Looking to Hop up a Northern Brewer Extra Pale Ale Kit

[carolinaeasy]

Hi there, first time poster, experienced extract brewer this will be my 16th or 17th batch. I didn't keep a journal on the first three or four times and can't remember how many batches I have made.

What I have here is an NB Extra Pale Ale kit. I have done two of these kits in the past, each with a different hop schedule. The first had a 7 hop additions but only the hops that came in the kit. The second batch had an additional 2 oz of hops. Now on this batch I have purchased a pound of Centenial hop pellets and would like to take this Pale Ale up a notch or two. I am a Huge fan of several hoppy beers including Stone IPA, Sierra Nevada PA, and New Belgium's Hoptober. I realize I cannot get to one of those beers with just Centenial, but I would like a beer with above average IBUs and an awesome aroma.

So my question is this, with my extra pound of hops what can I do to make an impressive, complex tasting beer? Have any of you done something like this before?

 

[Killian_77]

I am drinking that kit now (or trying to drink it). I stuck to the ingredients in the kit but used the Wyeast Northwest yeast. It was awesome when it was young. Now that it has aged a bit in the bottle it has a huge black licorice flavor. This was my first shot with both that strain of yeast and Cascade hops. Not sure if it has to do with either one of those or not. Another thing that I am wondering is if the flavor is developing as it carbs up more and more.
It is a good kit young. It is pretty hoppy as is. I just cant figure out why mine is getting the black licorice flavor.

 

[Bob]

I plugged the kit's ingredients into ProMash and came up with the following with the standard ingredients:

OG 1047 IBU 54

You ask me, that's pretty friggin' bitter already! But if you want more, add an ounce of Centennial at 30. Given an average AA% of 5% for the Cascades and 10% for the Centennial, that clocks you in at 80 IBU. That's enough to start dissolving the enamel off your teeth!

To get a real burst of hops, dry-hop with an ounce or two of your Centennial. That'll make this a real hops-monster quite easily.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[carolinaeasy]

Thanks for the info....I also have a pound of Cascade...what would you think would be the best addition?

 

[Bob]

Cascades and Centennial are very similar, flavor-wise. If it were my beer, I'd stick with Cascades through and through. Same deal, though - keep the kit hops where the kit tells you to put them. Add an ounce of whatever with 30 minutes left in the boil. Dry hop with an ounce or two of Cascades.

You'll be set!

Bob

 

[torque2k]

I just picked this kit up last week, haven't brewed it yet, though. I'm thinking about dropping in a dryhopping ounce of Amarillo, just to liven it up a bit. Otherwise, it was a pretty good deal (picked it up with their Scottish 70 Shilling Ale).

 

[Keith_Mahoney]

I haven't brewed anything yet (except a failed try when I was a teenager and tried to ferment in FL in a house with no AC). So I am not advising you, just telling you what I am going to do with mine.

This will be the first kit I will be brewing when my supplies get here. I also ordered an extra ounce of Cascade for this kit. I will be brewing this kit using the late addition malt method. From what I have read this will give me an additional 25% on my hops utilization. I will be modifying the recipe by adding an oz of Cascade at 5 min and the final oz at flameout when adding the malt.
I have no experience but from research this sounds decent to my mind.