Capitol C IPA: First Taste

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The keg is charged and cooled. Time for the first pour of VA!

Beating the farmhouse out by a few weeks, Capitol C IPA has a fantastic nose on it but the mouth-feel tastes… well like it should with a FG of only 1.004 I guess. My untrained first impression is it smells like beer, looks like beer, tastes like beer, but kinda “feels” like water on the way down. Good I guess for a hot summer but I’ll have to examine where things went awry to have a bit more malt in the next batch of IPA I cook up.

Final stats come in at 10 SRM, 69 IBU, and 5.0% ABV

Capitol C IPA Label

Liquid Citra is in the keg

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Hopefully this one will beat the farmhouse out of the tap as it should require a bit less time to rest. I was surprised to read a FG of 1.004 on the hydrometer before I poured the beer into the keg. Not sure if the WLP-001 did something it shouldn’t have or if the hydrometer is busted. I guess I’ll brew some more and find out.

Must… have…. IPA…

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It’s been nice becoming forcefully reacquainted with the many other styles of beer in the world over the past year. I used to have a fridge stocked full of IPAs that would share some real estate with the occasional out-of-towner. However, the relocation of the brewing facilities from West to East Coast means that the copious amounts of IPA aren’t as readily available as they used to be and the ones that are available…. well let’s just say, the East doesn’t do West Coast IPAs. There are some exceptions to that statement but only some.

Ramblings aside, while I have enjoyed drinking styles I neglected for a few years, that empty place in my heart/belly/fridge could only be filled with an IPA. Match. Burner. Boil. Hops. Yeast. An IPA is born. Single hops and lots of them! See you in a few weeks!

Whirly Bird’s first keg

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1.041 went into the carboy and 15 days later there was but 1.002 left. Everything went much quicker than I expected but I guess that’s what this type of yeast does (WLP565). First day of spring and Whirly Bird Brewing Co rings it in with our first batch of beer in a keg. Now the real waiting game begins… when to pour that first glass…

A farmhouse in the making

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The match has been lit and the burner has once again come to life. Pilsner, Vienna, wheat, rye and aciduated malt are well on their way into making a Farmhouse Ale with the help of some hops and some yeast.

The goal is a sour-ish farmhouse (saison) and keg it but we’ll see how everything shakes out.

2,600 miles later…

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Change is a coming. Whirly Bird Brewing has uprooted and moved about 2,600 miles away. What will it mean for the stuff in the bottle? Well it might mean there are no more bottles… The next batch should be in the keg!

A Little Nutty Brown Ale fizzes to life

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A Little Nutty Brown Ale is officially available for your drinking pleasure. First bottle was cracked open and looks like it’ll be drinkable. For the 16oz of nuts in the batch it only took on a bit of nut flavor. This was the first time using whirfloc and I’ll admit it does wonders to clear things up. Our Little Nutty Brown Ale has Pale Malt, oats, wheat, Caramel 20/60/80, and some chocolate. Magnum and Tettnag play the role of the hops in this brew. A pinch of brown sugar and a pound of nuts found there way into the batch as well. Dry S-04 was the yeast of the day. Final numbers for our Little Nutty Ale are 4.9% ABV, 32 IBU, 10 SRM.

Little Nutty Brown Ale

A nut brown is comming!

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First all grain brew is complete. We’ll see what sort of success story this turns out to be. No significant hiccups in the brewing process. Pretzels were great, beer didn’t boil over, and the cigar held its ash quite well.

This one features the usual Pale Malt, plus a bit of oats, wheat, Crystal 20/60/80, and a little chocolate. Did I mention it’s a nut brown? Complete with a pound of roasted pecans!

aRPA is born

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A Rye Pale has been born… and finally tasted… and it isn’t all that bad! I’m a bit surprised at the FG/ABV given the extra pound of candy syrup I added during the boil but I guess the hipsters call this sub 5% stuff “session” ale right? Rye, rye, and some more rye. aRPA also has a bit of Caramel80 and it gets its color from a little chocolate. Magnum for the boil and Chinook, Columbus, Amarillo, and Citra were added post boil and/or dry hopped after primary fermentation. WLP-001 makes it a beer. Final stats are 15 SRM, 66 IBU, and 4.6 ABV.

aRPA: a Rye Pale Ale