Calling all extracters!

[Crut]

I starteed making beer from extract kits about two years ago, and soon after started setting up my all grain system. The brews I made from extract were very so so, and not as hoppy as i'd like. I recently found a couple kits from a last year and thought about whipping them up for some quickie beer. One is Muntons Nut brown ale, and the other is brewferms diabolo. Any advice on how to kick them up a notch.

I thought about taking a 1/4 oz of hops and simmering in some water then adding to the mix. Any thoughts on that. Its been a while since Ive made an extract kit. Words of wisdom and advice greatly appreciated.
-Crut

[Surgeon General]

What kind of kits are they? Are they no boil? Do they have any grain at all? Are they pre-hopped? I'm assuming you're going with fresh yeast, yes?

Kind of hard to say how you can improve on the kits without knowing what they really entail, but I would basically just make sure you are boiling the wort at least partially, add some fresh hops to the boil at various times & steep some grains in there and you should be good.

[Crut]

I should have added that prior, They are both hopped extracts. Planning on using the dry yeast included with them, unless I get down to TBC and pick up some harvested yeast. But prob just use the dry stuff. Oh and No boil supposedly.
Any harm in boiling them shortly, just enough to add some hops in them?
Just extract, no grains. I think the extract is pretty good, not much for grains needed.
-Crut

[Surgeon General]

I'd definitely boil them for at least 15 minutes, after that only longer if you want to play around with the hops some more. I doubt there will be much hop flavor/aroma in either of those kits, and probably less bitterness than you'd expect, so it wouldn't hurt to throw in some hops as a sort of insurance policy if you would like a significant level of bitterness or flavor/aroma. I'd probably figure to hop for bitterness with fresh hops at a rate of 30-40% of what you would want to end up with, and to hop for aroma/flavor at near 100%.

Regarding the yeast, I'd strongly consider getting that fresh pitch, or even a fresh pack of dry yeast. I've used the US-05 & US-04 before with great results. You mentioned the yeasts you have are a year old, plus warehouse/LHBS time on shelf. Who knows how viable they are?

[Crut]

very true on the yeast, i'll run to TBC (my p/t job and snag some of the yeast i stripped off late last week-2 50 gal tubs) its less than a quarter mile away, maybe thats my best option. Ill look into my hop stash to see what i can play with.

[macgruffus]

If you're going shopping anyway ... consider getting some more base grains and doing a mini-mash or at least steeping some specialty grains.

And absolutely grab some better yeast ... even if its dry.

David

[BDawg]

^^^ what Macgruffus said. A little extra crystal malt or some victory malt, and a flame out hop addition (all style-dependent) help improve any kit.

HTH

[linuxelf]

I've been extract brewing for about 15 years, but have never used hopped extract. Get good quality DME, some steeping grains, hops, and a good pitch of yeast, and you can make excellent beer using extract.