Pacific Coast’s Blue Whale clone

Pacific Brewing Co.’s Blue Whale Ale clone

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.070  FG = 1.016 IBU = 70  SRM = 14  ABV = 7.1%

Ingredients

9.5 lbs. (4.3 kg) pale liquid malt extract
1 lb. (0.45 kg) crystal malt (40° L)
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) crystal malt (120° L)
8 AAU Nugget hops (70 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g of 12% alpha acids)
8 AAU Chinook hops (70 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g of 12% alpha acids) 3.75 AAU Willamette hops (10 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g of 5% alpha acids)
6.6 AAU Centennial hops (10 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g of 8.8% alpha acids)
2.0 AAU Perle hops (10 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g of 8.25% alpha acids)
3.25 AAU Chinook hops (10 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g of 13% alpha acids)
1.75 oz. (50 g) Centennial hops (dry hop) 1 tsp. Irish moss (15 min.)
1/2 tsp. yeast nutrient 1.75 oz. (50 g)
French oak chips British Ale yeast (White Labs WLP005 or Wyeast 1098)
3/4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step

Steep crushed crystal malts in 3 gallons (11 L) of water at 150 ºF (66 ºC) for 30 min. Remove grains, add malt syrup and bring to a boil. Add Nugget and Chinook hops and boil for 60 min. Add flavor hops for the last 10 min. of the boil. Strain out hops, add wort to 2 gallons cool water in a fermenter and top off with cool water to 5.5 gallons (21 L). Cool to 80 ºF (27 ºC), aerate heavily and pitch yeast starter (2 L/0.5 gal.). Allow the wort to cool to 68 to 70 ºF (20 to 21 ºC), and ferment for 10 to 14 days. Transfer wort to a secondary fermenter, and add the oak chips and Centennial hops for dry hopping. After a week, prime and bottle, then age for 4 weeks.

All-grain options: Replace the malt extract with 12.75 lbs. (5.8 kg) pale malt and mash your grains at 152 °F (67 °C) for 60 minutes. Use 18.5 qts. (17.5 L) of mash water and collect 8 gallons (30 L) of wort and boil to reduce to 5.25 gallons (20 L). This should take 2-3 hours. Follow hopping schedule as presented in the the ingredients list. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C)