Hopping Extract Beer

[mancer62]

I have only ever made extract beers and have no ambitions to get into all grain. Over the past couple of years however I have began to dry hop which makes a huge difference. At the moment I am only interested in IPA style brews which I find delicious. I initially used 1 can of pre-hopped malt extract and finished the brew by adding anything from 30g to 100g of dry hops. I then seen a bargain and could buy double the amount of malt extract for the same price. I done this thinking fantastic then to my horror when tasting it was far too sweet (the extract wasn't pre hopped). I then read up on this and added some bittering hops to the boil to try to get a decent IBU to counter the sweetness of the malt.
What I would like to know now is say I go back to my 1 can of pre hopped malt extract would you recommend I still do a bittering hop or is that not needed?
I also don't seem to get great head retention in my recent batches both in the bottles and in my kegs. Plus my beers don;t seem the clearest. It doesnt bother me too much but when ever I try to get a few of my mates to try one its the look of them that puts them off. Is there anything you can suggest to help with this matter......which product would use use for 5 gallons and at what stage would you use it? ty

 

[MrJay83]

Try cold crashing. I've done it on two brews now and the difference in clarity is night and day. I had the same with people turning their nose up at hazy homebrew.

 

[dad_of_jon]

if you were happy with your pre bittered malt extract stick with it unless there's a price difference. if the unhopped malt extract is cheaper you'll have to weight up the cost of adding bittering hops, which are usually better value than flavour hops fortunately. For head retention try adding 500g of dried wheat extract to your brews. I find my beers clear with extended conditioning time, if you can build up a stock you can leave them condition longer. Yeast
choice is also an important in getting a clear beer. Below is my cali common at 4-6 weeks

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Stick with 2 cans, make a hop tea by boiling your hops separately, add to the wort. Do not boil the wort, add cold water treated with a campden tablet pitch your yeast. Dry hop when fermentation is complete and leave for 4 days.

 

[Dutto]

I use a Hop Tea made to this recipe:



I add the Hop Tea (along with any sugar I may be adding) after fermentation is finished. I generally rack the brew into 2 x 10 litre kegs and add sugar for pre-carbonation to reduce CO2 consumption.

A few of the Kits I brew have hops included for Dry Hopping, so I use them to make a Hop Tea and split them 50/50 into each keg,

When a kit doesn’t have hops provided then I may make a Hop Tea and add it as an experiment.

Enjoy.