How to get more flavour form Hops using a Kit

[Digger11]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I have been experimenting with dry hopping to some basic Kit recipes as I find that it adds some great aromas to me beer. For instance adding 25g of Galaxy Hops 1 week before bottling adds a lovely Passionfruit tang.
I would now like to get some more flavour in my beers wihtout increasing the bitterness bt too much.
How can I do that ?
I assume I now have to boil something with the hops ???
I have never boiled anything in recent times, just added cans and LME or DME or BE2 to the brew directly.

Do I boil the actual Coopers can goo ? and add in the Hops whilst boiling ?

thanks

Digger

 

[paulyman]

Hi Digger,

Have a look at Ianh's spreadsheet, it is a sticky at the top of the kits and extracts forum. It allows you to put in your kits and add hops at different times to affect the gravity, bitterness, flavour and aroma. You can also choose how many litres you want to boil.

There is a section to add your cans, one to add your LME and DME and one to add your hops.

For the hops you can adjust how many grams you want to add and how long to boil them.

The best bit though, there is a brew day tab, it tells you exactly how much LME or DME to add to the volume you are boiling to maximise your hop utilisation. Since you want flavour rather than bitterness stick to adding hops at 20 minutes or less, you just chuck them into the boiling wort at the appropriate time.

On the right it will show you your gravity, colour and bitterness. If you choose the style of beer from the drop down box at the top it will even show you whether you have your recipe within the style guidelines.

Play around with the spreadsheet and you'll be well on your way to improving the hop flavour in your beers.

*edited to make it a bit clearer.

 

[Digger11]

thanks PM - just one more question, what do I put in the boil - is it the LME only?

iANH Spreadsheet says SG needs to be 1042 for my boil, does the LME give SG to the water ?

I am going for 20 minute boil of 25g Galaxy Hops to add a bit more hops flavour but not bitterness as the Kit Can already has bitterness.
I then add the Kit Can with 5 minutes of boils to go (I assume to sterilise), cool and bobs your uncle.

 

[manticle]

If you don't want too much more bitterness, aim for a shorter boil - 5-10 minutes max. You'll still get some bitterness from this.

Yes LME will add gravity to the water.

 

[DustyRusty]

It sounds to me like you're ready to ditch the kit and move on to unhopped extract. Will give you maximum control over the bitterness and the hops in general. Read Palmer's 'How to Brew' (free online book) and he'll tell you the process. I use BrewMate software (free PC program) which is great for extract brewing.

 

[Digger11]

thanks Manticle and Dusty, I bought a hard copy of Palmers Book many years ago, so will pull that out and have a re-read.
5-10 minutes sounds good as wife and friends don't like the strong bitterness unfortunately.
This unhopped Extract sounds very interesting.

 

[paulyman]

Extract brewing is great, combine that with steeping grains and you are never going to look back.

 

[shacked]

+1 for moving to extract brewing.

Check out John Palmer's book "How to Brew". There is an online version that will take you through the process of extract brewing: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/index.html