Bulldog, Evil Dog Double IPA

[tobiasbeecher]

I started one of these yesterday with a twist. I hopped immediately using the included hops but also have some for later on to add as I want it really hoppy. I also added a bit of sugar to up the vol by appx 0.5%. Fermentation started within hours at a temperature of 24 degrees. 24 hours later, the airlock is bubbling nicely but has naturally cooled to 17 degrees. I will warm it back to 20 and let the process continue!

Once fermentation finishes, I plan to let it sit cool for 2 weeks, then bottle condition for as long as I can bare!

 

[enaldyens]

We can confrim all of the above, it took a while to get started, took ages to finish, was far from clear when it went into the barrel and took weeks to clear . But my god, this is a great kit. We find it a strong beer and 3 pints is more than enough, not a school night drink for sure. We will be making it again for sure and using half pint glasses (we know, wimps) to drink it from too ! Oh, and dont believe the 7% rating, we never measured ours but having been homebrewing for over 30 years using mainly kits (but with lots of one off experiments along the way) this is the only kit we have made to stop us in our tracks and make our heads spin. Please dont add any additional sugar to the ferment, it is not needed !

 

[tobiasbeecher]

We can confrim all of the above, it took a while to get started, took ages to finish, was far from clear when it went into the barrel and took weeks to clear . But my god, this is a great kit. We find it a strong beer and 3 pints is more than enough, not a school night drink for sure. We will be making it again for sure and using half pint glasses (we know, wimps) to drink it from too ! Oh, and dont believe the 7% rating, we never measured ours but having been homebrewing for over 30 years using mainly kits (but with lots of one off experiments along the way) this is the only kit we have made to stop us in our tracks and make our heads spin. Please dont add any additional sugar to the ferment, it is not needed !

Not needed? We shall see about that :)

Mine is fermenting very well, appx 2 bubbles per second after 48 hours. It hovers between 20 and 22 degrees. It is producing a lovely smell too. To help with the clarity, I aim to let mine sit cool in the garage for a while before bottling.

 

[mattyhall22]

We can confrim all of the above, it took a while to get started, took ages to finish, was far from clear when it went into the barrel and took weeks to clear . But my god, this is a great kit. We find it a strong beer and 3 pints is more than enough, not a school night drink for sure. We will be making it again for sure and using half pint glasses (we know, wimps) to drink it from too ! Oh, and dont believe the 7% rating, we never measured ours but having been homebrewing for over 30 years using mainly kits (but with lots of one off experiments along the way) this is the only kit we have made to stop us in our tracks and make our heads spin. Please dont add any additional sugar to the ferment, it is not needed !

I cooled mine in the garage for two days before bottling and it was a lot clearer when it went into the bottle, will put a pic of a bottle up after the carbing period is done :

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

Mine's cooling at the moment for a couple of days. Bottling and kegging tomorrow. And no, definitely not 7% only thing is I'm away for two weeks so it will be in the bottle at about 18 degrees for three weeks altogether before going in the cold attic. Will this be ok anyone? Cheers.

 

[mattyhall22]

Mine's cooling at the moment for a couple of days. Bottling and kegging tomorrow. And no, definitely not 7% only thing is I'm away for two weeks so it will be in the bottle at about 18 degrees for three weeks altogether before going in the cold attic. Will this be ok anyone? Cheers.

Yeah not an issue with three weeks in the warm :thumb:

Mine is 8.3% I can't wait :

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

Cheers matty. Mine's 'only' 7.9. Really looking forward to some of this. :drink:

 

[tobiasbeecher]

What is considered cool enough to let it sit to clear? A target temperature?

I will bottle then bring back into the warm (18+) for 2 weeks before I sample it for the first time.

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

What is considered cool enough to let it sit to clear? A target temperature?

I will bottle then bring back into the warm (18+) for 2 weeks before I sample it for the first time.

Good question and one I don't have a real answer to. I can tell you mine is around 14º but only because that's the coldest place downstairs. I could get it lower but didn't want to lug it up to the attic.

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

Right. Bottling and kegging now. It's nudging 8.3% now and tastes great. Batch primed with around 150g dextrose. If this carbs up ok I would go as far as saying this could be my favourite beer. Ever. Taste is unlike anything I've tried but fruity, dry but sweet if that makes sense and a massive smack of hops. The aalcohol comes in at the end. Nice.

 

[mattyhall22]

What is considered cool enough to let it sit to clear? A target temperature?

I will bottle then bring back into the warm (18+) for 2 weeks before I sample it for the first time.

Mine sat in the garage for a couple of days so would have been between 5C and 7C (ish) :thumb:

 

[professor beer]

Without doubt the best kit I have ever brewed, aroma & body a league above the others.
Allow me to put that comment into context.
I have been brewing for 7 years, after 20ish Kits I set up an all grain system, last year I had a business plan, partner and premises to go professional, but I realised inadequate capital to see it through (£10k dont go far in setting up a nano brewery) Now space doesnt allow me to set up my 10gal AG system so reluctantly I turned back to kits, and after much reading thought that I would try this one. An uncharacteristically excellent decision!
Only just been racking off tonight and always sample at each stage, my sample instantly turned into a pint straight from the siphon hose. Unfinished yet already better than most of the AG recipes that took several batches to perfect.
Also the strength allows scope for liquoring back (diluting) into a second fermenter and playing with dry hopping with your favourite hop varieties. The final gravity was 1004! giving an 8.6% brew if I hadnt liquored back to 5.8% and added citra and hallertau hops to the second fermenter.
I write this after ordering my next Evil Dog kit..... Now where can I get some sauvignon hops.....?
Gazing wistfully at 60 bottles of delicious beer conditioning in the corner of the room.
Cheers

 

[tobiasbeecher]

Without doubt the best kit I have ever brewed, aroma & body a league above the others.
Allow me to put that comment into context.
I have been brewing for 7 years, after 20ish Kits I set up an all grain system, last year I had a business plan, partner and premises to go professional, but I realised inadequate capital to see it through (£10k dont go far in setting up a nano brewery) Now space doesnt allow me to set up my 10gal AG system so reluctantly I turned back to kits, and after much reading thought that I would try this one. An uncharacteristically excellent decision!
Only just been racking off tonight and always sample at each stage, my sample instantly turned into a pint straight from the siphon hose. Unfinished yet already better than most of the AG recipes that took several batches to perfect.
Also the strength allows scope for liquoring back (diluting) into a second fermenter and playing with dry hopping with your favourite hop varieties. The final gravity was 1004! giving an 8.6% brew if I hadnt liquored back to 5.8% and added citra and hallertau hops to the second fermenter.
I write this after ordering my next Evil Dog kit..... Now where can I get some sauvignon hops.....?
Gazing wistfully at 60 bottles of delicious beer conditioning in the corner of the room.
Cheers

Just so I undestand this correctly; you actually diluted this? As in, the second fermenter contained water? What ratio did you do this to?

 

[boost]

Well, mine has been in bottles for 2 weeks. Still very young but I'm drinking my second pint now. It's gorgeous! Hard to describe the flavour. Very distinctive. Kind of like ipa with flowers!?

I think this might not only be one of my favourite homebrews, but one of my favourite beers! There is absolutely no clue you are drinking homebrew, which is great considering mine is so young.

Next bulldog will be on order asap, keen to try the whole range.

Very impressed.

:

 

[tobiasbeecher]

8 days in and bubbling on average once every 10 seconds. what bubble frequency do people stop after?

 

[Trucker5685]

8 days in and bubbling on average once every 10 seconds. what bubble frequency do people stop after?

When I did mine it was in the FV for 3 weeks. Patience is the key with this kit, presumably due to the high alcohol content

 

[tobiasbeecher]

8 days in and bubbling on average once every 10 seconds. what bubble frequency do people stop after?

When I did mine it was in the FV for 3 weeks. Patience is the key with this kit, presumably due to the high alcohol content

3 weeks? OK. My gravity reading is at 1.012 at the moment. Not sure I'll need to leave it another 1.5 weeks, but we shall see? What was your airlock activity like after this time?

 

[Trucker5685]

8 days in and bubbling on average once every 10 seconds. what bubble frequency do people stop after?

When I did mine it was in the FV for 3 weeks. Patience is the key with this kit, presumably due to the high alcohol content

3 weeks? OK. My gravity reading is at 1.012 at the moment. Not sure I'll need to leave it another 1.5 weeks, but we shall see? What was your airlock activity like after this time?

To be honest I can't remember but I racked mine as there was a lot of crap on the bottom and then left it as the yeast will clear up after itself resulting in a clearer beer and less sediment in the bottle. Don't go off the instructions for timings, be patient mate. :thumb:

 

[jackduk]

Could use some advice guys.....

I brewed this kit myself a couple of months ago, and think I underestimated the temperature of the room I left my FV in (since bought a heating tray as the room got cold overnight). Bottled the beer after mixing with 100g of priming sugar but noticed it was fizzing in the neck as I bottled it into swing top bottles. I lost about 3 in the first week, exploding. Decided to cycle all the swing tops and relieve some of the pressure, but when I did - a load of sediment rose to the top and didn't budge. Left things for a few weeks and the beer cleaned as expected, so opened one and it exploded all over me lol! As I finished wiping the beer off the ceiling, the froth had calmed to a liquid in my glass but the process had re-mixed all the sediment into the beer. Had a taste, and it was pretty bad but tasted very strong in alcohol. As a last ditch effort to save the batch, I bought a keg, popped every bottle into the keg rather explosively - and then just left it. Poured a small glass last night and it tastes like pure ethanol! It's pretty awful to be honest. Although I've learned a lot from this brew (like really check fermentation has finished, not just check for air-lock activity), I'm left with a barrel of undrinkable ale (even with lemonade). Is there anything anyone can suggest to save the batch? Was thinking of just adding more water, but there wasn't much of a beer/hop taste left either it was that strong.

Any ideas?

JD

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

Mine was in primary for 12 days and secondary for about the same, with the last 2 days a bit cooler to try and clear it. The gravity just kept dropping - I bottled it at 1.005 so it would be around 8.3% but even when it was coming back to room temp before bottling the airlock started going again - too late as I had sanitized all my bottles and prepped for it - I will hope for the best but it tasted fantastic before priming and racking. Used around 150g dextrose (must get more accurate scales) and my plastic tester bottle tells me it's starting to carb nicely (hopefully not too much). It isn't clear - looks like a hazy wheat beer. Half of it is kegged, that will move to the cold soon but will leave the bottles at room temp for around 3 weeks as I'm away for the next 2.

Anyway - patience, patience and more patience when fermenting this. :thumb: