Don’t miss our New England Beer & Baseball adventure in 2026! Click here to register!
In this issue, read about the origins of Chicago’s Revolution Brewing and get some tips on how to brew clones of a few of its offerings. Plus, some ideas on how to cook with your homebrew, enjoy sweet success using brewing sugars, and a step-by-step guide on how to build a DIY keg washer.
While research is still being done to learn how to get the most from dry hopping, we asked three brewers known for their dry-hopped beers to share their approach.
A BYO reader stumbled upon their first rice lager at 1188 Brewing Co. and wants to learn more about this highly drinkable brew.
My recipe is a middle-of-the-road example for Ireland. It uses a rather dextrinous base malt (mild malt) with a little bit of oats to increase the mouthfeel.
Revolution calls Infinity-Hero IPA a New Generation IPA. “The whole intention of Infinity-Hero is to create more of a new-school IPA using unique hop varieties and different processes,” says Head Brewer Jim Cibak.
Appropriate for the season, Fistmas is a holiday beer for hopheads! “As a homebrewer, I always would do spiced ales around the holidays,” Revolution Head Brewer Jim Cibak said, “but honestly, they just wore out my palate. Fistmas goes more with Revolution’s theme of brewing hoppier beers.”
The base beer of Deth’s Tar is an English-style imperial oatmeal stout that Revolution ages in whiskey barrels.
Revolution’s Freedom Series of fruited sour beers brings together the tartness of a lower-ABV kettle sour beer with a wide range of fruit flavors — in this case peach.
The flagship from Revolution Brewing and a quintessential Midwest IPA. According to Revolution’s Head Brewer Jim Cibak, the goal with Anti-Hero IPA is brewing a sessionable hoppy beer with a firm malt foundation (but not overly sweet) and layered “C-hop” flavor and aroma. A beer where there’s enough malt to balance out all the wonderful kettle and dry-hop additions you’re throwing at it.
Brewed to include the addition of key lime puree, this Kölsch uses a semi-traditional Kölsch grist bill along with a big helping of honey. Fermented with Kölsch yeast and finishing dry, this is a very fun one. Feel free to omit the fruit or substitute another fruit for key lime, as Oakshire has done on occasion.
Dextrose is used as the catalyst for the dryness of such a big beer while letting the malt balance out the huge hop load. Oakshire likes using the Incognito® hop oil (both of these varieties are available in smaller homebrew quantities) to get the resinous character while maintaining the mouthfeel for this triple IPA.
For homebrewers that keg their beer, one of the most onerous tasks is to clean newly emptied vessels. A keg washing system allows a pump to handle the physical nature of the job and get into all the nooks and crannies.
Three-vessel brew systems were the norm for all-grain homebrewers for the last few decades. Learn about the various configurations.
In the high desert of eastern Oregon, the small town of John Day has brought a family together to form a nanobrewery. One reader stumbled upon their first rice lager there and wants to learn more about this highly drinkable brew.
Mash and boil durations used to be practically set in stone but questions about their nearly static nature have arisen. Mr. Wizard recently dove into mash duration and now leans into the sanctity of boil length. Also, a brewer is looking for advice in regards to using ice to chill wort.
A style that has been twisted and misshapen when big, multi-national breweries started to popularize their brands, Irish red ales had for some time lost their way. Gordon Strong wants to take this style back to its Irish roots.
Homebrewing is going through a soul-searching moment. One area we all feel can spur the love of the hobby again is through our local homebrew clubs. Get some pointers for reinvigorating the best of what can make them invaluable to the greater brewing community.
The camaraderie and sharing of knowledge is one of the best aspects of having a brewing partner. But what if that partner is located halfway around the world and doesn’t speak your language? Somehow, these pen pal brewers make it work.
From a humble brewpub in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood to the largest craft brewery in Illinois, Revolution Brewing Co. has become a force of nature in the craft beer world. Leading the charge is still an IPA from those early days, but the supporting cast of hoppy ales, big beers from its barrel-aging program, and fruited sours offers something for everyone. The brewers at Revolution were more than happy to share their brewing advice so we, too, can brew beers worthy of a Revolution.
Sugar, generally from malted barley, is necessary to feed the yeast that produce ethanol in beer. But sugar can also be an ingredient that doesn’t have to come from malt, and it’s not just used to create macro-style lagers. Let’s take a closer look at some of the more popular brewing sugars, the characteristics they impart on beer, styles they may best suit, and advice on how to best use them in your brewing.
If you’re hosting a gathering around the holidays this year, then you’ll need a menu. Let us help, as we offer details for a four-course meal plus a cocktail that is sure to impress your guests. Oh, did we mention that every recipe includes beer as an ingredient?
This holiday season give the gift of beer! Check out all of the great beer gear in our 2023 Holiday Gift Guide for gift ideas for friends and family or make your own homebrew holiday wishlist…
