Mr. Beer American Devil IPA Hops

[DRoyLenz]

Hey All -

My uncle gave me two cans of Mr. Beer American Devil IPA extract for Christmas. I've read through some of the MANY Mr. Beer threads around here, so I'm aware of some of the things I need to do to make this a decent beer, including using new yeast (I have some Nottingham to work with).

My question is regarding the hops. Since this is a hopped extract, I can't imagine there will be much of a hop flavor or aroma after boiling the kit for 60 minutes. I have some bulk Cascade and Centennial Hops waiting for me at home, and I'll probably be ordering some Amarillo and/or Magnum hops from HopsDirect in a couple of days. Has anyone tried this kit? Would you have a recommendation as to what kind of hops would complement the flavor profile of this particular extract?

Also, I'm considering adding some Pale DME to the boil, increase the gravity a bit (to balance out the increased IBUs from adding fresh hops). Any comments on this would be appreciated.

 

[Shooter]

Well, there's no real need to boil for 60 minutes with the hopped extract. If I use them, I just boil my DME addition for ten minutes, remove from heat and add the hopped extract.

Since you are using two cans of hopped extract, a premium kit, this will probably be hoppier than a normal Mr. Beer kit. I have not made the IPA, but have heard that a lot of people still don't think it has enough IBUs. If you're upsizing you will need to add DME AND more hops. Are you making this as a two gallon kit? If so, adding DME isn't absolutely necessary. I think two cans of the extract gets you somewhere in the mid 1.040 range.

 

[weirdboy]

If you want more hoppiness, maybe just throw in some fresh hops near the end of the boil (e.g. 10 minutes or fewer from the end of the boil). If you're doing a typical Mr. Beer batch size, which I believe 2.5 gallons, then I think you ought to be safe with a quarter ounce at maybe 10 minutes and a quarter ounce at 5 minutes. You might also consider a flameout (0 minute) addition and/or dry hopping with similar amounts.

The number of IBUs added by these small late additions is going to be pretty small, less than 10 IBU total, so I wouldn't worry about trying to adjust the gravity.

I think Amarillo and Centennial both make great hops for late additions.

 

[DRoyLenz]

Thanks for the responses guys.

This recipe is for an 8 quart batch (2 gallon). I might step it up to a larger batch with some DME, or maybe even a partial mash of some nature. In which case I'll reformulate the whole recipe. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of specs out there regarding the recipe. I know it is 4.6% ABV, 8 SRM, and 58 IBUs, so I can work with that I suppose.

Assuming I just go with a 2 gallon batch, I'll probably do what Weirdboy recommended and just add a little bit of hops at the end of the boil, but I won't add any bittering hops at the beginning.