Blue Moon Clone

[Wild Duk]

I've got the grains and hops to brew this this weekend, but still unsure on the orange. 1 tsp. just doesn't seem like enough dried peel to give it any flavor. I have brewed many beer using orange zest, and never gotten the orange flavor I was looking for. I will be using Wyeast 1056 for this one, all others I have used a belgian yeast. Maybe that will be the difference. The "Wit" yeasts could have overpowered the orange flavor in my previous brews.

 

[passedpawn]

Duk, I go with one medium-lg orange per 5g. I pick them from my neighbors yard, but store would be same. I have never weighed.

I just made a 10g batch and it was wonderful. Really. BTW, I added the zested orange during the last 5 of the boil.

 

[fishnuttoo]

hey, thanks for the great info wayne1!!!

any comments on the extact recipe shown in this thread. is it similar to your original recipe???

thanx

 

[Wayne1]

The extract recipe posted by homebrewer 99 is NOTHING like Blue Moon. There is no wheat, no oats, too many additions of hops, the spice additions are too large, there is no honey used in Blue Moon and it is the wrong yeast.

I am sure it will make a nice spiced ale, but it is not Blue Moon.

I have not used extracts in over 20 years. I don't even know what is available these days. Let me see if BeerSmith can offer any suggestions.

Dried peel is completely different than fresh zest. You only need very small amounts. Please don't try to compare apples to oranges.
[rant on]
I have given you the EXACT ingredients and proportions that were used. You can use anything you want, but if you want the same flavor as the original, use the information given in this thread to make it "stock" once. After you have made it "stock" then you can mod it to suit your tastes. I do kinda know what I am doing. If you don't actually brew it according to the original recipe, you won't know how it is supposed to taste.
[rant off]

 

[ekjohns]

hey wayne1 how long do you usually let is condition. Have you done bottle, keg or both?

 

[ekjohns]

Duk be careful zesting. I got over excited while zesting the last blue moon attempt and got some of the white rine and that stuff is BITTER!! when it goes in the beer. when zesting stay on the side of caution when it comes to how deep you go. But i will say the fresh zest does smell very good

 

[Wayne1]

hey wayne1 how long do you usually let is condition. Have you done bottle, keg or both?

I have mostly brewed this recipe to sell directly from the serving tanks in brewpubs. It is usually fermented quickly and can be served within a week or two of transfer to a conditioning.

That is with 500 gallons of bulk aging. Things do take longer with a 5 gallon batch. When I have brewed this recipe at home, I let it condition in bulk for 2-3 weeks. I do transfer from primary to conditioning after 2 weeks.

After conditioning, I keg it, cool it and carbonate it. It is ready to serve very soon after. If I ever put anything in a bottle it is counter pressure filled from a keg.

 

[ekjohns]

wayne1 do you mean you usually do primary for 1 week then 2 weeks secondary or do you do 2-3 weeks primary and 2 weeks secondary? I am 2 days past 1 week in primary and ferm has mostly stopped. Just anxious, what to drink it now!

 

[Wayne1]

Patience, patience. Time has no meaning to your beer

You should check your specific gravity for two to three days in a row to make sure fermentation has stopped.

Personally, I have been fermenting my homebrew for two weeks in primary and then rack to a second vessel for conditioning. I usually let it sit at least a week or two in conditioning. I keg it then and carbonate it. It takes another week or two to come into full flavor balance once it is in the keg. You should wait at least a month from now before you start drinking your brew.

 

[J8D]

J8D how did the recent beer turn out with the spice additions (wondering how much you used)

I just got back from a cruise. The beer has been sitting and bubbling. This one is usually a VERY fast fermenter (one week). However I switched yeast just to see what the wit yeast would do to it. It is still going at three weeks. I am a bit concerned about a possible infections. I will let you know though when I tranfer to secondary.

 

[reddskinnfan]

I have made a Blue Moon clone that is almost 100% spot on.

It used:

Pilsner Malt
White Wheat
Vienna Malt

Bitter Orange
Sweet Orange
Coriander

Bavarian Wheat (Wyeast 3868)

 

[DrColossus11]

Would it be possible to do a partial mash of this recipe?

 

[munche]

Would it be possible to do a partial mash of this recipe?

I was looking at this, and I am a complete noob here, but I was thinking I might try my first Partial Mash with this as well.

It looks like most of the Wheat Malt extracts are approx a 60/40 Pale/Wheat split which comes very close, and then I could get the Oats separately? I know I can't just treat them like the typical specialty grain brew up to 170 deal, but maybe I'll read up on PM techniques and try it that way to see how it turns out.

There's a pretty wild variance in "blue moon clone" recipes so it's nice to see something that's definitive.

Edit: I decided to play around on TastyBrew, what do you guys think of this?



OG 1.055
FG 1.014
IBU 18
ABV 5.3 %
SRM 3

% Weight Weight (lbs) Grain Gravity Points Color
84.6 % 5.50 Wheat Dry Malt Extract 50.6 3.0
15.4 % 1.00 Flaked Oats 4.7 0.4
6.50 55.3

% Wt Weight (oz) Hop Form AA% AAU Boil Time Utilization IBU
100.0 % 1.40 Hallertau Pellet 3.1 4.3 60 0.272 17.7

 

[Wayne1]

I have made a Blue Moon clone that is almost 100% spot on.

No, you didn't.

As referenced through out this thread, Blue Moon does not use Vienna malt, bitter orange peel OR a Bavarian Wheat yeast. You made a wheat beer that has some spices in it. It is NOT Blue Moon.

Sorry to get all anal about this, but I did brew some of the first batches and I KNOW what goes into it. You may like the flavor of your beer more than Blue Moon, but it is not a clone, it is quite a bit different in its ingredients.

I have never done partial mashes so I am afraid I cannot advise you on this. Mashing with oats does produce a sticky mess. The use of rice hulls is strongly suggested to have a smooth runoff without a stuck mash.

You may want to try just the wheat malt extract with the hopping, spices and suggested yeast instead. It will not be Blue Moon, but it should get you close. After you have a few more brews and some all grain experience, you might want to revisit this recipe and try it all grain with the oats and rice hulls.

 

[DrColossus11]

Thanks Wayne.

 

[briegg]

I brewed this yesterday - hoping it turns out close to the original:

5.5 Gallon Batch

5.5lbs pale malt
4.25 lbs white wheat malt
1.1 lbs oats
.5 lbs rice hulls

Single Infusion Mash @152

1 oz 5.5aa Saaz @ 60 min ~17IBU (the only variation from Wayne's recipe of hallertau- I am hoping that a noble hop for bittering will not make much difference)

1 oz ground corriander - 10 min
.35 oz ground valencia peel (McCormick's) - 5 min

US-05

Brew day went off pretty well - my OG was towards the high end (1.055) - bubbling away 12 hours later

I'll be sure to post the tasting notes in 3-4 weeks - I look forward to any recipe feedback (especially the Saaz vs Hallertau)

 

[Wild Duk]

5 Gallons

5# 2 Row
4# White Wheat
1# Flaked Oats
1 oz. Hallertauer
Wyeast 1056
Mashed @ 151-152 for 90 minutes

3 tsp. ground coriander 7 @ minutes
2 oz. fresh zest ( 5 Oranges) @ flameout

I brewed this up on 4/20 and its sitting in secondary now. I'm looking forward to tasting this one. I've probably tried 3 different Blue Moon clones from different stores, and haven't liked one of them. All Belgian yeasts however. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one. The only thing I strayed on was using the fresh zest over the dried Vallencia.



Tasting notes to come....Will probably keg a little early as my timing was off and I'm completely out of beer on tap......

 

[kruserm]

I am looking forward to hearing how this turns out and I am subscribed.

 

[BrewNinja1]

I appologize if any of this seems really noobish, but this is my first time coming up with my own "recipe" (all the other batches I have made I followed someone elses recipe).

I have the following info I came up with in BeerSmith below. My question is about the orange/corriander. It called for tsp. Is there a way to convert that to oz? It will be way easier for me to weight it out accurately. BTW, it was also mentioned earlier in this thread about penzies spices carries the orange. I called them and they found out its from california juice oranges. So probably either naval or valencia depending on the time of year the particular batch was made. Thanks for any help!

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.46 gal
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 3.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 4.08 %
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 48.98 %
4 lbs 8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 36.73 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 10.20 %
1.35 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] (90 min)Hops 17.2 IBU
0.33 tsp Orange Peel, Valencia Sweet (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.25 tsp Coriander Seed (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12.25 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 15.31 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F

 

[ekjohns]

recipe seems good to me but im a noob as well. Dont bother with penzyes go to your local grocery store and get valencia oragne peel by McCormic that way you know what it is and its cheaper. As far as tsp to oz i would weigh out like a couple of tablespoons and see what it comes up as via weight. It isnt hard to measure the spices by tsp (easier actually unless you got a super good scale). Some of us have actually already tested these amounts and determined that it was low for a 5 gal batch. I did much more 3 tsp of corriander and 1.5 tsp of dried orange peel. I tasted this on transfer from primary to secondary after 2 weeks warm and uncarbed and tossed in an orange slice and it tasted very close even that green. As far as oz wise i did weigh the 1.5 tsp and it was way under an oz (i think like 0.3 oz but i am not 100% on that value)

 

[BrewNinja1]

Good to hear! So Ill just up the corr/orange and go from there. Ill probably start with a little less than you are using to be on the safe side (making this for the SWMBO mostly...though its one of my favorite summer beers too). Hoping to make this on Sunday if everything cooperates! Thanks to Wayne1 for all the info, and to you too ekjohns!

 

[ekjohns]

not a problem. If you are staying on the safe side i would watch the corriander as that can pack alot of punch in a small amount as far as the orange peel i didnt even smell it when i added it let alone taste it. But if your worried just make sure you got oranges and drop in a slice the way it is suppose to be served and walla! blue moon

 

[BrewNinja1]

I brewed this yesterday with the recipe I posted before...undershot the OG by a few points from the 1.055 I was shooting for...was my own fault though...ended up at 1.053. Ended up going with 3tsp of corriander and 1tsp of orange. Ill update this in 3 or 4 weeks when I keg it up =D

 

[ekjohns]

I kegged mine on sunday and it has a very bitter sour taste kind of like yeast bite. I used US-05 and kept it around 68-74 degrees for 2 weeks in primary then around 72-74 for 2 weeks in secondary. Everyone tells me wheats should be ready to drink in 3 weeks but this def is not! Not sure if it is because the standard ale yeast or what. I will force carb in a keg for a week and just keep sampling in hopes it gets better. has anyone got this taste before? Kinda makes your mouth dry and you stick out your tounge and shake your head. I dont believe it is contamination.

 

[passedpawn]

I kegged mine on sunday and it has a very bitter sour taste kind of like yeast bite. I used US-05 and kept it around 68-74 degrees for 2 weeks in primary then around 72-74 for 2 weeks in secondary. Everyone tells me wheats should be ready to drink in 3 weeks but this def is not! Not sure if it is because the standard ale yeast or what. I will force carb in a keg for a week and just keep sampling in hopes it gets better. has anyone got this taste before? Kinda makes your mouth dry and you stick out your tounge and shake your head. I dont believe it is contamination.

If it tastes like unbuffered asprin on the back of your tongue, then that might be astringincy from the grain. Several ways to get that. Sparging too hot, boiling grains, oversparging, etc.

I used only the zest from one large orange in my wit and it came out perfect. Added it to the boil, 5 minutes, then removed. It was quite good after 2 weeks ferment and 1 week in the bottle.

 

[ekjohns]

I dont believe i sparged too hot and i def. did not boil the grains. I didnt think i over sparged as i followed the beersmith amounts. One thing i think might cause it after looking around was my water profile (more specifically kinda high SO4). Here is my water profile does this look like it might be the problem?

total alkalinity 44
noncarbonate hardness 75
total harness 120
Ca 38
Mg 6
Na 60
K 5
S04 128
Cl 46
F 1.01
N 2.6
PO4 0.52
pH 7.8
Chlorine-Free 1.5
2 g non-iodized salts

 

[passedpawn]

I doubt your problem is the water chemistry if you have used that same water before without problem. I'm not a big believer in screwing with water, but that is a whole other can of worms.

Maybe the dried orange was the issue. Also, the orange pith is very high in vitamin C (and probably other stuff). Perhaps that is the source of the bitterness?

 

[ekjohns]

The first beer i actually zested myself and got alot of the white pulp with is very bitter and the second i used dried orange peel. The second batch used US-05 and maybe I have not full got the yeast to drop out of suspension. I will add some gelatin and see if that make it any better and Ill stick an asprin on my tounge and see if it matches the taste

 

[passedpawn]

The first beer i actually zested myself and got alot of the white pulp with is very bitter and the second i used dried orange peel. The second batch used US-05 and maybe I have not full got the yeast to drop out of suspension. I will add some gelatin and see if that make it any better and Ill stick an asprin on my tounge and see if it matches the taste

Fastest way to get the yeast to drop is get it really cold.

 

[ekjohns]

its been in the keg now for 3 days at 40 ill check when i get home