Adding some dark malt extract to a recipe?

[mcodville]

Hey all,

The owner of the LHBS makes his own recipes and sells them in kits. He recently ran a competetion and the winner of the competition got their recipe made into an extract kit. I picked it up the other day, its a Irish Stout. It has 6lbs of pale malt extract, a couple pounds it feels like of unknown grains to steep (doesn't give the ingredient list) and 2oz of hops, can't remember off hand what type.

I have a 2lb tub of Dark Malt Extract that has been sitting in my fridge for a bit now, would adding this to the mix mess anything up? Or just give it a bit more malty character? I can't think of what else I'm going to use this 2lbs of dark malt extract for if not a stout or porter.

Thanks!

 

[d3track]

Do you have more hops? 2lbs dark extract is probably going to add more sweetness and body than you'd want without balancing it out.

 

[mcodville]

I do have more hops in my freezer, 2 oz of magnum that I bought by accident a while back. I just checked the hops that came with the recipe is 2oz of norther brewer. If I can't use the dark malt extract its no biggie, or I might even just throw it in and see how it ends up, I don't think it will be undrinkable by any means.

 

[McGarnigle]

Use an online calculator to see how much hops you should add to offset the dark extract. Bascially, you'd just have a stringer beer, perfectly drinkable. But it will be sweeter if you don't add more hops, and overly bitter if you add all those Magnums. It might just be 1/4 ounce you need.