Questions about using Coopers beer kit

[ApfelwineNerd]

Gday all,
I am a massive fan of apfelwine, and has been the main thing I've been brewing with much success. I'm a sucker for punishment though, so I decided to branch out and dip my toes into beer brewing.
I bought a Coopers dark ale kit from my local store, and I think the instructions must have gotten lost somewhere along the way, so I've got a few questions.

1)Do I need to add sugar? If so, just corn sugar or can I use brown sugar for the molasses taste?

2)Once I've added everything together and set up the airlock and that, about how long will it take to finish fermentation? I heard that the Coopers yeast is very aggressive, and can be done in 2-3 days, but also heard of people leaving their brews for 2-3 weeks before bottling.

3) In the actual bottling process, how do I make sure I only get beer in my bottles and not any wort or yeast? Run it through a filter or something like that?

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[schmurf]

I recommend to have a look at youtube, several videos/reviews/guides how to brew extract kits like this.

 

[RM-MN]

While the fermentation may be finished quickly the beer will be all stirred up and murky from the yeast activity. I'd rather not drink murky beer so I wait longer. Most varieties of beer need some maturing time too so leaving it in the fermenter or bottling early and leaving it sit in the bottle gets you good beer in about the same amount of time but bottling early also gets a lot of the stirred up sediments into the bottle. I prefer to leave those sediments in the fermenter.

You may read about leaving the beer in the fermenter for 2 or 3 weeks. That seems to always make better beer than rushing to bottle. When it is time to bottle as verified by using your hydrometer and getting identical readings for at least 2 days in a row, use a racking cane or better yet, an autosiphon. Your trub (yeast and proteins that you don't want in your beer) will be settled to the bottom of the fermenter and the little cap on the bottom of the racking cane will let you siphon beer from above the trub. There will be no wort to worry about, the yeast will have turned all of that into beer.

 

[dwhite60]

There is the 2+2+2 rule.

2 weeks fermenter
2 weeks cabonate
2 weeks to condition

The Cooper's yeast like any other can stall before reaching final gravity. After ten days you need to check the gravity with a hydrometer, and again three days later, to make sure it's done or close.

RM-MN posted some great information.

All the Best,
D. White