Kona Big Wave Clone - Blonde Ale Homebrew Recipe

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kona big wave homebrew recipeWe were feeling lazy and didn't want to come up with a recipe on our own, so we asked the Clawhammer Instagram audience to do the work for us and that's exactly what they did. We ended up receiving this sweet Kona Brewing Big Wave Blonde Ale clone recipe and it's delicious! Work smarter, folks, not harder.

NOTE: Below is our modified version of the recipe notes below.

kona big wave homebrew recipe

This is a recipe for a 5 gallon batch. This recipe is tailored for our 10 gallon 120 volt brewing system, watch us use it in the video below.

Full Brew Day Video

Brewing Water

7.5 gallons (30 quarts or 28.4 liters) of tap water went into this baby. We didn't even filter it. Welcome to the lazy river!

Grains and Mash

9 Pounds (4.1 kg) of pale is best but we used a 50/50 mix of pale and pilsner because that's all we had. Problem solvers are what we are.

8 ounces (226.8g) of honey malt.

4 ounces (113.4g) of caramel malt.

We crushed the grain really fine in a grain mill.

We mashed for 60 minutes at 152 degrees F (66.7C).

Hops and Boil

This recipe calls for a 60 minute boil.

.15 ounces (4.25g) of Galaxy at start of boil (60 minutes).

.25 ounces (7.1g) of Citra with 15 mins left.

.25 ounces (7.1g) of Citra with 5 minutes left.

.2 ounces (7.1g) of Citra at flame out.

Citra hop package

Our Citra hops had 13% alpha acids

We also added a whirlfloc tablet with 15 minutes left.

Yeast and Fermentation

We chilled to the high 60s F (~16C) and added one package of Safale US-05

pitching yeast

Pitching yeast

We then fermented at 68 degrees F (20C) for a couple of weeks in a fermentation bucket.

Optional - Dry hop for 4 days with 2 oz of Citra

Tasting

This beer tastes a lot like....a Kona Brewing Big Wave Blonde Ale, believe it or not. It's really good. Light and refreshing and a nice lemon / lime citrus character. This beer scored really high marks by everyone who tasted it. Do yourself a favor and brew it!

best beer yet

Emmet called this the "Best beer yet."

If you like this recipe, we recommend you try

Amarillo Pale Ale

Three Eyed Ale

American Wheat Lager

Portrait of Kyle Brown

Kyle Brown is the owner of Clawhammer Supply, a small scale distillation and brewing equipment company which he founded in 2009. His passion is teaching people about the many uses of distillation equipment as well as how to make beer at home. When he isn't brewing beer or writing about it, you can find him at his local gym or on the running trail.

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14 Comments

  • J
    Comment Author: johnl762002@yahoo.com

    Hey guys – I made this last weekend. My calculator says only 12.3 IBU’s with your recipe whereas Kona’s big wave golden is supposed to be about 22…we shall see if the beer is too sweet!

  • F
    Comment Author: Frank

    Copied this beer “as is” in my grainfather system, although i did the sparge. split the water 16.4l in mash and 12 in mash. to my surprise I got a final og of 1.090!!! THIS NICE EASY DRINKING BLONDE WILL COME IN AT A WHOOPING 10.5% ABV. i shall call it “fat hawaiian” lol. Will definitely try again but will adjust the water to the grainfather system.

  • K
    Comment Author: Konstantin

    Hey folks,

    could you kindly help me out with the oG i should aim for using a different system.

    Thx

  • S
    Comment Author: Scott

    Quick question…did you dry hop or not? It seems like the recipe calls for it but the modified version does not?

  • SM
    Comment Author: Steve Madsen

    Tomorrow is July 1, 2021. One year from the day you all brewed this beer. In honor of Emmet’s “Best Beer Yet.” I’m going to brew this In his honor. And drink a pint In clawhammers honor. 120 v system is amazing. Mahalo