[Ricalli]

Hey Y'all got a blonde ale extract kit I'm getting ready to throw down and would like some ideas to improve it to taste closer to All grain? Don't have time or space to brew a all grain or I would. So help me take care of this blonde please.

[RPIScotty]

You could start by giving us the details of the kit.

[Bob357]

The best things you can do when brewing any beer are to use fresh quality ingredients, clean  everything well. sanitize everything that will come into contact with the wort/beer after the boil,  pitch plenty of healthy yeast, control fermentation temperature and be patient. You can brew great beer from a kit if you do these things.

As for improving a kit, it depends on what you would consider an improvement, other than brewing it to be at its best.

[dls5492]

Is this the first time you brewed this kit? If so, I would recommend brewing the kit as is and see how it turns out. Taste it, and have others taste it, and then you can figure out what more you want in it. Hope this helps.

[HoosierBrew]

Obviously haven't seen the kit recipe:
1.  Use the palest extract you can get. Briess pils DME is my favorite (for small batch hop trials), for fermentabillty, flavor and pale color.
2.  Use 1056
3.  Cool as close to 60-65F as you can manage before pitching.
4.  Try to hold fermentation temps in the low to mid 60s. Adding the fermenter to a tub of water with frozen water bottles works pretty well. Swap bottles out twice/day.
5.  Sub 1/2 lb of sugar for extract. It'll help lighten the beer in body and color, as extract is not as fermentable as grain (and is darker).
6.  Target 30ish IBU, with maybe 23ish IBU @ 60 min, the remaining IBU added evenly @ 15 min, 5 min  and flameout, consisting of Cascade, Centennial or a blend of both.
7.  Assuming you use brewing software, target 1.050 -1.054 OG and sub in some crushed malt - maybe 3 or   4 oz of aromatic or honey malt, steeped @ 155F for 30 mins, strained and added to the pot.

Hope this helps.

[Iliff Ave]

Obviously haven't seen the kit recipe:
1.  Use the palest extract you can get. Briess pils DME is my favorite (for small batch hop trials), for fermentabillty, flavor and pale color.
2.  Use 1056
3.  Cool as close to 60-65F as you can manage before pitching.
4.  Try to hold fermentation temps in the low to mid 60s. Adding the fermenter to a tub of water with frozen water bottles works pretty well. Swap bottles out twice/day.
5.  Sub 1/2 lb of sugar for extract. It'll help lighten the beer in body and color, as extract is not as fermentable as grain (and is darker).
6.  Target 30ish IBU, with maybe 23ish IBU @ 60 min, the remaining IBU added evenly @ 15 min, 5 min  and flameout, consisting of Cascade, Centennial or a blend of both.
7.  Assuming you use brewing software, target 1.050 -1.054 OG and sub in some crushed malt - maybe 3 or   4 oz of aromatic or honey malt, steeped @ 155F for 30 mins, strained and added to the pot.

Hope this helps.

#5 was key for me when doing liquid extract batches

[Ricalli]

Thanks all for the input. I ended up replacing the corn sugar with DME. The Hops were 1oz Brewers Gold at 60 and .5oz Centennial at 15 and .5oz at 10 mins. I added .5oz of galaxy at 15 min and .5oz galaxy at 10 mins to give it a little more hop characteristic. lol. Guess it will be more of a hoppy blonde. tasted the wart and it tasted damn good will have to see how it turns out. Thank again for the input.

[scott312]

Is this the first time you brewed this kit? If so, I would recommend brewing the kit as is and see how it turns out. Taste it, and have others taste it, and then you can figure out what more you want in it. Hope this helps.

I feel the same way.

[zwiller]

I think full wort boil extract can yield as good or better as AG.  Local BOP does this and wipes the floor with all but the best of AG brews.  I would encourage you to use bottled spring water as well.