Blue Moon Clone

jeffreybandel said:

I have brewed over 500 gallons of the Original Wayne1 recipe with McCormick Valencia Orange Peel and it is perfect. Nobody can tell the difference between mine and the Original. Looking at the Frontier description I cannot tell if it is Valencia...

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jeffrey:

Which version of Wayne1's recipe have you been brewing, the #429 post or an earlier version? 500 gallons is a lot, so you must really like it.

Hophappy said:

jeffrey:

Which version of Wayne1's recipe have you been brewing, the #429 post or an earlier version? 500 gallons is a lot, so you must really like it.

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I think the first. For 15 gallons:

14 lbs 1 ounce 2 row
12.5 lbs German Wheat

jeffreybandel said:

No Safeway stores anywhere close to me. I'll see if Safeway delivers.

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I think Vons is the same as Safeway.

Brewers Best dried orange peel vs McCormick Orange peel?

Brewers Best is around $2
McCormick is over $5

Why such a difference?

Is one better than the other?

I've used the Brewers Best sweet peel, and fresh zest. One is certainly easier, and fresh zest REALLY can depend on the fruit & it's age, etc. The thing about the BBest is it is CHUNKS for the 1 lb pkg I bought. I am thinking I should zap it in the coffee grinder prior to using, as I do with the coriander seeds I buy whole and grind.

DaleJ said:

I'm trying to figure out a Blue Moon Clone recipe.

Things I know about Blue Moon:

• Uses 2 Row Malt
• Uses White Wheat
• Uses Oats
• Doesn't use a Belgian yeast, uses a "standard ale yeast"
• Orange zest and coriander go in the last 3-5 minutes

Things I assume to be true about Blue Moon:

• Ale Yeast is Cal Ale (Chico) strain
• More orange than coriander

Things I'm trying to figure out:

• Ratio of grains
• Hop type and schedule
• Yeast strain
• Amounts of Coriander and Orange

Anyone have any nfo or ideas about this?

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One of my first AG brews I made a hef, the next day I took the same grains ,sparged out a 2 1/2 gallon batch and added ....apollo hops, coriander and zest of orange and lime. used an ale yeast US-05 .and came out with a hoppier blue moon'ish style beer. Just drank the last one last weekend. I'd make it again.

Soulshine2 said:

One of my first AG brews I made a hef, the next day I took the same grains ,sparged out a 2 1/2 gallon batch and added ....apollo hops, coriander and zest of orange and lime. used an ale yeast US-05 .and came out with a hoppier blue moon'ish style beer. Just drank the last one last weekend. I'd make it again.

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Wait, what? You left the wet grains in the mash tun for a day and then sparged some more the next day?

balrog said:

Wait, what? You left the wet grains in the mash tun for a day and then sparged some more the next day?

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believe it or not ,yes. i had it out in the cold garage that night so it was refrigerated so to speak. It was my first AG so I didnt know any better. But if I did it again , I'd brew this the first go -round.

I'm 98% sure that the last bottle of peel I got was online, but I've also seen it locally.

If I find a reliable source, I'll be sure to post it; if all else fails, I'm sure that one of us can send you some.

Anyone have thoughts on fermenting Wayne's Recipe with Voss Kviek? Should be clean enough to come out similar, maybe accentuate the orange peel?

I have wondered EXACTLY the same thing. Sigmund Voss on a noted Kviek blog site says spicey orange, while other descriptions throw in "earth spicyness" and "tartness" before you get to the "unique ester profile of orange peel".

If you try it, let us know!

It's my next brew day! will make sure to report back.

BilltownBrewingCo said:

Anyone have thoughts on fermenting Wayne's Recipe with Voss Kviek? Should be clean enough to come out similar, maybe accentuate the orange peel?

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I'm fermenting a 2 gallon test batch of waynes first recipe with yeast harvested from Oberon Ale.
first time making it.
It smells amazing in the fermentor.

blue moon clone --- less wheat dme,more 2 row dme, hops, citrus orange hops or orange peel,white sugar ,cheap beer yeast .

This is a calculated guess.

I just brewed this Blue Moon clone from Wayne1. I used 11 lbs breiss pale 2 row, 9 lbs White Wheat , 2 lbs flaked oats , .5 lb rice hulls mashed at 154F for 90 min. Drew off 16 gals . of wort @ 1.046 SG boiled for 60 min adding 1 oz of Hallertau Mittlefrew hops at 60 min , 1 oz of Citra at 20 min. Added 1 oz sweet orange peel and 2 oz ground Coriander at 10 min ( orange peel and Coriander was ground real fine in a coffee grinder) Fermenting 12 gals. At 68 F using Safale SO 5 for 5 days raise fermentation temp to 72F for 5 Days . Lower temp over 4 days to 33 F cold crash. Will be kegging this in about 10 days ,so tasting notes will be coming. Just from the brewing up to fermentation , this has a wonderful aroma of orange and coriander , I wanted to put in the 1 oz of Citra for more of a citrus taste . Stayed tuned for the tasting notes,.........

We had a small taste pre-bottling a few weeks back. Will let you know on the final when we pop them, but we got a super clean taste pre-carb. Excited.

for my 2.25 gallon batch I used .2 oz of coriander seeds run through the coffee grinder and .5 oz of sweet orange peel from the home brew store.

I need to either add less coriander or not run it through the grinder because it a little overpowering.

I make biermunchers orange kolsch and I just beat up the seeds with a rolling pin and crack them open.
probably do that on the next batch.

I think grinding them up was a bad idea now.

Just kegged my Blue Moon clone from the Wayne1 recipe and I am enjoying this brew immensely. This has a very noticeable citrusy orange flavor, this would be phenomenal with a slice of orange. The addition of the 1 oz of Citra hops , really brought out the orange citrus flavor .My next batch I would try 2oz sweet orange and 2 oz corriander, for a little more orange flavor. My bother in law loves Blue Moon , so he will be my benchmark. Absolutely love this beer , so I will be brewing this again in the near future. Just a thought , a more orange color would get to within the color range of the original Blue Moon. Food coloring or am I just being picky?


.

Results are in on the Blue moon recipe with Voss Kveik Yeast. We called our version, "Harvest Moon". Our beer is the one on the left depicted below, the commercial version (Blue Moon from 12oz bottle) is on the right.

The taste profiles are virtually identical, aside from the fact that Voss Kveik really helps bring out and accentuate the orange peel flavor, making our iteration of the beer burst with more sweet Valencia. Frankly, those who tried it preferred our version to the commercial version.

Was a great success, thank you so much for the info we got from this thread!!!

BilltownBrewingCo said:

Results are in on the Blue moon recipe with Voss Kveik Yeast. We called our version, "Harvest Moon". Our beer is the one on the left depicted below, the commercial version (Blue Moon from 12oz bottle) is on the right.

The taste profiles are virtually identical, aside from the fact that Voss Kveik really helps bring out and accentuate the orange peel flavor, making our iteration of the beer burst with more sweet Valencia. Frankly, those who tried it preferred our version to the commercial version.

Was a great success, thank you so much for the info we got from this thread!!!

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Would you mind explaining your fermentation schedule and pitch rate? Looking to brew this one soon too. Thanks

Spin711 said:

Would you mind explaining your fermentation schedule and pitch rate? Looking to brew this one soon too. Thanks

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We let the beer ferment in the primary for 12 days at 78 degrees. We pitched 8oz (one quarter of a quart mason jar) of preserved yeast cake.

I brewed for the first time in months and I did really basic 4 2 row 4 wheat malt 1 oats, two oranges worth of zest and a good helping of toasted coriander. Fermented with US 05. it was bubbling away after a few hours. Can't wait to get this on tap.

I just made my second batch of this Blue Moon clone. The first batch of 10 gals. lasted only one week, appears I have a lot of friends that can't get enough of this. As I said before ,I made batch 2 with 2 oz sweet orange peel and 2 oz of ground corriander ,for a 10 gal batch , OG came in a little low ,will have to review my notes. Could not be more pleased with this beer.

Mark3885 said:

I just made my second batch of this Blue Moon clone. The first batch of 10 gals. lasted only one week, appears I have a lot of friends that can't get enough of this. As I said before ,I made batch 2 with 2 oz sweet orange peel and 2 oz of ground corriander ,for a 10 gal batch , OG came in a little low ,will have to review my notes. Could not be more pleased with this beer.

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how did you add coriander?
I ran mine through the coffee mill and it was just to strong of a flavor.
Over powering actually.

I have another test batch going into the keg soon and with this one I used a rolling pin to crack the coriander.

Both batches , I ran through a coffee mill . Ground to like sand consistency . First batch was phenomenal , I think the 1 oz of Citra hops may have toned down the coriander . Second batch, an additional 1 oz of sweet orange peel was added .

I am pretty positive I will be trying this but what are everyone's thoughts on fermenting this with A20 citrus from imperial yeast...ilove there yeast and have had great results in using there varieties...for those who are not familiar a20 is all citrus based yeast ester profile...orange and lemon...when I saw this clone I almost immediately thought of this yeast mashed at like 150 at the high end of its temp range to help boost the orangey citrus aspect

Brewed slight variation on Wayne's recipe 5.5 gal mainly posting because I am using Safale K97 yeast.
There have been few write ups with this yeast particularly with wheat beers. I used it with a Kolsch and it turned out nice.
4.5lb Viking Pilsner
3.6 lb White wheat malt
1lb Flaked oats
1 oz Tettnanger @ 60 min
1.5 tsp Ground Coriander
.5 tsp McCormick Valencia orange peel
Fermenting @ 60 degrees this image is @ 36 hours I may top crop the yeast, a full three inches of it on top.
I will post again as this progresses.

deVeer said:

Brewed slight variation on Wayne's recipe 5.5 gal mainly posting because I am using Safale K97 yeast.
There have been few write ups with this yeast particularly with wheat beers. I used it with a Kolsch and it turned out nice.
4.5lb Viking Pilsner
3.6 lb White wheat malt
1lb Flaked oats
1 oz Tettnanger @ 60 min
1.5 tsp Ground Coriander
.5 tsp McCormick Valencia orange peel
Fermenting @ 60 degrees this image is @ 36 hours I may top crop the yeast, a full three inches of it on top.
I will post again as this progresses.
View attachment 631877

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Did you find the coriander and orange peel to be underwhelming at those amounts?? I brewed this up this past saturday with almost the exact amounts of ingriedients Wayne suggested and found it kinda bland so I added in more...I did go with the a20 yeast also...fermented at 80 and its basically been done since monday...It was 2 points from expected final gravity

The A20 yeast sounds interesting I have never used it, hopefully it will enhance the brew.
The K97 will take a lot longer.
I did find the spice underwhelming. I have brewed wheat beers before and used more peel and coriander. I am not picking up any orange smell from the fermentor which would tend to confirm our thoughts. I will most likely make up a vodka extract and add as needed before I bottle or keg. I would rather have too little spice rather than too much in the fermentor...I can always add more its tough to take them out.

deVeer said:

The A20 yeast sounds interesting I have never used it, hopefully it will enhance the brew.
The K97 will take a lot longer.
I did find the spice underwhelming. I have brewed wheat beers before and used more peel and coriander. I am not picking up any orange smell from the fermentor which would tend to confirm our thoughts. I will most likely make up a vodka extract and add as needed before I bottle or keg. I would rather have too little spice rather than too much in the fermentor...I can always add more its tough to take them out.

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I figured the citrus notes from the yeast would lend nice to the beer...typically the coriander is more prominent on the nose to me than the orange in blue moon...I dosed it pretty good while cooling and then again after I had just put it in the fermentor...keeping it more coriander than orange peel...from what I can smell and the sample from my hydro reading its pretty close but the color seems a bit pale...

I need to keg this.
It's been in the keggorator in the bucket forever cause i've been dragging my feet washing out a keg and i've allready got 4 beers on tap.

Picture of Hydro sample, this is K97 yeast 14 days in primary, then 4 days cold crash. 83% attenuation, still cloudy (good for wheat) overall flavor is good but no orange flavor that I can detect, slightly tart. I had a bottled Blue Moon yesterday no orange flavor either. I will make a vodka extract for kegging to add a bit of orange flavor.

Apologies for the bluntness..... I stumbled through about 18 pages I think.
What's the recipe for a great clone? Anyone feel like laying it out there for me?
Stuff never seems to go right. Always seem to miss at some point.

Semo said:

Apologies for the bluntness..... I stumbled through about 18 pages I think.
What's the recipe for a great clone? Anyone feel like laying it out there for me?
Stuff never seems to go right. Always seem to miss at some point.

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Also, any water profile preferences. I've found water is second most important behind clean equip..
Thanks in advance,

Semo said:

Apologies for the bluntness..... I stumbled through about 18 pages I think.
What's the recipe for a great clone? Anyone feel like laying it out there for me?
Stuff never seems to go right. Always seem to miss at some point.

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Page 1, post #6, from the guy that should know. Start there.
I also have tried "Nilo's #12", part of his series (read his posts).
For water, I have very soft, nearly RO water, and I put in about 50 Ca using CaCl, and phosphoric acid to target 5.35pH.
I also typically use WY1007, ferm at 60F, which I find "cleaner" than S05.

I don't do side by side comparison, sorry. I like what Nilo's #12 makes. I've made 10 batches, tweaking things here and there. I am currently trying to do it wheatless for someone who is wheat-allergic (not gluten).

You are going to have to read a bit, and try a bit. No matter what recipe you use, your process will make it come out a little different.

balrog said:

Page 1, post #6, from the guy that should know. Start there.
I also have tried "Nilo's #12", part of his series (read his posts).
For water, I have very soft, nearly RO water, and I put in about 50 Ca using CaCl, and phosphoric acid to target 5.35pH.
I also typically use WY1007, ferm at 60F, which I find "cleaner" than S05.

I don't do side by side comparison, sorry. I like what Nilo's #12 makes. I've made 10 batches, tweaking things here and there. I am currently trying to do it wheatless for someone who is wheat-allergic (not gluten).

You are going to have to read a bit, and try a bit. No matter what recipe you use, your process will make it come out a little different.

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Correct, click "his series" above to reach the full list of recipes that I tried.

balrog said:

Page 1, post #6, from the guy that should know. Start there.
I also have tried "Nilo's #12", part of his series (read his posts).
For water, I have very soft, nearly RO water, and I put in about 50 Ca using CaCl, and phosphoric acid to target 5.35pH.
I also typically use WY1007, ferm at 60F, which I find "cleaner" than S05.

I don't do side by side comparison, sorry. I like what Nilo's #12 makes. I've made 10 batches, tweaking things here and there. I am currently trying to do it wheatless for someone who is wheat-allergic (not gluten).

You are going to have to read a bit, and try a bit. No matter what recipe you use, your process will make it come out a little different.

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Thanks Balrog and Nilo. Finally have my head wrapped around it. I believe I will go with Nilo's#12. Love you have water profile there as well.

Hello, I am about to prepare the Nilo # 12 recipe. After reading this thread for days, it is not clear to me if the times of maceration and temperatures are the same as Wayne indicated in post # 34. Who could clarify this question?

Norberto Adrian Desimone said:

Hello, I am about to prepare the Nilo # 12 recipe. After reading this thread for days, it is not clear to me if the times of maceration and temperatures are the same as Wayne indicated in post # 34. Who could clarify this question?

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All my recipes are mashing at given temps for 1h.

BilltownBrewingCo said:

Results are in on the Blue moon recipe with Voss Kveik Yeast. We called our version, "Harvest Moon". Our beer is the one on the left depicted below, the commercial version (Blue Moon from 12oz bottle) is on the right.

The taste profiles are virtually identical, aside from the fact that Voss Kveik really helps bring out and accentuate the orange peel flavor, making our iteration of the beer burst with more sweet Valencia. Frankly, those who tried it preferred our version to the commercial version.

Was a great success, thank you so much for the info we got from this thread!!!

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So what I gather is you used Waynes recipe ( from post 429?) and used the kviek instead.
A couple questions if you please:
Any reason you let it ferment so long? From what I understand about the kviek is it fully ferments in about 36hrs.

Did you alter the recipe at all in regards to coriander and valencia?

I love Blue moon ( called Belgian Moon up here cuz we just gotta be different I guess), but always found it lacking in oranginess. Your description of " burst with more Valencia" really grabbed my interest in your results.

Cheers,
Toby