Creating an IPA Out of a Pale Ale

[rodwha]

My fiance had bought me a Mr Beer kit that was virtually free. It came with a West Coast Pale Ale mix minus the UME.
The supply house I went to doesn't carry their stuff and so I asked the guy about turning into an IPA. I bought 1 1/3lbs of light malt extract to go with the extract, yeast, and booster it came with (makes 2 gals).
I'm considering adding a little molasses and/or honey for taste as I didn't get any additional hops. Any recommendations?
I'm not sure what this should render, but the guy made me feel as though it would be weak on taste, but have plenty of alcohol. I'm waiting for my first brew to be bottled so I can use the hydrometer.
I don't care much for light beers.

 

[DannyD]

Well I would say keep it simple for now, and see what happens. And you can't make it a IPA without increasing the IBU with hops.
Also be carefull with molasses and honey, it might not tast like you think after fermentation

 

[Dude]

My opinion, skip the molasses idea. And to make it an IPA, you definitely need to add more hops!

I regularly take my LWPA recipe and just add a few more pounds of grain and extra hops to push it into IPA territory.

 

[Kaewan]

If you skip the late addition hops and dry hop instead with them for a week you'll get much more flavor and aroma from the hops. Of course, this won't add much to the bitterness but it will add some. I did this with an American Pale Ale recipe once. At first the hops were kind of over the top for my taste but after a while conditioning the flavors melded nicely. My IPA loving friend keeps asking for more!

 

[unionrdr]

^^^That's not exactly true. Dry hopping mainly gives aroma. Maybe just a tad more flavor. But late hop additions give more flavor than bittering & aroma. Also known as hop bursting. I did 4.5oz of 3 hops in my IPA as late additions,& 1.5oz dry hop for one week. Aroma & flavor are great!

 

[rodwha]

If I wait on it 'til I can get back around to the supply house, what kind of hops would I want and how much of it?
I like Ranger's and Boulevard's IPA, and one other that escapes me at the moment.
So it would seem the pale ale will just be somewhat stout and not like an IPA?
I'm not exactly a patient kinda guy (I've asked for it and found myself in much traffic and with a toddler that's as ornery as I am).