Night Shift Brewing Whirlpool Clone

This past weekend I was up in Boston for EBF and I stopped by Night Shift Brewing. The place is amazing and I recommend going. While I was there I had a session pale called called Whirlpool and it was incredible.

I was wondering if anyone else has ever had it and might be willing to help me figure out which hops I should use for a clone.

I reached out to the brewery and this was their response.

"Pils, wheat, and oats are our grist. We add calcium sulfate and calcium chloride to taste. A tiny amount of first wort hops goes into a 60 min boil for 5ibus. We also add the above salts at boil too. After that, all hops are added after flameout and then dry hopped intensely after 10 days. We let it sit on dry hops for 3 days, pull trub and crash."

I found another article citing the use of Mosaic hops as well as other NZ varieties. I'm thinking maybe some Motueka or Nelson Sauvin. A lot of descriptions cite peach flavors so I'm thinking there may be some Glaxy in there too.

Thoughts?

http://www.nightshiftbrewing.com/beers/whirlpool/

I think you are going to have a tough time with this because not many folks have had their stuff. Being from that area I have and I think their process is pretty cool! Only 5 IBUS from first wort hops and all the other hops added after flame out? All of their stuff is so unique its going to be tough to replicate. If you are noticing peach notes the big hop that sticks out to me is AUS Summer I swear by them for dry hopping and love them at flame out so give it a look!

I did some digging and came up with an old twitter post from Night shift:

The math comes out at .5oz/gallon. They also state they're using American Ale yeast.


So, I went for it.

9lb pilsner (2srm)
3lb malted wheat (2srm)
1lb oats

BIAB mashed in 8 gallons at 150 for 60 mins

Pre-boil gravity 1.055

.25 oz mosaic at 60 mins for 10 ibus


Boiled 60 mins, post boil gravity 1.065

added 2.75 oz mosaic at flameout for 20 min hopstand.

Chilled to 65F, pitched US-05.

It smells EXACTLY like the can of Whirlpool I was drinking as I transferred to the fermenter. I'll let it ferment at 65 for 10 days and add 2 oz mosaic to dry hop. I figure 14 days to the keg.

Let us know how it tastes

I work 3 miles from night shift, going to check it out. Wife and I are headed to Cambridge brewing this evening.

Hopefully you'll have something to report on this next week...I can't wait to take a stab at it. Never had a better summer drinker.

Interested as well

I pulled the trigger this past weekend on my attempt at this bad boy.

5 Gallons All Grain
5# Pilsner
1# Flaked Oats
12 oz Red Wheat
4 oz Cara Pils

Target OG 1.039
Target FG 1.005
Target ABV 4.4%
Est IBU 48
Est Color 2.8 SRM

Mash at 148° for 45 minutes then mashout at 168°.

I was targeting 90% efficiency (which I have achieved before but I am still trying to dial in my system across different batch sizes) but I fell a little short at 84.2%.

I ended up with less volume in the kettle in order to hit 1.030 pre-boil gravity.

First wort hopped with 0.10 oz of Warrior for 6 IBU, this information came right from the brewer at Night Shift.

After that it was a 60 minute boil then 2 oz of both Mosaic and Citra leaf hops at flameout for a 20 minute whirlpool.

Pitched WLP090 and fermented at 66°F. Three days in and primary fermentation is almost complete.

I'm going to dry hop with another 2 oz each of Mosaic and Citra for 3 days then rack and keg. I'll post an update when it's ready!

Any updates on the taste of your batch TheWortLord? Mine is about to be kegged today. The smell was outrageous before dry-hopping. I just used pilsner, wheat, and oats, with a .5oz of galaxy with 20 mins left in the mash. Same flameout additions as you, with a 5 day dry hop of 1oz. citra, 1oz. Mosaic, and .5oz galaxy. results this Friday.

I kegged, carbed and kicked my version this past weekend. The smell was amazing and I blew through 5 gallons in an afternoon. It was light, heavy with tropical fruit notes and super crushable. I had more than a few people ask me what else was in it. They thought I was lying when I said only one kind of hops! This was by far the easiest beer I've ever made, and it'll be my go to house recipe for the foreseeable future!

Also, 4 out of 4 preferred mine to the real thing in a blind taste test!

Thanks for the grain bill, TheWartLord!

I kegged and carbed my batch just about a week ago and it's all but gone already. I couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out. Taste and smell were dead on from what I remember when I was in Boston. I also poured a glass for a buddy of mine who was up there with me and before I told him it was my recipe he had thought I smuggled a can home from the brewery. This will definitely be my go to session recipe from here on out. Light and crisp but not simple by any means!!!

I had this beer at Hunahpu day this year and was able to strike up a conversation with one of the brewers. Mosaic plus either Summer hops. I think they sometimes sub in Ella for Summer depending on what they have available.
Everything else mentioned above if is reflective of my conversation. He mentioned that they add the hops at 3 different times and the final dad is at 135 degrees for a 30 min hold. I did not have great luck at 135 on the homebrew scale and will try a higher temp next time

I just brewed something similar and it came out great. Very closed to whirlpool. I used all mosaic, and the hop flavor was very similar but not quite exact. I was thinking a touch of Columbus would help. I also used wy1450 for mouthfeel. So many session beers are thin and watery and mine was not.

Hey guys I am somewhat new to brewing and really enjoy his beer and would love to clone this. Could someone give me a detailed step by step ingredients list and timing procedure to make this? Thanks I look forward to your comments

Check the beginning of this thread. There are two different detailed brews for you to reference.

If you have any specific questions on any of the details I would be happy to answer!

TheWortLord said:

If you have any specific questions on any of the details I would be happy to answer!

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As for the sulfate and calcium part I am not sure what to do with those. But thank you all for you help.

They are water treatment additions added to the mash/boil to achieve a desired water profile. Have you ever had you water tested or used the Brun Water spreadsheet?

What water profile are people targeting with success?

Using Brun Water, my finished profile was
Calcium - 54
Magnesium - 16
Sodium - 37
Sulfate - 102
Chloride - 60
Bicarbonate - -96
RA - -127

Goodness that's a little technical for me but I live in stoneham the water tastes good but I do not know the profile of it

You might be able to look up the information online if you really wanted. If not I would say not to worry about it and just brew like you normally would! I'm sure it will still be tasty!

Ale402 said:

Goodness that's a little technical for me but I live in stoneham the water tastes good but I do not know the profile of it

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Everett (where Nightshift is) and Stoneham both get their water from MWRA, so your water should be identical - http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/02org/html/whatis.htm

TheWortLord said:

I kegged and carbed my batch just about a week ago and it's all but gone already. I couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out. Taste and smell were dead on from what I remember when I was in Boston. I also poured a glass for a buddy of mine who was up there with me and before I told him it was my recipe he had thought I smuggled a can home from the brewery. This will definitely be my go to session recipe from here on out. Light and crisp but not simple by any means!!!

Click to expand...

TheWortLord thanks for a great recipe. I brewed something similar a few weeks back and it is fantastic. Crisp and flavorful, yet sessionable for the summer. I live in Somerville and picked up a few cans of whirlpool from night shift last week. Taste test was incredibly close