Witbier Blue Balls Belgian Wit (Blue Moon Clone)

[RugenBrau]

I looked at this after I saw your post in the other forum. I think I'll try it. I'll batch sparge the difference

 

[n240sxguy]

Ok, I have read every post in this thread, and this was asked three times and never answered that I saw. How do you get a 6.5 gallon boil volume if you mash with 3.5, and mash out with 3? I just got into AG, and I fly sparge. I assume I would just use more sparge water to get the correct preboil volume? Is this a correct assumption, as long as the OG doesn't drop too low?

 

[CidahMastah]

Ok, I have read every post in this thread, and this was asked three times and never answered that I saw. How do you get a 6.5 gallon boil volume if you mash with 3.5, and mash out with 3? I just got into AG, and I fly sparge. I assume I would just use more sparge water to get the correct preboil volume? Is this a correct assumption, as long as the OG doesn't drop too low?

You need to end up with whatever preboil volume your system requires. i.e. if you need 6.5 gallons preboil and you fly sparge, fly sparge until you have collected 6.5g.

do you use beersmith to get your strike water temps? if you don't, I highly recommend it.

as a batch sparger I simply do the mash and collect the first runnings. Once I have that number (first runnings collected) I subtract it from my desired preboil volume; in this case 13g preboil needed. I collected 5g first runnings so I would need to sparge with 8 gallons to get my 13.

 

[n240sxguy]

Ok, that's what I figured. I've only done two batches so far. I used the free sparge pal iPhone app. I downloaded beersmith about a year ago when I was doing extract, but never had a chance to look at it. I need to see if I can have the 21 day trial again so I can see if I like it.

 

[pascott6]

Just finished my 4th batch. Left it in the primary 4 weeks & man is it clear. Do you think i messed up? It tasted fine just very clear.

 

[BWN]

Anyone have trouble with the wlp400 fermenting? I pitched it on Sunday afternoon from a 1 liter starter that was definitely active and I have no airlock activity(I know airlock activity isn't a sign of fermentation). It seems to have a krausen on top so I guess it is doing its job. I am just surprised that nothing is happening.

 

[Tall_Yotie]

Anyone have trouble with the wlp400 fermenting? I pitched it on Sunday afternoon from a 1 liter starter that was definitely active and I have no airlock activity(I know airlock activity isn't a sign of fermentation). It seems to have a krausen on top so I guess it is doing its job. I am just surprised that nothing is happening.

If it has krausen on top then something is happening. Use a hydrometer. Check that your carboy is sealed. I have this one sitting at about 2 weeks, went from 1.048 to 1.014. I was hoping it to go drier, but this may be all I get out of it.

 

[BWN]

I'll check it in about a week, no sense disturbing it yet. I think gas is escaping through somewhere else because it smells awful.

 

[elproducto]

Call me stuipd but I need some help. Actually you should call me inexperienced. I would like to try this but am confused. Boil size is 6.5 gallons. They mash in with 3.5 gals. and mashout with 3gals. There has to be some loss due to grain absorbtion, so where does the other water come from? Do I just top off or do I batch sparge to get to 6.5 gallons? Thank you

The easiest way is to figure out your grain/water ratio. I use 1.3 quarts/pound of grain.

So for this recipe which has 9 pounds of grain it would be 3 gallons of water in the mash.

To figure out your sparge amount, just take your final volume with is 5.5 gallons and use that as your batch sparge amount.

 

[Tall_Yotie]

Cracked my first bottle of this brew yesterday. 2 weeks primary, 1 week in the bottle. Wheat beer, so young is grand.

Tasted amazing! This is not normally my type of beer, and I would easily enjoy a few in an evening. The orange peel and coriander levels are just right to be present but not strong, acting as a support.

For the orange peel I used fresh, sat back by the pot and shaved the peel off of an orange (mindful of the pith of course). I think that is what really made this one shine, the bright flavor and aroma of fresh peel really came through.

Thanks again for posting up this recipe!

 

[jhenderson27]

This is the 3rd time I have brewed this. My soon to be wife is in love with this recipe, says its better than Blue Moon. Thanks BM

 

[mccumath]

Just brewed this today. I did a 5.5 gallon batch, (actually got 5.3 gallons after boil), and hit a gravity of 1.052 post boil. I upped the Crisp and the flaked wheat to 5lbs due to decreased efficiency issue that I am trying to work out, and added approximately 1 lb of rolled oats from Quaker. Used the White Labs WLP400 strain, although if this turns out well I may try a cleaner, more neutral strain next time. Will let you guys know how it turns out in a couple of weeks.

What fermentation temperature works best for this yeast strain? I see that WL states 67-74, so I should be okay since my basement is around 64-70 degrees this time of year.

Let me know! Thanks!

 

[BierMuncher]

She has exquisite taste.

Hovering at 1,000 feet via my Droid powered HBT Mobil App.

 

[mccumath]

Okay, so it has been 13 days since I brewed this recipe. Sat in Primary until I racked it to secondary about an hour ago. I took a reading, and came in at 1.014-1.016... This seems rather unusual/high. Now, my sticky thermometer came in at about 68 degrees in a spare room that I keep, and the room itself was around 68 degrees. Therefore, I believe that my brew was right around 68 degrees. I just dumped in the white labs yeast from the vial (just finished my stir plate for starters about a week ago). I also increased my room temp to about 72 degrees, will see if I can get the gravity to come down a little more... However, I think that it stalled out a little early.

Let me know what you think...

 

[amaier48]

my only question is on the ORANGE peel... shal i go to the grocery store and buy a few oranges, peel them and thats what i am using? some where i thought i read the white part of the orange would give it an off flavor so people were more less "zesting" there orange peel?

thanks!

 

[Heckle]

Sorry if this was already asked, but damned if I go through 27 pages of replies!

Why not read through all of the pages? I do and pick up plenty of nice tips. Of course as I read through, I keep notepad open to cut and paste when I find relevant. 29 pages read. Will be brewing this in a few months.

 

[mccumath]

So I just poured my first pint of this recipe!

As usual, I was impatient, and thought that there was something wrong with my batch (i.e. stalled fermentation). After I placed it in the keg to carbonate, I pulled a quick sample, and it tasted super sweet and not decent at all. We are a week or so out, and I pulled this pint tonight, and what a difference. My hydrometer reading was 1.016 when I kegged it. I thought it stalled, and the residual sweetness that I tasted in my sample confirmed this (so I thought). Thought about pitching new yeast, and decided against it (what was done was done). Would have been a very bad choice to re-pitch! I think its time to re-test my hydrometer - I don't think it is floating freely in my beer thief tube and getting bound up on the inside walls...

This beer is light, crisp, and has a great balance of coriander, with a little more orange flavor than Blue Moon. Color (as memory recalls) is identical to Blue Moon. Will have to buy a 6'er to confirm this, but I don't think I will due to how awesome this turned out! Clean, white head that sticks around for a while. Very clear (the pic attached has a touch of orange juice for the SWMBO).

Used the WL400, mashed at 153 or so as I just missed my mash temp. Added a half pound each of the base grains and extras as follows :

5 lbs of Crisp
5 lbs of Flaked Wheat
1 lb of rolled oats, mashed with base grains (Quaker Brand)
0.5 oz bitter orange peel
0.5 oz sweet orange peel
zest of 1 fresh naval orange
No yeast starter - direct pitched room temp vial into 72 degree wort

Everything else was as BierMuncher's recipe/method.

Best beer I have made to date, in my opinion!

Thanks BierMuncher and all of the other posters in this thread, I relied heavily on your opinions and thoughts/methods for my recipe!

Ryan M.

 

[leftcontact]

First time trying to brew with wheat... trying to do this recipe as a partial mash with flaked wheat (based on BeerMuncher's post on the first page). After a 70 minute mash, the wheat was roughly the consistency of gooey oatmeal and clogged the bejesus out of the filter in my mash tun... is this typical of wheat? I managed to use a series of strainers to empty out the mash tun and sparge with, and got most of the glop out of the brew kettle, but the wort had cooled waaaay down by the time I got done with that and the DME was all clumpy in the boil at first (boil took care of that.)

I'll follow Mccumath's advice, throw it all in primary, let the beer gods sort it out, but is there anything that I've described that someone else has learned a better way around through painful experience? All the posts above (yes, I read the whole thread) seem to treat wheat as no big deal.

Thanks for the recipe, btw.

-- Steve

 

[mccumath]

I can't remember the exact consistency of the mash that I had during this brew, but I think it is important to add at least a half a pound of rice hulls when doing wheat beers. I use a copper manifold for my MLT, and used rice hulls in addition to the grains, and I have yet to have a stuck sparge when brewing with wheat. The rice hulls help with filtration, keeping the grain bed more open/less compacted and decrease your chances for a stuck sparge.

In addition, I was under the impression that soaking the rice hulls in warm water prior to adding to the MLT decreases the amount of sparge water that the rice hulls soak up, therefore making it easier to hit you sparge volumes. I don't remember where I read that (but it was more than likely HBT!).

I am no expert, and am only giving you my opinion/procedure. If there is a better explanation, please someone with more experience chip in!

Ryan M

Oh and BTW, the signature of mine came about when trying to brew my pumpkin ale recipe. 3 large cans of Libby's pie filling in the boil kettle at burnout has a tendancy to clog up a strainer real quick, making a huge mess on the carpet in my brewroom (I don't mind the stains on the carpet, but cleanup was a real PITA!). Have not used that strainer since!

 

[BierMuncher]

Everything else was as BierMuncher's recipe/method.

Best beer I have made to date, in my opinion!

Thanks BierMuncher and all of the other posters in this thread, I relied heavily on your opinions and thoughts/methods for my recipe!

Ryan M.

Thanks for the feedback and detailed tasting notes. And...awesome pic.

 

[leftcontact]

Well, my og worked out to 1.041(adjusted to 60), so *something* obviously went in the pot... Let's let the yeast work it's magic. (at least I know the yeast is active... I opened the lid and had a mild explosion, probably because it had been on the counter for a lot longer than I meant to... In it went, krausen and all.

Thanks for the recipe, btw, bm. Next time will try the rice trick.

 

[letmeholleratya]

I brewed the extract version of this a week ago. My lbhs didn't know what extra light malt was, so i ended up getting pilsner. Is that going to negatively affect this brew?

Thanks for the recipe!

 

[RandalG]

This is back in rotation for next week. I'm off as I had to burn some vacation days before the end of the year and what better thing to do but brew some beer. The last time I made this it was well received,especially by the ladies. Blue Moon is one of my daughters favorite beers so this keg won't be around for long.

 

[agentEhrman]

Has anyone tried brewing this with US-05 by chance? I'm kind of stuck on dry yeast for my own reasons, and I'm looking for a good alternative to the two liquid recommendations. I brewed this once already with WB-06, and it turned out just fine but I definately felt like it was more heffe-ish than it should be. I may try to brew this with 05 tomorrow, so any input is greatly appreciated!

 

[BierMuncher]

Has anyone tried brewing this with US-05 by chance? I'm kind of stuck on dry yeast for my own reasons, and I'm looking for a good alternative to the two liquid recommendations. I brewed this once already with WB-06, and it turned out just fine but I definately felt like it was more heffe-ish than it should be. I may try to brew this with 05 tomorrow, so any input is greatly appreciated!

I've used 05 before. It'll be great.

 

[cricky101]

I brewed this a while back with WLP400 and man does it stink!

I had it in primary for 3 weeks, hit my FG, and kegged about a week ago.

I pulled a test pint last night and while it tastes great with the subtle orange and coriander flavors, it smells so bad it's almost undrinkable! It stinks of rotten eggs.

I hope I didn't keg it too soon and the odor will dissipate, so right now I'm waiting ... and hoping ... with my nose plugged .... because I really want to drink it!

 

[letmeholleratya]

Mine has been sitting in the primary for just about 3 weeks. Just took a gravity reading and had a sample- tastes delicious. I used double the hops... tastes a tad too bitter. My bad.

 

[TrubDog]

This will be my first time brewing with flaked wheat. I've seen some folks suggest using rice hulls to avoid a stuck sparge. I have a 5 gal Rubbermaid MT with a copper manifold and have never had even a hint of a stuck sparge. So should I add the rice hulls or just go for it?

 

[mcgeebc]

Alright, going to brew this is weekend. Question about your OG:

From my software, at 5.2gallons, the OG should be 1.048 and not 1.038 @75% efficiency. Is this a typo on your part?

38ppg for Pale Malt, 36ppg for Flaked Wheat. Am I to assume this lower FG is because flaked wheat tends towards a lower efficiency?

My main question is if that 1.038 is really my target OG and I should water down the brew if I get better than that, as I want it to be a lower ABV beer as the recipe seems to dictate.

I brewed this today and had the same confusion as tall_yotie. I think there is a typo in the original recipe. Should we be shooting for 1.048?

 

[mccumath]

I would suggest using the rice hulls if you have them. I am a "better safe than sorry" kinda guy, typically because if there is something that can go wrong, it will happen to me. I use a 10 gal rubbermaid cooler with a copper manifold, and no issues ever either, but I used them just to make sure my brew day went smooth. Dont forget to soak them in some hot water prior to adding them to your mash, or you will have to adjust (increase) your strike water. The rice hulls soak up quite a bit of water I have found.

Ryan M.