Date: December 2023
Dry Hopping: Tips from the Pros
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.
1188 Brewing Co.’s Silk Robes and Kimonos Rice Lager clone
A BYO reader stumbled upon their first rice lager at 1188 Brewing Co. and wants to learn more about this highly drinkable brew.
Gordon Strong’s Irish Red Ale
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 Brewing Co.’s Infinity-Hero IPA clone
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.
Revolution Brewing Co.’s Fistmas clone
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.”
Revolution Brewing Co.’s Deth’s Tar clone
The base beer of Deth’s Tar is an English-style imperial oatmeal stout that Revolution ages in whiskey barrels.
Revolution Brewing Co.’s Freedom of Speach clone
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.
Revolution Brewing Co.’s Anti-Hero IPA clone
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.
Oakshire Brewing Co.’s Key-Limety Kölsch clone
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.
Oakshire Brewing Co.’s A Life Beyond the Dream clone
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.
DIY Keg Washer
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.
Questioning Boil Duration
Thanks for the great question, Darrell! This is not a topic I recall addressing and is certainly a modern brewing topic of interest. Before digging into your specific question about the relation
