Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.’s Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale clone

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company: Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.096 FG = 1.024
IBU = 100 SRM = 14 ABV = 9.6%

“First introduced in the winter of 1983, Bigfoot is a cult-classic beer brewed in the barleywine style, meaning a strong, robust, bruiser of a beer with the refined intensity of a wine.”

Ingredients

18.5 lbs. (8.4 kg) 2-row pale malt
1 lb. 7 oz. (0.64 kg) caramel malt (60 °L)
9 AAU Chinook hops (150 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 12% alpha acids)
9 AAU Chinook hops (105 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 12% alpha acids)
7.5 AAU Cascade hops (60 min.) (1.5 oz./43 g at 5% alpha acids)
3.75 AAU Cascade hops (10 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 5% alpha acids)
7.5 AAU Centennial hops (10 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 10% alpha acids)
0.25 oz. (7.1 g) Chinook hops (dry hop)
1.25 oz. (35 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Centennial hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Fermentis US-05 yeast (3.5 qt./3.5 L yeast starter)
1 cup (200 g) corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step

Two or three days before brew day, make the yeast starter, aerating the wort thoroughly (preferably with oxygen) before pitching the yeast. On brew day, mash in at 154 °F (68 °C) in 24 qts. (23 L) of water. Hold at this temperature for 60 minutes. Raise mash temperature to 170 °F (77 °C), hold for 5 minutes, then recirculate. Run off wort and sparge with water hot enough to keep the grain bed around 170 °F (77 °C). Collect 7.5 gallons (28.4 L) of wort. Boil wort for 150 minutes, adding hops at times indicated. Cool and ferment at 68 °F (20 °C). Dry hop in secondary for 5 days. Bottle or keg as usual and allow this beer to age.

Extract with grains option:

Replace the 2-row pale malt in the all-grain with 2 lbs. (0.91 kg) light dried malt extract and 9.9 lbs. (4.5 kg) light liquid malt extract . Steep grains at 154 °F (68 °C) in 3 qts. (2.9 L) of water. Rinse grains with 2 qts. (2 L) of 170 °F (77 °C) water. Add water to brewpot to make at least 3.5 gallons (13 L) of wort. Stir in dried malt extract and boil wort for 150 minutes, adding hops at times indicated. Keep some boiling water handy and do not let the boil volume dip below 3.5 gallons (13 L). Add liquid malt extract in the final 15 minutes of the boil. Chill wort and transfer to fermenter. Top fermenter up to 5 gallons (19 L). Follow the remaining portion of the all-grain recipe.