A few newbie questions for my first ever brew

[Grezzo]

Hi all,

 

My parents got me the Coopers starter kit for Christmas which was nice, and I can't wait to start my first ever brew, but I am not 100% clear on a few things, and I want to make sure I have this completely right in my head before I start.

 

I have read a few posts trying to figure out for myself, but I couldn't find the answers to all my questions.

 

1. I have the English Bitter tin and Brew Enhancer 1. The English bitter tin says "We recommend mixing 500g of Coopers Light Dry Malt with this product". As I don't have that, should I just use 500g of the 1kg of Brew Enhancer that the kit came with?

2. What is malt? Is it just another type of food for the yeast like sugar or brew enhancer?

3. The kit came with no sterilizer, and the instructions say just to wash it in warm water for the first use. Is that risky, or should I buy some sterilizer or use watered down bleach (toilet bleach?) to be safe?

4. I read something about people putting olive oil on the tap rubber. Is that really necessary on new kit? I guess I don't want to get this one wrong as it's not going to be easy to put olive oil on it once it has a brew going.

5. Is the krausen collar just to make the kit easy to clean, or does it server some other purpose like a crude airlock?

6. The kit came with clips to hold the lid on if the fermentation is too vigorous. If I use these then how does the gas escape? It must have to lift the collar with the lid in that situation. Is that right?

 

Any advice would be appreciated

 

Cheers

 

Graeme

[Hairy]

Welcome to the world of Homebrewing Graeme!

 

I will try to answer a couple of your questions:

 

1. English Bitter kit. If you must, use the whole 1kg of BE1. But I think you will be wasting that kit. Get yourself some Light Dry Malt; I would use 1kg.

 

2. Malt is a sugar extracted from grains and is another food source the yeast. It will leave some residual sweetness in your beer.

 

3. You will probably get away with rinsing the first time but to be safe get yourself some no rinse sanitiser like starsan or iodophor. You can use diluted bleach if you have it; just make sure you rinse that.

 

4. The olive oil isn't essential. Some people on here have never had a leaky tap problem but some have.

 

5. The krausen collar gives you extra head space and then makes it easier to clean.

 

6. Don't worry. The gas gets out [rightful]

 

Hopefully this helped a little.

[Grezzo]

Hi Hairy, thanks for the advice.

 

I think I'll properly sanitise just to be safe.

 

So i think I understand that using malt instead of BE1 it will be slightly sweeter due to more unfermentable sugars, but why would you suggest twice the recommended amount of sugars? Is that to make it even sweeter, or more alcoholic?

 

Cheers

 

Graeme

[jasond4]

I agree with Hairy on using 1kg of malt instead of 500 gms.

The English bitter is a bit lacking in body and alcohol with just half a kilo of malt. But if your budget cant stretch to buying 1kg of malt ,get half a kilo and use half the box of BE1. So your recipe would read as:

 

English Bitter Can

500gms light dried malt(LDM)

500gms BE1

Kit yeast.

Keep the other half of the BE1 for another brew and mix that with another half kilo of LDM

 

Good luck and happy brewing[happy]

[Hairy]

but why would you suggest twice the recommended amount of sugars? Is that to make it even sweeter' date=' or more alcoholic[/quote']

The 'recommended sugar' is only for that recipe which is making an English Bitter. It will be a very nice mid-strength beer.

 

I prefer the full strength version which will be a Special or Extra Special Bitter.

 

The extra malt will increase the body and alcohol content. But as you say it will also make the beer sweeter. But this beer can handle it.

 

To make it even more tasty I would hop it with either East Kent Goldings or Styrian Goldings and add 200g of Crystal malt.