Blonde Ale Kona Big Wave Golden Ale clone

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acarlotto

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2013
Messages
52
Reaction score
28
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
US 05
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.044
Final Gravity
1.010
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
29.4
Color
6.3
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14
Tasting Notes
Big Wave is a lighter bodied golden ale with a tropical hop aroma and flavor
This stuff is so tasty and been my summer go to. I have made 4 batches and this is the recipe I feel that got the closest to real thing.

7 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
0.25 oz Galaxy hops [14.00 %] Boil 60 min.
1 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 15 min
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5 min
Us-05 Yeast.

Mash at 150 to 152.


Dry hopped 1.5 to 2oz of citra hops ----mmmmm

Enjoy!!
 
I think this will be my next brew and I'm new to making yeast starters. Can I make a starter with US-05?


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I just had Big Wave for the first time on Saturday. Quite enjoyable. I'll be giving this a try in a month or so .

You said you've tried multiple recipes. Did any of them use less C-20? 1.5lbs sounds like a lot but I'm willing get out of my comfort zone...which is 5-10% specialty malts.


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I just had Big Wave for the first time on Saturday. Quite enjoyable. I'll be giving this a try in a month or so .

You said you've tried multiple recipes. Did any of them use less C-20? 1.5lbs sounds like a lot but I'm willing get out of my comfort zone...which is 5-10% specialty malts.


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I have always used that amount and has always came out perfect. My neighbors came over this weekend and could not get enough of it. This is my go to house ale. Here's a some beer porn! It is clearer than the photo shows. :ban:

photo.JPG
 
Interesting, I always figured the grassy, fruity hop flavor in Big Wave had to come from a fairly long dry hop with a variety I have not used.
 
Can this style of beer be dry hopped? What kind of hops?


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I thought it was always best to make a starter?


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Not for dry yeast. Just rehydrate. Some people don't even do that, just sprinkle in and move along.

You can actually do more harm than good making a starter from dry yeast.

You should almost always make a starter from liquid yeast, depending on the style. Some beer styles are supposed to be underpitched... but that's a completely different topic.
 
Interesting, I always figured the grassy, fruity hop flavor in Big Wave had to come from a fairly long dry hop with a variety I have not used.
Can this style of beer be dry hopped? What kind of hops?


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Yes dry hop it up! I know from a source they dry hop citra in the primary a few days into fermentation.
Big Wave is a great beer!
 
Do you think upping the final addition from .5oz to a full oz would be too much? I wouldn't mind pushing the aroma a bit harder than Kona.
 
Two weeks in primary and then I transferred to secondary for one week.


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Can someone please convert to partial mash I would appreciate it very much and is this for 5g

for a 5.5 gallon batch something like this

mash

1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L

1 lbs 8.0 oz of 2 row

extract

4.5 lbs of LME or 4.2 lbs DME

0.25 oz Galaxy hops [14.00 %] Boil 60 min.
1 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 15 min
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5 min
Us-05 Yeast.

Mash at 150 to 152.

all the best

S_M
 
Made this and kegged it. Came out quite good although my ABV is a little lower than the real thing at 4%. Nice and clear too.
ImageUploadedByHome Brew1411348376.393471.jpg


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That's a lovely looking pint. Thanks for the reminder that I need to brew this.


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Made this and kegged it. Came out quite good although my ABV is a little lower than the real thing at 4%. Nice and clear too.
View attachment 225326


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Nice! The last batch I made I split hops between Citra and Mosaic and it came out pretty tasty. On the next batch I will dry hop with Citra to get a little more aroma. I can't make enough of this beer, my neighbors keep drinking it all. :mug:
 
Sorry to bring this thread back to life. I am new to brewing and this is my favorite all around beer!

Would someone care to explain the dry hopping method for this brew?
 
Sorry to bring this thread back to life. I am new to brewing and this is my favorite all around beer!

Would someone care to explain the dry hopping method for this brew?


Add 1.5-2oz of Citra hops directly to the fermenter after fermentation completes. Leave the dry hops in 5-7 days then bottle. Most people put the hops in hop sock or similar but that is optional.
 
Has anyone else brewed the recipe from the OP and agree that it is very close to the commercial version? I am looking to brew this next weekend, but I am thinking about using the Wyeast California Lager yeast.
 
Exactly the recipe i was thinking of for the Club Group brew I'll be hosting next weekend! A couple of questions:
1. Yeast: US 05
Super clean profile and a highly reliable yeast, but I was thinking of Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) instead. Thoughts?
2. [edit] I'm an idiot and answered this question myself.
3. 0.25 oz Galaxy hops [14.00 %] Boil 60 min.
This may be difficult to find locally. Citra is a substitute. Did you find a specific reasoning for the use of Galaxy over Citra? I can find Sorachi Ace pretty easily?
4. 1 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
Whirlfloc states adding their tablets any more than 10min in the boil denatures their ingredients. Also, 1 tablet per 10gallons.
 
1. US-05 and WY1056 are the same yeast strain, so no problem.
3. Citra and Galaxy are pretty similar, but Galaxy has brighter aromas IME. No experience with the following, but I have seen others substitute El Dorado and Mosaic for Galaxy.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Or the other recipe was for partial mash and not extract. Hmm. Will run it in BeerSmith on my computer at home later tonight.
 
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.
 
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!
 
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!!!!
 
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