Question about Muntons india pale ale

Brewers,
For Christmas I just received the Muntons gold india pale ale. The directions say poor the extract into the fermenter then poor in boiling water,mix, add the yeast, yadda yadda yadda.
I was always told to boil the extact and water for about an hour. Is this not the case for this piticular kit?
I also would like to increace the final gravity, if you know what i mean
whats the best way to do so?

Thanks Folks!!

Sure boil for an hour if you are so inclined...always a good idea! To increase gravity add fermentables, DME, LME, Honey, Brown sugar, cane, etc.. Do go easy on additional fermentables though, higher alcohol brews tend to need more time to condition. A couple of ounces of fresh hops would be a nice addition as well!

You can certainly make it per the directions, but results will probably be better by adding other things as well.

If all you have is the 3-4 lb can you could brew a smaller batch as well. IMO your results will be somewhat marginal if you attempt to make a full 5 gal from a single can kit.

Tell the group here exactly what you have and maybe someone will offer more specific advice.

welcome aboard, Mike

The main reason for boiling is to extract the hop bittering compounds; no boil kits already been boiled and hopped. If you wanted to add more hops, you could do a boil for up to an hour but otherwise boiling for an hour wouldn't really accomplish anything and could be detrimental to the taste IMO.

If you want to increase the final gravity then get some more extract - either dry or liquid, a couple of pounds maybe - boil the original mix for a bit then add the additional extract right before you're finished to avoid darkening. You might want to add some hops in the boil to offset the extra malt flavor and rebalance the recipe (if you want to keep it an IPA style) but without knowing the exact recipe the kit uses you'd be shooting in the dark a little bit as far as what you're going to end up with.

NOOOOOOOO! Don't boil the Munton's kit. That was the first beer I ever made, and I boiled it because I gathered that was what you were supposed to do. The sugars caramelised and darkened, and the final beer ended up the color of a porter. So if you want it pale, don't boil it!

Thanks Folks,

Im going to be brewing when I get back up to school, probably around the 11th. Ill let you know exactly what I do!

Take it easy,
Tom

Danek said:

NOOOOOOOO! Don't boil the Munton's kit. That was the first beer I ever made, and I boiled it because I gathered that was what you were supposed to do. The sugars caramelised and darkened, and the final beer ended up the color of a porter. So if you want it pale, don't boil it!

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I agree. Do not boil it. That is a hopped LME. Most manafactuers use hop oil extracts in their prehopped LME. Boiling will get rid of the hop oil. That is not what you want.

Thumper is dead on. Just follow the instructions for the can of hopped extract. If you want to increase the gravity then add some DME, or LME to the boiling water you pour into the fermenter. Adding DME or LME will also increase your sweetness unless you add some hops and turn the batch into a mini brew of sorts with a can of extract that is added at the end. You can also dry hop the kit without any problems.

if ur not supposed to boil the liquid malt extract but you wanna get a lot of hop flavor aNd use a lot of hops(IPA) what are you supposed to do? just boil the hops? that doesnt sound right.

dogfishandi said:

if ur not supposed to boil the liquid malt extract but you wanna get a lot of hop flavor aNd use a lot of hops(IPA) what are you supposed to do? just boil the hops? that doesnt sound right.

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Well, you have to purchase the right kind of kit/extract. If you want an IPA, then the munton's is a no-boil kit, but might not be the perfect kit for that style. Maybe try a Brewer's Best IPA kit, then. Or one from NorthernBrewer.com or Austinhomebrew.com. An unhopped extract would be perfect for boiling and adding hops!

The kits are designed to be what they are- some are easy, some are great, etc. You will not get a great hops flavor and bitterness from a no-boil kit that is boiled. It just wasn't designed to provide that.