Bad Cat Imperial Red

randomname2005

Hi all,
Looking for advice on the Bulldog Bad Cat Imperial Red kit, if anyone has brewed it:
https://www.geterbrewed.ie/bulldog-brews-bad-cat-imperial-red/

Online reviews are quite positive but highlight an issue with the amount of activity and blow out. If anyone has successfully brewed this without issue, could you say what size fermentation vessel you used. Would a 30L be big enough to avoid an upset wife with beer gunk all over the place?

Regards,
RN

hatrickpatrick

I made it! It's a delicious beer. I used a 30L bucket and topped it up to 22-23L as always, had no issues with blowoff. Just make sure to keep your temperature near the lower end of the advised range to avoid explosive fermentation.

Also, a word of advice: Bulldog kits are incredible, their advice regarding dry hopping is bollocks. Do not boil the hops in a cup of water before adding to the fermenter, cut the "teabag" open and just drop them straight in as-is. They have antibacterial properties and are extremely unlikely to infect your brew, but boiling them destroys many of the chemicals responsible for the 'hoppy" taste and aroma of a proper IPA. Also, add them 24-26 hours before bottling, no earlier - the hoppiness escapes as gas through your airlock the longer the hops are in contact with the beer, 1-2 days is all they need to impart their flavour and aroma without losing any of it to the air.

I'd also advise leaving this to ferment for at least two full weeks before even thinking about bottling it. In my experience it actually needs three, otherwise you're going to have issues with overcarbonated gushers, and a large amount of sediment in your bottles.

My advice would be, brew it, wait until two nights before the three week mark, add the hops, then bottle two days later.

Report back once you've made the kit!

randomname2005

Sorry, just saw this now. Thanks for the advice. Haven't bought it as I wanted to get a good size fermentation vessel at the same time - current one is 25l so will go for 30 or above depending on what is available.

hatrickpatrick

randomname2005 wrote: »

Sorry, just saw this now. Thanks for the advice. Haven't bought it as I wanted to get a good size fermentation vessel at the same time - current one is 25l so will go for 30 or above depending on what is available.

I'm going to assume a 25L fermenter won't cut it with this kit, the trub rings around the edge tend to be up around the 25L / 26L mark with these big 4kg kits. I'm using the standard 30L one and I've never had an issue with any kit so far, and I've made some huge ones.

randomname2005

I had one recently, think it was the Razorback from Festival which had gunge in the air lock. Not taking any chances with this!

Thanks again,
RN

randomname2005

Brewed, bottled and left for a few weeks to condition. It was a good beer, maybe hyped up a little and wasn't quite as good as I was hoping. Or maybe my tastes are now more in the IPA/PA and imperial stout range than reds.

Thanks for the help hatrickpatrick

randomname2005

randomname2005 wrote: »

Brewed, bottled and left for a few weeks to condition. It was a good beer, maybe hyped up a little and wasn't quite as good as I was hoping. Or maybe my tastes are now more in the IPA/PA and imperial stout range than reds.

Thanks for the help hatrickpatrick

Came back to this beer over the weekend, had a few bottles put aside - not enough in retrospect. Much better after aging for a while.