Bulldog Brews "Four Finger Jack"

[john_drummer]

I'm not normally one for kits but when I saw this in my LHBS I decided I had to give it a try. It's an "American Craft Brew" style which came in a floppy plastic bag rather than the traditional one or two cans; a huge sachet of yeast, and two large sachets of Columbus/Zeus hop pellets.

The instructions were very clear, including the hop sachet instructions - for American Craft Brew style they recommend only adding the hop sachets 1-2 days before you're ready to bottle. On Wednesday I thought I was at that point so I added them as per the instructions. Wow, what a lovely aroma.

I'm now racking into secondary where it'll sit until Tuesday before bottling - so it'll now be 6 days before bottling, but the damn thing just carried on fermenting when I thought it had already finished

OG 1047 at 23L; gravity now 1004 so I make that 5.6% ABV. I had a sample out of the trial jar (well it would've been rude not to!) and it tasted really good. A little yeasty perhaps, but that'll pass as it conditions.

Looks like this might be a repeater!

[injac]

Hi John,

I've also got one of these on the go - bought it when we did the last bottle swap @ Morley. Set it going on 11 days ago and it was bubbling away quite regularly until yesterday. Was down to 1006 at the weekend and last night reading the same also - if no change tonight I'm tempted to add in the hops but earliest I'll have time to bottle this will be next Tuesday so like you will be 6 days before bottling for the hops. Should I hang back a day or so? Don't want a beer overley 'perfumey' if adding too late myself...

Have to say these Bulldog kits are the business. The plastic pouch with screw top that the wort is in is a really nice bit of kit and really easy to get everything out and rinse thoroughly. Really hope these catch on!

[john_drummer]

Hi Andy
sorry I didn't reply, only just seen this post.

I do like the pouch, it's like the higher end wine kits. Glad it's a screw cap though!

[john_drummer]

well it's been in the bottle for a good four (maybe more) weeks now & I've had a couple to sample it.

First opinion is "yeasty". Very yeasty. Not entirely surprising given the size of the yeast packet in the kit, but frankly a little disappointing. Perhaps it's a "kit beer" thing; I took a bottle into the Morley Homebrew demo brewday this weekend just gone and it went down very well indeed, so perhaps it's just me. Remarkably clear in the glass though.

I wonder what it would have been like had I used US05 instead of the supplied yeast. Oh well. Time the remaining bottles went out to the bierkellar for some cool conditioning for a few months.

I'll bring some samples to the next bottle swap

[john_drummer]

Whoooaaaa!

Just opened one of these for the first time in a while. Very Impressive. No "homebrew tang" at all. I take it back

[delaneypaul]

Just put this batch on last week, reading the previous posts I'm looking forward to it.

Agree with the bag over cans much easier to rinse without burning your fingers!

At what point did you add the hop pellets?

[delaneypaul]

Just bottled this and had the hop pellets in for 3 days prior, the aroma is really nice. The ABV is ~6.4% which is a lot higher than the kit suggests.

I'll update in a few weeks when it's ready to drink.

[WalesAles]

Agree with the bag over cans much easier to rinse without burning your fingers!

DP,
Why don`t you wear thick rubber gauntlets when rinsing your cans? No burnt fingers, Job done!
WA

[SquireKnott]

I've put one of these on today - it should be my Christmas beer.

I go on holiday for a week in 13 days so intend to bottle in 12 days but one of the posts above suggests it takes a while to fully ferment - has everyone found the same?

Also, did those of you who have done this chuck the hops straight in or use a bag?

[ChrisHughes]

Mine was in the fv for 21 days & I've just pulled the first bottle out to stick in the fridge to see how it tastes. I hear it needs at least 4 weeks in the bottle to come up to maturity

[racinsnake]

Why don`t you wear thick rubber gauntlets when rinsing your cans? No burnt fingers, Job done!




Get you WA! It's a tea towel out here on the east coast ( and a clip round the ear from swmbo lol)

Rob.

[dave p]

bottled mine last sunday and the kit says to leave in the warm for a week. done 12 bottles and the rest to keg. bottles in spare room . only my 2nd kit, so as the beer still is cloudy is there any benefits if i keep it in the warm for another week or just get it down the cellar in the cold now and leave it be for as long as it takes. about the hops.when you open the foil bags the hops are in a bag . i boiled then simmered for 10mins. then chucked the lot in. think the kit did say to put in a cup of boiling water. but as the bags quite big ,i thought it would soak up all the water.cheers

[ChrisHughes]

Having it in the warm helps with the carbonation. Mine cleared really well but think the taste is something that I hope improves in the bottle over time. Think it might be tainted by my bad practices while making it though.

[SquireKnott]

I had a look at this earlier to stick the hydrometer in but it still has a huge frothy head - am I right in thinking this means it's still way off fermented?

[SquireKnott]

So, I returned from holiday last night and chucked the hops in. I'll bottle tomorrow.

Just shy of 3 weeks in the FV the last 7 days of which have been quite cold.

Am I right in thinking that could have stopped fermentation? Should I be cranking up the temperature? It looks and smells fine......