online vendor for extract kits using DME?

I've looked at morebeer, midwest, and austin home brew and it seems that most, if not all, of their extract kits use LME and not DME. I'd really like to try DME if anyone knows of a source that would have fresh kits. Anyone?

Bobby

If you have a local HBS, you can get them to help you put together a recipe using just DME. I bet if you call the folks at Austin Homebrew Supply, or Midwest, or Nothern Brewer, they can probably make you an all DME version of any of their kits.

Worth a try.

Why do you want a pure DME kit? From reading a lot of posts on this forum going back several months, I get the impression most people prefer LME.

This is a LHBS that is close to my area, and they sell kits online, as well as anything else you'd want. I just bought my first kit from them last week (Irish Red Ale) and it was DME.

www.pointbrewsupply.com

All of the Brewer's Best kits contain DME. They are found at every LHBS, and there are lots of different kinds. I've used the red ale and the English Brown Ale with great sucess. The kits are around $25 and include everything and use dry yeast.

Lorena

I've only brewed one real 5 gallon batch so far using LME. In my opinion, it's not very easy to work with being so sticky. Cutting the end off a baggie with DME and dumping it in seems a lot easier. I had to ladle about 1/2 gallon of hot wort back into the LME container and shake it up to get all the goodness out. If LME is really more popular, I'm beginning to think kits that use it would be fresher now.

It's really odd though. As far as I can tell, any savings due to the lesser cost per pound of LME would be offset by the cheaper shipping of DME. What do I know, I'm just an beginner.

Bobby

Try out TheHomeBrewery (homebrewery.com).I've bought four kits from them so far (extract)and they were all DME.They also have great customer service and were flexible about shipping options.

Bobby_M said:

I've looked at morebeer, midwest, and austin home brew and it seems that most, if not all, of their extract kits use LME and not DME. I'd really like to try DME if anyone knows of a source that would have fresh kits. Anyone?

Bobby

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I've had 2 kits from Midwest - both DME. Give them a call.

Also, Adventures in Homebrewing has DME options on all their kits.

lorenae said:

All of the Brewer's Best kits contain DME. They are found at every LHBS, and there are lots of different kinds. I've used the red ale and the English Brown Ale with great sucess. The kits are around $25 and include everything and use dry yeast.

Lorena

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The one's i've used from brewer's best have all contained LME & DME. not sure about the red ale and english brown as I've only done Hefe's and cream ales from them.


loop

how come some kits use half LME and half DME? what's the point?

DME can be made lighter than LME, so mainly it's split up to make the color of the beer lighter.

rdwj said:

I've had 2 kits from Midwest - both DME. Give them a call.

Also, Adventures in Homebrewing has DME options on all their kits.

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The kits I've used from there have either been all LME or both LME and DME.

brewersclub.com. He has some very nice very complete kits using all DME. The complete kits are listed under "malt Extracts."

my brewers best kits have all used LME...

I don't see why it matters so much though. I think most kits use LME since it's cheaper (a lot less labor involved in boiling wort down to a syrup vs removing all the liquids). I don't think you save much on shipping with DME vs LME. A kit with 6 lbs of LME would use 4.8 lbs of DME which isn't a significant weight savings for shipping.

As for which is easier to work with, eh, neither If you look at austin, they sell LME for $2.49 a lb so your 6lb container would run $14.94. DME runs $3.99 a lb so your 5 lbs (rounding up) would run $19.95.

LME is sticky and that can be a pain, but DME is harder to store since if it gets any moisture in it, it's done. The biggest plus I see for DME is that the shelf life is much longer, although the cans of LME last a lot longer than the bulk packaged LME resold by the stores.

I'm sure if you call most of the online suppliers they would be happy to give you DME instead of LME. Personally, I use both, mainly for the color reason stated earlier.

Find a Brewers Best kit, they all use DME just like the total babe lorenea said. So far, that's all I've used, I've never tried LME. One thing about dumping the DME, you got to BE FAST or it will clump together. I mean, if it even comes into contact with the steam from the brewpot, it will clump.

Bobby_M said:

I've only brewed one real 5 gallon batch so far using LME. In my opinion, it's not very easy to work with being so sticky. Cutting the end off a baggie with DME and dumping it in seems a lot easier. I had to ladle about 1/2 gallon of hot wort back into the LME container and shake it up to get all the goodness out. If LME is really more popular, I'm beginning to think kits that use it would be fresher now.

It's really odd though. As far as I can tell, any savings due to the lesser cost per pound of LME would be offset by the cheaper shipping of DME. What do I know, I'm just an beginner.

Bobby

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Forgive me if this is obvious, but are you warming your cans (or pouches) of LME in a pot of water to make it easier to work with?