better. It allows them to rapidly grow and get things going.
6. Top up with bottled drinking water or tapwater until temperature is neutral. (If using tapwater, it is recommended to boil first to kill bacteria, or use an ultraviolet light water filter.) Test using a clean, sanitized thermometer. The carboy will now be a little more than half full.
7. Sprinkle in the yeast, and stir well. Cover with lid. (Set lid on loosely; if capped too tightly, a carboy can explode from the carbon dioxide gas that is produced.)
Keep covered and avoid unnecessary opening. The beer will be ready to bottle in 6- 10 days, depending on ambient temperature of the room and amount of sugar used in the brewing. Room temperature should be 20-24 Celsius at the highest; 16-20 Celsius is better but it will take the beer a day or two longer to ferment.

Test for readiness with a hydrometer. Set hydrometer into the beer and spin it once to release bubbles which cling to it and give a false reading. The "ready to bottle" reading should be about 1.008 for dark beers and 1.010-1.015 for light beers. If you don't have a hydrometer, you can judge readiness by tasting a sample - it should not be sweet tasting. There should be little or no bubbling action in the beer.

Bottle
Set the carboy on a sturdy table and the 12 2-liter bottles on the floor, with newspaper underneath to catch drips or overflows. Using a funnel, put 2 level teaspoons of sugar in each bottle.

Siphon the beer into the bottles, trying not to disturb the sediment on the bottom of the carboy. (One method is to tape a plastic straw alongside the bottom end of the siphon hose with 1" projecting beyond the end. The tip of the straw can touch the bottom of the carboy without the siphon drawing up sediment.) Tip the carboy as you near the bottom.
It is important to not splash or agitate the beer too much when bottling as any oxygen introduced can lead to oxidation and a “cardboard” taste.

As you fill the bottles, keep the end of the siphon tube near the bottom of the bottle to avoid frothing. It is essential that the bottles ar not completely filled - leave an airspace. Screw the caps on tightly. Invert each bottle and shake to dissolve sugar on the bottom. Set bottles in a warm area for the first few days, then store in a dark, cool spot. You can drink the beer within a few days of bottling, but it will improve with age.
.........................

I wanted beer that would be around the 5% alcohol mark. Is it the sugar content that determines the strength?

Thanks again.

you will definitely want to add hops or it won't taste much like beer - it will be sweet and yeasty. bittering hops added early in the boil, finishing hops added in the last 5 minutes. most folks use an airlock to allow gases to escape carboy while preventing anything from getting inside to contaminate beer. I don't like the idea of laying something on top.