First all grain IPA?

As long as the strainer was sterile, you shouldn't have any worries. The bulge is a worry, though. Do you have an airlock on your fermenter? It seems like the CO2 is building up pressure in your fermenter without having somewhere to release itself.

If you don't, loosen the lid just enough to let some of the CO2 gas out.

 

When transferring my chilled wort into my fermenter hops and trub always carries over. My beer turns out just fine every time. Sanitation and fermentation temp control should be more of a priority.

 

Pull the airlock and see if it's plugged up or restricted in some other way.
Also there's debate on whether the S-type (aka bubbler) airlock is as good as a 3-piece airlock. I've only used the 3-piece airlock and not had any issues.

Edited to add after you posted: If there's positive pressure in the vessel you can still pull the airlock to check without being overly concerned about nasties getting in....since you mentioned there was a bulge. Seems a bit odd for an all-steel unit.

 

Sounds like everything is going good. Try to minimize O2 contact especially towards the end of fermentation. 10-14 days should be suffice. If adding dry hops throw them in the last 3-5 days of that. Cold crash the last 1-2 days if possible. That’s pretty much my process. And IPA is pretty much all I brew. Kegging is also extremely important as well if you can for that style. Hope my advice helps.

 

In case you missed my previous edit:
Just curious, does the "bulge" look like it's something that shouldn't be there, or does it look like the lid was designed that way?

 

I will say this for bottles, only brewing 3 years now (last year w/Mash & Boil, pros/cons and all) - it's really made me appreciate the way different styles condition and age, and being able to sample at 2 weeks (green, though if primary for 3-4 weeks+2 wks bottle that's style dependent too),3, 4, 2 mos, 4, 6 mos etc. it's a trip. Highly recommend stashing bottles to condition and taste at different points - some beers smooth out, some develop, some thin out (past prime), most drop hop aromas weekly...(IMHO). Getting a bench capper makes it much more painless (though cleaning/sterilizing/storing bottles always sucks...