St Peters Ruby Red Ale - A few questions

[Graham]

Hello

I am about to make my fourth batch of kit brew and this time its going to be St Peters Ruby Red Ale. I have read on here that it is one of the better kits. Previously I have brewed one can kits and always to full length.

My questions are:

1. Should I brew short? I don't like the idea of having less final product but have read on here that it improves flavour.

2. What should I prime my 500ml bottles with? Previously I have used one 5g tate and lyle sugar cube per bottle. I also have a packet of coopers carbonation drops which have only 2.5g sugars per drop. Will the 5g cube make this one too gassy?

3. Are there any enhancements you would recommend to improve this brew?


From past experience and reading this forum the only change I intend to make to my process is to leave the beer in the FV for an extra week to get more sediment to drop (all my brews have been at FG in 7 days so far and I have bottled straight away). I will be fermenting at around 21 degrees C.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[PD]

St Peters will benefit from brewing say 2 litres short but not necessary.
3 gms of sugar half a cooks tsp per 500ml bottle

Needs leaving more than 2 weeks in fermenter..its usually a dirty brew lots of sediment.

One of the best kits going imho when about 2 months old

 

[jonnymorris]

Can you lower fermentation temp by even one degree? It'll be better for it.

 

[Graham]

Can you lower fermentation temp by even one degree? It'll be better for it.

I should be able to do this if it helps.

@Piddledribble how long would you leave it in the FV for?

 

[carl_saint]

2 weeks in the primary then bottle!

 

[PD]

2 weeks is good, however I found it needed a few days more to help drop clear.
My first brew was ( looking back ) far too cloudy to bottle but I did... after 4 weeks in the bottle it was crystal clear, but there was a lot of muck left on the bottom of the bottle.

 

[Ian...]

This is my favourite kit and I always return to it after trying others. I find that 2 weeks in the FV is pretty good and the wort is clear. It is a 'dirty' brew though, it does chuck a lot of stuff out so don't worry if you see loads of crud floating on the top.
I like my beers a little stronger than the 4.2% that the straight kit comes out at, and I don't want to lose quantity by brewing short so I always add about 500g of demorera sugar to up the ABV. I would never use white granulated sugar though, it will weaken the flavour. I tried one of these kits with 1kg of dark brown sugar and it came out great.... a really treacly flavour with an abv of about 5.2%. I use pressure kegs and about 10 bottles. After primary FV I prime and put it back in the warmth for a week and then out to my garage to cool. I usually start drinking it after about a week in the cool and its pretty good, But if you can leave it for a few weeks it's fantastic. I'm putting another one on next weekend and I think I will try adding 500g of demorera and 500g of dark brown sugar.
Enjoy
Cheers
Ian

 

[Graham]

Just pitched the yeast in this half an hour ago. I have brewed short to 21 litres but have not added the demerara as this is my first time making this brew. Depending on how it goes I might do that next time.

OG was 1.042 at 20 degrees.

Thanks to all for the advice.

 

[DamageCase]

Would putting a hop bag over the end of your siphon and racking it into a pressure keg help clear it a bit faster than leaving it in the FV for 2 weeks? I'm considering doing one of these and don't fancy having my FV taken up for that long. I've got a lot brews I want to try this spring

 

[Ian...]

Get another FV. I have two and it gives a lot of flexibility.