Witbier Blue Balls Belgian Wit (Blue Moon Clone)

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
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?
 
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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%)
 
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. :mug:
 
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.
 
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.
 
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!:mug:
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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?
 
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!
 
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. :mug:

Could you post your last working recipe? I too keep trying different clones and they all come out as hoegaarden not blue moon
 
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.
 
I made his with an ounce of coriander and am worried it too much...:confused:

tasted a sample today and it was fe-frickin-nominal...1oz of fresh corriander pulsed in the coffee grinder is excellent...I guess it is subjective, but I will never go less..:mug:
 
Another important point is keeping your terms the same. Ground coriander and ground orange peel is a much different volume than crushing coriander seeds with a hammer in your kitchen and Valencia orange peel the way it comes in the McCormicks bottle at the grocery store.
 
I have done 0.5 oz corriander smashed with a beer bottle in a ziplock. It does not give you much of anything. All i got was a slight smell if it as it was going into the kettle at 5 min and never heard from it again. Def. go with grinding
 
After a long six months of no brewing (general laziness won me over for a while, plus my last batch got moldy and never got better :() I am going to attempt to make this! The picture on the first page sold me, plus I recently enjoyed the seasonal Honeymoon beer that they put out for the summer and wouldn't mind drinking something similar. I'll let you guys know how it turns out, I hope I can reproduce that incredible head! I've got some quick oats I never eat that I will use to hopefully thicken things up a bit. Thanks for putting up an extract version for us little guys :)
 
Im brewing this up tonight, I modified the original recipe for 5.5 gallons

I did 4.5lbs of 2row, 4 lbs flaked wheat, 1lb of flaked oats, 1oz bitter orange peel, 1oz corriander seed and Im using Safbrew t-58.

My question is that 1lb of flaked oats is 11% of the grist, is this ok? or should I go less?
 
I don't think you will have a problem with the oats. But rememember, Blue Moon uses SWEET orange peel only Not bitter. Also, T-58 gives it a peppery, Hoegaarden type of taste. Blue Moon uses a neutral American style yeast to let the citrus and come through a little more. :mug:
 
I don't think you will have a problem with the oats. But rememember, Blue Moon uses SWEET orange peel only Not bitter. Also, T-58 gives it a peppery, Hoegaarden type of taste. Blue Moon uses a neutral American style yeast to let the citrus and come through a little more. :mug:

thanks for the reply. Ive brewed this a few times the way BM has it listed, last night I brewed up a double batch, 1 of the batches I used sweet orange peel and notty, and the other batch I used bitter orange peel and t-58.

Hit 81% efficiency on batch 1 and batch 2 hit 79% efficiency.

Should have some tasty brews in a few weeks.:mug:
 
So instead of waiting the two weeks to carb I pulled a bottle 4 days early. I used some homegrown coriander (stronger) and added a half pound of oats to the partial recipe. It tastes like Shock Top more than anything.
 
I just got to my keg that i brewed about 2-3 months ago...used 1 ounce of corriander...oops. next time i'll go with .5oz.
 
Just wanted to say that after the final product was done and taste tested vs the real Blue Moon it is pretty spot on. The only thing that is a little different is the color of the home-brew was a little lighter and clearer also the carbonation was a little different between the home-brew and real Blue Moon, that was the only way my Fiance could tell the difference. She is very hard to win over for a good home-brew also so congratulations BM.
 
I bet your other batch will taste closer to the colorado brew and less like Hoegaarden. That belgian style yeast leaves quite a mark on the brew.
 
I bet your other batch will taste closer to the colorado brew and less like Hoegaarden. That belgian style yeast leaves quite a mark on the brew.

the batch i made with sweet peels and notty is for my wife, shes more of a fan of blue moon than traditional wits.

Taste update for the t58 batch, im getting a real strong apple alcoholic taste, i know its still green but it actually works well with the yeasty orangy corriander taste.

cant wait to see what this tastes like in a few more weeks
 
Another Update, brewed both of the batches back on july 31st. 1 batch with sweet orange peel and notty yeast and a second batch with bitter peel and t58 yeast. The t58 yeast batch seemed very hot and over spiced after 3 weeks in the bottle. Also seemed very dry and 1 dimensional, and the color was more of a hazy yellow.

I just cracked another bottle open today another bottle, now been in bottles for 6 weeks and its starting to really come together. The hot alcoholic taste is subsiding, the body seems to be a bit more and the color of the beer is more orangy than it was before.

Ive brewed this a few times before but this time when i added the flaked oats it really helped with the head retention. I wish I would have brewed this just a few months earlier. This would have been the perfect lawnmower beer the way it is turning out.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top