Weather or not to add malt late?

I've got a brewers best pale ale kit I'm doing, and it comes w/ two cans of light malt extract and 1.5 oz of cascade hops it tells me to boil for 60 minutes. Also has 1.5 oz of willamette hops for aroma to drop in before flameout.


I was thinking about adding 1 can w/ about 15 minutes left to try to keep the color from getting too dark. My question is, should I change my hop schedule? I don't mind it getting a little more bitter, I am a bit of a hop head. However, I don't want it to cause other adverse side effects.

I often add a bit of extra malt late in the boil. Just add the word "Imperial" to the front of whatever you make (as in, "Try my Imperial IPA") and manage the hops as specified in the recipe.

Go ahead with the late addition. It doesn't affect the hop schedule that much, maybe 10-15% and usually an improvement IMO. You also get a lighter color product. I usually add my late extract at the 10 minute mark (10 minutes remaining that is).

Is that 10-15% better or worse, hop utilization with late malt additions?