No finishing hops?

Yesterday I picked up a True Brew Pale Ale kit. This will be my second brewing attempt. There is only one, 1-ounce pack of hops, which it says to add at the beginning of the boil.

This would be bittering hops, correct? And that would mean there are no finishing / aroma hops? There is no mention of more hops on the packing list, so I think its correct, I just thought finishing hops were always used.

I'm thinking this will be more like Bass PA than Sierra Nevada PA??

I brewed a "Nut Brown Ale" yesterday. Same deal bro, all the hops went in right after the extract (yes for 60 minutes) and no flavoring/aroma additions.

Some styles, like the brown ale mentioned, don't use a flavoring or aroma addition and focus more on the malt background. Dry stout is a good example. Firm bittering from the 60 minute addition but not real noticeable hop aroma or flavor.

That being said, a pale ale is usually not one of those styles. I'd pickup another ounce of either Cascade or EKG/Fuggles for a 5 minute addition for aroma, dependent on what yeast you are using.

Alright good to know. The hops that came with the kit were switched out to Cascades per the store owners recommendation. The yeast is safele US-05. I'll probably just go with it as is and see how it turns out.

US-05 is a US style, very clean Cal ale yeast. Cascades should go nice with that.

Your beer will taste fine but you won't have the floral citrus hop notes of something like SNPA or Bell's PA. Should be a very good session beer.

That sounds like a bit of a goofy recipe, actually. I don't mean it won't make great beer, but it does sound like an American Ale sort of kit, so I would expect some finishing hops. An ounce of Cascades also won't provide a hole heck of a lot of bittering, but I don't know the rest of the recipe.

Give it a shot, and see what you got. You'll get beer, and you'll learn something, no matter what happens.


TL

Doing some digging on this kit... does it come with a tin of hopped malt extract? If so, I'd save a half ounce of the cascades for the last 10 minutes as a quasi flavor/aroma addition.

If you're trying to make Bass get some fresh Challenger and Northdown hops and add them at 60 and 15 minutes. If you wan't a Sierra Nevada get a bunch more Cascades and do 60, 30, 15 and 0 additions.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm not trying to clone any specific type of beer with this kit, but probably next time I will. (Hopefully after this one I will move to mini/partial mash with a nylon bag as Deathbrewer demonstrates.) Here's the kit's ingredients:

.375 lb muntons crushed crystal 2 row
2 lb muntons light DME
3.3 hopped light LME
1 oz cascade pellets (5.9%)
safele us-05

The LME says its hopped with "choicest English hops" but doesn't say which variety. Typical analysis is 80-82% solids, color (EBC) 8-12, and bitterness (EBU) 25-35.

I'm not really sure what all this translates to, but it sounds tasty.

I'd keep 1/2 oz of the cascade out and toss that in at 10 minutes to go for a little flavor and aroma. The hopped extract will provide bittering for you and the .5 oz cascade at the beginning of the boil will help round out those flavors.

Sounds like a good drinking beer.

Thanks mmb. I'll try that approach. I didn't even realized that my LME was hopped when I posted the question initially. I was going to ask this later, but since we're already on the subject......

How long should I primary this?

From what I've read, 3.5-4 weeks in primary, skip secondary, and 3+ weeks bottle conditioning should do well for this type of beer. Sound about right?

Off to the LHBS for a couple more stoppers and air locks for the cider. This home brewing hobby grows on you quickly.

(Hopefully my brew will turn out drinkable )

This brew should come in around 1.040 OG and about 4% ABV with those ingredients.

I skip the secondary on session beers and just let them sit in primary 3 - 4 weeks and then directly to keg. Others here like to secondary for a week and then bottle. Either is fine.

Three weeks @ 70 will do it for your bottle conditioning. Just keep your equipment sanitized and brewing temperature around 68 and you'll have a very drinkable beer.