Lagers take time apparently! after 3 weeks at 55 degrees, our tropical lager was racked into a secondary and chilled down to 40 degrees. It’ll sit here for far too long according to my impatient opinion but there’s a lot of sitting around going on these days so maybe it’s fitting.
A long way out
Whirly Bird has long been an ale house. Even our Novemberfest had some ale yeast snuck into the fermenter. Well, today is the day we naively decided to change this. Without much of an understanding on lagering cycle, off we go.
The lager mash 
New equipment
The fire was lit, the pils and Marris Otter were mashed, and things were off to a boil in the new, huge kettle. As the flame died out, that’s when we started piling on the hops. Ounces and ounces and ounces of El Dorado and Mosiac are turning this classic lager into a tropical, hoppy experiment.
Hoppy New APA!!
If we could make confetti shoot out of this pint we would! Heck, if we could make it shoot out of this website we would too. A couple of weeks sleeping in a cold keg and one CO2 emergency dealt with, Whirly Bird’s Hoppy New APA is officially being poured. There has been some back and forth regarding Sabro but we couldn’t be happier. The tropical fruit and citrus notes shine on this beer and we can’t wait for the hint of caramel to come through if the beer can last long enough to age a bit.
5 SRM, 38 IBU, 5.2% ABV
Here’s to 2020!
First beer of 2020 lives!
In the keg we go. After a huge dry hop addition of Sabro, everything settled out nicely and tastes great. FG hit the mark at 1.010 so we have ourselves a 5.2% ABV APA about to come under pressure in the cooler and turn into real beer soon.
Happy New Year!
New year, new beer!
What better way to ring in 2020 with a batch of hoppy APA. The fire was lit around noon and another hoppy creation was concocted. The last NEIPA turned out pretty well so we continued the same tropical hop profile. I think it may turn out a bit cloudy initially with the London Fog WLP but it’ll settle out in a week or so.
First look at the color 
Flame-out and whirlpool additions
The sample of OG soon-to-be-beer sure smells like we didn’t screw it up. See you in a few weeks. Don’t worry, we’ll stuff some Sabro down your throat soon.
Beetle Juice NEIPA
Back and Cali and cranking out beer is a good place to be in life. Whirly Bird is now pouring pints of Beetle Juice, our New England style IPA. The piles of late add Mosaic, El Dorado, and Azacca add juicy, tropical fruit flavors to the beer. It’s a keeper but it won’t last; too many thirsty folks around here…
4 SRM, 30 IBU, 6.8% ABV
Cheers!
Hazy NEIPA is officially beer
No longer sweet wort or a bubbling beer in the works, the hazy NEIPA is now officially a 6.8% ABV flat beer. After some bio-transformation hopping and some dry hopping, I racked the NEIPA into a keg. Looking forward to the first taste once it has some bubbles.
Hazy NEIPA on the horizon
There must be some technical glitch on the site because it looks like I haven’t made a beer in two years. I think I missed one completely but in the past two years I’ve spent more time on the road than at home and brewing has taken a back burner. Fortunately I haven’t gone two years without drinking beer…
Back in the fight, I decided to take a crack at my current favorite variety. A juicy, hoppy, New England IPA. Roll your eyes all you beer snobs and complain that juicy is an incomplete adjective. I dusted off the equipment, cracked a cold one (the chef can’t die of thirst), and 10 oz of hops later (most late additions) we have something in the works.
Another 2,600 miles later
Change is a coming (again). Whirly Bird Brewing has uprooted and moved about 2,600 miles away for the second time. All this moving just to end up about 9 miles from where we started. I’m sure it won’t be the last time.
Wasted Summer: A Lawnmower Cream Ale
Doh! It’s nearly Labor Day. This summer (and beer) was never in jeopardy of becoming an Endless Summer by any stretch. Time ripped by and the tap handle on the keg didn’t move an inch. What started as a (potentially) great summer ale is now an old, dusty keg that we can drink for Oktoberfest if we run out of other stuff.
Without further ado:
6 SRM, 8 IBU, and 5.4% ABV
Alas, it’s still beer right? I’ll take two please.