Bulldog raja's reward IPA

[cjd85]

15days in the FV and we're still a little while away from bottling!

 

[becausewecan]

Hi All,

This is my first brew.. followed the instructions to the letter, i bottled 10 days ago and moved into the cold last night

I have to say it may be a bit premature (decided to sample one of the bottles), but im really disappointed.. tastes very "homebrew of the 90's" with a very bitter/appley taste to it. Having said that it looks perfect in the glass, clear as a bell, very little sediment in the bottle, head looked good all the way down - just tasted bloody awful.. did i do something wrong? will it get better in the cold?

I pitched the yeast a bit hot (26 degrees) and temperature on the strip of my FV was never colder than 18 degrees or warmer than 22 degrees) SG was 1044 FG was 1010 - bottle condition temp was same as fermenting temp.

Thanks in advance

 

[Joeyriles]

Hey Becausewecan, I had the same experience and haven't touched Bulldog Brews since!

The beer looked ok, smelled ok but tasted pretty crap if I'm honest. Some of my friends thought it was ok so I palmed it off onto them.

 

[becausewecan]

Hey Becausewecan, I had the same experience and haven't touched Bulldog Brews since!

The beer looked ok, smelled ok but tasted pretty crap if I'm honest. Some of my friends thought it was ok so I palmed it off onto them.

Oh no!!! looks like i`m gonna have 40 bottles to empty then have you found anything decent since?

 

[Joeyriles]

The Razorback IPA is glorious, for what it's worth.

 

[Arch41c]

If found with both the IPA and APA they took a loooooooong time to settle down, but then they were awesome :)

 

[becausewecan]

If found with both the IPA and APA they took a loooooooong time to settle down, but then they were awesome :)

when you say they take a long time to settle down - were the pretty disgusting until they did settle down?

 

[Arch41c]

Bit over hopped to be comfortable rather than 'disgusting'...

 

[becausewecan]

Bit over hopped to be comfortable rather than 'disgusting'...

hmm... ill give it a few weeks - saying as its my first one i`m not sure what to expect from tasting so early :)

 

[Arch41c]

Most beers I've found get drinkable after 6 weeks or more

 

[Spapro]

I brewed this IPA on Sunday so these latest posts have knocked the wind out my sales a bit

Hope mine turns out ok, maybe just needs a while to condition.

 

[Joeyriles]

Spapro: Don't get too despondent, bud. The Bulldog kits are (IMO) a bit more hit and miss than other kits. I only ever tried the one and I think it was a dud kit, in all honesty. The hop tea was too weak (I would now choose to buy some chinook/galaxy pellets and just throw them in) and I would have supplemented the sugar for malt extract. It was my second brew so I can't really say I knew what I was doing as much as I do now--not that I think I'm a master brewer now or anything!

Give it a whirl and don't fret about it.

 

[becausewecan]

I brewed this IPA on Sunday so these latest posts have knocked the wind out my sales a bit

Hope mine turns out ok, maybe just needs a while to condition.

Hopefully ive just cocked something up with it being my 1st brew.. i'd be interested to see how you feel about the flavours in yours when your bottle/barrel it though.

I must say as soon the FV was empty i started a BetterBrew Czech Pilsner.. is due to come out of the FV tonight and i`m already *ALOT* more hopeful given how it tastes so far

 

[Spapro]

Thanks chaps, hope I have got a 'good un' then.

Interesting idea to hop with Galaxy/Chinook. Was going to order some hops pellets from the malt miller sooner or later so might do that now. I love Okells Manx Pale Ale which apparently uses Galaxy hops so that could work well for me.

 

[AndyOwl]

Can anybody give me some advice please.
I pitched this rajas reward on the 25/10/14 with a SG of 1050, I have took several gravity readings and it seemed to be stuck at 1015 on 18/11. I was going to just rack into my bottling bucket then bottle tomorrow 22/11. However I have just taken a reading today and it's come down to 1013. What I am thinking of doing is syphoning it in to anther FV and then leaving a few more days before I rack into my bottling Bucket. The temp has been constant 20 to 22 degrees while it's been
in FV. It's now been nearly 4 weeks since I pitched this and the only other kit that has taken this long was the Suffolk strong ale. Will it be beneficial to move it Or should I leave it till bottling ? I had a taste when I took a gravity reading today and it's not bad but nowhere near a nice as the golden stag or the youngs APA I have done (IMO this doesn't taste like an IPA more like a larger). The tea bag dry hops also didn't seem to have as good smell as the others I have done so far.
Any help or advice for a novice home brewer would be welcome,
many thanks

 

[becausewecan]

Well Well Well,

I'd moved this into the cold garage about a week ago, expecting to end up throwing down the drain.. stuck one in the freezer for 30 mins tonight just to see if there was any improvement, and would you believe, its actually quite nice.. just a small hint of the apple/cider flavour , looks beautiful tastes ok, ive now got some hope for this :)

 

[b_smith_90]

Started this kit off on January 14th following instructions. Pitched yeast at 22C.
Placed FV in gardening bucket full of water with a fish tank heater in.
Day 6 - Added the included Fuggles/Goldings hop bag - didn't notice much of an aroma!
Day 11 - Added a 20g pellet tea bag of Cascade
Day 12 - Panicked at lack of hop aroma, moved FV to cold room, removed hop bags (cut them open and dropped the pellets in)
Day 14 - Bottled with 2 Maxale priming drops per 500ml into glass bottles (first time capping, went fine but won't use hobgoblin bottles again)

Tasted a 330ml bottle after 4 days and it tastes okay already - going to give it a fortnight until I try another.

 

[CreweBrewer]

Yeah, they're a bugger them Wychwood bottles...

 

[Spapro]

Dry hopped mine (hop tea method) just before bottling with Galaxy hops which has given the brew a tropical fruit cocktail twang which is absolutely gorgeous. Its a bit darker than an IPA to be honest but a really good pint. Would deffo recommend it, took a long while to ferment but has cleared quickly and conditioned quickly in the bottle as a result of long time in the FV.

 

[DeckchairBlue]

Started this off tonight as my first ever brew as it was recommended by the guy who runs my LHBS, so I hope it's good.

Meticulously cleaned and sanitised everything, only thing I've just realised I forgot was to take a gravity reading when I started it off.