Pre-Hopped extract

I received two kits of the "True Brew" kits for Christmas and found out they both use pre-hopped LME. My first two batches were pre-hopped and I didn't care for them and is why I haven't used them since.

Well, I have them and hate to not brew them (the gift givers would like to try them after I brew them). Any recommendations on what I can do to improve the beers? Boil in more water, add fresh hops/dry hop?

The two kits are the Amber True Brew kit and the Irish Stout.

Thanks for any advice!

Use some flavor and aroma hop additions. Also think about steeping some additional grains.

Dob a full boil with some added hops on the amber
Maybe steep and ass some specialty malts like crystal and chocalate to the stout with a full boil

Full boils will make the brews more bitter, don't know if you would want that.

For the Amber, I'd get an ounce of Fuggles and add half at 15 minutes & half at 5.

For the Stout, I'd make a flavor add at 15 minutes. EKG would be my first choice.

Are these "no boil" or "kit-and-a-kilo" kits?

david_42 said:

Full boils will make the brews more bitter, don't know if you would want that.

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David_42 - Thanks for the catch - I forgot about the PRE-Hopped part.

Why would a full boil make these more bitter? Prehopped extract already has the alpha acids extracted from the hops - there's nothing more there to extract, no matter how long you boil it.

I suspect the main thing that will happen if you boil is that you'll burn off all the hop aroma and flavor (assuming the extract had any such in the first place So my guess is you won't want to add any bittering hops, but will want to add flavor and aroma additions at the end of your boil, especially for the amber.

The True Brew kit I used had pre-hopped extract plus finishing hops as well. Is that the case here? They probably already have steeping grains as well.

If so, I guess it depends on what you didn't like about the kits. My beef was the Munton's yeast didn't work so well.

Rezilynt said:

Dob a full boil with some added hops on the amber
Maybe steep and ass some specialty malts like crystal and chocalate to the stout with a full boil

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I would suggest he not ass his specialty malts. They never taste right when you do that to them.

Ale-ing said:

I would suggest he not ass his specialty malts. They never taste right when you do that to them.

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First post and a flame??? Any brewing advice to ass, or just knocking members?

McGarnigle said:

The True Brew kit I used had pre-hopped extract plus finishing hops as well. Is that the case here? They probably already have steeping grains as well.

If so, I guess it depends on what you didn't like about the kits. My beef was the Munton's yeast didn't work so well.

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Ok, yeah I double checked the kits and they both contain 1oz of UK Gold Hops. The Stout has grains to steep but both kits have pre-hopped LME and some DME. Both instructions say to bring to a boil, add extract and hops and boil for 20-30 min.

I can't see why I need to boil this for 30 min as it's already got the bittering hops added, the UK Gold are just aroma hops right? Should I boil for 15 min adding the UK Gold hops the last 5?

I like a good stout from time to time but just not a big enough fan for 5gal, I wish I just had the fortitude to politely ask for it to be exchanged for something I would have liked more.

Thanks for all the feedback!

cuinrearview said:

First post and a flame??? Any brewing advice to ass, or just knocking members?

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Sorry, not trying to flame or knock anybody. Just couldn't resist making a crack on that one.

Ale-ing said:

Sorry, not trying to flame or knock anybody. Just couldn't resist making a crack on that one.

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Can't say I blame you for that one