Witbier Blue Balls Belgian Wit (Blue Moon Clone)

[branman]

Third time brewing and still lovin this beer, thanks Muncher!

 

[cgrivois]

Has my primary fermentation gone wrong? Its been in primary for a week, started off stron, but after 4 days no activity in the airlock opened the bucket and its pretty clear, no krosin on top. Gravity going into the bucket was 1.044 with a hydro, just measured it at 1.022 I used wyeast 3942, ferm temp was 68 deg.

 

[shadows69]

Let it go for another week then take another reading. I always wait two weeks at least before I touch mine. Three weeks is even better. So, no nothing is wrong. I never pull beer from the primary after just one week, way to "green" and yeast needs time to clean up after itself.

 

[cgrivois]

Well I got impatient, I gently stirred up the yeast bed to re-suspend the yeast, and moved it in the house where its a little warmer. Ill check it again this weekend.

 

[bolus14]

I'm starting to piece together my brew schedule for next year and i'm liking this and SWMBO Slayer. My question on this since most are saying it taste just like Blue Moon is does it taste different than Blue Moon?

To me Blue Moon tastes like a macro brewed attempt at the style, while not horrible it just "lacks flavor." It's been a couple years since I've had Blue Moon so maybe my palate has changed and now I might be able to pick up on the tastes of the style better, but back then it still had a macro light beer taste to it than turned me off.

I'm looking for something that has the orange/coriander/spicy aspects of a Wit, and not banana/clove that should be in a Hefe but not a Wit, seems like too many are "mixing" the styles. For home brewing, to each their own and if you like the combo of Hefe and Wit I say go for it, German Wit!!

 

[Colrain]

Just tapped the keg. Added lemon and lime zest. Amazing beer. This recipe will be my go to wit beer for sure

 

[fur_252]

Just kegged 2 weeks ago! Planning to make another batch. Loving life!

 

[tg123]

just got the ingredients for an extract brew but accidentally got 4lbs of LME instead of 3lbs of DME. Thought the recipe called or LME and LHBS only carried 4lb bags of it. Planning on using the whole thing as the conversion from DME to LME calls for about 3.5lb LME (i think). Hopefully that'll turn out close enough.

 

[shadows69]

Brewing this today:
Take a look at the notes section as well.

Blue Moon II - Blonde Ale
Brewer shadows69
Date 5/17/13
Batch Size 5.500 gal
Boil Size 6.250 gal
Boil Time 60.000 min
Efficiency 75%
OG 1.047
FG 1.011
ABV 4.7%
Bitterness 17.3 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 4.0 srm (Morey)
Calories (per 12 oz.) 156

Fermentables
Total grain: 9.750 lbName Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Pilsner (2 Row) Bel Grain 4.500 lb Yes No 79% 2.0 srm
Wheat, Flaked Grain 4.500 lb Yes No 77% 2.0 srm
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L Grain 8.000 oz Yes No 75% 10.0 srm
Oats, Flaked Grain 4.000 oz No No 80% 1.0 srm

Hops
Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Hersbrucker 4.2% 1.250 oz Boil 60.000 min Pellet 17.3

Yeast
Name Type Form Amount Stage
SO5 Ale Yeast ALE Liquid 2.367 tbsp Primary

Notes

Mash in temp 156(171) mash out 168(187)

use 1 tsp wheat flour @ 5 mins when using ale yeast

Steep oats at 15 mins

Orange extract .50 oz at keg time

.40 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 10.0 min)

 

[shadows69]

Looking good going into the boil. I took everything i could read up on Blue Moon and piled into a big pile of sh!t. The recipe above is what i came up with. Will post the finish product in about 4 weeks. See how this stacks up against all the times I have made blue moon witch is more times then I can count.

 

[tg123]

Looking good going into the boil. I took everything i could read up on Blue Moon and piled into a big pile of sh!t. The recipe above is what i came up with. Will post the finish product in about 4 weeks. See how this stacks up against all the times I have made blue moon witch is more times then I can count.

Nice. I'm also brewing this extract version today. Good luck with yours!

 

[tg123]

Glad I opted for the blow off tube. Got some crazy fermentation going on day two. Some irregular bubbling going on too.

 

[dphornguy]

Boiled this up yesterday thanks for the recipe muncher cant wait for a few weeks to taste it. That flaked wheat gave me a hell of time with my braid! IT increased my brew session by about an hour or two, it was alright though i think i was drunk by that point anyways.

Can anyone think of a reason it wouldn't be a good idea to toss the flaked wheat into a nylon bag first? It could be loosely floating in the mash tun, but this way clean up and overall drainage would be better. i think the only downside would be if by keep all the wheat together you don't really get a good conversion due to the homogenous clump you create in the bag.

 

[tg123]

Can anyone think of a reason it wouldn't be a good idea to toss the flaked wheat into a nylon bag first? It could be loosely floating in the mash tun, but this way clean up and overall drainage would be better. i think the only downside would be if by keep all the wheat together you don't really get a good conversion due to the homogenous clump you create in the bag.

I did that because I didn't know we aren't supposed to, but I did the extract version so I don't think conversion was too big of a deal to me.

 

[Throw_Back]

I just tasted this last night. OG:1.037, SG:1.007. It may not be done fermenting, although it has been nearly two weeks and I suspect it has. It tastes watery. Like extremely so. The hint of citrus and coriander is there, but there really is not flavour that jumps out at me. Is this just an early stage and conditioning/carb will fix it, or could I save it by adding in some brown sugar or something to give it some more flavour?

 

[aslander]

Anyone have recommendations for bottle harvesting yeast for this? Don't really want to buy another vial of yeast as I have too many varieties right now. I'm thinking Allagash White or Hoegaarden bottle yeast. What do you all think?

 

[bolus14]

Allagash would definitely work. They use the same yeast to ferment as they do to bottle their White. On tap I love Allagash white, in the bottle it has more clove than I like.
Bells winter white
Ommegang witte or hennepin, they use the same yeast in both


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[MarathonMurse]

I brewed this as my first AG attempt (BIAB). I used my Mr. Beer fermentor, so I scaled the recipe down a bit. What I ended up putting in was:

2.25 lb pale
2.25 lb flaked wheat
a handful of oats (to help with what I assumed would be terrible efficiency)

.4 oz EKG (60 min)
.5 oz corriander (5 min)
.75 oz sweet orange peel (5 min)

Half-packet of US-05.

The hydrometer sample is phenomenal, and a few weeks from now when I open one up and start the lawnmower, that'll be a heck of a good day.

The best part is that a rebrew will cost about $4 using the leftovers from last time. Loving AG compared to extract!

 

[Xantus954]

I made this BIAB and overshot the OG: 1.052 but fermentation seems to be stuck. Its down to 1.030 and won't budge. I bought another vial of yeast, made a starter and pitched it. I stirred it every day for a week and still nothing.

I'm thinking of pitching drying a package of coopers yeast just to see if it will finish. This was my 3rd BIAB batch and the first one that won't finish so not sure what else to do here.

 

[piteko]

I made this BIAB and overshot the OG: 1.052 but fermentation seems to be stuck. Its down to 1.030 and won't budge. I bought another vial of yeast, made a starter and pitched it. I stirred it every day for a week and still nothing.

You already pitched twice? Was the second yeast at high krausen when pitching? If so, it's strange that two different vials gone stuck. Which temperature is the beer at? Did you double check the densimeter? I'm just trying to think out of the box...

If temperature is ok and the densimeter is fine, you could have reached a fermentation limit where you have no more fermentables. That would be strange, 1030 is pretty high. Which temp did you mash? What was the grist? Which yeast did you use?

Cheers from Italy!
Piteko

 

[Xantus954]

You already pitched twice? Was the second yeast at high krausen when pitching? If so, it's strange that two different vials gone stuck. Which temperature is the beer at? Did you double check the densimeter? I'm just trying to think out of the box...

If temperature is ok and the densimeter is fine, you could have reached a fermentation limit where you have no more fermentables. That would be strange, 1030 is pretty high. Which temp did you mash? What was the grist? Which yeast did you use?

Cheers from Italy!
Piteko

Yes I pitched twice, the starter went for a full 48 hours before pitching and was very active. I double ground my grains which I have been doing since my first BIAB batch came out really low efficiency. I used whitelabs WLP400 yeast and the fermenter is currently about 68 degrees Faherenheit

I had to google densimeter, never heard of it before. I don't have the gear to measure that just temp and gravity.

Still getting a handle on BIAB, its possible there are no more fermentables left. This was my second batch and the mash temp ended up being a bit high for the first 10 minutes or so until i got it under control. I didn't keep track of temps the whole way through but 154 was the goal, and I mashed out at 168.

 

[piteko]

I used whitelabs WLP400 yeast and the fermenter is currently about 68 degrees Faherenheit

I just read it takes a bit of time to fully attenuate, but it should go lower than 1030 if there are fermentables.

I had to google densimeter, never heard of it before. I don't have the gear to measure that just temp and gravity.

What do you use to measure your OG? I use a simple densimeter like the one on the left:

Still getting a handle on BIAB, its possible there are no more fermentables left. This was my second batch and the mash temp ended up being a bit high for the first 10 minutes or so until i got it under control.

It depends on how much "a bit high" means, but that could be. 154 is not a low mash temp and if you reached 158 or 160 that would denature a lot of enzimes. That's the kind of temperature that is needed to make very low alcohol beers, in the OG range of 1035-1038, so they don't thin out too much.

If you than lowered back your mash temp, you could have slowed down the remaining enzimes. Did you make a starch convertion test with iodine?

Anyway, I think you have to two choices here:
1) take a density measure now and one next week. if they are the same, bottle your beer, otherwise the yeast is not done. In this case, you can give it some extra time, you can go a bit higher with the fermentation temp and rouse the yeast again.
2) use a different yeast, one with a much bigger attenuation rate. I suggest Danstar Belle Saison. I use it for this recipe and it's an extreme attenuator, usually between 95% and 100%. That could dry up your beer.

If you don't know what to do, take a sample of your beer and taste it. If it's ok or slighly sweet, I suggest option 1.

I didn't keep track of temps the whole way through but 154 was the goal, and I mashed out at 168.

You should, it helps a lot to improve your brewing technique, both for debugging and for recipe repeatability.
In the future, for a yeast that you don't know well, I suggest a forced fermentation test too, it's very useful.

Cheers from Italy!
Piteko

 

[Xantus954]

I use a hydrometer to take measurements.

From the reading I've done my issue is because I haven't nailed my strike temp yet. For this batch it was up near 160 for the first 5-10 minutes until i got it cooled down. The calculators I'm using to calculate it have been way off so far, i get very little temp drop with the water and 10-12 lbs of grain so the calculators are causing me to overshoot it. Just need to keep at it and figure out what works best for my setup at the moment.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[fatom99]

I had the same issue, even after pitching a 2nd time. After 6 weeks as a last resort, I added yeast nutrients and then stirred it very gently to rouse the yeast and that did the trick. Be careful of an infection though, good luck!


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[notoriouslyKEN]

My fermentation stopped at 1.030 as well, but I . I had used Wyeast 1056 - American Ale as for initial fermentation. I gave up and kegged it, but I just can't drink it. Yesterday, I went to the Home Brew store and picked up some Safale S04 and yeast nutrients. I am going to remove the carbonation, throw the beer back into the secondary with S04, the nutrients and pray for the best. Going to try and keep the fermentation temp above 70F and see if I can get the FG down to 1.007ish.

I've never tried this before, so I'm hoping it works. I've also heard Beano can help break down starches due to a high mash (might be part of my problem here as well). I'm contemplating picking some up on the way home, but may give the new yeast + nutrients a chance first.

 

[What_is_beer]

I'm kinda new to all grain brewing. Could you explain the steps that you outline for the mash in the original post? Specifically what the two different temperatures mean for each step. Thanks!

 

[msa8967]

I don't have any 4.50 lb Pale Malt Crisp (UK) (3.0 SRM) so I was wondering if I could use either Vienna malt or just standard pale malt? my LHBS does not carry the 3.0 pale malt.

 

[bolus14]

I like Pilsen malt in Wits. For me it seems to give a slightly sweeter finish that balances the tartness from the yeast. But any pale malt should work, your final color may just be a little lighter or darker.

 

[msa8967]

I like Pilsen malt in Wits. For me it seems to give a slightly sweeter finish that balances the tartness from the yeast. But any pale malt should work, your final color may just be a little lighter or darker.

I had been thinking about using the Vienna malt because of the darker color. I also have some Golden Promise malt. Thanks for the reply.

 

[christyle]

Another one with stuck ferments of this beer, two now. These were my second and third all grain brews.

Number 1: LHBS did not have the Pale crisp listed, so they subbed me out for a replacement (forgot what ). Overshot mash by maybe 3 degrees in the beginning, OG overshot by maybe 5 points. Direct pitched WLP400 vial and set ferm temp to 68 or so. After a week, activity stopped at 1.022. Threw in some yeast energizer with no response. Pitched a 1L starter of WLP400 and it dropped to 1.02 where it stayed.

Went back to the LHBS and they said the grain he gave me didn't have enough diastolic value to cover the wheat, which had zero? So he gave me something else, I think Vienna?

Number 2: Overshot mash by maybe 1-2 degrees, OG overshot by a few points, pitched a 1L WLP400 starter at 66 deg. upped temp to 70, sitting at 1.018 now