Witbier Blue Balls Belgian Wit (Blue Moon Clone)

[goose1873]

Recipe: Belgian Wit
Brewer: BierMuncher
Style: Witbier
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (47.0) Awesome taste. Add a slice of orange and people will be asking how you bought a keg of Blue Moon.Distinctive, light wheat beer with a hint of spice. The head is very white and lasts a long time. This is a light, spicy session ale. Perfect for the summer.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.20 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.038 SG
Estimated Color: 4.4 SRM
View attachment 1233
Estimated IBU: 17.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.50 lb Pale Malt Crisp (UK) (3.0 SRM)
4.50 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (60 min)
0.75 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min)
0.75 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min)
1 Pkgs Belgian Witbier (White Labs #400)


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 9.00 lb
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 3.50 gal of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Add 3.00 gal of water at 196.6 F 168.0 F 10 min
View attachment 1700

View attachment 1234

When you add .75 orange peel and coriander do you use zest only? or just toss a .75 oz chunk in the food processor w/ .75 of coriander seeds?

 

[passedpawn]

When you add .75 orange peel and coriander do you use zest only? or just toss a .75 oz chunk in the food processor w/ .75 of coriander seeds?

Zest the orange, making sure to only take the surface skin and not the white pith below. Crush coriander with a rolling pin, in a baggie.

 

[goose1873]

thanks! is was also wondering what the difference btw "bitter" orange and "sweet" orange is...?

 

[passedpawn]

thanks! is was also wondering what the difference btw "bitter" orange and "sweet" orange is...?

I guess one is sweeter. I think you can buy either at the HBS.

I pull oranges of trees in my neighborhood - I don't have the slightest idea if they are the bitter or sweet variety. They make a nice wit though.

 

[goose1873]

ya...I'm just going to zest a couple of valencia oranges as recommended...

 

[GNBrews]

Zest the fresh oranges, but dry the zest on a cookie sheet overnight before using it in the beer. The stuff sold at your local HBS is dried, so drying yours will give you an accurate weight to add.

Bitter orange peel is more of a green peel vs. sweet oranges which are..duh..orange.

 

[goose1873]

cool thanks

 

[ekjohns]

im at work so i dont have the time to run through all of the replys but what is the general thoughts on its closeness to blue moon? I tried a recipe a month ago that the guy said was a perfect clone and it was not. He added 2 lemons and a grapefruit and this thing came out very tart! Thanks

 

[passedpawn]

im at work so i dont have the time to run through all of the replys but what is the general thoughts on its closeness to blue moon? I tried a recipe a month ago that the guy said was a perfect clone and it was not. He added 2 lemons and a grapefruit and this thing came out very tart! Thanks

2 lemons and a grapefruit - did that really sound like a clone? Funny.

I think this recipe is very close. I just made it (with slight mods). I think it would be closer with a neutral yeast (i.e., 1056 or S-05).

 

[ErieShores]

I am going to brew this today.

I have all the ingredients however I haven't done any partial mashes yet.

I read the tutorial on partial mashing (Easy Partial Mash Brewing (with pics)) but I have a few questions.

1) How much water should I use to mash the wheat? I calculated it to be 0.625 gal @ 173 degF to reach the 155 degF strike temp. My calculations were simply based on the flaked wheat amount.
2) Your instructions doesnt mention sparging the flaked wheat. Is this required? If so at what vol/temperature and for how long
3) I read online that mashing wheat alone requires other grains to be added as well. Should I mash the extract with the flaked wheat, or simply add the extract at the end of the mash (ie: just before boil)?

Just want to make sure so I have enough/big pot (I only have one 23 qt pot, I believe). I think I will go buy another pot this week.

Really excited for this beer.

Did you ever get these figured out?

 

[Adam78K]

Going to brew this up tomorrow. Might add .25 sweet orange peel because I have about .50 oz left over. Also using the wyeast 3944 yeast instead. Any1 have experience with this?

 

[Adam78K]

For some reason when calculating my efficiency I boiled total of 6.25 gllons of wort and collected 6 Gallons total with 4.5 lbs flaked wheat and 4.5 lbs uk pale malt and says my efficiency is 100 percent? Any Clue with this?

 

[RandalG]

Going to brew this up tomorrow. Might add .25 sweet orange peel because I have about .50 oz left over. Also using the wyeast 3944 yeast instead. Any1 have experience with this?

I did the original recipe and added .25 oz. of sweet orange peel and a pound of flaked oats and it turned out very well. So much so SWMBO won't let me hardly give any away.

 

[Homercidal]

Might be brewing this one again tomorrow. Have to run down to the LHBS to get a few things, but I've been having a hankerin for some wit since it started getting warm.

Going to be demonstrating homebrewing to my friend's daughter. I may have to pick up a few bottles of different wits to compare flavors with.

 

[ekjohns]

I thin it will work fine. I'll use safale-05 when I can't get m y hands on belgian wit yeast. I know the diff, but I brew this as much for company as anyone and they never know the difference.

I was thinking about using US-05 as well because blue moon is actually brewed with a standard ale yeast not a hefe yeast. Blue moon is my fav. beer and i can tell differences between one keg and another when i get it on tap. Do you think i should use white labs 400 or US-05. I want the yeast that will give me the closest taste to blue moon. Also if i use #400 you said it "would be good at about 68-70". Is that what you actually use, or do you rec. something else. Finally, how big of s starter do you use or do you just stress the yeast for flavor if using 400?

 

[Blenderkitty]

I think I've gone through the thread and haven't seen anything related to this, but apologies if I've missed it:

The partial mash directions on page 1/below say to mash the flaked wheat, but as I understand it, flaked wheat has no diastatic power. Are we really just soaking the wheat, or do we need to add some malt here?

Mash your flaked wheat at 155 degrees for 60-75 minutes (the longer will up the efficiency and ABV%)

 

[rickyhoel]

I have been working on trying to tweak my wit recipe quite a bit to get closer to the "Blue Moon" flavor and less similar to a "Hoegaarden" traditional wit flavor. I tried the AHS Blue Moon clone and it is indeed closer to Hoegaarden. (Which I understand a lot of people prefer. Just not me.) One thing I have noticed is most recipes call for the wyeast strains of 3944 or 3942. Both of these contribute more to the "peppery" crispness of the Hoegaarden style. I definitely recommend instead to use Wyeast 3643-Forbidden Fruit. This really improved the taste profile if you don't want that "peppery" effect.

 

[BrewNinja1]

Just an FYI if your looking for real Blue Moon flavor, they actually use american ale yeast, not a belgium strain. Probably why it always tasted closer to Hoegaarden.

 

[GNBrews]

For some reason when calculating my efficiency I boiled total of 6.25 gllons of wort and collected 6 Gallons total with 4.5 lbs flaked wheat and 4.5 lbs uk pale malt and says my efficiency is 100 percent? Any Clue with this?

Well, if you collected 6.25gal, you didn't over sparge. However, losing only .25gal during the boil is suspect. My guess is that you have a weighing error or you boiled more wort. Although it sounds good, achieving 100% efficiency is not usually a good thing.

 

[rickyhoel]

BrewNinja,

You are my hero. I found the link in related threads with info from Wayne1 who worked on the original recipe and now I can't wait to make it again with Wyeast 1056 and not having to mess with extra stuff like, grains of paradise, honey, cumin, saaz hops, etc!

 

[BrewNinja1]

Glad you found it! Ill be posting there tomorrow after I pick up some blue moon to see how close it really is....cant wait!

 

[goose1873]

Sure. The wit tends to be on the malty side anyway with low IBU's.

You may want to kick up the coriander just a bit to counter the extra maltiness.

I made his with an ounce of coriander and am worried it too much...

 

[Indian_villager]

So I made the partial version of this today as my first brew. Let's see if this works.

 

[pbarning]

I brewed this and kegged it and, I have to say that is seems a little skunky. The color and head resemble the pic posted and my gravities were almost spot on. I am attributing it to the WL400. Anyone else experience this with this yeast? I should also point out that it is a few days shy of six weeks since brew day. Hoping it mellows out.

 

[Indian_villager]

So I am going to bring some noobishness to the game. I see that for primary you only had 7 days and another 5 for secondary. I only have the capability to do a longer primary fermentation. I am going to be bottling this brew, so how long should I wait before harvesting from the primary?

 

[RandalG]

So I am going to bring some noobishness to the game. I see that for primary you only had 7 days and another 5 for secondary. I only have the capability to do a longer primary fermentation. I am going to be bottling this brew, so how long should I wait before harvesting from the primary?

I left mine in the primary for 3 weeks then bottled. After 7 weeks or so it was very tasty. But I must say I cracked open the next to last bomber I have left last Sunday and after about 15 weeks later it was outstanding.Much better than I remember it being when it was younger.

 

[Brad]

In these belgian wit blue moon clones has anyone added sweet orange peel to the secondary to give it more of that orange flaver that blue moon has? I have the Midwest Belgian wit in the primary right now when I went to check the hydrometer I took a taste test and its just not orange like blue moon tastes. I was just curious as to if anyone tried this to spice it up a bit because I was pondering attempting this?

 

[Indian_villager]

I left mine in the primary for 3 weeks then bottled. After 7 weeks or so it was very tasty. But I must say I cracked open the next to last bomber I have left last Sunday and after about 15 weeks later it was outstanding.Much better than I remember it being when it was younger.

Thanks for the quick response!

 

[ekjohns]

I have been working on trying to tweak my wit recipe quite a bit to get closer to the "Blue Moon" flavor and less similar to a "Hoegaarden" traditional wit flavor. I tried the AHS Blue Moon clone and it is indeed closer to Hoegaarden. (Which I understand a lot of people prefer. Just not me.) One thing I have noticed is most recipes call for the wyeast strains of 3944 or 3942. Both of these contribute more to the "peppery" crispness of the Hoegaarden style. I definitely recommend instead to use Wyeast 3643-Forbidden Fruit. This really improved the taste profile if you don't want that "peppery" effect.

Could you post your last working recipe? I too keep trying different clones and they all come out as hoegaarden not blue moon

 

[rickyhoel]

Could you post your last working recipe? I too keep trying different clones and they all come out as hoegaarden not blue moon

Here is my latest recipe that came out fantastic. It is a lot more like Blue Moon than Hogaarden. One thing I will recommend after reading another string with advice from a former Coors employee is the use of a neutral american yeast like Wyeast 1056. He stated that it let the sweet orange peel come through a lot better than a belgian strain would. I will be using that for my next batch. Also, use Valencia sweet orange peel. It is available by Mccormicks in the spice isle. Mine is a partial mash. I strongly recommend the deathbrewer's sticky in the beginners forum on stovetop partial mashing. It has helped out big time. This one is a bit stronger than BMs as well. I get raves over this one.

5 gallon recipe:

4 oz flaked oats (needs to be mashed!)
4 oz biscuit malt
4 oz white wheat malt
4 lbs pale 2 row
6 lbs wheat DME
½ oz Styrian Goldings 45 min boil.
1/2 oz Saaz,1 oz Valencia orange peel, 1 gram crushed grains of paradise, 1.5tsp crushed coriander, ¼ tsp ground cumin, 10 minute boil

At flameout, add: 1.5 lbs honey, 1 oz sweet orange peel, ½ oz coriander. Cover and let steep for 15 minutes.

Use wyeast 1056 or 3643 forbidden fruit.