Blonde Ale Kona Big Wave Golden Ale clone

[optimal_pizza]

Brewed this on Tuesday and it's happily bubbling away in my closet. Will update once I get it bottled.

Going to dry hop with an ounce of Citra. I have .75 ounce of Galaxy left over from the recipe, any benefits to throwing that in the dry hop along with the Citra?

 

[TheHappyHopper]

I'm wondering how much difference it will make for me if I switch my bittering hop from Galaxy to Citra. I converted down to a 2 gallon batch, and I feel pretty silly going to my LHBS and measuring out 0.1 oz of Galaxy hops when I could just do it all as Citra.

 

[Eiffel]

Based on running the previous extract version through BeerSmith I get the following:

Kona Big Wave Clone
Blonde Ale
Extract (5.00 gal) ABV: 3.55 %
OG: 1.036 SG FG: 1.009 SG
IBUs: 22.6 IBUs Color: 8.3 SRM

Does this look right? The ABV seems low.

 

[TheHappyHopper]

Based on running the previous extract version through BeerSmith I get the following:

Kona Big Wave Clone
Blonde Ale
Extract (5.00 gal) ABV: 3.55 %
OG: 1.036 SG FG: 1.009 SG
IBUs: 22.6 IBUs Color: 8.3 SRM

Does this look right? The ABV seems low.

According to Kona's website, it should have the following stats:
21 IBU
4.4% ABV
10.3 degrees Plato OG (1.041)
Made with 2-Row and Caramel malts
Galaxy and Citra hops

So it looks like you are about 5-6 points too low on your OG. Maybe your efficiency is lower than what was assumed for the extract/partial mash version listed before? Once you up your OG, it will also probably bring your IBUs closer to the 21 range.

What are you planning for hops? If you use what the OP listed, you get closer to 29 IBUs and you came in at 22.6, which is a lot closer to what the Kona website says.

 

[Eiffel]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1432314233.329107.jpg
This is what I put in BeerSmith with a standard 3 gallon extract pot. I probably did something wrong.

 

[Eiffel]

Just realized I messed up the last hops which ups the IBUs but I still get low OG.

Kona Big Wave Clone
Blonde Ale
Extract (5.00 gal) ABV: 3.55 %
OG: 1.036 SG FG: 1.009 SG
IBUs: 26.3 IBUs Color: 8.3 SRM


View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1432314366.331747.jpg

 

[Eiffel]

Or the other recipe was for partial mash and not extract. Hmm. Will run it in BeerSmith on my computer at home later tonight.

 

[TheHappyHopper]

I have never used BeerSmith, so I'm not much help there, but you should be able to just increase the amount of DME or 2-Row until it predicts an OG of 1.041

Side note: I just picked up ingredients for this over my lunch break. Unfortunately, my LHBS was out of Galaxy hops, so I am going all Citra. Since the OP's recipe called for the Galaxy hops to be for bittering, I hope this doesn't make too much of a difference.

 

[thadeus_d3]

I've substituted mosaic for galaxy because that's what I have on hand and it's very tasty. So good, that I've brewed 20 gallons of this stuff in a little over a month!

 

[depper]

I am in the process of brewing this one right now. I did hit a snag.....I use BeerSmith and it told me to get my strike water to 161 for a mash in temp of 152. Not thinking, I went ahead and did this and came out real short on the 152. I added some boiling H2O but only really got it up to 150.5. Any foreseen issues with my low mash temp? Otherwise....it's full steam ahead!

Tim


I forgot to click "Adjust temp for equipment", that's why their temp was too low. Dang it!!!!

 

[Nightstrife]

I am in the process of brewing this one right now. I did hit a snag.....I use BeerSmith and it told me to get my strike water to 161 for a mash in temp of 152. Not thinking, I went ahead and did this and came out real short on the 152. I added some boiling H2O but only really got it up to 150.5. Any foreseen issues with my low mash temp? Otherwise....it's full steam ahead!

Tim


I forgot to click "Adjust temp for equipment", that's why their temp was too low. Dang it!!!!

Should be fine, you may end up with a slightly drier beer. Imo this may not be a bad thing for this beer.

 

[Nightstrife]

Duplicate post. Deleted.

 

[depper]

Should be fine, you may end up with a slightly drier beer. Imo this may not be a bad thing for this beer.

Great!, Thanks for the piece of mind. Nailed the OG with 1.046. Overall it was a great brew....just can't wait to rip into her in a few weeks! Brew on!!!

Tim

 

[optimal_pizza]

I picked up the clone recipe from Austin Homebrew and here's how it came out. I dry hopped with an extra ounce of Citra as suggested earlier in the thread. Compared to a regular Big Wave it's a little darker with more of a hoppy bite but I'm happy with the end result and it disappeared quickly at my 4th of July party.

 

[TheHappyHopper]

Here is what I did for a 2-gallon batch:

Grains:
3# 2-Row
0.6# Crystal 20L

Hops:
0.1 oz Citra (60 min)
0.5 oz Citra (4 min)
0.5 oz Citra (Dry Hopped after 14 days)

Water Chemistry:
Ca: 72 ppm
Mg: 7
Na: 0
Cl: 85
SO4: 88

Yeast:
Wyeast California Lager - 2112
No starter, harvested about 16 oz of yeast slurry from previous batch of California Common
Fermented at 17C

Brewed: 5/25/15
Dry hopped: 6/9/15
Bottled: 6/14/15

This tastes amazing! I wish that I had made more than 2 gallons...I took this to 4th of July family celebrations and had 8 other people do a blind tasting side by side with the real thing. Everyone loved it. The only difference that anyone picked up on was the clarity - my version was not as clear as the commercial beer. If you looked at it by itself, it looked pretty darn clear; but once you held it up next to the real thing, you could tell it doesn't have that perfect, commercial level clarity. I would consider using gelatin to clear it up a bit more, but I don't want to lose any of the hop flavor or aroma. However, the leftover beers have been sitting in the fridge since then and they have definitely cleared up a bit more.

I am sending this one off to 2 different competitions here in the next few weeks - I am very excited to see how they do; this has probably been my best beer yet. This is going to be a staple beer around here.

 

[Eiffel]

My extract version is delicious. Perfect for a summer day!

 

[lightweight]

I brewed this recently and everyone enjoyed it! Compared to the real thing, its pretty darn close in my opinion. Thanks for a great recipe, this will definitely be added to my round up!
Forgot to add that I stuck to the original recipe, but with no dry hop additions

 

[brew703]

I brewed this on 11/29/15. I finally picked up a six pack of the commercial version to compare.
My version is way darker than the commercial version, not that it's a bad thing. The commercial version really has no flavor, actually kind of weak. I much prefer my version although will need to up the dry hops and maybe do a whirlpool with all the 15 and zero min hop additions.
I will definitely brew this again. May replace the crystal 20 with 10 to see how that affects the color.

 

[GreyLark]

This one turned out really good! I haven't had Kona in a long time, but I think this turned out better. I dry hopped for 4 days..came out perfect.

 

[brew703]

The commercial version sucked, at least the one I had. Very little flavor and not much carbonation. Maybe it was an old batch but this recipe is way better.

 

[thadeus_d3]

This stuff is so good. I'm brewing 10g of this today. I brewed over 30 gallons of this last year and everyone loved it.

 

[brew703]

This version is way better than the commercial version. Maybe the one I had was old- didn't remember the date but it basically had zero flavor.

 

[iimchstrss]

I'm pretty new at this. If I want to do a 1 gallon test batch, what would be the recommended proportions of those ingredients? Thanks so much!!

 

[cswalker]

Iimchstrss, there's probably a scientific method, but I usually just divide by the recipe batch size. Then, round the ingredients to the nearest 1/4oz hops and 1/4lb grain.

 

[iimchstrss]

Since the 5 Gallon recipe already calls for 0.25oz of Galaxy, if I divide everything by 5, I would be only using .05oz of Galaxy. If I round that to the nearest 1/4oz, I would be back to 0.25oz Galaxy!

dividing by 5:
0.05 oz Galaxy 60 min.
0.1 oz Citra 15 min
0.1 oz Citra 5 min
Dry hop 0.3oz Citra after 14 days

how little is too little hops!?

If I just half the 5 gallon recipe for hops, would it be too much?
dividing by 2:
0.10 oz Galaxy 60 min.
0.25 oz Citra 15 min
0.25 oz Citra 5 min
Dry hop 0.5oz Citra after 14 days

 

[Shenanigans]

Since the 5 Gallon recipe already calls for 0.25oz of Galaxy, if I divide everything by 5, I would be only using .05oz of Galaxy. If I round that to the nearest 1/4oz, I would be back to 0.25oz Galaxy!

dividing by 5:
0.05 oz Galaxy 60 min.
0.1 oz Citra 15 min
0.1 oz Citra 5 min
Dry hop 0.3oz Citra after 14 days

how little is too little hops!?

If I just half the 5 gallon recipe for hops, would it be too much?
dividing by 2:
0.10 oz Galaxy 60 min.
0.25 oz Citra 15 min
0.25 oz Citra 5 min
Dry hop 0.5oz Citra after 14 days

That's why we should all use the metric system.
0.25oz = 7g Galaxy for 5 gallons, so 1.4 g for 1 gallon.

Anyway the recipe sounds good.
Maybe I'll give it a whirl in the middle of next month.

 

[Buckeye_Brewer1]

Just brewed this recipe this morning as my first all grain. Everything went great expect when I pumped the wort from the Brew kettle to the carboy the beer was very hazy / cloudy. Should I expect that to settle out during primary fermentation and be much clearer when I rack to the secondary?

 

[Nightstrife]

Just brewed this recipe this morning as my first all grain. Everything went great expect when I pumped the wort from the Brew kettle to the carboy the beer was very hazy / cloudy. Should I expect that to settle out during primary fermentation and be much clearer when I rack to the secondary?

Yes. It will all settle out between primary and the optional secondary.

 

[Buckeye_Brewer1]

Just tasted this brew after 1 week bottle conditioning.... Could not wait long but held myself to just one. I did go with crystal 10 so it's a bit lighter but tastes great. Also my efficiency was a bit low so I might add 1 more pound to the base malt next time. Overall very pleased.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1471109014.863158.jpg

 

[casualbrewer]

I did my own clone recently but with a lager yeast wlp940... Very delicious. My recipe was pretty similar to those listed here.