St. Peter's - Ruby Red Ale

[valhalla76]

Hi their, im quite new to HBing and im going to try this kit, i was just wondering if apart from the two tins should i be needing to add anything else other than water and yeast? What is DME? Many thanks

[crafty john]

Ruby Red is a 3 kilo kit which doesn't need any sugar or DME (which is spraydried malt extract) there should be a hop powder sachet in the kit too, I have known a few people who's Ruby Red kits had the hop sachet missing and it turned out like a mild ale.

[DaveyT]

The dried malt extract (DME) is basically what´s in the tins. The instructions probably won´t mention DME, esp if it´s 3kg. These kits are pretty fool proof so if it doesn´t mention adding anything, don´t add anything. If it´s your first go, do what it says on the instructions and see what happens. You can always do it again after a bit of research.
Some people add DME instead of sugar when they prime their beer for bottling after fermentation. I´m pretty new to this game, too, so I´d like to know whether this is beneficial. So far I´ve used honey as I´ve got an abundant supply and limited brewshop contact. It seems to do the trick.

[valhalla76]

Cheers guys, yeah pretty new to this myself but really enjoying homebrewing. Got a king keg but gradually building up a stock of 500ml grolsh swig top bottles to bottle the ale so i can chill it a little as i find this more enjoyable to drink than warm ale, plus i think the co2 gets absorbed into the liquid more and give a better and longer lasting head. Im not sure about priming with ale though, do you think it needs it? Maybe some brewing sugar?

[bungle666]

Im not sure about priming with ale though, do you think it needs it? Maybe some brewing sugar?

yea, it needs it to help it clear and preserve itself in the bottle!! 1/4 TSP/bottle for ales, 1/2 TSP/bottle if you like a slightly fizzy ale and 1TSP/bottle for lagers.

just normal household sugar from tesco's is all that's needed, although apparently the unrefined stuff is the best!!

HTH

B..