Munton's IPA extract tasting

This is my 2nd batch ever and was brewed to perfection, well it went better than my first batch which turned out decent. I even used LME instead of dextrose...Pitched on the low side and fermented around 68 F. I can't recall the OG right now but it fermented for 3 weeks down to 1.020. No outward signs of infections. Pre-bottle, it tasted something like a cross between hobo underwear tea and hammered donkey balls.

Were my expectations too high for a hopped extract to taste similar to the real thing? I know pre-hopped extracts have only bittering hops but DANG GINA... Next time should I do a full boil and add my own hops or just stay away from pre-hopped extracts all together?

Let it condition and carb for at least 3 weeks, then judge it again. Also, the fresher the ingredients the fresher the beer.

Thanks, COLObrewer I will keep an eye on this one for a while. I guess my overall question is, is there an established significant degredation of quality with pre-hopped extracts vs other methods. Obviously, if you boil your own hops there will be an improvement but is there a known wide gap in quality between the two?

Most of us have been adding extract late in the boil. Doing so prevents caramelization of the malt, and also leaves the beer closer to its intended color.

Hops, on the other hand, have to be added earlier, and boil for the full 60/90/120 minutes (depending on your recipe and utilization target.)

I'm not sure how you could balance that with pre-hopped malt extract. Presumably the hops have already been fully utilized, so an additional 60 minute boil would do strange things to your recipe. On the other hand, adding the malt at the beginning of the boil could have burnt it - and the hops suspended in it - in weird ways.

My vote is to stay away from pre-hopped malts. Two or three times a year I pull out the big equipment and spend all day doing an all-grain recipe. But most of the time, I like extract brewing because it's a nice balance of control and speed. The more ingredients you lump into one, the less control you have.

Gotcha. This was a no boil extract so presumably I couldn't have monkeyed with the hops or extract in those ways. From now on I will go with full boils with late DME/LME...Thanks.

You might as well use pre hopped extract as they tend to be a lot cheaper than un hopped extract. Then dry hop for flavour. No need to boil. That's what I do and my beers come out far better than about 90% of commercial brews.