Witbier Austin Homebrew's Blue Moon Clone (AG)

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Austin Homebrew must have changed their recipe since 2007. This is the new one, I have it all entered into BeerSmith:

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Blue Moon Clone
Brewer: Austin Homebrew
Asst Brewer:
Style: Witbier
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.67 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.67 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.20 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.80 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 3.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 9.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.5 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs 8.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 55.0 %
3 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 2 30.0 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 3 10.0 %
8.0 oz Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 4 5.0 %
0.50 oz Cascade [6.20 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 5 9.3 IBUs
10.00 g Coriander Seed (Boil 15.0 mins) Spice 6 -
5.00 g Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 15.0 mins) Spice 7 -
0.50 g Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 15.0 mins) Spice 8 -
0.50 oz Cascade [6.20 %] - Aroma Steep 5.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400) [35 Yeast 10 -


The one thing I am not sure about is boil time. The recipe sheet says nothing, so I just assumed 60.
 
Are the gram weights right for the sweet / bitter Orange peels? 5g bitter and .5g for sweet? Seems they should be equal but maybe that's just me.
 
You are correct, both should be 5g. I emailed AHS and the boil time for this recipe is actually just 30 minutes.
 
So it seems the major difference is less boil time and half the hops. Does this new recipe put the brew more in line with Blue Moon? I noticed earlier in this thread that Forrest from AHS said he could dumb it down to make it closer to the real deal. Is this what he was talking about? Forrest if you see this could you please comment. Blue Moon is SWMBO's favorite beer and I plan on brewing this November 2nd to give it a good 6 weeks before her birthday.
 
I know this is an old thread but has anyone tried this using BIAB. If so, would you mind giving me your numbers. Thanks. Looking at doing 10 gallons as well.
 
Are you planning on doing a dunk sparge or use the full volume of water to start with? For a 10 gallon recipe using full water in the kettle will be somewhere around 14-16 gallons which is more than my kettle can handle.
 
full volume or as close to as I can get. I try to leave myself a little short then sparge the grains to get the desired volume. Im using a keggle as my brew pot.
 
I am a complete Newbie and have never brewed anything but coffee. One of my favorite beers is Belgium White, so Blue Moon is definitely one on my list.

First off: What kit or items should I buy to make this recipe? If this turns out great, then it will probably be my main recipe.

Second: When I look at the kit on Austin Homebrew, I have options to choose. I first have to choose the kit option which is Extract, Mini Mash, or All Grain. I then choose Yeast option, BrewVint Yeast Fuel, Cold Pack, and 1% alcohol boost. I'm not sure what to get, so please help a guy out.

I appreciate any information you can provide to help get me started making this recipe. Keep in mind that my wife will not let me sell one of the kids, so I can thin the wallet down too much to get started. ;-)

Thanks,
TechDiver
 
Brewed for this for the first time and just cracked the first bottle. Very tasty. My wife is very happy!
 
1 Pkgs Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400) Yeast-Wheat
I have enough grain leftovers for a couple brews, so I will not order this kit from AHS now. What I need though is yeast - could you please tell what kind of dry yeast the AHS instruction sheet calls for?
 
I have enough grain leftovers for a couple brews, so I will not order this kit from AHS now. What I need though is yeast - could you please tell what kind of dry yeast the AHS instruction sheet calls for?


It doesn't list a dry yeast for this clone. Just the WLP400 or Wyeast 3944...
 
Thanks for looking! Hmm, I have about a dozen of AHS instruction sheets for different beers, and all of them give a choice of yeasts...


Yeah, all the ones I've done from them give a choice of dry yeast as well as the white labs and wyeast liquid options, but there seems to be a few where they don't have a dry recommendation - this being one of them. You can go on their website and click on the different recipes and clones, and it though it doesn't show you the exact recipe or grain bill for each, it does show you which yeasts are recommended (since the yeasts cost extra from the recipe and will vary depending which yeast you choose)...
 
You can go on their website [...] it does show you which yeasts are recommended
Thank you for a good advice! I checked all the 16A witbiers - none of them has dry yeast as an option. There are quite a few weisbiers and hefes that do call for Danstar Munich German wheat dry yeast... I have just brewed my first batch of beer with wheat, and I used Safeale T-58. It will take some four-five week until I know whether it was a good choice :)
 
Thank you for a good advice! I checked all the 16A witbiers - none of them has dry yeast as an option. There are quite a few weisbiers and hefes that do call for Danstar Munich German wheat dry yeast... I have just brewed my first batch of beer with wheat, and I used Safeale T-58. It will take some four-five week until I know whether it was a good choice :)


I brewed their Belgian Double Wit last weekend with T-58. Let me know how it turned out I've heard mix reviews.


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I brewed their Belgian Double Wit last weekend with T-58.
Double wit with 14 lbs of grain - looks like Blue Moon on steroids :) My brew took only 10: 5 lbs Belgian Pils, 3 lbs White wheat, 1 lb flaked oats and 1 lb of flaked wheat... I noticed that AHS offers double yeast pitching - did you do that? So I see our wits are quite close in time - I brewed mine on 2/8.
 
I've only used T-58 once - last summer in a Saison. I did get some pretty good flavors from it (as well as the coriander, grains of paradise and orange peel that were added - similar to many wits)... But also some diacetyl. I think that was my fault though, for mistreating the yeast: I rehydrated and only cooled to about 80F before pitching into 68F wort. I'm thinking the temp difference gave them some thermal shock and killed off enough to cause an under pitch... And therefore not enough to clean up the diacetyl. Which through me off for a bit, as I raised the temp from 68 to 80 by the end of fermentation, thinking the higher temps would get rid if the diacetyl (that's what a d-rest essentially is, right?). It wasn't too much, though - most people who didn't know it was there (non-home brewers!) didn't notice and said it was a great beer...
But I noticed it every time, and hence learned my lesson!
 
Moved to secondary today (on the 7th day). FG was 1.08. The beer smelled more yeasty than my regular bitters, and tasted OK. I think I can distinguish coriander, but hardly any orange. I may be wrong, but there is some smoky aftertaste. Now the plan is to keep in the secondary for two weeks at the same 64F, then bottle and condition for another three weeks. Waiting is the hardest part of this journey :)
 
I brewed this a week ago and thought I had an oz. of corriander on hand but was saddy mistaking. So I subbed it for more orange peel and am hoping it is not to overbaring, any thoughts on what I might expect?

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.40 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 10.0 min) is the sweet spot for me. Depends on how much orange peel your adding. 0.50 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 15.0 min)and I use 1 tsp wheat flour @ 5 mins when using ale yeast. That's just me adjust according to your tastes. I will say this I tried Orange extract .50 oz at keg time never again. :smack:
 
I replace it with .25 sweet and .25 bitter... I like the nice orange taste but I don't want to end up with alcohol orange juice haha.

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I'm going to be making 10 gallons in a few weeks. Should I just double everything?
 
I ended up using wyeast 3942 beligian wheat because my lhbs didn't have the Belgian wit in either wyeast or white labs. Hopefully the flavor is still good. Has anyone else tried this?
 
I have some Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale yeast from another brew how would it be in this recipe?
 
Am I missing a water amount addition when mashing? 17 quarts of water is a little over 4 gallons. How much more water needs to be added to carry me through the boil? Apoligies if the question was already asked.
 
does anyone think WB-06 will work for this recipe? I am racking a raspberry wheat to secondary in a day or two and was planning on washing the yeast. I thought I could use that yeast for a batch of this?
 
Thie is my second time making a Blue Moon Clone and the first using this recipe.

I made this recipe on Saturday. I followed the instructions as printed except used 4 Lbs of the Wheat flakes instead of 3 and added 1/3 cup of orange marmalade at flame out. I also zested 5 oranges, 1 red grapefruit and part of a lemon. As the zest was wet I am not sure of its dry weight.

My OG was 1/052 and it smelled delightful. There is exactly 6 gallons in the fermenter.

I checked it this morning and it is bubbling up through the bubbler. My basement is 63 - 65 degrees. I plan on transferring it to a secondary fermenter later this week when it calms down. I also plan on washing the yeast and hopefully yeilding 4 mason jars of re-usable yeast. As I buy all of my other ingredients in bulk the next time I make this it should be less than $10.

Looking forward to drinking this in the spring as it warms up! I love Blue Moon.
 
How did the primary smell? I made a Blue Moon Clone in October. The finished product is quite nice... but the smell during primary almost made me move. :)

Cheers!
 
Smells OK? It is in the basement. Very active fermentation from the Belgian wit ale yeast. I have changed the bubbler several times. Transferring to secondary tomorrow then bottling in 10 days or so.......
 
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