Kit not representing style?

[web250]

For my next batch I wanted to brew an american pale ale. I was gonna use a recipe, but my LHBS was out of crystal 10L. So I bought the Brewer's Best American Micro Style Pale Ale.

It has 6.6lbs light LME, 1.5 each of Northern brewer and willamette, and .75lbs of crystal 60L.

Now I just ran the kit through TastyBrew, and it came up too high in IBUs, and too low in ABV for the style. So, I dropped the bittering hops from 1.5 oz to 1 oz, and added in 1 lb of light DME. Now it fits the style perfect, and has a nice ABV of 5.3.

My question is twofold: is the kit just representing a slightly different style? and, will making my "fixes" brew a good one?

 

[Kai]

I don't judge a kit as bad if it falls outside the style guidelines. What's more relevant is what you feel like drinking. So to me, it sounds like you wanted something that, rather than focusing on hop bitterness, went for a more even balance between malt and hops. I think they could both be good, and I think it's awesome to tweak recipes to match your tastes.
I'll guarantee your fixes didn't ruin your beer. As to whether it will be good: what yeast do you have and how nice are you treating it?

 

[DUCCCC]

Is Tasty Brew setup for partial boil? I think the Brewer's Best kits are partial boil kits, and if you do a full boil you'll get better hop utilization. This could be your discrepancy.

 

[Bob]

Well, if TastyBrew is telling you the gravity is off, they're off base. According to ProMash, given a gravity contribution of 1.037 per pound per gallon for the extract - you didn't specify which extract you got - your OG will end up ~1.050. This is smack in the middle of the gravity range for American Pale Ale according to ProMash's BJCP database.

I can't do anything other than guess with the IBU, because you didn't specify the type or AA% of your hops or when the recipe says to add them. If I assume the Northern Brewer is 9%AA and you're adding them all at the start of the boil, then yeah your IBU will be out of whack (~66 IBU). But if you add the same total amount at different times, you get a completely different story, assuming a 60-minute boil:

1 oz @ start of boil = 44 IBU
0.5 oz @ 40 mins = 7 IBU

Which puts you well within the upper range of IBU for the style. Now, that presumes a full-wort boil. If I reduce the boil amount to 3 gallons, it goes even lower:

1 oz @ start of boil = 38 IBU
0.5 oz @ 40 mins = 6 IBU

This puts you right smack in the middle of the IBU range. Hell, if you add all the NB at once, assuming 9%AA, to a 3-gallon boil, you're going to see ~56 IBU, and the top of the range is 54. I'll go out on a limb and say that the difference between 54 and 56 IBU is not perceptible by human sensory organs.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[web250]

Sorry, I'll be more specific:
the LME is Thomas Cooper Light (6.6#)
Bittering hops: Northern brewer 6.6% (60 minutes) 1.5 oz, cutting to 1 oz
Finishing hops: Willamette 3.8% (5 minutes) 1.5 oz
12oz of Crystal 60L
5 gal batch, 2 gal boil
Yeast is 11g dry Nottingham

 

[DUCCCC]

Here's what I got from Beer Alchemy, which fits the BJCP guidelines:

 

[Ol' Grog]

The BB pale ale is HOPPY! Too much for my taste, but a pretty good brew actually.