want to improve american ale extract kit

I found a "no boil" Muttun's extract kit with 2 lbs DME in my beer supplies the other day. I would like any ideas of how I can improve this kit using some additions. I was thinking of trying to add some cascade hops, crushed corriander seeds and samm amounts of lemon zest to the boiling water that gets combined with the room temp extract.

Anyone have any suggestions on amounts of what I might add to make a better light beer? I moved away from these kits to more 1 hour boil extract kits on great advice from members of this forum. Thanks for your input.

mick

forgot to mention that this is a 5 gallon recipe. I read through some other posts on the recipe forum, and I was thinking of using 1-2 oz of cascade hops, 1 oz of corriander seeds and the lemon zest of 1 lemon. Adding this to the boil water for a 15 minute period prior to adding the "no boil extract" light american ale.

Sorry I didn't add these amount to my previous post. Spent today cleaning over 200 bottles to be using for beer at my wedding in 5 weeks. Still a newbie here. (Why do large breweries use clear or green glass if brown is suppose to block the UV light the best? Just curious as it get harder to find pry-off bottles these days.)

Use the DME as priming sugar for better batches (like one hour boil for instance), throw the yeast in the trash and don't look back.

M2c anyway

This is a kit that asks you to add table sugar? Instead, use DME in place of all or most of the sugar.

Adding Cascade hops sounds like a good idea. You may not even want to go 15 minutes with them. Maybe add at least some of them at flameout (or even dry hop).

I personally might not want coriander+lemon with a Casacde hopped beer, but that's a matter of taste.

If you follow Poindexter's advice about throwing out the yeast, make sure you use another yeast instead. ;0

+1 on leaving out the coriander. Lemon would be pushing it, but a little might be alright.

For your second question, some styles of beer benefit from the "skunking" the beer gets when light infiltrates the bottle. If you notice, it's usually certain styles that have the green/clear bottles. I'll bet you you'll never see a stout in a clear bottle, but lots of cervezas will use them. If you need some for the wedding, use them. Just don't let any light get to them and you'll be fine.

Took your advice and left out both the corriander seeds and lemon. I threw away the yeast with the kit and used a new packet of Cooper's. I allowed the Cascade hops to seep in the boilled water for about 10 minutes prior to adding the extract.

I tried rehydrating the yeast as mentioned in John Palmer's book and pitched it when the wort was at 78 F. The directions for the mix said to wait until the wort temp was at 70 F but since that was using their brand of yeast, I decided to go ahead at 78 F since I used this temp before with this brand of yeast. Hope this is OK. It may be the last "no boil" kit I buy for the near future.

thanks for the input...

Cooper's Ale yeast is usually pretty pitchable around 78°. You hydrate it warmer than that anyways, so it'll be fine.