Blue Moon Clone

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teacherscanbrewtoo

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I am planning on making my second batch soon. My first turned out horrible and I don't want the second to be the same. I found this DME recipe, can someone give me some tips or instructions with it please? Especially on how to add the honey. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Here's the recipe for:

Blue Moon Ale Clone

5 lbs. Extra Light DME
2½ lbs. Orange Blossom Honey
1 oz. Hallertauer pellet hops (4½% - boil 45 minutes)
½ oz. Hallertauer whole hops (2.4% - steep 10 minutes)
1 oz. Coriander Seed (crushed - ½ boil 10 min, ½ steep 10 minutes)
1 oz. Orange Peel (zested fresh and dried, steep 10 minutes)
500 ml Wyeast #1214 Belgian Abbey yeast starter

Specifics:
Recipe type: Extract
Batch Size: 5 Gallons
SG: 1.059
FG: 1.010
Time in Boil: 45 minutes
Primary Fermentation: 7 days
Secondary Fermentation: 9 days

Good luck,
Wild
Oh and the recipe is from Wild, just want to give him his due credit!
 
i'd half the corriander, use a half ounce unless its super old and crappy. i'd also increase the amount of zest. use 2 large oranges and get some pith in there (the white stuff underneath) it will make it bitter (which is what you want) or use tangerines...i like tangerines :) don't need to dry it either. just throw it all in w/ 10 mins left in yer boil. also, it has been a while since i had one, but I don't think there is much for belgian yeast flavor in blue moon. i'd use a clean american strain like american wheat or even california ale, denny's fav 50, or us05 etc etc. throw the honey in with at least 10 mins left in the boil, or you could add it after the majority of primary fermentation has ceased to keep more of the aromatics
 
Somewhere around here, there is a post of the original Blue Moon recipe from before it was called Blue Moon. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find it, but might be worth looking into, especially for getting the orange and coriander right.
 
+1
i'd half the corriander, use a half ounce unless its super old and crappy. i'd also increase the amount of zest. use 2 large oranges and get some pith in there (the white stuff underneath) it will make it bitter (which is what you want)


An entire oz of coriander is going to be too much and the recipe you posted doesn't have near enough orange. Most clones I see of Blue Moon use cascade hops as well. Though that's not a big deal unless your a German snob and reguire the use of true "noble hops".

Also just a reccomendation, as it is a wheat beer and wheat helps head retention, I'd throw in another pound to a pound 1/2 or so of wheat DME since you're using an all extract.

My SG (OG) comes in lower than normal with the recipe I used about 1.046. However the FG is typically around 1.005ish so it picks up some ABV there and I normally get about 5.3 to 5.54% ABV out of it.

I use the exact same recipe that you will find in the link above.
 
If you wish to make a Wit beer, then the recipe in the first post will work. If you truly want to "clone" Blue Moon" then spend some time and work your way through the linked thread.

There have been a few variations of the original recipe worked out on that thread to scale down to homebrew sized batches.

It you are looking to just get close to the taste of Blue Moon with extract, here are some pointers.

Don't use honey. Don't use Belgian yeast, only use one hop addition, use Valencia Orange peel (you want a sweet orange flavor, not bitter). Use wheat DME. It is about 60/40 barley to wheat which is very close to the correct ratio for Blue Moon.

Good luck.
 
Wayne1 is correct. I followed his advice and the beer has turned out great time after time. I do all grain but the hop addition is 1 oz. hallertau @60 minutes. then the ground coriander is .17oz @ 15 minutes and .5 oz ground valencia orange peel @5 minutes. I use McCormick Orange peel from the grocery and it works great. S-05 yeast .
 
Wayne1 is correct. I followed his advice and the beer has turned out great time after time. I do all grain but the hop addition is 1 oz. hallertau @60 minutes. then the ground coriander is .17oz @ 15 minutes and .5 oz ground valencia orange peel @5 minutes. I use McCormick Orange peel from the grocery and it works great. S-05 yeast .

+1 for S-05 if you want a clean yeast that Blue Moon uses. If you want more of that Hoegaarden kind of spiciness, Belgian Abbey works fine but I recommend 3944 or 3463.
 
Thanks for all the help guys. Sorry, but I'm still new to this, so for a 5 gallon batch how much wheat DME should I use? I'm looking for about 5.3-5.5% ABV, so by my guess thats about 6 of wheat DME to go with 1 oz of hallertau (or cascade) hops and the orange peel and corriander?
And one last thing, when using DME how much water do you boil and mix with the ingredients and how much do you add after cooling the wort and putting it in the fermenter? Thanks again!
 
Sorry forgot the hops question. On the iPhone trying to fall asleep before opening of bow season tomorrow oh yeah!!!

Anyway, use hallertau if you want. That was actually a joking reference I made. Use cascade unless your a German beer snob as hallertau is a "noble hop".

I'm all for the s-05 idea as well.
 
Sorry forgot the hops question. On the iPhone trying to fall asleep before opening of bow season tomorrow oh yeah!!!

Anyway, use hallertau if you want. That was actually a joking reference I made. Use cascade unless your a German beer snob as hallertau is a "noble hop".

I'm all for the s-05 idea as well.
 
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