Bulldog - Evil Dog Double IPA

It is a strong beer. My first 20 bottles or so we're all cloudy so stuck them at the bottom of the pile and forgot about them. Sediment settled out and taste fantastic, albeit strong after a good few months

I'm surprised to hear even neutral reviews of this kit. I've made 4 now and they have all been very consistent and excellent. You do have to be prepared for a very hoppy beer. It almost tastes of flowers and fruit. And is not a session beer unless you like headaches. I find it one of the most relaxing beers I've ever made to sit down in an evening and watch a film and literally have one or two beers. Good stuff!

A little more time in the cold and this beer has turned out fantastic. Definitely quite fruity and flowery, it's just a shame it's so strong.

I will definitely do another once I've finished this lot.

A little more time in the cold and this beer has turned out fantastic. Definitely quite fruity and flowery, it's just a shame it's so strong.

I will definitely do another once I've finished this lot.

You could always brew it longer (add more water!)

Just started this brew last nite, followed instructions and was wondering how long it took to start fermenting eg foaming in fv, thanks

Hi All - been reading an awful lot on this kit, admittedly after id already started (previously only done one Coopers kit and a Wherry) - This was my first premium kit, started on my birthday Jan 16th in FV, added hops on 30th and kegged it on the 1st Feb - added 150g (my personal opinion is this is too much, if I bought again id use 100g/110g) - I'm so surprised at the negative reviews as this is quite frankly the nicest kit beer I've ever tasted, its gorgeous!!

Had it in the keg since the 1st and tried it (a lot!!) - wonderful stuff, very fizzy which I can change next time but all in all 9/10 for taste!! From other threads I've read it only gets better with time!

Started today. SG 1060 plus or minus (target 1061). Didn't taste the wort. My water comes out the tap at 26 degrees, so some pre-chilled water was required. Will be fermenting in the cellar at around 25 degrees. Yes it's roasting here.

One big difference for me was the plastic malt pouch with a lid. Fantastically easy to handle... squeeze in, add some hot water, close the lid, shake, pour out, repeat a few times. No drips, 100% malt extracted, best solution I've come across so far. I'll keep the pouch for future use, possibly to add water to freezer for wort chiller recycle.

I'll report back in a few weeks.

well im a year late for the subject matter but wanted to add my pennys worth.
not a kit i would ever do again.no hop flavor/aroma whatsoever.followed exactly,adding hop bags 2 days before barreling.had a strong alcoholic taste.not great flavor and very dry.most of the time added lemonade to sweeten.not bad as a shandy.
a mate made the FOUR FINGER JACK kit by the same company and had the same results.very average/bland,no hop character.he added the hops for a week.but made no difference.
by comparison ive made brewpack kits adding the hop bag for a week with lovely hop flavor.he recently made youngs american ipa.also adding the hops for a week.beautiful citrus hop flavour and aroma.first homebrew in 30 years i truly felt tasted like a professional beer.was just like drinking something like adnams ghostship.
i think id ignore manufacturers instructions to only add hop bags for a couple of days.

Well I like this. Maybe I'm easily pleased. I'm drinking young, so the hops are still floral. Strong sipping beer is my preference, and this is bang in that category. Not too malty with a good hop bang. Full strength 7% from 100% malt extract; pretty good value if you consider how much it would cost to fill a keg with 40 pints of Leffe Triple. It's not clear yet, but I stopped worrying about that; character. The alcohol does come across quite strong though; a small niggle.

One piece of advice would be to remove the hop bags before syphoning; the bags caused mayhem when they hit the yeast bed. I lost more beer than I think I ever have.

This is my first drink through my brand new Lindr Pygmy beer cooler. Keg sitting at 23 degrees, 5 minutes after turn on and a 5 degree beer. Even the wife is impressed. Will do a separate write up.

This beer was my first ever Home brew kit which i did last xmas and did it with some borrowed equipment at a friends house. When it came out of the FV i wasnt much impressed, very cloudy and i wasnt too sure of the taste either. It cleared beautifully quite quickly. As young beer it had a slight taste in it that i wasnt keen on. Found out that when you pre soak the hop bags for dry hopping let the boiled water cool to 25c then put them in as it gives off a slight twang in the taste i wasnt crazy on if you drop them into boiled water for some reason. However it does need time for the flavours to mature which for me was probally about 3-4months after regular sampling. It just seemed to get better and i loved this beer one of the best i have done. One word to anyone brewing this it can take time to start bubbling in the fv the first one did and i am brewing this atm and it took 44hours from pitching to start bubbling then it went off like Billy Oh.

8+%, ouch.

Regarding the lack of hops could you re-hop? It'd be less hassle if you had it in a keg but you could presumably re-bottle and re-carb. Worth trying on 5-10 bottles perhaps?

What would you guy's liken the result to? I'm very intrigued by this kit, as it sounds perfect for my taste buds if I am reading in to it correctly.

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?

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?

Yep leave it alone some where warm then somewhere cold. The longer the better....with occasional tasting for research!

A little more time in the cold and this beer has turned out fantastic. Definitely quite fruity and flowery, it's just a shame it's so strong.

I will definitely do another once I've finished this lot.

You could always brew it longer (add more water!)

Nobody detailed in the reviews what you get in this kit but if it's one where you add additional brewing sugar(?) I'd suggest not adding all/any of this rather than brewing long. You'll get the same flavour but less ABV rather than watering down the flavour.