All Grain Blue Moon Clone Recipe

I've seen several request for a recipe on this. Thanks to Doc on the BN, and Randy Mossier's Radical Brewing Book, I have a recipe that will astound fans of this beer. After several blind tastings, my fiends who like the beer can not pick out which beer is the orignal or my clone! Happy Brewing!

5 lb. German Pils
5 lb. flaked wheat
.5 lb acidulated malt
1 lb. flaked oats
.25 lb. Munich Malt
1 lb. domestic 6 row
1 lb. Rice hulls to aid in run off

Zest of:

2 navel oranges
2 lemons
1 red grapefruit

Add Zest at 2 minutes from flame out

6 oz. orange marmalade (Walmart brand) added at flame out
.25 oz chamomile tea blossoms (add at 5 minutes)
.25 oz corriander seed (crush with rolling pin right before adding to wort) added at 5 minutes in boil.

.5 oz Spalt 3.5 Alpha 60 minutes
.5 oz Hallertau 4.4 alpha 60 minutes

Wyeast Belgian Wit yeast, with 3 liter Starter

OG. 1.063 FG: 1.011 IBU 7.7 4.2 SRM

This recipe is for a 5.5 gallon batch

Boil is for 90 minutes
Single infusion Mash with 1.3 quarts per pound for 100 minutes @ 152F.
Sparge @ 168 F for 90 Minute

Collect 7.72 Gallons pre-boil, boil for 90 minutes.

Cool to 62 degrees F, pitch yeast (made from 3 liters of 1.040 gravity starter, excess liquid decanted. Be sure to use ligh DME as to not add to the color of the finished beer).

Keep at 62F for first 24 hours of fermentation, then let temp raise to 65F, for next 24 hours.

Following that rest, allow to raise to 72F and let fermentation complete. Failure to start at the cooler temperature will result in an awsone Belgian style wit, but will not tast like Blue Moon, as the phenolics generated at warmer temperatures will not taste like the beer you know.

Bottle condition with 4.5 to 5 oz corn sugar, or keg and force carbonate to 2.75 volumes.

This is my fourth generation of this recipe, an I can say for certain on my system, this clones this beer. It will certainly be a very close step off point for anyone to start experimenting. Happy Brewing! Many thanks to the folks at the BN that helps raise my brewing to the next level.

(This recipe yield 5 gallons, as I always leave about 1/2 gallon behind in my system with the break material.):cross:

Did I mention I'm a new member? I've been brewing for about 14 months now; all grain for about 10. Hello everyone! I hope this recipe is as much fun to brew for you as it was for me!

There is a thread here somewhere from a guy who used to work for Coors and gave very good information on cloning Blue Moon.

It doesn't use any belgian yeast. It actually uses the Chico strain (WLP001, Wyeast 1056, or US-05)

do a search for Blue Moon and it should come up... eventually.

Yeah, I don't get any Belgian flavors from Blue Moon. Does look like a fun Belgian Wit recipe tho. Never thought of using marmalade.

Check out this thread. We're brewing this one up on Monday.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/just-another-brew-day-pics-99893/

With the fermentation profile I list, you won't have typical Belgian phenolic notes any of Have any you ever tried to make this beer with WLP001 or wyeast 1056?. I tried brewing this with wyeast 1056, and it didn't come close to Blue moon. It yielded good beer, but not Blue Moon. This recipe passes the blind taste test. It is also dead on in aroma, color, and mouthfeel. My results on my system doesn't yield a beer that is close to Blue moon, it makes the beer.

Not to say you might not have to tweek this recipe one way or the other to end up with the same results on your system. That's why it takes brewers. Otherwise we could just toss all the ingredients together and the the beer would happen.

Don't be afraid to use a big pitch of Belgian Wit yeast, and ferment at the cooler profile.
As for the marmalade, I tried all kinds of different citrus additions to get the same flavor profile. I got close with the same fruit zest I list above, but it wasn't until I tried the marmalde did it all come together. Randy Mosher's book (sorry I spelled it wrong above) Radical Brewing has some great tips on brewing with things you would never think of to use. It changed my world, when it comes to recipe building, and my approach to what I taste when I drink a beer.

What do you mean by zest just want to be sure I get it right

Using the fine side of a cheese grader or a citrus zester, you want just the colored part of the peeling or the zest. Careful not to grate too deep on the fruit as you do not want any of the white pith. I hope this helps.

yep thats what i thought thx

This recipe looks awesome...I think I'll try to brew this as soon as spring rolls around and I can get back to all-grain brewing outdoors!

My question though is regarding the chamomile tea. My wife hates the stuff and seems to be able to detect it at rates less that 1 ppm (or somewhere around there). I'd like the beer to have a bit of 'floral' notes in it though. Can anyone recommend another type of tea that might be nice to add that does not have chamomile in it? I'd really like to add some Heather flowers, but they're very difficult to come by (and I don't want to pay a fortune to have them shipped to Canada).

Thanks!

any grocery store will have a bunch of different teas like orange blossom, I would try a white tea. they tend to have a very soft flavor kinda like chamomile. I would stay away from black tea and chi as those pack alot of flavor and spice. grab a sampler of white tea i think lipton sells one and have your wife try them and see which one she doesnt hate

Thanks for the suggestions! There's an asian grocery store around the corner from my house that has at least 100 types of white tea, so maybe I'll sample one or two of those to see which one would go well with the brew.

I brewed this on Sunday and everything went good besides collecting more than 7.79 gals. Therefore I had to boil for a little over to gals and collected 5.5 gal at the end of boil. My OG came out as 1.056 which is lower than your 1.063. I punched some numbers into so calculators and to get 1.063 I would need a massive high effeciency which I can't get on my system igot about 75% smells very strong orange. To me it smells like blue moon with the orange already added. I will get this forum posted on the results.

i kegged this beer tonight and while it smelled like blue moon during fermintation on kegging it tastes nothing like it. Def lemon taste and man is it sour! I am not saying the recipe is wrong cause i did have some small problems where one the 5th day of ferm. the temp got up to 76 degrees for about 12 hrs. I have no idea about the sour taste. it doesnt taste like contamination and ill wait and see how it tastes after clilling and carbing. Did it taste sour to you buttnakedbeer on bottling day? any ideas what when wrong

Not sure about the sourness. I have not ever encountered that problem in about 8 batches of that recipe. The warm ferment temp should not have caused that issue if it occured 5 days into the ferment. It sounds like a lacto or aceto bacteria infection. Did you put the zest (peeling) or the fruit of the flesh in the beer? That is the only other thing I can think of that would generate that much sourness.

yes i tossed the peelings in with about 2-3 min left in flameout and let it sit untill it was cooled all the way down. On more tasting it seems as if the lemon and the grapefruit sourness is really coming through way! to much. It has a taste like hoegegaarden (sp) with kinda the strong lemon taste. I have also started looking at my water additions and have strong sulfates which someone told me would be good for very bitter beers so my water might be bringing out the lemon over the orange. Ill let it cool down to serving temp and carb up then maybe throw in a req. orange peel on drinking

ekjohns, how did your tasting go?

It has settled a bit but it is still very bitter. I believe it is cause i got to much of the white rine while zesting. It smelled very orangy like blue moon with the orange added in the first week of ferm but that went away after that. I also got my temp a little high so it has some off flavors with the yeast. If i was to do this again i would use a neutral yeast like US-05 since you get alot of the citrus flavor from the zesting, since i use water and ice as a temp control. I would also be super careful when zesting and error on the side of caution getting the white stuff. I love wheat beers but i have yet to find a strain i like when ferm. around the upper limit of what is recommended. If you can keep the yeast down to the lower range (perferably the lowest) i think it would have come out better. I will probably drain most of this beer down the sink . Check out thishttps://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/blue-moon-clone-65328/ thread for some insight into a blue moon clone. The main poster on here worked for coors and helped develope the beer and talks about how the yeast is neutral and all the citrus and wheat flavors come from the dried orange peel

Thanks for the update ekjohns. I made the same mistake with a wit and zested too deep with lemon and got too much white stuff, it was super bitter and ended up in the drain as well. I found some ground valencia orange and ground coriander today so I'll give that other recipe a try first.

According to wayne1 from the other form valencia is the type of orange used for blue moon. Using the dried valencia orange peel from McCormick i added 3 tps of it 5 min from flame out. I have yet to try it but it didnt give me much of an orange scent so we will see I will be transfering to secondary tomorrow and will take a taste and post back here if i can taste orange or if more should be added

ekjohns: how did you second batch taste with dried valencia peel. I am making this in a couple of days and I worry about the bitterness of your first batch.

The 2 things i have tried were dried orange peel and fresh zested navel oragnes. The dried peel is kind of bitter. If you just eat a little by itself you can see what i mean. The zested oranges are also a little bitter if you get just the outside orange layer. If you get any of the white rine it is SUPER bitter. The fresh peel will yield more orange flavor since its the oil that you really want as opposed to the dry peel, but may come across as more bitter. I have been trying to do some research on what Coors uses now, and i have come across several threads saying they use liquid orange extract, and have recently switched to mandarin orange extract since it packs more punch and is sweeter than regular orange extract. I could easily see this since big brew companies are always looks for ways to cut costs.

Based on what i have read here my next attempt will be as follows:

4 lbs 2-row
4 lbs flaked wheat (blue moon tastes very wheaty to me and full bodied)
2 lbs white wheat (doesnt give the full body of flaked and is thinner but still wheat)
1/4 lbs crystal 40 (for color with a bit of sweetness of BM)
1/2 carapils (head retention)
1 oz Hallauter 60 min boil
1/4 oz corriander 5 min
1/2-1 oz of orange extract in primary
US-05 @ 65 (this is similar to Blue moon's clean yeast profile)
Mash 158F (sweetness)

check out this forum for some really good info there are alot of us that have been working on this clone

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/blue-moon-clone-65328/index19.html

ekjohn:
You said in another post:

" i was going to try 2 lbs of flaked wheat and 2 lbs of oats as well with 1/4 oz of corriander. Ill try the liquid extract and let you know how it comes out. sounds like we are getting closer!"

Do you think the 4 lbs of flaked whet should be changed to 2 lbs plus 2 lbs oaks? I am getting ready to give this a shot. Any good leads of source for extract or brand to try?

thanks for your input on this.

ekjohns said:

i kegged this beer tonight and while it smelled like blue moon during fermintation on kegging it tastes nothing like it. Def lemon taste and man is it sour! I am not saying the recipe is wrong cause i did have some small problems where one the 5th day of ferm. the temp got up to 76 degrees for about 12 hrs. I have no idea about the sour taste. it doesnt taste like contamination and ill wait and see how it tastes after clilling and carbing. Did it taste sour to you buttnakedbeer on bottling day? any ideas what when wrong

Click to expand...

I feel suspect o the larger amount of acidulated malt used. Thats a lot from what i have seen used.

I brewed this beer on 1/21 (3 weeks ago). I left it in primary for 1 week, then transferred to secondary. I've been wanting to bottle, but it is still rolling (as viewed in the glass carboy) -- so much off-gassing that the airlock is bubbling every 10 seconds. I've never seen anything so active after 3 weeks. Fermentation temperature has been around 64-66 degrees. Is this normal, or is the rolling beer in secondary caused by a potential infection?

Are you guys aware the original brewer posted the recipe a while back

Search it on recipe thread

His name is Wayne1 and he is the original brewer of Blue Moon. Search it in the recipe section and you have the original recipe.

jalc6927 said:

Are you guys aware the original brewer posted the recipe a while back

Search it on recipe thread

Click to expand...

I'm aware it's an old post. I was just posting my recent result with the brew - and commenting that things appear a little hairy.