Hello from a newbie in So California

[Wavery]

Hi,

My name is Wayne and I just found your forum through a google search for beer brewing..

I lived on my sailboat (Passport 45 ketch) for 14 years while traveling around the world (twice). While in New Zealand and Australia (in 1995) I learned to brew beer with the (very common) Cooper's Beer. I probably made about 10, 20 liter batches in the following 3-4 years. I haven't brewed since 1998 and have forgotten most of it.

A few days ago a neighbor gave me a "MrBeer" that was given to him as a gift. I figured, "What can it hurt".....yesterday, I followed the instructions to the letter, which seemed different from what I did with the Cooper's Beer kit. Anyway, I have the 10 liter "Keg" in a cabinet in my kitchen and it seems to be progressing well.

I plan on just leaving it in the cabinet (my home stays @ 73*) for 2 weeks before bottling. The instructions tell me "Add 2 1/2 teaspoons of white granulated sugar to each 1 liter bottle" then fill from the keg......

After reading several posts on this forum, I have learned that white granulated sugar is not the best sugar to use. I'd like some tips on what I should use instead.

I do plan to get a 6G glass jug if I can find one with a large mouth and a way to install a spigot. I used to love the Cooper's Beer kits that I purchased in Australia and I seem to remember that I added like 4 cups of sugar to a 23 liter batch to create the wort...... I may be mistaken, my memory isn't that great and it's been a long time.

Thanks for reading. I hope to be an active member as I progress through the process of making "Real Beer"....... I'd like to obtain my last brewing tools 1st and avoid all of the steps that I have read about so I'll probably just keep reading for awhile...

 

[unionrdr]

Many of us brew in the food grade buckets made for this purpose. Here's an example of a starter kit that shows the atypical stuff; http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brewing-basics-equipment-kit.html
The buckets big opening allows easier access than carboys or Better Bottles. I have this strainer that fits over them to strain & aerate chilled wort into the fermenter; http://www.midwestsupplies.com/stainless-steel-strainer-10-1-4-diameter.html
But be carefull, since over the course of time you could wind up something like this;

The Cooper's kits used 500g (1/2 kilo) of dextrose in their typical recipe kits. I use dextrose to bulk prime my batches in a bottling bucket. The priming sugar has to be weighed. Here's a priming calculator to prime to style; http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

 

[Cyclman]

Here's a video on how to turn Mr. Beer into great stuff: http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=january-7-2012-doctoring-mr-beer

Welcome to the group, and the hobby, from Colorado.

 

[indyfansd]

where in socal are you? im in san diego

 

[Wavery]

Thanks so much for your kind responses.

We are retired in Northern San Diego County.

I'm still not sure what to use as a sugar substitute for bottling my 1st brew here...... ............... I'm getting a little dizzy from reading so many posts....

 

[frettfreak]

You almost couldnt be in a better spot for craft beer or making beer in general. I am about 2 hours from SD, but go down there a bit. If you like good craft brew, you should check out some of the Breweries around there. Pretty amazing.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

 

[unionrdr]

Thanks so much for your kind responses.

We are retired in Northern San Diego County.

I'm still not sure what to use as a sugar substitute for bottling my 1st brew here...... ............... I'm getting a little dizzy from reading so many posts....

Just use dextrose (corn sugar) or sucrose (table sugar). Here's a priming calculator that goes by weight, as most of them do; http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

 

[Wavery]

Just use dextrose (corn sugar) or sucrose (table sugar). Here's a priming calculator that goes by weight, as most of them do; http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

I thought that there was something taboo about using plain old table sugar....

That's what I used, years ago, in Australia when I made Coopser's Beer. Never had a bad batch. Then I start reading these threads and it sorta seems like you almost have to be a chemist..

 

[unionrdr]

It was thought that sucrose caused the sour apple/cider-like flavor. but it's actually caused by acetaldehyde, a compound naturally produced as a by-product of fermentation. In higher PPM's, it can be sensed. Usually by high initial fermentation temps.

 

[dkevinb]

Welcome! I live in Orange County. We're practically neighbors.

I went through the Beer Machine and Mr. Beer kits. Not a bad way to start, but it's pretty easy to get better ingredients even if you still want to use the same Little Brown Keg as a fermenter. Nothing wrong with using table sugar for priming. That's what I usually use. I wouldn't use a lot of any kind of sugar (or too much of the Mr. Beer "booster") as a fermentable, but for priming it's fine. If it bugs you the standard is to use corn sugar, but I'll bet you money you can't tell the difference.

 

[Wavery]

Welcome! I live in Orange County. We're practically neighbors.

I went through the Beer Machine and Mr. Beer kits. Not a bad way to start, but it's pretty easy to get better ingredients even if you still want to use the same Little Brown Keg as a fermenter. Nothing wrong with using table sugar for priming. That's what I usually use. I wouldn't use a lot of any kind of sugar (or too much of the Mr. Beer "booster") as a fermentable, but for priming it's fine. If it bugs you the standard is to use corn sugar, but I'll bet you money you can't tell the difference.

Thanks....... my 1st brew should be ready to bottle in a few days....

I just came by a Cooper's Kit and another MrBeer keg...... As soon as this is done, I'm going to try to split the Coopers in half and put half in each keg.
What's the best way to spit the ingredients and yeast in half? How precise do the measurements need to be?

 

[dkevinb]

Measurements don't have to be terribly precise. This is beer, not rocket surgery. My only caveat would be to not exceed the 8.5 quart line on the Mr. Beer keg. Many people here will say it's OK, but the two times I've done it it almost blew up. You're better off making a little bit smaller batch of a little bit stronger beer.

I'm not familiar with the Cooper's kits. If it's just liquid malt extract I'd just split everything in half. A cheapo digital kitchen scale would be a help. Otherwise I'd just do, "One for you, and one for you."

I would recommend browsing the Mr. Beer thread. By this time it's huge, but there's some good information in there. In general I would recommend waiting 2 weeks before bottling, then waiting another 2 weeks before drinking. The Mr. Beer instructions, and most of the kit instructions, tend to emphasize how quickly you can make beer. Patience makes better beer.

 

[Wavery]

Measurements don't have to be terribly precise. This is beer, not rocket surgery. My only caveat would be to not exceed the 8.5 quart line on the Mr. Beer keg. Many people here will say it's OK, but the two times I've done it it almost blew up. You're better off making a little bit smaller batch of a little bit stronger beer.

I'm not familiar with the Cooper's kits. If it's just liquid malt extract I'd just split everything in half. A cheapo digital kitchen scale would be a help. Otherwise I'd just do, "One for you, and one for you."

I would recommend browsing the Mr. Beer thread. By this time it's huge, but there's some good information in there. In general I would recommend waiting 2 weeks before bottling, then waiting another 2 weeks before drinking. The Mr. Beer instructions, and most of the kit instructions, tend to emphasize how quickly you can make beer. Patience makes better beer.

Thanks for the help...... I put my 1st brew in on the 13th and I plan to bottle it on the 23rd (10 days) maybe I'll wait 2 weeks. I figure that I will leave the bottled beer at room temp for a couple weeks than put it in the fridge for a week before drinking.

Cooper's is canned liquid, just like MrBeer only it's a bigger can. I think I'll do the same with that.

When making this 1st batch, I forgot to refrigerate the water 1st (as per instructions). Then I realized the reason for cooling the water is because instructions had me warm the can of ingredients to liquify it. SOOOOOO..... I added ice to the water to cool it down. After thinking about it, I hope that I didn't contaminate the water with bacteria. I know that ice can have a lot of bacteria in it. Am I over-thinking this again??

 

[unionrdr]

Normally, the ice bath is for chilling down the hot kettle of wort. I've used a lot of Cooper's, but in my SS brew kettle. so I chill it down close to pitch temp, strain into fermenter & top off with chilled water to 65F or so. Then pitch the yeast.