Totally new to home brewing

[Big beer]

Hi everyone,
Finally got a homebrew kit after dropping a few hints to my wife before christmas :clap:
It's a premium kit with king keg, co2 and all the works from Ballihoo.
Must admit I'm abit lost so hopefully you experienced brewers can lead me up the correct garden path :pray:
Firstly I have sanitised everything and hopefully it should be fine, I got a coopers Australian lager kit for my first attempt.
It's all in the fermentation bucket so far so good.
Now, my first question (I'm going to sound totally dumb but oh well!) The airlock in the lid of the fermentation bucket do i cover it or leave it open?
Next, once it is fermented do i syphon into the king keg or into bottles? (I have a mix of plastic and glass bottles)
The co2 thingy how exactly does this work? I have the co2 bulb holder and this screws into the lid of the king keg, but when do I add this to the beer?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm determined to make a good brew :drink:
Many thanks in advance.
Mark.

 

[orange]

Hello Bigbeer.
Do not be afraid of asking what you may think is a dumb question. I am new here too but learnt lots by asking and reading.
I do not use an airlock when fermenting beer. I just loosly fit the lid of the fv.
Keg/bottles, both have pro's and cons. Either will do.
CO2. I add to the keg at the start of the 2nd ferm, release after 5 mins and then gas again.
A more learned person may like to correct. Please do

 

[Dieseljockey]

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum....

Airlocks...you'll have half the guys here saying " I don't use them" but as your Fv has one fitted...bugger use it..
Keg or bottle....plastic kegs are notorious for leaking and you will probably have to gas it every time you want to pull a pint..if you have bottles then as long as your careful when priming you'll be ok... (fill um up and stack in the garage) :thumb:

 

[evanvine]

Airlocks and bucket type FVs don't normall go well together, as the snapon lid seldom makes a good seal.
This results in the airlock not bubbling, giving the new brewer a panic attack because he thinks his ferment has stopped.
This is where your hydrometer comes in!