Revolution Brewing Co.’s Anti-Hero IPA clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.065  FG = 1.014
IBU =  60  SRM = 7  ABV = 6.7%  

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. 

Ingredients
10 lbs. (4.5 kg) North American pale ale malt 
2 lbs. (0.9 kg) Weyermann Munich Type 1 malt
10 oz. (283 g) Briess Carapils® malt
9 oz. (255 g) red wheat malt
2 oz. (57 g) Simpsons Naked Golden Oats^TM malt
8.5 AAU Apollo^TM hops (80 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 17% alpha acids)
9.2 AAU Centennial hops (30 min.) (0.7 oz./20 g at 13.1% alpha acids)
6 AAU Cascade hops (10 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 6% alpha acids)
1 oz. (28 g) Centennial hops (0 min.) 
1 oz. (28 g) Chinook hops (0 min.) 
2 oz. (57 g) Centennial hops (dry hop)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Chinook hops (dry hop)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Citra® hops (dry hop)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Crystal hops (dry hop)
1 tsp. Irish moss (10 min.)
1 oz. (30 mL) Biofine Clear (or similar fining)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB Ale), White Labs WLP002 (English Ale), or Mangrove Jack’s M15 (Empire Ale) yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step By Step
This recipe uses a single-infusion mash at a ratio of 3:1 water-to-grain. Add 4.8 gallons (18.3 L) of water at 163 °F (73 °C) to the mash/lauter tun and stir in 1⁄2 tsp. each of gypsum and calcium chloride. Mash in grains targeting a temperature of 153 °F (67 °C) and rest there for 40 minutes. Vorlauf slowly for 20 minutes to complete starch conversion and clarify wort before collecting in the brew kettle.

Begin collecting first runnings in kettle. Start sparging 170 °F (77 °C) water when the grain bed is beginning to become exposed. Fill your kettle to 7 gallons (26.5 L) of wort, cutting your sparge when about 6 gallons (23 L) is collected to allow the sparge water to pull through the grain bed. Total boil time is 80 minutes. Add hops according to schedule. 

Add the final kettle hop addition at the end of the boil and use a spoon or paddle to get your wort spinning to break up the hop pellets. Once you are done stirring your wort, start a 20-minute timer to allow your trub pile to form. 

After your whirlpool, cool wort to 66 °F (19 °C) and pitch yeast. If using a liquid strain and you have an oxygen tank and regulator, Revolution targets their oxygen flow at 8 L /minute during the entire transfer of wort to the fermentation tank. Transfer as much clean wort away from your trub pile as possible to maximize the volume you are sending to the fermenter. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) and follow the fermentation timeline:

Day 4: Check the gravity. When it is 1.016–1.018, 2–4 gravity points above terminal gravity, harvest or dump thick yeast that has settled to the bottom of the fermenting vessel (or rack to another carboy), add the dry hops, then raise the temperature of the fermenter to 70 °F (21 °C) to begin a diacetyl rest.

Day 8: Fermentation should be complete. Dump the trub that has settled to the bottom of your fermenter or rack to another carboy. Set temperature to 32 °F (0 °C) to further drop yeast and hop matter. 

Day 10: Add Biofine or similar fermentation fining agent and gently swirl (or CO₂ rouse your fermentation vessel from the bottom if you have a conical fermenter) to ensure good mixing. Within a few days of fining you should see a major improvement in clarity.

Day 12: Transfer to a keg and force carbonate or prime and bottle condition to 2.5–2.6 volumes of CO₂.

Extract with grains option: 
Replace the pale ale, light Munich, and red wheat malts with 6.25 lbs. (2.8 kg) pale ale dried malt extract and 1 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich dried malt extract. Place the crushed grains into a muslin bag and steep in 5 gallons (19 L) water as it heats up to 170 °F (77 °C). Remove the grains, allowing them to drip back into the kettle. Remove from heat and stir in the dried malt extract. Once fully dissolved, turn the heat back on and bring to a boil. 

Follow the remainder of the all-grain recipe instructions, being sure to top up the fermenter to 5.25 gallons (20 L) before starting fermentation.

Tips For Success:
Target a yeast pitch rate of 1 million cells/mL/°Plato. When using a liquid strain, having a healthy active yeast pitch going into fermentation and a yeast propagation before brewing this beer is helpful.

The brewers at Revolution stress the importance of dry hopping at 0.5–1 °P (0.002–0.004) above terminal gravity and at 70 °F (21 °C) to get the cleanest citrus, pine and floral aromatics in this beer. 

Removing the yeast and hops 3 to 4 days after the initial dry hop is crucial to retain the clean hop aromatics so the yeast doesn’t autolyze and the vegetal hop matter doesn’t begin to break down.

Keeping CO₂ pressure in the headspace of your beer when the fermentation and dry hop are complete will help preserve hop aromatics, which is key to a beer like Anti-Hero.

Gently carbonating your beer to prevent foaming will also aid in your foam stability and let those hop aromatics you worked so hard to extract really shine!