Adding hops to Mr. Beer Question

So my roommate's aunt heard that I'm a home brewer and asked if I wanted some of her husbands old brewing supplies that he doesnt use anymore, and I said "yes!" I was a little disappointed when she handed me a Mr. Beer kit, but I thought what the hell, I can sub out some ingredients in this thing and at least make a couple gallons of decent beer, I'll see what happens.

Doing a bit of research about what is all in the kits and what kind of yeast it contains, I came across a podcast on James Spencer's Basic Brewing site and it answered almost all my questions for me, except it produced one more.

In this podcast , they add hops to the mix which is something I'd like to do, just for aroma (say 10 minutes) however they declare that you should boil it for 60 minutes still. Since I'm using hopped malt extract already, and I just want to add some aroma hops, is it still necessary to boil it for 60 minutes? I don't see why it would be, but maybe there's some science I'm overlooking.

BrewclearAssault said:

So my roommate's aunt heard that I'm a home brewer and asked if I wanted some of her husbands old brewing supplies that he doesnt use anymore, and I said "yes!" I was a little disappointed when she handed me a Mr. Beer kit, but I thought what the hell, I can sub out some ingredients in this thing and at least make a couple gallons of decent beer, I'll see what happens.

Doing a bit of research about what is all in the kits and what kind of yeast it contains, I came across a podcast on James Spencer's Basic Brewing site and it answered almost all my questions for me, except it produced one more.

In this podcast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDqnFPgpb-0 , they add hops to the mix which is something I'd like to do, just for aroma (say 10 minutes) however they declare that you should boil it for 60 minutes still. Since I'm using hopped malt extract already, and I just want to add some aroma hops, is it still necessary to boil it for 60 minutes? I don't see why it would be, but maybe there's some science I'm overlooking.

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Aroma hops are normally added the last 5 min of the boil or at flame out. The longer you boil hops the more bittering agents are released. I also would double check if your mr beer kit comes with HME or LME. If you're using HME then you might want to be careful adding more hops as it changes the IBU's and aroma.

It comes with hopped malt extract, but I will be adding some of the DME I have at home, maybe some belgian candi sugar as well. I guess I more wanted to know if there is a benefit to boiling the wort for 60 minutes, or if I am fine with just doing it for 5-10 minutes to get the aroma out of the hops that I want.

BrewclearAssault said:

It comes with hopped malt extract, but I will be adding some of the DME I have at home, maybe some belgian candi sugar as well. I guess I more wanted to know if there is a benefit to boiling the wort for 60 minutes, or if I am fine with just doing it for 5-10 minutes to get the aroma out of the hops that I want.

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I could be mistaken but I don't think HME should be boiled for 60 min. The 5min for aroma should be fine.

I got a number of Mr. Beer kits cheap. I ended up using most of them for quick batches to test out flavor hops.

Most of their kits will give IBUs of about 22 in 2 gallons, and the can of LME itself is only 1.25 lbs so will give an OG of 1.022 in 2 gallons.

I did not use the booster. I ended up tossing them into bigger brews where they would have little impact (they have no flavor; just Maltodextrin and corn sugar).

I made 2.5 gallon test batches and knowing the IBUs I got from the MR, Beer can (about 16 in 2.5 gallons) I created recipes base on adding late hops.

I did not boil the Mr.beer LME, just sanitized the can, poured it into the fermenter and then rinsed the can out with boiling water.

My recipes were usually about 1.060 and aimed for 50 IBUs. All the extra IBUs were obtained from hopping at 20, 15, 10, 5, and 0 (no IBUs from the last addition). I did not boil the wort for 60 minutes. I just boiled to get through the break, then added the first hops.

..........Made a really quick beer. Small quantity to boil and cool, and only a 20 minute boil. ..... and tons of hop flavor.

Hope this gives you some ideas.