Anyone have a extract recipe for Blue moon clone?

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Look for a Belgium Wit kit; not German. You're looking for something that uses orange peel and coriander in it. Also, you have to use a liquid yeast strain for this style of beer; not a dry yeast. Such as White Labs Belgium Wit (WLP400) or the Wyeast equivalent.

Be warned however it will not taste like Blue Moon; but will be more in line with what it is supposed to taste like. Blue Moon has been "americanized" for the populous. BTW, I like Blue Moon as well so not a dig, I just can't "clone" it. Go to a place where you can actually purchase a true Belgium Wit to get a hint of what yours hopefully will taste like. I wasn't sure if my batch hit any mark until a local brew pub happened to have some on tap of which after I tried their's, I was proud as hell with mine :D
 
I made a american Heffeweizen and added sweet orange peel, bitter orange peel, and coriander. It came out pretty close but not quite there. It was a excellent beer to drink though:D
 
So the one I was looking at was a german wheat beeR?
What kinda taste do they have?
 
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
 
Couple questions.

The pelleted hops I put in the entire 45 min boil?

The whole hops I put in a bag and steep the last 10 mins and than pull it out?

With the seed, I put half in the pot the last 10 mins and the other half in the bag steeping for the last 10 mins?

Do I put the peel in the bag also the last 10 mins?

thanks
 
I could have sworn that I posted to this yesterday. Sorry for the late reply.
xpoc454 said:
Couple questions.

The pelleted hops I put in the entire 45 min boil?
Yes. For the entire boil.

xpoc454 said:
The whole hops I put in a bag and steep the last 10 mins and than pull it out?
Steep for 10 minutes after knockout.

xpoc454 said:
With the seed, I put half in the pot the last 10 mins and the other half in the bag steeping for the last 10 mins?
First half for the last 10 minutes of the boil.
Last half steep for 10 minutes after knockout.

xpoc454 said:
Do I put the peel in the bag also the last 10 mins?
Steep for 10 minutes after knockout.

Knockout=Flameout, turning off the burner after boil is complete.
Hope that helps.
Good luck,
Wild
 
The recipe above has 1oz at 4.5 and 1/2 oz at 2.4. Doesnt that come out to 5.7 AAU? Isnt that a little low for a Witbeer? I thought it should be in the 15-25 range ?

Am I missing something?

Thanks

MNBugeater
 
MNBugeater said:
The recipe above has 1oz at 4.5 and 1/2 oz at 2.4. Doesnt that come out to 5.7 AAU? Isnt that a little low for a Witbeer? I thought it should be in the 15-25 range ?

Am I missing something?

Thanks

MNBugeater
Actually the IBU is set to be 10 – 20 per BJCP. I think you’re getting the calculation for AAU (Alpha Acid Unit) confused with the calculation for IBU (International Bitterness Unit). Take a look at Figuring Bitterness for easy calculations. Hope that helps.

Wild
 
OG 1.050
FG1.012
%ALC 4.0
IBUS 24
color srm 4

Descriptions: A northwest rendition of a begiam white beer


6.6 pounds of Coopers Wheat Malt Extract
1 pound of clear belgiam candi sugar
.5 ounces of bitter orange peel (2 min)
.5 ounces of tettnanger hops (10 min)
2 ounces of styrian golding hops (30min)
.75 ounces of corriander seed (2 min)
1 pkg of white labs wit yeast
0.75 cups of corn sugar (priming)


Instruction

1) bring three gallons of water to boil for 5 minutes. This will precipitate out any chlorine in the water. Remove from heat.
2) Mix in Coopers Light malt extract, reapply heat, bring to a gentle boil.
3) Add Styrian Golding hops and boil for 30 minutes
4) With 10 minutes remaining in the boil, add tettnanger hopsand candi sugar. With 2 min remaining in the boil add orange peel and coraiander seed (crushed).
5) After boil, agressively cool to room temparature and add yeast.
6) Ferment at 68-75 F
 
Just tried Blue Moon Belgian White. I had a record of being disappointed with wheat beers. But this one is really good. Thanks for the tip off on this one.:D
 
Hello all!

First time poster here. I've been extract brewing for over ten years, but just really getting back into the game now.

The wife likes Blue Moon so used Wild's recipe, but used WLP400 for my yeast instead. Anybody else use this yeast for this style of beer?

Also, I used all leaf hop versus the pellets. I did use the correct weight and AAU's.

I pitched it about 5 hours ago and my airlock is starting to show activity, so all seems well.

This batch smelled GREAT during the boil. I love the smell of boiling wort...but this was just great...must have been the peel.

Anyway, I'll post again later and let you all know how well it went.

-DZ
 
Hello! I am diamondzen, but couldn't get my password reset. Anyhow, does anyone have any experience with this WLP400 yeast? This stuff has been fermenting for over two weeks, and keeps on ticking away! I transfered to secondary and it pickup again! One week in primary, and one week in secondary. I plan on keeping in secondary one or two more weeks.
 
wild said:
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

Add some specialty grains to this, like wheat, and it should be pretty tasty!

Boiling in 2g of water I'm assuming, right?
 
myownbrew said:
OG 1.050
FG1.012
%ALC 4.0
IBUS 24
color srm 4

Descriptions: A northwest rendition of a begiam white beer


6.6 pounds of Coopers Wheat Malt Extract
1 pound of clear belgiam candi sugar
.5 ounces of bitter orange peel (2 min)
.5 ounces of tettnanger hops (10 min)
2 ounces of styrian golding hops (30min)
.75 ounces of corriander seed (2 min)
1 pkg of white labs wit yeast
0.75 cups of corn sugar (priming)


Instruction

1) bring three gallons of water to boil for 5 minutes. This will precipitate out any chlorine in the water. Remove from heat.
2) Mix in Coopers Light malt extract, reapply heat, bring to a gentle boil.
3) Add Styrian Golding hops and boil for 30 minutes
4) With 10 minutes remaining in the boil, add tettnanger hopsand candi sugar. With 2 min remaining in the boil add orange peel and coraiander seed (crushed).
5) After boil, agressively cool to room temparature and add yeast.
6) Ferment at 68-75 F

Again, another awsome recipe, but a pound of specialty grains (Wheat) will give these recipes much more character.
 
diamondzen said:
Hello all!

First time poster here. I've been extract brewing for over ten years, but just really getting back into the game now.

The wife likes Blue Moon so used Wild's recipe, but used WLP400 for my yeast instead. Anybody else use this yeast for this style of beer?

-DZ

It's a great yeast. I'm a fool for Belgian beers, as is my wife, so I pretty much only brew Belgians of sorts. As I said in my other posts on this thread, I use pretty much the same recipes with the addition of a pound of specialty grains (Wheat).

I'm currently fermenting a Belgian Wit with the WLP400 yeast strain that has been bubbling away for a week and 2 days so far, with no sign of stopping! My guess is it will stop by the middle of this coming week, where I'll rack to secondary at the end of next week, and bottle the following week.

It's a crazy yeast!

I'm a little :off: so...

Just an FYI, if you're looking for an extract recipe to 'clone' a Blue Moon, it's not gonna happen. They will always come out darker (much darker) than a Blue Moon looks. They will always taste richer as well, so if you like the lightness in color and taste of the BLue Moon you're not going to achieve it with extract, unfortunately.

When I brewed my 1st Belgian, getting a 'Blue Moon' beer was my goal as well, however, I was pleasantly suprised with the results of the Belgian Wit I made, and so, have continued to make rich, hardy, full-bodied, exotic Belgian brews using extract and specialty grains.

I think you'll dig it too. These recipes can easily be twisted into Belgian Dubbels, and Trippels too! :rockin:

5gB
 
DSLZen said:
Hello! I am diamondzen, but couldn't get my password reset. Anyhow, does anyone have any experience with this WLP400 yeast? This stuff has been fermenting for over two weeks, and keeps on ticking away! I transfered to secondary and it pickup again! One week in primary, and one week in secondary. I plan on keeping in secondary one or two more weeks.

Let it roll, my man, let it roll :tank:
 
5gBrewer said:
Just an FYI, if you're looking for an extract recipe to 'clone' a Blue Moon, it's not gonna happen. They will always come out darker (much darker) than a Blue Moon looks. They will always taste richer as well, so if you like the lightness in color and taste of the BLue Moon you're not going to achieve it with extract, unfortunately.

When I brewed my 1st Belgian, getting a 'Blue Moon' beer was my goal as well, however, I was pleasantly suprised with the results of the Belgian Wit I made, and so, have continued to make rich, hardy, full-bodied, exotic Belgian brews using extract and specialty grains.

I think you'll dig it too. These recipes can easily be twisted into Belgian Dubbels, and Trippels too! :rockin:

5gB

As to the color issue, look up "late extract addition" techniques. There's no need for extract to be boiled a full hour; you can add most of it to the boil in the last twenty minutes and it will be sanitized (you don't need to worry about getting a hot break with extract, most was removed during the manufacturing process).

As a side note, hops utilization is higher with less extract in the boil during the beginning, and with these kinds of beers you've got to be REALLY careful about that.

What this will do is lighten up the beer considerably. It may still have "too much" flavor, but at least you'll have something that LOOKS more appropriate.
 
Here's one I brewed and it got the nod of approval from two Blue Moon lovers already.

6lbs Munton's Wheat DME
1lb honey.
1/2oz Cascade bittering, 1/2oz Cascade Flavor
1oz sweet orange peel (I used fresh zest but either way)

Bittering added at boil, wait 45 minutes. Add flavor hops, honey and extract and boil 15 minutes. Boil orange peel separately in 2 cups water, cool and add to fermenter.

Edit: forgot to mention I used Danstar's Windsor dry yeast to least a little sweetness.
 
From the post at the top how do you know Blue moon has been americanized and what the H%LL IS Americanized for the populos ? Are you from Belgum and just "know " all this stuff, not trying to be rude just seems a bit strange how you would be so confident in the flavor of that beer, Is this so different that it stands out beyond all others? I have had Blue moon and I thought it was ok. I'm not really into the fruit slices in my beer thing but it is just fine to do also. I du no just rambing here.
 
Thanks all! Not trying to clone Blue Moon per se, just trying to get the idea of that style of beer into a bottle. I'm not much into cloning...If I want Blue Moon I'd just buy it (and I do).

I just dig what it is and would like to get something along the same lines. All I know for sure is that when I racked into secondary it smelled *heavenly*. I hope to bottle next weekend...

I'll need to polish off another half case of my "prohibition" style experiment I tried. Not to get off topic but that is an interesting brew. Had over a pound of table suger in it. I found it in my wifes grandfathers journels from wayyyy back in the day.

The recipe you ask? One can of any hopped extract, a pound of suger. Very cidery from the suger, but that is an interesting taste. It's not overpowering, kind of unique. Not something that you find on a store shelf, thats for sure.
 
desertBrew said:
Also, you have to use a liquid yeast strain for this style of beer; not a dry yeast. Such as White Labs Belgium Wit (WLP400) or the Wyeast equivalent.

There are many wheat/wit/hefe yeasts available in liquid, but this statement above is isn't totally accurate. There is a dry wheat yeast out there. I plan on testing it today on a 2.5 gallon batch of Wit.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=7119

Product Description:
Brewferm Blanche (12 grams): The new dried brewing yeast from Brewferm has arrived! Brewferm Blanche is a top fermenting yeast suitable for producing Belgian-style Witbiers and other brews where light banana and clove aromas are desired.
 
Thanks to all for the Orange-Wheat Beer Recipe that emulates the Blue Moon. Haven't tried it myself but think that is going to be my next brew. I tried the Hoegaarden Clone recipe in one of the Clone Brew Books and noticed that, indeed, like others have said, it came out darker and much stronger in flavor than what I was looking for. I boxed it up and put it down in the cellar for a few months for aging and will come back to it in March and see how she tastes.:cross:
 
I serve this one as to friends and family that are blue moon fans. It's a bigger beer, but MAN is it good...

Ingredients / procedure:

8 oz. Carapils malt steep for 30 minutes@ 155
6 pounds of Extra Light Dried Malt Extract @60 minutes
1 oz. Hallertau bittering hops @60 minutes
2 pounds of Clover Honey @ 20 minutes
1 oz. crushed Coriander @ 5 minutes
1 oz. sweet Orange Peel @ 5 minutes
1 oz. Hallertau aroma hops @ 2 minutes
Belgian wit yeast

The honey takes a while to ferment. Both times I've made it, it was in the primary for nearly 2 weeks
 
the_bird said:
As to the color issue, look up "late extract addition" techniques. There's no need for extract to be boiled a full hour; you can add most of it to the boil in the last twenty minutes and it will be sanitized (you don't need to worry about getting a hot break with extract, most was removed during the manufacturing process).

As a side note, hops utilization is higher with less extract in the boil during the beginning, and with these kinds of beers you've got to be REALLY careful about that.

What this will do is lighten up the beer considerably. It may still have "too much" flavor, but at least you'll have something that LOOKS more appropriate.

Thanks, Bird...

I'll have to try this method with my next Belgian. The recipes I were using always said to boil the extracts (after steeping the grains) for 45-60 minutes. I can't say I dislike the results of my extracts sitting through long boils. Though I like the sound of this shortened extract boil, is there any reason a long boil would be benefiticial?
 
5gBrewer said:
Add some specialty grains to this, like wheat, and it should be pretty tasty!

Boiling in 2g of water I'm assuming, right?

Yes, a partial boil.

Wild
 
5gBrewer said:
Though I like the sound of this shortened extract boil, is there any reason a long boil would be benefiticial?

Even with a late extract edition, you are still going to need a "long"/60 minute boil in most cases... You need the longer duartion boil (with or without extracts) to extract the bittering oils from your hops.

So basically, you can late add the extract and boil the extract for only 15 minutes, but if you make the entire boil 15 minutes (hops and all), your bittering from the hops is going to be lacking...
 
^ With that said, please note boiling hops in just water for 15-30-45 minutes before the extract edition is going to give them much higher utilization/bittering qualities in that time. So make sure you plan your hop schedule accordingly with the late edition.

Some good brewing software would help you plan out this late extract edition a little better than just guessing...

What I do with BeerSmith if I want to do a late edition is make (in essence) 2 recipes in the software. You need to play around this way because there is not a simple checkbox or something for a 'late edition' of extract... So, I start a recipe with basically the steeping grains, boil size [water], duration, and hops I plan to use in the first part (no extract) of the boil. This will give me an idea of the IBUs I can expect from boiled hops before extract edition. Then I'll modify the recipe or create a second recipe with the extracts, remaining hop schedule, remaining boil time, etc. to get an idea how it will finish up. I think overall it allows me to paint a decent picture of how the late extract edition will work; probably not perfect and won't be until BeerSmith configures itself to except recipes with late edition, but better than just guessing...
 
OK, just checked the gravity and it's 1.020, not quite down to the 1.010 that I'm expecting. It has been fermenting for about three weeks now. It is still bubbling about every 30-45 secongs. Should I RDWHAHB?
 
OK, FG is down to 1.012. Beer is clear with only a few bits of foamy head in the secondary fermentor. Recipe states OG should be at 1.010. The beer tastes sweet, but I assume that is from the 2.5 lbs of honey. It's been in a fermentation vessle for over a month.

Do you all think it is ready to go?
 
DSLZen said:
OK, FG is down to 1.012. Beer is clear with only a few bits of foamy head in the secondary fermentor. Recipe states OG should be at 1.010. The beer tastes sweet, but I assume that is from the 2.5 lbs of honey. It's been in a fermentation vessle for over a month.

Do you all think it is ready to go?

Don't ask us. Get out your hydrometer and take a reading. Write it down. Take one in 3 days. If they're the same, then you're probably okay to bottle.
 
Bobby_M said:
Here's one I brewed and it got the nod of approval from two Blue Moon lovers already.

6lbs Munton's Wheat DME
1lb honey.
1/2oz Cascade bittering, 1/2oz Cascade Flavor
1oz sweet orange peel (I used fresh zest but either way)

Bittering added at boil, wait 45 minutes. Add flavor hops, honey and extract and boil 15 minutes. Boil orange peel separately in 2 cups water, cool and add to fermenter.

Edit: forgot to mention I used Danstar's Windsor dry yeast to least a little sweetness.
Using this recipe, do I still have to prime with sugar? I am assuming so, since it calls for adding the honey to the boil. Would honey work as a primer? Or stick with good ole' brewer's stuff?
 
there is no reason you cannot use honey as a primer, it just takes longer, and really does not add THAT much flavour, aswell as risking infection of the beer in the bottles if you do not boil down the honey for 20 mins (at least) etc etc... better to just stick with a teaspoon of dextrose etc, as its tried, true and you only need to get the bubbles going, nothing fancy!
 
As somebody stated above, the honey just takes forever to ferment. Mine has been in secondary over a month, and after I took what was going to be my last hyrdometer reading...I stirred up the yeast a bit and now it's popping every 30 seconds again...
 
I've not tried it yet but I think it was someone on this forum that sent this to me. It looks good.

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
 
OK, just bottled this today after over two months in secondary...crystal clear and oh so tasty! Great smell and taste. Can't wait to taste cold and carbed!
 
DSLZen said:
OK, just bottled this today after over two months in secondary...crystal clear and oh so tasty! Great smell and taste. Can't wait to taste cold and carbed!
It's not supposed to be clear...;)

Comment was made earlier about boiling for 1 hour and adding the malt during the last 15 mins...and a shorter boil without the benefit of the bittering hops.

I just wante to add you can reduce your boiling time and obtain the bitter from the bittering hop this way: if the recipe calls for:

1 oz for 1 hour (full 30% AA)
2 oz for 30 mins (15%AA X2 = 30%)
4 oz for 15 mins (7.5%AA X 4 = 30%).

It's all the same.;)
 
Well, it is CRYSTAL clear. Why do you suppose that is?

I'll have to serve it in a frosty mug to fool the snobbery.
 
Ive been brewing thegrape.net's belgian wit kit with WL belgian wit yeast for a while. Its not exactly like blue moon, but its still an awesome beer! I find they get a little more "creamy" tasting after about a month in bottles which is a real treat. Its actually easy to get a nice cloudy beer with bottles... just pour 3/4 of the beer normally, swirl the yeast up in the last 1/4 and pour into the glass. This puts the yeast cloud in there and adds a nice thick aromatic head. I leave the orange slice for bar purchased beers tho :p
 
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