Witbier Austin Homebrew's Blue Moon Clone (AG)

[jhonda00]

I have made AHS Blue Moon clone many times and it's always good, but I must say their Belgian Wit kit is even better (and cheaper) than the blue moon clone. If you want recipe, let me know.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Post it up. Better yet, post the recipe in another thread. I don't think Forrest minds if we're giving him props.

 

[ekjohns]

curve ball question? Anyone tried culturing some blue moon yeast from the bottle? Not even sure if this is possible but maybe...

 

[Brutus Brewer]

This seems to be a popular beer people like to brew and it's probably one of the best beers I've ever brewed - everyone loved it! It's AHS's recipe. I can't take any credit for it.

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 50.0 %
3.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 30.0 %
1.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 10.0 %
1.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 10.0 %
0.50 oz Cascade [6.90%] (45 min) Hops 10.0 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [6.90%] (10 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
0.18 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.18 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.35 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400) Yeast-Wheat

Mash Profile
Name: Double Infusion, Medium Body
Mash Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F S
parge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 3.79 gal

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Protein Rest Add 10.00 qt of water at 131.1 F 122.0 F 30 min
Saccrification Add 7.00 qt of water at 208.0 F 154.0 F 30 min
Mash Out Direct Heat to 168.0 F over 2 min 168.0 F 10 min

What efficiency is this based off of?

 

[Lil' Sparky]

70% brewhouse efficiency.

For some reason it won't let me edit the original post. Says something about a drop-down prefix that isn't there...

 

[TheCookieMonster]

AG version? I doubt you scorched anything. It'll probably be much lighter than what it looks like now. Here's what my finished product looked like.

There's no head at all. Why is that?

The Blue Moon I get has crazy head and lacing. I have to poor, let it sit for 5 mintues to settle, then poor the rest.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

It had just been sitting for a while before I took a pic.

 

[Toivo]

Looks like a great recipe. I will be trying this one.

 

[Brutus Brewer]

Brewed this up today. Other than hitting 1.051 OG (was supposed to hit 1.042) it was a pretty good day. I'm still trying to dial in my crush with my grain mill and think I've found it with today's effort. Also added some fresh orange zest along with the orange peel for some extra flavor.

 

[goose1873]

I'm brewing this one tomorrow. I have whole coriander to crush and picked up some dry orange peel granules (bulk) from whole foods. They smell great and are pretty sweet to the taste...It's either this or zest from navel oranges. Any recommendations? my LHBS stocks nothing and I just got an order in from AHS so it will be a while before I order anything else.

If zest. How much? I know to avoid pith but not sure how much?

 

[Lil' Sparky]

I'd go with the orange peel. It's probably about the same you'd get from the HBS. I don't have any experience w/ zest, but I know a lot of people use it. Maybe someone will chime in.

 

[hoppymonkey]

I brewed one with a slightly different recipe with the same results. Its not my favorite homebrew, but definitely the my friends/familys' favorite. Great beer on a hot day.

 

[Brutus Brewer]

When I made this the other day I added the zest of one orange in addition to the bitter and sweet peel. I will sample later today and let you know how it tastes.

 

[ekjohns]

Everyone says this is good but how does it compare to blue
moon?

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Everyone says this is good but how does it compare to blue
moon?

It's at least as good, but not necessarily a dead-on clone.

 

[BucksPA]

i noticed no rice hulls. any issues with stuck sparges? if you were to brew this beer for a second...third..fourth time, would you use rice hulls next time around?

 

[Lil' Sparky]

I've done it with/without. Kind of depends on your MLT setup. In any case they certainly don't hurt, and it's cheap insurance against a stuck sparge.

 

[BigJoeBrews]

This is my first all grain kit I brewed on Dec 29and my OG was 1.057.. Seems high to me? I have a 10 gal round with SS braid and I fly sparged. Tasted great, very sweet. So I continued on...
It has been a vigorous ferment, and 13 days later it's still bubbling every 5 seconds or so. But I want to transfer soon, so I checked my SG and its 1.032. Is this ok? It seems like I have a long way to go? Taste seems like its on course...
Should I bother with a secondary?
I really want to get my spring beers going....
I just know I'm gonna get a RDWAHAHB for this, but I'm curious if anybody else have seen the likes of this....

 

[orangehero]

If you used WLP400 or the Wyeast equivalent it can take 4 weeks to finish fermenting. No need for secondary, just bottle after 4 weeks or until you are certain it has finished fermenting, whichever is later.

 

[sofiab]

Hey I'm going to be making this in Brazil this weekend with all brazilian ingredients, I'll post results!

 

[BigJoeBrews]

ok, Got my issue figured out. probably should have noted I was using a refractometer-for the first time!! my glass hydrometer had broke and I replaced it with a nice refractometer. so after looking around for a while I came across a spreadsheet that helped me to figure out that you cannot just use a refractometer like a hydrometer.
If anybody else is new to their refractometer, please look at this http://morebeer.com/learn_vids/vids_refract
Turns out I was spot on!!

 

[MichaelsBrewing]

Any word on the Brazilian style??

 

[Pandaren]

So I'm about to start this baby and got to thinking it through and realized that I don't think I have the setup for it. I did an all-grain partial mash style and just mashed it in my brewpot, but the grainbill for that was only 5lbs total. 10lbs would be way too much to try and mash in my pot. Should I just do half the grains at a time and pour that half the wort into the fermenter, then do another whole mash with the second portion of the grains and then boil that out as normal, then add pour that into the fermenter with the first batch?
Maybe I just need to bag it and build a mash ton?
Thanks for the help!

 

[BigJoeBrews]

This is an awesome kit, everybody who tries this, loves it. I really think you should prepare this the proper way and building a mash tun is fun and rewarding!! Go for the mash tun, I use a 10G rubbermaid as you see in my avitar... You can easily build it yourself for about 50-70 bucks and a trip to your local big home improvement store. There are many threads on this. If you want any tips or have questions, PM me..

 

[Pandaren]

Update:
Built my mash tun this weekend!!! However, I went ahead and started this since I had the grains milled a while back and was afraid of staleness by the time I could get a mash tun.
So here's what I did:
Basically, did 2 separate mashes and 2 separate boils in the same night and then combined those in the fermenter. Although, I didn't add any hops or other stuff to the first boil....I just boiled it and cooled it like normal. Then I added all the hops, orange, and coriander to the second boil, cooled, and combined that into the fermenter. Pitched yeast...yadayada. Got airlock activity about 16 hours later.
Think this'll turn out ok? Comments/Concerns? Thanks so much!

 

[BigJoeBrews]

Congratulations! May your mash tun bring you much happiness!
Did you take any gravity readings? That's the easiest way to tell..
Taste is a goo test too..
I suppose the reason you didn't boil all in one boil is because of kettle size? IMO, it would behoove you to get a larger boil kettle. (I think) There is a lot of chemistry going on in those mashes, I think you should try and get all the wort through your grain bed, and a 5 gallon boil with all the ingredients really helps too.. Look around, even on amazon they have some great pots for cheap prices... encapsulated aluminum is a nice feature to help heat evenly. There is a 21qt prime pacific on amazon right now for fifty bux to your door! Also check out the 35QT...

 

[MichaelsBrewing]

This seems to be a popular beer people like to brew and it's probably one of the best beers I've ever brewed - everyone loved it! It's AHS's recipe. I can't take any credit for it.

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 50.0 %
3.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 30.0 %
1.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 10.0 %
1.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 10.0 %
0.50 oz Cascade [6.90%] (45 min) Hops 10.0 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [6.90%] (10 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
0.18 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.18 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.35 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400) Yeast-Wheat

Mash Profile
Name: Double Infusion, Medium Body
Mash Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F S
parge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 3.79 gal

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Protein Rest Add 10.00 qt of water at 131.1 F 122.0 F 30 min
Saccrification Add 7.00 qt of water at 208.0 F 154.0 F 30 min
Mash Out Direct Heat to 168.0 F over 2 min 168.0 F 10 min

I brewed this one up yesterday as my first all grain!

I did decide to change things up a bit:

Instead of buying bitter and sweet orange peels, I just zested my own navel oranges - 4 of them. I added .5 oz of Coriander rather than .35oz. I also went out, bought some Chamomile Tea pcks, and added three of those. I added all these aroma-filled ingredients along with the last hop addition at 10 minutes. (Yes, I cracked open the Coriander seeds)

My OG came out a little higher at 1.054!

I am very excited as it is in my basement chugging away as I type thanks for the great recipe!

UPDATE:

After only 5 days I took a Hygrometer Reading and got a 1.012! 5.5% ABV. Krassen(sp?) is still prominent and I have a little over a week to go!

edit: 04-10-2011: Amazing recipe!! I cannot express how much better than Blue Moon this is! Just pulled the first glass fron the Keg and my mouth was ambushed with flavor WOW! =)

 

[MichaelsBrewing]

Thought I'd post a picture....

 

[idigg]

Beautiful, I was going to make my first Bavarian Hefe tomorrow, but I might make this instead as the wife loves Blue Moon.

 

[PNuke]

Brewed this on 4/2. Came out of the Primary and into secondary with 1.013 and had a OG of 1.053, so its right where I would like it at 5.2%. Kegging it this weekend and will give a brief review once it sits in a keg for a couple days.