Coopers Real Ale First Time Brew

[WmReign]

I have Coopers Real Ale 1.75 and 1 Kg of Beer enhancer 2. Is this all the ingredients I need to brew? 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Pretty much, just keep the fermentation temp around 20 degrees and it should turn out well.

[WmReign]

Thanks for the reply, I was just looking at doing a basic, classic Real Ale and then experiment from there.

[Marty_G]

1 minute ago, WmReign said:

Thanks for the reply, I was just looking at doing a basic, classic Real Ale and then experiment from there.

Well that is the one to use ... there are a few of us here who think it is the best base kit. It makes good beer with what you are using and makes wonderful beer when the used with, temperature control, specialty yeast and hop additions ... thing is just using as you propose it still comes out great  ...  another one to try if you like the traditional  real ale type of beers is the English Bitter it is also a great base ... 

[WmReign]

English bitter was on my radar, thanks for the tip.

What about water?  Filtered with zero water filter, Bottled water, Tap (concern about Chlorine) or distilled?

 

[Lab Cat]

If you can drink it from your tap, it's fine.

Quite a few on here are doing some brews with the Real ale, I've done a couple already. It worked well with a tin of light malt as the fermentable ingredient, but the enhancer will be ok. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Yeah, unless your tap water is absolutely crap, it will be fine to brew with. The only thing that may cause an issue is the chlorine but generally it's not in high enough levels in tap water.

[WmReign]

Looking up articles on local water and bottled water, figured why not see what I’m drinking anyways. It’s not looking good. Makes me want to stay away from water all together! Bad rabbit hole I just went down. Now I’m undecided on what I will drink let alone brew, lol 

back to brewing, I’m gathering that distilled water is a big no, My filtered water is almost as bad to brew with and my tap is concerning with the local water report and articles found.

Bottled spring water seams like the way to go, I’m looking into something that’s low ph and high minerals, cheap off the shelf jugs for consistency 

[Otto Von Blotto]

It really doesn't matter what the pH or mineral content is when you are making kits. The minerals used in the water when the kit was originally made will still be there.

What exactly is wrong with the tap water?

[Malter White]

17 hours ago, WmReign said:

What about water?  Filtered with zero water filter, Bottled water, Tap (concern about Chlorine) or distilled?

 

If you have a water filter fitted, by all means use filtered water but regular tap water is fine. I'm from Adelaide so a water filter is virtually a necessity. Our water is drinkable but it has "flavour" and not a nice flavour.

Watch this video if you haven't already . It's possibly the best 7 minutes of your brewing life, aside from drinking beer.  

https://www.diybeer.com/au/brewing-support

Edited September 4, 2019 by MUZZY

[Marty_G]

10 hours ago, WmReign said:

I’m looking into something that’s low ph

You have confused me a bit exactly what do you mean by low pH of the water ?  

[WmReign]

On 9/4/2019 at 5:22 PM, Otto Von Blotto said:

It really doesn't matter what the pH or mineral content is when you are making kits. The minerals used in the water when the kit was originally made will still be there.

What exactly is wrong with the tap water?

Thanks for all your reply’s and helpful input. 

After researching more i have found I was heading in the wrong direction. Just like you mentioned all the minerals and balancing is done already in the extract. The only thing they removed was the H2O. 

I have some concerns about my tap water and need to look. Looking at my local ware report said nothing about PH but there is iridium and 1.5 ppm of Chl. I’m a pool guy by trade so I know the basics. I tested my tap after I ran it through the zero filter and the PH dropped to the floor, 10 on Alk. This just has me on a daily consumption basis asking questions if I could do better. 

Thanks for the video link Muzzy, enjoying all the videos on DIY beer

On 9/4/2019 at 8:35 PM, MartyG1525230263 said:

You have confused me a bit exactly what do you mean by low pH of the water ?  

I was getting mixed up with all grain and extract brewing. As a beginner brewing water is not a place to start lol but as a pool guy learning how to brew water would be beneficial and fun when I get into grain brews. 

From what I understand all I’m doing is rehydrating the wort. So I’m going to go with Distilled water. It’s cheap and is a blank slate moving forward with experimenting.

 

I also live 2 miles away from a 40 year old nuclear power plant that was built on a fault line owned by big energy exelon. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with the water but would be smart just to be safe and do some research 

[Otto Von Blotto]

I'd think any potentially dangerous chemicals in the water would only be there in trace amounts and as such nothing to worry about. Some of these articles make it sound like there's a cocktail of crap in the water that's going to kill you or give you a variety of diseases or something, but completely fail to mention how small the amounts of such things are. Most of them are in ppb, not even ppm. 

Chlorine can affect beer flavour, so I don't blame anyone wanting to remove that from brewing water, it's a good idea. I brew from grain now, and I use distilled water for most batches so I can make up water profiles from scratch to suit different styles. I have a small still to make it, although it's just crapped itself so I'll replace it soon. 

[Marty_G]

5 hours ago, WmReign said:

From what I understand all I’m doing is rehydrating the wort. So I’m going to go with Distilled water.

I use rain water, it is neutral and soft so makes great beer ... my son in-law who makes similar brews to me uses town water and he can really taste the difference ... he thinks i have a secret process or uses addition that i don't tell him about he doesn't believe that it is just the water ...