Help with Blue Moon Clone

Hi,

I am hoping to brew my second batch of beer this weekend. The first was an American Pale Ale kit and it is delicious.

Below is the recipe I found on this site. My problem is there are no instructions like what you get with your "kit". I have all the ingredients, but my first kit told me put the grains in the cheese cloth and steep them until water boils, then add extract.

Since there are no grains I assume I boil water then add extract, honey and pellet hops then boil for 45 mins. then lower heat below boil and add whole hops in a cheese cloth bag and steep for 10 minutes, remove bag, then boil again and add 1/2 ounce Coriander for 10 minutes, lower heat and add other 1/2 ounce coriander for 10 minutes, then add orange peel for 10 minutes. Cool wort to 75 degrees then add yeast.

Am I reading this correctly? Maybe I should do a kit of another style of beer before I try this. Any advice is appreciated.

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

This is a bizarre recipe. Here's my suggestion:

Boil water and DME. When boil begins, add 1 oz hallertauer, which will boil for a total of 45 minutes. After 35 minutes of boiling, add 1/2 oz hallertauer, 1/2 oz coriander. after the full 45 minutes is up, kill the heat, add honey (mix well), orange peel, and the remainder of the crushed coriander. begin chilling by icebath or wort chiller. Pitch yeast starter when temp is below 75°.

You won't be messing with the stove heat at all (except to prevent boilover).

Normally you'd use a 60 minute boil for any beer recipe, but it's not a big deal, and the bitterness has been designed for a 45 min boil, so just go with it.

You can add the honey at the beginning, with the DME, but you'll lose a lot of the aromatics and flavor compounds by doing so.

Great. Thank you. I assume when I add the whole hops, they go in bag? Same for the Coriander and Orange Peel or do all of these just get dumped in the pot?

Thanks again.

Rich

the hops should go in a bag, the spices could go in the bag or right into the wort. It won't matter much. You'll get a little bit better extraction from them by tossing them right in the pot.

I brewed the batch on Sunday and I think I made some big mistakes. Let me know what you think.

Mistake 1: As the wort chilled in an ice bath, I put about 4 gallons of COLD water in the bucket. I didn't even think about the temperature of the water. I think it was the coldest you can get from a tap. I then dumped the 75 degree wort into the bucket.

Was this a mistake? What is the result? Is there anything I can do about it now?

Mistake 2: I didn't realize the yeast (smak pak) needed to be mixed 3hours in advance. My only choice at the moment was to follow the instructions that said to smak it, shake it and dump it in immediately, which I did. I just dumped it in and sealed it up. I didn't stir it or anything.

It has been 2 days an I have not seen any bubbles.

Was this a mistake? What is the result? Is there anything I can do about it now?

I am almost out of my last batch, so I really need to get this one going.

Thanks,

Rich

RDWHAHB. You may not have pitched enough yeast which will take a bit longer to see active fermentation.

As far as pouring the wort on the cold water, that's not a bad thing, I use to boil my tap water before adding it to make sure there were no bugs in it, but if your on city water, it's probably not an issue. I usually ferment my Wit at about 64 F.

Would it be bad to open it up and stir it a minute?

Leave it alone. The little yeaties are making 'communities'; leave them be. RDWHAHB. There is no need to touch it. We have all made this mistake at one time or another only to realize - it will still be good beer, erspecially since YOU made it :rockin:

Just leave it be. Once fermentation gets going, the yeast create a really good current of their own and everything will mix up just fine.

I took your advice. The Pale Ale is delicious while I wait.

Thanks,

Rich

I'd let it ferment longer than the 16 days your recipe is showing. Go for a minimum of 21. A full month would be a little better yet if you can wait that long.

BUBBLES!!!! Yea!

So when would you transfer to secondary tank?

Waiting a month is going to be hard. I could probably do 21 though. Then bottle and wait 2 weeks?

Thanks for all the help. I feel better.

Rich

IH8UM said:

BUBBLES!!!! Yea!

So when would you transfer to secondary tank?

Waiting a month is going to be hard. I could probably do 21 though. Then bottle and wait 2 weeks?

Thanks for all the help. I feel better.

Rich

Click to expand...

Good for you - just watch the temperatures and you will have a nice beverage!

IH8UM said:

BUBBLES!!!! Yea!

So when would you transfer to secondary tank?

Waiting a month is going to be hard. I could probably do 21 though. Then bottle and wait 2 weeks?

Thanks for all the help. I feel better.

Rich

Click to expand...

With it being a Blue Moon clone, I wouldn't bother with a secondary at all. Its supposed to have a little haze to it and the secondary will clear it up a little. Also, you should be fine at 21 days. The main thing is that you have a steady FG reading before you bottle. After that, you pretty much have it. 2 weeks in the bottle MAY not be quite enough time. Sample a bottle at 1 week, then another at 2 weeks and see how much it changes. It will be different yet at 3 weeks. I'd say 3 weeks is about optimal, but early on, heck who am I kidding, even now, waiting 3 weeks can be pretty hard at times especially if its a good batch. Be careful though, when I've dug into good batches early, by the time I'm running out it starts to go from good to really really good.

Yes, I learned my lesson about jumping on a batch early. I am on my final 8 bottles of Pale Ale and they are really delicious compared to the first 12. I will try 21 days in bucket and 21 days in bottle and skip the carboy.

Now here is my issue. I added the remaining coriander and orange peel just before the ice bath. I then poured the wort into the bucket through a strainer funnel. This removed all the coriander and orange peel. Was I supposed to let this sit in the fermenter?

It was all floating on top. I hope I didn't make a mistake.

Thanks,

Rich

Well... I guess you'll find out when you taste it. Some people say that the orange and coriander overpower, so yours probably won't. If you need more orange flavor when you drink it, just use an orange slice I guess!

Was the cold water you added straight from the tap?? If so, you risk contamination. Also, I suspect the chemicals added in the city water might effect fermintation??????

Others with more knowledge please chime in

jamesjensen1068 said:

Was the cold water you added straight from the tap?? If so, you risk contamination. Also, I suspect the chemicals added in the city water might effect fermintation??????

Others with more knowledge please chime in

Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about that, personally. When I brew outside I pull city water right from my hose, and I use water straight from my kitchen tap inside even when topping up extract/PM batches. I haven't had a crap batch yet - (except for my DFH clone, but that was a whole other issue).

jamesjensen1068 said:

Was the cold water you added straight from the tap?? If so, you risk contamination. Also, I suspect the chemicals added in the city water might effect fermintation??????

Others with more knowledge please chime in

Click to expand...

Most people can use water straight from the tap to make good beer. Some people need to do more water chemistry than others, sadly... but their beer is probably better for it!

I have a well for my water. My last batch was oh so delicious.

R

You could try an all extract clone like I did using HME and UME direct from the Mr. Beer website. I've brewed and tasted both recipes and they both come close to the Blue Moon and Sam Adams White Ale. My only suggestion is to use less Coriander, unless you really like that flavor to be really pronounced in the finished beer.

Screwy Brewer

Ok, I went ahead and transferred to carboy tonight (day9). It was a golden yellow going through the tube and a creamy caramel color in the carboy. It smelled delicious. I put a glass of blue moon next to the carboy and the color looks real close. I had a taste and it is a little less fruity but very beer tasting. I am so happy. I hope this one turns out. I will try to give it 21 days in the carboy. I don't know if I can wait that long.

Well, I cracked open a bottle last night. It is carbonated nicely and looks delicious. Unfortunately, it isn't. It tastes watered down.

I think I messed up. My last batch was from a kit and it said to boil 1.5 gallons of water for an hour. After chilling add 4 gallons of water before yeast. I did the same thing this time, however I am thinking this recipe should have boiled about 5.5 gallons and added yeast after that chills. Did I water my beer down by not boiling all of the wort?

Please advise.

R

If your beer calls for 5 gals. then mark your carboy at the 5 gallon mark add 2 gallons of cold water, then add your wort, and always fill it to that 5 gal. mark. That way their is no guessing.

Watered down is likely caused by this recipe. No crystal + 2.5 lbs and basically 100% fermentable honey + a highly attenuated yeast strain = lack of body / flavor. I'm not sure how this would be even close to blue moon.

Watery is usually due to either 1) too much water or 2) not enough malt.

I don't think a full boil as opposed to a partial boil would cause/prevent watery-ness.

Don't pitch it. It might grow on you.

I used the recipe from this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/blue-moon-clone-65328/

"Wayne1" actually worked for Coors and knows the recipe well. My attempt came out pretty good, though, if I had to do it again, I'd try to mash a little higher and try to attenuate the yeast less.