Evil dog IPA

[Acky]

I did this as my first kit and followed instructions to the letter.
After leaving it for 3 weeks, I moved it to fridge to condition for another few weeks.
It's tasted awful, no carbonation either (it was batch primed with 90 grams)
Alot of people saying this needs months to condition, does this mean leave it in fridge for another month?

I've made another batch of this but hacked it making a hop tea at beginning with the supplied hop bags and then dry hopping with some amarillo, simcoe and falconers flight to try and get more hoppiness out of it. This was batch primed with alot more sugar too, 130 grams

So 2-3 weeks in the warm/dark, then the rest of the conditioning in fridge?

 

[chuff76]

I did this as my first kit and followed instructions to the letter.
After leaving it for 3 weeks, I moved it to fridge to condition for another few weeks.
It's tasted awful, no carbonation either (it was batch primed with 90 grams)
Alot of people saying this needs months to condition, does this mean leave it in fridge for another month?

I've made another batch of this but hacked it making a hop tea at beginning with the supplied hop bags and then dry hopping with some amarillo, simcoe and falconers flight to try and get more hoppiness out of it. This was batch primed with alot more sugar too, 130 grams

So 2-3 weeks in the warm/dark, then the rest of the conditioning in fridge?

Hello mate, I've done this very kit twice myself last year.
You say you moved it to the fridge after 3 weeks - Was this after you had bottled and primed it ?
90g priming sugar seems low, I use about 130g of dextrose for a batch this size. Once bottled it will be carbonated in 2-3 weeks - After that, the longer you can leave it the better, it will continue to improve and should become crystal clear - Not necessarily in the fridge, mine live in my wardrobe for ages.

You say it tasted awful - Can you identify what the bad taste was like ? apart from the low carbonation?

It was actually around this time I did it last year and it got very warm while fermenting, approaching 30c on a few days - It ended up with some funky fruity flavours, but it was still very drinkable.

 

[Acky]

It was bottled after being batch primed and left in a cupboard at a pretty steady 21 for 5 weeks ,it also fermented in same area at same temp.
I've just taken a bottle which has been in the fridge for the last two weeks and I must admit there's a bit of a difference in a good way, the last ones had a kind of cider twang too it, no hop taste or aroma. There is even a slight bit of carbonation, alot more visible than the other, with a small white head which is still visible.

Don't think it'd been a disaster, just a learning curve. The priming sugar probably the biggest noob error (but I don't like my ipa over carbonated so thought this would suffice)
Leaving it longer as well I think would help.
The last two vat he's I've done one of these and a youngs ipa have been dry hopped to hell and back

 

[chuff76]

The Youngs IPA was my favourite kit, and after my first go I also started buying extra hops to finish it

Since I've gone All Grain though I now understand what a real heavy dry hop looks like :) My last one had a combined 120g of Chinook, Amarillo & Cascade whole leaf which was a layer several inches deep in the FV.

Your description of the cidery twang - I found this to some degree with all kits and ultimately that's what drove me to AG.

It's a double edged sword - These kits really do benefit from a longer conditioning time but the longer you leave it the hop aroma does start to fade a bit

 

[Acky]

I kinda understand the chemistry of the hopping with the oils giving aroma etc.
But how do these disappearing they are oil based and no where to escape once bottled.
I read a lot about the aroma disappearing the longer it's in the bottle being conditioned, so how does this happen?

 

[Acky]

Well my second batch of evil dog turned 3 weeks old on friday, so Ive had a few chillin in the fridge. I popped on last night and reckon it could may have a wee bit longer to go carbonation wise and maturing, but as it is right now.......holy **** its good.
I kinda of went of a recipe for Ballast Point Sculpin I found online and Im super happy with the result.

Ive got a festival Razzorback IPA on the go right now, see how it turns out

 

[Poochops]

Today mine was two weeks FV, two week bottled in the warm and a week in the garage. I bottled with 140g of table sugar and just tried my first bottle earlier...
So, the carbonation is right, the bottom end of effervescent. Keeps feeding the head from the base. As planned - good.
The colour is right, like that ginger kids hair in primary school - good
It's crisply clear and the yeast only drops out in the last 20ml - great

It's too blimmin young though! I had an OG of 1064 and it stopped in the late teens, no problem really ; but after I moved it to a warmer location and dry hopped, it kicked off again proper, and ended at 1.000, or about 8.4%, far too high.
At three weeks it tastes like lemonade on the sip, alcohol on the swallow, and tart grapefruit on the finish. There's no desirable hoppiness too speak of and I doubt there's anything to come through. However I'll leave it six-eight weeks in the cool now and see what happens, I don't hold out a lot of hope though it's tooooo dry and tooooo tart. We'll see :) keep smiling.

Ooh, that's twenty bottles though, to another dozen I added three drops of citra hop oil, and another dozen three drops of centennial I think. Newbie alert! but it'll be interesting to taste the difference later.
Presently I can see this brew being a shandy base!

 

[SheepDog]

I love this kit, my present batch started with an OG of 1072 and finished at 1008 at just under 3 weeks. Tastes nice today when bottled!! I left last one around 8 weeks before drinking and it was clear as a bell and tatsed amazing.. This should be just the ticket for a cold January evening :mrgreen: