General kit advice and seeking words of wisdom

[martindisorder]

Im really new to home brewing and have currently got my second batch a coopers Mexican cerveza conditioning in a keg. (Fingers crossed it comes out ok) my first attempt was a youngs larger kit and it came out ok but I ended up pouring most away as it just wasn't that enjoyable.
Im planning to do an IPA next and was hoping someone could recommend a good kit to use and advise me on how to get the most out of it.

My usual method is to boil 4 pints of water and mix in the brewers sugar and can contents transfer that into a FV then top up with water to 23ltrs aiming for it to be about 20ºc add yeast the seal on lid with air lock attached and place in a water bath temp controlled by a fish tank heater until fermenting is complete. I would then siphon off into a keg with priming sugar and leave warm for 3 days then cool for a couple of weeks to a month befpre drinking. (I sterilize everything) .

Is this the best way to go about brewing from kit or can you advise me how to get better results?

Thanks in advance

 

[mackenziemicro]

One of my first brews was a coopers IPA with 1.5kg of LDME and 454g of lyles golden syrup. Did 30 min boil think I used about 4 litres of water dissolved the DME brought to boil added 15g cascade at 30 minutes and 15 minutes then added the syrup at flame out transferred to primary and topped up using cold water to 23 litres... Used Safale uS05 rather than the kit yeast..... It was probably the best kit I did.... Welcome to the obsession!!! Kits are great fun and easy way to start consider getting some speciality grains like Crystal 60 and steaping them to add body and head retention...


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[martindisorder]

Thanks could you advise me more about the steeping like when to do it and how or could you link me to a good site to learn please. Is there a general rule for how much DME/sugar to use with a kit beer in place of the suggested 1KG of brewers sugar.

 

[mackenziemicro]

Obviously should have said to mix kit after the boil!! Don't boil hopped extract.... I learnt all the basics from watching U tube clips check out Craig's tube on there it's really great for beginners and he's always so calm when brewing!!

Steeping grains is easy as... Get a mashing bag or you can just use a muslin bag... I only used to add maybe 200-250g crystal to kits... You can buy it crushed or uncrushed.. It's best to be crushed just before you steep... If you want to crush your own you can start off by using a rolling pin to crush grains in a ziplock... Not easy so either by a grain mill or buy them crushed... Bring your water to about 160 degrees, switch off the heat pop your bag of crushed grains into the water and leave for 30-45 minutes... Remove bag let it drain but don't squeeze you can spare with hot water then you can add your DME boil add your hops etc... Seriously check out the u tube vids by Craig... It's how I started....


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[TimmyWit]

In addition to the youtube videos, check out this site:

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

 

[mackenziemicro]

As to your question on Sugars and DME... dextrose I believe is fully fermentable so it gives you quite a dry thin beer especially in a Kit and Kilo recipe... I reckon but may be wrong that Dry Malt Extract doesn't fully ferment out so you get a fuller bodied beer and better head retention.. I would imagine 1.5 kg DME would give you about the same OG with a coopers kit as a kilo of Brewing sugar... Also check out the coopers website they give some good kit recipe ideas...


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[martindisorder]

Thanks alot looking forward to trying these techniques out

 

[CanAusBrewer]

In addition to the youtube videos, check out this site:

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

+1

You may as well bookmark John Palmer's site because it is the best resource I have found for free, with basically everything you would want to know about the basics of brewing beer.

I tried out a couple kits and had satisfactory results, however I am not sure how much of that was related to my inexperience or the quality of pre-hopped kits. One thing that I have found makes great beer and was my transition into extract brewing involved brewing with a pre-hopped kit and a can of wheat liquid malt extract (LME).

I have made a batch for example, with one 1.5 kg Cooper's Sparkling Ale kit and a can of Cooper's Wheat LME. You brew it the exact same way you have been making kits. If you want it to go the next step, you could purchase a couple hop teabags of Cascade perhaps and add them to the fermenter (after sterilising the bag in boiled water) for the last 7 days of the ferment. This will give your beer a nice hop aroma associated with craft beers.

After that, the logical transition would be to extract recipes, where you do pretty much the same as you have been doing, but boiling the extract and some water for an hour and adding hops. You can make some really great beers this way!

 

[CanAusBrewer]

Also, watch what you say about Craigtube . There is a lot of snobbery over the amateurism of his methods oh this forum. Personally I think those videos were great when I did my first batch and made it easy to understand.

 

[unionrdr]

Check out my recipes for ideas about using Cooper's cans with DME,hops,etc. That should answer some questions. I've got more recipes,but they're more like pb/pm biab.

 

[Kirkwooder]

You found the best place to get good brewing advise, THIS site is great. Just ask, and someone will answer.

If you like the coopers kits, try one of their IPA's. I would, however, throw out the instructions and follow the simple advise you will find posted everywhere here. Try a good quality yeast instead of the coopers, one yeast fits all kits yeast. Ferment their IPA with a us-05 or similar, at proper temps and you will end up with a good home brewed first IPA. Check out the recipe forum on this site for several recipes for IPA's as well as almost any other beer you may have an inkling to brew.

Welcome to the insanity!