Full Boil, Partial Extract Addition & Hop Utilization

[kckclassic]

Greetings all,

Like a lot of other folks I recently got the Midwest Supplies Living Social Deal, and opted for the Amber Ale kit. Over the weekend I picked up an 8gal SS kettle, and am now waiting on my burner to be delivered.

Since I have the equipment, I intend to do a full boil of the 5 gallons. I also am considering adding only a partial amount of LME at the beginning of the boil, and reserving the remainder for a late addition (15 minutes left or so?). My concern with this is hop utilization.

I am not a fan of hoppy beers. Sure, I tolerate them, and even appreciate some, but an IPA is never going to be a go to beer for me. If I stick to my plan, will I extract a much greater percentage of bittering agents from my hops? Just how will my variation from the printed instructions affect my brew?

For what its worth the kit included:

6 lb. Gold liquid malt extract, 2 oz. Special B, 8 oz. Crystal 80L, 2 oz. Roasted Barley specialty grains, 1 oz. Hallertau , 1 oz. Fuggle pellet hops

 

[HBngNOK]

I would say don't worry. Lots of debate back and forth, but the go-to brewers on our forum say the taste difference in hop utilization is none to undetectable.

 

[unionrdr]

The real point of late extract addition is to get rid of darkening & the twang in flavor. But hop utilisation is quite good with this & partial boil.

 

[kckclassic]

The "twang" is the exact reason I've considered the late addition. I'd like to minimize any potential extract type flavors as much as possible. I assumed the difference in hop usage would be slight, but felt like asking couldn't hurt....thanks for the quick replies! I'm going to look over the linked threads at the bottom of the page now for more info....