hopped malt extract

this is my second batch.. the first batch seems to have gone off without a hitch and is aging in the bottle, so it's time to press on...

i went to my local brew store and had the woman put together the ingredients so i could make an english bitter...

i ended up getting hopped malt extract (muntons maybe?) she gave me some hop pellets as well, to add for the last fifteen minutes of the wort boil.

the instructions on the hopped malt extract say not to boil the extract, as you can lose the flavor, rather to warm it up, then toss it in the fermenter, then add your boiled water... however, some brew kits i was looking at online have the same hopped malt extract and the instructions call for boiling it like you would any other malt...

this don't make too much sense to me... it's my understanding that i won't really lose the flavor of the hops in the malt (bitter) just the smell, but the addition of the extra hopps towards the end should solve that.

anyone use hopped malt before? any suggestions or advice will be appreciated.

I've used it. It can contribute some bitterness but little to no flavor or aroma. I'd recommend in general that you steer clear of hopped extract so that you have more control over the flavor.

Janx

When using hopped extracts remember that those are bittering hops.

My point? Add aroma hops when getting near to the end of boil regardless of the time you boil.

I just recently used a pre-hopped no boil kit from muntons, and instead of adding the can directly to the fermenter, I boilod about 2.5 gallons of water, mixed in the extract really well, cooled her down then tossed it in the primary and topped up with spring water. I had run into the same dillema though, whether or not to boil, and I can tell you that my beer turned out fine, and through my extensive research online, (prior to finding this site), It was highly recommended not to boil the kit if the directions say not to. Apparentedly It will kill any hop presence and leave you with burnt malt flavors, an overkill I guess.