Blue Moon Clone

[ekjohns]

Most people add it at boil but a lot of the orange oils boil off and then get blown off during primary. This is why you see the orange peel amount keeps increasing. It did a spring beer a few months back and steeped orange peel then added it to the secondary. This provided the most orange flavor and scent I've ever had. I got Nilos #8 recipe in the primary right now and this weekend im going to add an orange and corriander tea. Ill report back but that has been the best way i have found and ive tried almost every way to get oranges in my beers

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Did you guys add the coriander and oranges to the boil or in secondary

If you want the original Blue Moon (which is slightly different - and in my opinion much better than - the current Blue Moon), then add it when Wayne1 says to add it; I believe it is at 5 minutes, but check his posts on the matter.

Per his advice, I used ground coriander and ground Valencia orange peel; both are from McCormick and should be easy to find at a grocery or Pick-A-Mart. The Valencia orange peel is key to this, as it has a unique flavor and aroma, in my opinion.

My advice is to not mess with it and try not to get fancy, at least the first time. If you follow his instructions, chances are that you won't see any need to mess with it or get fancy the second time. I trusted his method, and was rewarded with one of the best-tasting beers I've ever brewed. The orange and the coriander both came out just fine, and the characteristics of each blended very well together.

 

[Nelrock]

I'd echo Tasunka. When we were measuring out the orange peel and coriander, my wife and I were pretty skeptical that it would be enough for a 5 gal batch. But...we agreed to just go with the recipe. We put the coriander in the boil for the last 10 min. Orange the last 5.
So glad we stuck with it because, like I said, it turned out fantastic.

Matter of fact, just finished zesting up some valencia orange...we're making that exact recipe again.

 

[frozengator]

10 and 5 of boil

 

[Wayne1]

Tasunka and Nelrock, Thank you for your kind comments.

As I have said before, the original recipe is scaled down from a 500 gallon batch. Depending on you own system, this may be right for you or you may have to adjust a bit, but brew it the way I wrote it first just to get a reference.

I have been back brewing professionally at Station 26 Brewing in Denver for the last 3 1/2 years. I have not made a Blue Moon but I have used the basic recipe I have posted here to create some variants. The most recent one was a White IPA. I turned up the grain bill to hit 6.5% ABV. I used fresh ground coriander at the same amount in the Blue Moon recipe. I used some Mandarin orange puree in secondary. During conditioning, I could really taste the pith of the orange. This did eventually get blended in with the dry hops.

Just another toy to play with.

Good luck with all your brewing endeavors.

 

[BeerBaronBob]

Tasunka and Nelrock, Thank you for your kind comments.

I have been back brewing professionally at Station 26 Brewing in Denver for the last 3 1/2 years.

Hi Wayne, The first beer I wanted to brew was Blue Moon and you helped me and everyone in this thread fulfill that desire.

When I was in Denver last December on vacation I stopped by to say hi at Station 26 and wouldn't you know it you were having a Christmas party that day and the brewery was closed. We ended up going down the street to the Black Shirt Brewery which was awesome.

Good luck with the Brewery!
BeerBaronBob

 

[tyhoward]

For those that did recipes with corn starch, did you just use the regular off the shelf stuff? I tried using what my wife had in our pantry and it didn't want to dissolve. It seemed to turn to gelatin and I believe it to be responsible for some scorching which ruined my batch.

Thoughts?

I'm going to try to repeat it without the corn starch and see what I get.

 

[botigol]

For those that did recipes with corn starch, did you just use the regular off the shelf stuff? I tried using what my wife had in our pantry and it didn't want to dissolve. It seemed to turn to gelatin and I believe it to be responsible for some scorching which ruined my batch.

Thoughts?

I'm going to try to repeat it without the corn starch and see what I get.

You don't want corn starch; it is designed to thicken liquids. Corn sugar is what you would want to use to bump abv and/or lighten body. I haven't looked for it other than at my LHBS, but I don't think that it is normally available in supermarkets.

 

[ekjohns]

You don't want corn starch; it is designed to thicken liquids. Corn sugar is what you would want to use to bump abv and/or lighten body. I haven't looked for it other than at my LHBS, but I don't think that it is normally available in supermarkets.

No you want corn starch to thicken the beer for mouth feel. Never put corn startch in hot liquid iy clumps like no other. Always dissolve it first in a small amount of cold water then add that to your boil

 

[botigol]

No you want corn starch to thicken the beer for mouth feel. Never put corn startch in hot liquid iy clumps like no other. Always dissolve it first in a small amount of cold water then add that to your boil

Sorry, I had never heard of doing this and somehow missed when it was brought up a few pages back.

 

[Sudz]

Wayne I've read most of this "most excellent" post and have noted you have tweaked your original recipe to accommodate the varying differences in the spice sources/additions.

I'm preparing to make my first run at your recipe but I'm not certain I'm working with your most current recommendations for a 5.5 gal batch size.

If you were making a small batch today, what would your latest recipe look like? It may be somewhere in this post and if so I apologize. I have searched but am not clear on where this may have been left in the final form.

Cheers...

 

[mcfire12]

Set to brew this tomorrow but i'm a little confused on a few things. We just do a batch sparge. Every beer I have done in the past has been a 60 min mash and a 60 min boil. Does that not apply for this recipe? I believe I read the boil needs to be 90 min and I saw 45 min mash somewhere? Can someone please let me know exactly how I need to do this?

 

[kjf45]

Wayne I've read most of this "most excellent" post and have noted you have tweaked your original recipe to accommodate the varying differences in the spice sources/additions.

I'm preparing to make my first run at your recipe but I'm not certain I'm working with your most current recommendations for a 5.5 gal batch size.

If you were making a small batch today, what would your latest recipe look like? It may be somewhere in this post and if so I apologize. I have searched but am not clear on where this may have been left in the final form.

Cheers...

Below is what I put together from scouring through the thread. I based my recipe off the IBU grabity readings Wayne gave throughout thethread. The grain bill is basically a 50/40/10 split. I set my mash and boil to 60 ninutes.

I have notbrewed this but I am planning too within the next week or two.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Blue Moon Clone

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: Witbier
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6.75 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.043
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.053
Final Gravity: 1.009
ABV (standard): 5.76%
IBU (tinseth): 16.67
SRM (morey): 4.18

FERMENTABLES:
5.5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (50%)
4.5 lb - American - White Wheat (40.9%)
1 lb - Flaked Oats (9.1%)

HOPS:
1.21 oz - Hallertau Mittelfruh, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.75, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 16.67

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temp: 151 F, Time: 60 min

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1.25 tsp - Ground Corriander, Time: 10 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
0.33 tsp - Ground Valencia Orange Peel, Time: 5 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Set to brew this tomorrow but i'm a little confused on a few things. We just do a batch sparge. Every beer I have done in the past has been a 60 min mash and a 60 min boil. Does that not apply for this recipe? I believe I read the boil needs to be 90 min and I saw 45 min mash somewhere? Can someone please let me know exactly how I need to do this?

When I made mine (1-gallon), I only boiled 60 minutes. I asked Wayne about the timing and he said that the main thing was to boil to your batch size. for me, this turned out to be the 60 minutes, and the beer turned out wonderfully good.

Your 60-minute mash should be fine, as well.

 

[Sudz]

Thanks kjf45. I appreciate your effort and recipe.

I was hoping for a response from Wayne since this post is basically built around his efforts with making Blue Moon. I "think" I have his last recipe but there have been many tweaks along the way. Some Wayne supports and some maybe not.

I was just wanting to avail my efforts with Wayne's current perspective on his original recipe with recommended tweaks, assuming some are recommended.

Cheers... Sudz

 

[mcfire12]

So 60 min mash and 60 min boil or does this need a 90 min boil?

 

[z-bob]

So 60 min mash and 60 min boil or does this need a 90 min boil?

Either will work. Conventional wisdom says 90 minute boil for pilsner malt and 60 minute boil for 2-row or pale ale malt, unless you're doing a really long boil for some other reason. I usually boil everything for 60 minutes.

The recipe posted by kjf45 today looks right, based on what I've seen in this thread and elsewhere. Hallertau Mittelfruh is probably not critical but I'm not sure. I'd use Willamette just because I have a lot of it, but then maybe I'm not making a clone.

Sweet orange peel instead of Curaçao orange peel is important (I think tangerine peel would work, and tangerine peels don't have pith) Blue Moon is an American witbier. Use Curaçao or bitter orange peel to make Belgian witbier.

 

[Sudz]

It appears Wayne's latest update to his original recipe is provided in post 429 on page 43?

Have any of you found anything after this post updating Wayne's work on Blue Moon?

Cheers, Sudz

 

[kjf45]

First picture is pre-boil. I was a little short going into my fermenter. Had less than 5.25 and i was shooting for 5.5. I need to adjust my boil off to a minimum of 1.25g/hr and grain absorption to .07 or .06. Gravity was 1.055 corrected. My effiency took a little hit because of my boil off. If i hit my numbers i woud have hit 73%. But shes bubbling away happy. I started my starter yesterday around 6pm and kind of rushed it since i brewed at the spur of the moment. There was visible activity when i pitched at 1:30am. Woke this morning and could hear the bubbling from the blow off sitting around 68°. Might move it to the bssement to get the temp a little lower. Had a great smell I'll report back when shes done.



Second picture is post boil

 

[mcfire12]

Very confused, it appears he changed the recipe entirely on page 43... We have purchased everything to make the original recipe with the pale malt. Planning on doing 60 min mash and 60 min boil. With the ingredients list in the original. Any tips for us?

 

[ButcherBoy]

Very confused, it appears he changed the recipe entirely on page 43... We have purchased everything to make the original recipe with the pale malt. Planning on doing 60 min mash and 60 min boil. With the ingredients list in the original. Any tips for us?

I always use the original recipe. The only tip I have for you is to prepare yourself to drink excellent beer, this keg always disappears too fast!

 

[frozengator]

Well report on Wayne1's recipe. It was really good. I used the 1.5oz coriander,and it was fine. I also put orange zest in at post boil. Thank you Wayne

 

[Wayne1]

Hi there,
Sorry for the confusion and lack of reply. I have been traveling a bit lately and I do not check in at HBT too often.

I am currently in Des Moines doing a collaboration brew with Exile Brewing Co.

Tomorrow I am back in Denver.

Short answer to most of the questions is to brew it to the specs in the first recipe and then modify it to suit your system. There is no way to post a recipe that will be the same for everyone.

I have worked with systems ranging from 5 gallons to 1500 gallons and all matter of things effect the final outcome of the beer. This weekend I worked with a four vessel, 30 barrel system vs my normal 2 vessel 15 barrel . Thank goodness these guys have a good lab and have great notes so we could replicate what I do in Denver.

First you need a baseline. Brew the beer as posted in the first recipe. Then make changes to suit your system and tastes. I understand that most homebrewers want to brew a different beer each time they brew. But to get the best results you need to brew and rebrew the sane recipe over and over to fine tune it to get to what you want.

I recently finished brew #350 at Station 26. I have dialed in most of the recipes but I am constantly fiddling with water treatments. I am changing the base malt in my most popular beer to all Colorado grown and malted which changes everything.

Be adaptable. Keep on brewing and learning.

 

[Sudz]

Thanks Wayne on the feedback.

I just finished making your page 43 revised recipe. My experience with coriander and orange had me leaning toward the reduced coriander and bumped Valencia orange from McCormicks. Hit all the numbers and it's chugging away. Really lookin' forward to this one.

Cheers... Sudz

 

[applescrap]

Hi there,
Sorry for the confusion and lack of reply. I have been traveling a bit lately and I do not check in at HBT too often.

I am currently in Des Moines doing a collaboration brew with Exile Brewing Co.

Tomorrow I am back in Denver.

Short answer to most of the questions is to brew it to the specs in the first recipe and then modify it to suit your system. There is no way to post a recipe that will be the same for everyone.

I have worked with systems ranging from 5 gallons to 1500 gallons and all matter of things effect the final outcome of the beer. This weekend I worked with a four vessel, 30 barrel system vs my normal 2 vessel 15 barrel . Thank goodness these guys have a good lab and have great notes so we could replicate what I do in Denver.

First you need a baseline. Brew the beer as posted in the first recipe. Then make changes to suit your system and tastes. I understand that most homebrewers want to brew a different beer each time they brew. But to get the best results you need to brew and rebrew the sane recipe over and over to fine tune it to get to what you want.

I recently finished brew #350 at Station 26. I have dialed in most of the recipes but I am constantly fiddling with water treatments. I am changing the base malt in my most popular beer to all Colorado grown and malted which changes everything.

Be adaptable. Keep on brewing and learning.

Station 26 beers are awesome, thanks! We go almost every Friday. Hope to meet you sometime.

 

[Wayne1]

Thank you, applescrap.

Fridays lately have been brew days, which start at 6 am. I am usually out of there by 2:30. If you are able to come in when the taproom opens at 1 pm, you'll be able to find me cleaning up the brewhouse.

 

[Nelrock]

Tapped the 2nd go Thurs...and...it's just as good as the first time around. I doubt we're gonna change anything. We like it...guests like it.

We've been doing a 5 gal with:
5lb pale malt
4lb white wheat
1lb flaked oat
8oz rice hulls
1oz hallerttauer mittelfrueh

1.25tps coriander seed @ 10 min remaining in boil
0.33 tsp valencia orange peel @ 5 min remaining in boil

California Ale yeast (WLP001)

Great results both times. Thanks again Wayne...we love it!

 

[Sudz]

Nelrock, sounds good.

Where did you find the orange peel? I just finished my first run using McCormick ground valencia but I've never been enthusiastic using McCormicks for much of anything. It's all I could in the neighborhood...

 

[Nelrock]

Nelrock, sounds good.

Where did you find the orange peel? I just finished my first run using McCormick ground valencia but I've never been enthusiastic using McCormicks for much of anything. It's all I could in the neighborhood...

We actually bought Valencia oranges and zested our own. Have a couple toddlers, so the oranges didn't go to waste either.

 

[PKnotlost]

I have found that the "Oranges" part varies so wildly getting anything consistent is very hard. I cant get any consistency around where I am in the orange ingredients part. So I dont use any orange anymore in the boil, or fermenting. I add a cup of Recepie 21 Triple SEC into the keg when i'm kegging it. Now its perfect every time.

 

[Sudz]

Sounds like a good idea since I too have little chance of finding Valencia oranges around here. I may give the booze a shot.

Appreciate the responses guys....

 

[kjf45]

I brewed the original recipe on a wim and my LHBS had Brewers Best Sweet Orange Peel on the shelf so thats what I used. Myself and two others that have tried it think it taste good. I think its very drinkable and I'm definitely making another batch. Below is the recipe I followed. I might increase the orange or try another type to get a little bit more orange out of it but the original recipe is good to go the way it is. I drank a Blue Moon lastnight with dinner and nothing stood out, granted it wasnt a side by side comparison but my batch was just as good.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Blue Moon Clone

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: Witbier
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.045
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.053
Final Gravity: 1.009
ABV (standard): 5.76%
IBU (tinseth): 16.42
SRM (morey): 4.18

FERMENTABLES:
5.5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (50%)
4.5 lb - American - White Wheat (40.9%)
1 lb - Flaked Oats (9.1%)

HOPS:
1.21 oz - Hallertau Mittelfruh, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.75, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 16.42

MASH GUIDELINES:
Temp: 151 F, Time: 60 min

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1.25 tsp - Cracked/Crushed Corriander, Time: 10
0.5 tsp - Crushed Brewers Best Sweet Orange Peel, Time: 5 min

YEAST:
US-05

NOTES:
Actual
OG 1.054
FG 1.006

 

[quentin01301]

Hi,

I really want to brew this recipe, but i'm french and have some problem with the amount of coriander ans Orange peel.
Could you help me with the amount in oz or gram ?

I think that 1.25 tsp Coriander is approximately 2,5 gram but it seems very low...

Thanks in advance.

 

[nilo]

On my latest recipe, used 0.5 oz, which translates to about 14 grams

Hi,

I really want to brew this recipe, but i'm french and have some problem with the amount of coriander ans Orange peel.
Could you help me with the amount in oz or gram ?

I think that 1.25 tsp Coriander is approximately 2,5 gram but it seems very low...

Thanks in advance.

 

[quentin01301]

Thank you for your reply.
Do you think that 0,5oz was good ?

 

[jalc6927]

I brew one of these every third batch because I love blue moon

I add the zest of 4 large naval oranges, 2 in the mash and the other two in a hop bag at 10 mins, along with clove and coriander

4.25 flaked wheat
1 flaked oats
5.5 irkes pilsner malt
.25 light Munich

Safbrew t-58 dry yeast

1 oz hallertau at 60

1.25 tsp of coriander and 1/2 clove at 10 mins

In past times I added 3/4 tsp of orange essential oil from young oils

The first time I added 4 navel oranges cut into 8 pieces each into boil at 5 minutes no zest, and that came out heavy orange flavor, one of the best ones I made and I'll do the fresh oranges again next time

 

[bwible]

Thank you, Wayne for this thread. The fact that folks are continuing to seek out and add to this post after some 9 years speaks to both the popularity and staying power of Blue Moon. Many have stated it’s a favorite with the ladies.

For those who are like me, who can’t be bothered mashing wheat and want an easier extract version, here is how I would approach that. Use wheat dry malt extract. I like dry malt extract for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it is easy to work with and allows you to use partial containers/packages. Unlike liquids and syrups. Dry malt extract yields about 45 points per pound, which is a little short of the 51-52 we are looking for in this recipe. That’s fine, though, since we also need to incorporate flaked oats.

Flaked oats need to be mashed along with some pale malt for enzymes in order to get anything out of the flaked oats. They cannot just be steeped. Those saying add flaked oats to the boil - I don’t know where that comes from. There are no enzymes in the boil. Boiling destroys enzymes. All you would end up with is starch or a little gum - nothing fermentable, nothing of any value to your beer. You do not want starch in your beer. Yeast cannot consume starch, but many bacteria can. So any starch left in your wort just provides a source for infections. Unconverted starches do not belong in your beer. That’s also the whole reason grains are malted in the first place, because starch is of no use in beer except to be converted by enzymes into fermentable sugar.

So do a partial mash. Six row pale has more enzymes, but you could also use 2 row pale.

For 5 gallons, try steeping .5 lb six row pale malt along with 1 lb flaked oats in about 1.5 quarts of hot water in a small pot. About 30 min at 150 degrees F in a muslin grain bag ought to do it. We’re making a wheat beer, cloudiness is not a concern so no need to recirculate, etc. After 30 min, just pull out the bag, rinse and discard.

Add the results of the mini-mash to your brew pot and make up your wort with this and 5 lbs of wheat DME. This should get you to the 1.052 gravity.

Boil as per recipe, figure amount of hops needed for 19 IBU. For 5 gallons, this is going to be roughly an ounce of Hallertauer Mittlefruh at 4.5 to 4.8 percent boiled for 60 min. Adjust for the AA in your hops. If you want to boil for 90 min, that would give you a little additional color. Just add hops for the last 60 min.

Add spices as per previous post. Add coriander with 10 min remaining, orange peel with 5 min remaining.

After cooling, use clean yeast such as Wyeast 1056 or White Labs California Ale yeast as previously stated. Wayne said he also liked WLP008. This is reputed to be Sam Adams yeast, so that’s obviously not a bad choice either.

This is an easy extract recipe that beats mashing wheat for those not up to it or who just don’t want to.

Hope this helps.

Bill

 

[cmac62]

Has anyone ever used a vodka tincture at bottling to add the orange/coriander? I have used this method for a lot of other things, but not for my blue moon clone. I may have to try the post recipe. It sounds good.

 

[cmac62]

Second question: Is the am white wheat malted or no?

 

[Droot]

I used malted wheat.

Last batch of just keeged, I put zest of 5 oranges and 5 limes. I added 1/2 cup of vodka to the zest. I let it sit a while, then put it in my conical after I had dumped the yeast (secondary). A week later, I kegged the beer. LOTS of citrus aroma and flavor. I did it once with 10 oranges and 10 lemons. It was overpowering.

David