Bulldog Brews Bad Cat Imperial Red

[Yossarian]

Three weeks in and still bubbling away:-)

 

[Jimbolala]

I normally don't bother with an airlock but this bad boy blew the lid! I put the airlock on and it blew it as well, more I've a blow off tube running into a piny glass with water in it. This is easily the most active kit I've done, crazy.

 

[Yossarian]

I bottled this two and a bit weeks ago fg 1006 batch primed with 120g dextrose. I'm keeping it in the warm for a bit more than two weeks due to the cold up here. Bottles are still quite cloudy but are firming up nicely. The tester I tried was nice quite sweet and malty with a bit of hop flavour coming through. It didn't taste too much of alcohol but I certainly felt it. Looking forward to this clearing and maturing.

 

[Fore]

4 weeks in and I just added the hops. The Amarillo hops smell fantastic. I've never held Amarillo hops before, but an Amarillo brew is one of my faves. Really looking forward to this now. And it's inspired me to try and emulate my fave Amarillo brew.

Oh, and I have a 27l fermenter. It tested the limits, but it didn't come through the airlock.

 

[Fore]

Oh yes! Just tested a sample just before transfer to secondary. Sat 5 weeks in primary, one of those dry hopped. Down to 1.007. Sample tastes bloody fantastic. High hopes for this. Lovely aftertaste even now.

 

[OxfordNick]

Made up a batch as per instructions on Sunday - its certainly going for it - hopefully it wont come out the airlock, but theres 4" of head & growing..

 

[Vesalius]

Made up a batch as per instructions on Sunday - its certainly going for it - hopefully it wont come out the airlock, but theres 4" of head & growing..

Keep an eye on it! Mine blew the lid haha

Really vigorous ferment

 

[jotley73]

Just put this on wow blew through the airlock had to make my first blow off tube smells incredible already

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[Jimbolala]

It tasted lovely but beware, if you don't label it correctly, you'd think think you're drinking a nice red ale, as opposed to red devil.

 

[Jimbolala]

Double post

 

[jotley73]

It's definitely a bad cat my youngs fermenter lid was blown off and mangled beyond repair

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[OxfordNick]

Bottled after three weeks - added the hops at about 12 days, but at two weeks I tasted it & was getting too much alcohol & not enough hoppyness for me so I added some extra citra hops & left it another week - had about the right level of hoppy power today so have high hopes for it, its going away for Xmas.. probably..

If I was to make it again I would leave it for atleast two weeks before adding hops & try to keep it on the cool side, its a bit of a monster otherwise.

 

[jotley73]

Just ordered another one can't wait it was a great beer and I have a 30 litre fermenter now to contain the beast lol

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[AdeDunn]

I made one of these up on 6/9/2017, SG 1.064.

6/10/2017 SG was down to 1.004.

Racked to second vessel on 11/10/2017 as SG was still 1.004 (yup, it went for a full month in the FV) and dry hopped. However I dry hopped with 25g Willamette, 25g Amarillo and 25g of Citra I bought from CML, there are a few reviews on here that suggest folks got stale hops, which is unsurprising when you consider they sit in a box on a shelf rather than been frozen to keep them fresh. So I took no chances and used ones I knew would be fresher, oh and snuck in the yummy Citra... :lol: The smell was wonderful.

16/10/2017 Racked to pressure barrel (first time I've used one) and conditioned at room temperature. Sample was nice, but had a serious alcohol kick at this point.

10/11/2017 Tasted by both my wife and myself. It's made a lovely pint, lovely and smooth. Hops are present but subtle, giving a nice balance between hops and smooth malt sweetness. Very warming but no kick. Absolutely NO homebrew twang. Delicious and looking forward to drinking this over Yule and Christmas, oh and maybe even new year... lol Carefully given it came out at 7.96% ABV approx BEFORE been primed and conditioned.... :whistle:

So yeah, this is one I'd recommend to kit brewers, with the suggestion that you swap out the hops to be on the safe side. It's an expensive kit to ruin with stale hops.

 

[AdeDunn]

Sadly I have to give an update on my review, the reason been mine very literally fell off a cliff. All of the hop aroma and flavour dropped off terribly, exposing a very strong alcohol flavour, and quite a lot of "bdoing" (or twang even...).:-(

So much for this been a Christmas beer, we've basically decided to make shandy with it, I don't overly like shandy but it still tastes better.

 

[AdeDunn]

So, still waiting for this to become drinkable... The twang has gone now, but it still tastes like it's had cheap alcohol added to it! Possibly though it fermented too warm and created fusils. My wife likes it 50/50 with something like Sprite or 7 Up.

 

[AdeDunn]

Final update on this, it went down the drain! Way too unbalanced, with too much strength for too little hops or bitterness, with a funny twang like background flavour.

 

[smithsj1]

Make one of these and you never have to deal with the mess again. (this is not mine, i would put a small amount of water in the bottom of the bottle just enough to cover the end of the tube)

I have been using a blow off tube for wines as I have a tube inside a bung but for some reason it never crossed my mind to use half a 2 piece airlock for my beer ferments. I will from now on though. Just shows what looking through some of these old posts can throw up. Thanks Chippy_Tea

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Glad to help. :thumba:

If anyone else would like to make one have a look at this -
How to make a blow off tube - https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/how-to-make-a-blow-off-tube.48970/

.

 

[bez]

Unfortunately, the mother-in-law described the smell as like nail polish remover. But I think it's coming out good: beery and fruity, with no bad feet smells. The nail polish comments reflects the strong alcohol notes: it does smell quite boozy (which my other brews haven't). And there remains a very foamy layer - which has tended to subside away in other brews I've done by now. But I think we're looking okay ...

Nail polish would suggest ketones. Esters