Boil the kit or add after?

[CB_Phil]

been a while since I brewed/ been here, mix of work & a 2 week old & the prep that comes w/all that.

So Im planing another Muntons Docklands porter, a 3kg sugarless kit which Ill be hacking. 150g Choc malt in cold water the night before (as per Lord Eoin's hack guide), then brewday (tomorrow as Ive managed to sort a few hours) Ill be bringing 3gal of water to boil w/250g of Dark Spray Malt (using the previous nights steeped water) adding 40g Chinook Hops @ 60 minutes & 15g fuggles @ 20minutes.

My question is, should I pour the 3kg of syrup in w/the Spray Malt or add it after in the FV?

Ay other opinions on my plan welcome

Cheers
Phil

[Garry]

Add the kit to the fv. If you boil it you will feck up the bitterness of the kit. The rest of your recipe sounds good.

Oh, congrats on the sprog 

[Garry]

I assume you mean 3l of water not 3 gallons? Sleepless nights, I understand 

[Dunkel]

Hi Phil,

The way I would do it would be to add the 3kg syrup in the FV. The kit is designed to be balanced; if you start boiling it this balance will be altered. There are rules about the gravity of the wort and how it affects the utilisation of the hops - IIRC the optimal gravity is around 1.040. Obviously you're not going to get this with 250g spray malt; but you might be better off just using 1 gallon or so of water in the boil.

Hope this helps.

[CB_Phil]

cheers lads, i was following Palmers, how to brew w.the 3gal. was thinking it may be overkill w.only using a small amount of spray malt. But yeah, logical thinking is not my strong point @ the moment
W.that in mind, ive actually written down a step by step for tomorrow just incase tonight is anything like last night 

[LordEoin]

3 gallons is overkill alright.
Do what Garry and Dunkel say and you'll not go wrong. DO NOT BOIL THE KIT!
But 40grams of chinook@60 min on top of the kit will probably make a very bitter porter, way off style.

Kit bitterness: Bitterness (EBU's)   17 - 23 (from HBW site)
40g chinook@60mins: about 70IBU (from brewmate)
kit + hops = ~90IBU
BJCP guidelines for  a porter : IBUs: 18 – 35

I'd leave out the 60 minute boil completely and split between a 20, 10 and dryhop.

[CB_Phil]

cheers LE I was goig for a Sierra Nevada style & they use Chinook. jst about to get cracking, so ill take an other look before starting