Blue Moon Clone

[Wayne1]

I know what WAS used in Blue Moon Belgian White when it was brewed at SandLot 19 years ago.

What is used now, wherever it is brewed, I obviously do not have a clue.

I will bow out of this thread now.

I hope some of you found my comments useful.

 

[shadows69]

I was just pointing this out. I saw that corn syrup was listed on anther site as well. Just posting the link that was in reference to what kpsquared was mentioning. I am still curious about the 2 different hops they use. For 9 ibu there can't be a lot of it.

 

[progmac]

I know what WAS used in Blue Moon Belgian White when it was brewed at SandLot 19 years ago.

What is used now, wherever it is brewed, I obviously do not have a clue.

I will bow out of this thread now.

I hope some of you found my comments useful.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
wayne, you have led many of us down a fascinating path. if not for you, we would be wondering why we couldn't reproduce blue moon with a wit yeast. you've also given us a huge window into an international brand with far more detail than we could dream of having with a beer like this. when i was brewing my clone , and now when i drink it with friends, i go on and on about what i've learned from you about the history of this beer and i go on about how the original brewer is talking about it and fielding questions.

i hope you'll consider sticking around this mega-thread.

 

[progmac]

I was just pointing this out. I saw that corn syrup was listed on anther site as well. Just posting the link that was in reference to what kpsquared was mentioning. I am still curious about the 2 different hops they use. For 9 ibu there can't be a lot of it.

i think you could choose any hops, they are just for bittering afaik.

 

[Takuie]

I found that using a whole orange, zested, depithed (cut white peel part off) and then chop the orange up and toss it all in at 10 min before flame out, along with using already crushed coriander versus the whole seed really brings out the smoothness of the orange and coriander without them being over powering.

I have a friend that is a self proclaimed beer snob. Only drinks BMC and swears that I run to store and by a bunch of the Blue Moon and empty the bottles into my keg before he gets here. Note I said self proclaimed beer snob.

The recipe above is almost exactly how mine is, I use Nottingham yeast.

Secondly, I just don't ndetstand the big deal if a macro brewery uses HFCS or not. It's sugar, it ferments out right?

 

[lorvan]

I basically followed the original recipe, and it's been in primary for a week now. SG is at 1.012, so I think it's just cleanup time for the yeast... I'm concerned now about the orange/coriander amounts I used after tasting my hydro sample. I'm not really picking up either... so I think I'm going to put some fresh zest and cracked coriander seeds in a cheesecloth bag and throw that in for a week. Anyone do this? (Sorry if it's been over before, there are a lot of pages to go through)

 

[jsbarks]

I just kegged my extract batch. My wife for the first time was surprised how good it was warm and uncarb'd. It went down to 1015 in 5 days with s04 @ 64ish F. Then brought up in a 70F room over 3 days and 2 more at 71-72F.

The yeast cleaned up a lot of off flavours in the diacetyl rest. Now 3 days until it's drinkable for my long weekend.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[jsbarks]

Left is my extract. Right is blue moon.

My wife gave it 7.5-8/10. So it's my best beer yet! It's very similar in tast. Maybe a bit maltier. Orange peel flavor is off a tad. I used sweet orange peel rather than valancia. Coriander is spot on. This batch won't last!

For those interested for an extract batch:

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{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue255;}
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\f0\fs28 \cf2 \cb3 \expnd0\expndtw0\kerning0
\outl0\strokewidth0 \strokec2 HOME BREW RECIPE:\
Title: Blue Moon Clone\
\
Brew Method: Extract\
Style Name: Witbier\
Boil Time: 60 min\
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)\
Boil Size: 3.5 gallons\
Boil Gravity: 1.073\
Efficiency: 35% (steeping grains only)\
\
STATS:\
Original Gravity: 1.047\
Final Gravity: 1.013\
ABV (standard): 4.41%\
IBU (tinseth): 10.93\
SRM (morey): 4.47\
\
FERMENTABLES:\
4 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Light (50%)\
3 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Wheat (37.5%)\
\
STEEPING GRAINS:\
1 lb - Flaked Oats (12.5%)\
\
HOPS:\
1 oz - Domestic Hallertau, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.9, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 10.93\
\
OTHER INGREDIENTS:\
3 oz - Sweet Orange Peel, Time: 10 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Boil\
0.5 oz - Coriander, Time: 10 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil\
2 tbsp - Corn Starch, Time: 15 min, Type: Other, Use: Boil\
\
YEAST:\
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04\
Starter: No\
Form: Dry\
Attenuation (avg): 72%\
Flocculation: Medium\
Optimum Temp: 59 - 75 F\
Fermentation Temp: 65 F\
\
\
Generated by Brewer's Friend - http://www.brewersfriend.com/\
Date: 2014-06-30 01:34 UTC \
Recipe Last Updated: 2014-06-18 01:30 UTC \
}

thanks Wayne and Nilo!

 

[progmac]

looks great!

 

[mcgster]

I brewed one of the clones from the spreadsheet (12 i think i'd have to look at home) tastes great. I used ground coriander instead of seed and i can't taste the coriander at all. Still a great tasting beer though. I would definitely mash at a higher temp next time. The beer is great but it finished a bit on the dry side being mashed at 152.

 

[progmac]

I brewed one of the clones from the spreadsheet (12 i think i'd have to look at home) tastes great. I used ground coriander instead of seed and i can't taste the coriander at all. Still a great tasting beer though. I would definitely mash at a higher temp next time. The beer is great but it finished a bit on the dry side being mashed at 152.

Mashing at 158 with oats per Wayne1's ratio gave me the body and haze i was expecting (FG of 1.017)

 

[Wayne1]

While I will not offer any more advice on how to clone the current version of Blue Moon, I do have a couple of things to talk about.

I have been back brewing professionally in Denver for just over 6 months. With the current weather it is time to brew an "American White Ale"

On Thursday, July 3, I will be brewing a 500 gallon batch of the recipe I first posted on this thread many years ago.

It should be ready to drink in about two weeks. I'll try to update this thread with a picture or two at that time.

If anyone might be interested, here is a link to a video about the brewery I am working in now.

[ame="http://vimeo.com/96817531"]Station 26 Brewing Co.[/ame]

 

[progmac]

Looks awesome! I'm in Denver every now and again, I'll have to come by. I really like the attitude of your brewery, 'good beer every day (with your neighbors).' Or that is what I took away.

Wish I could be out there when you tap the original blue moon!

 

[jwalker1140]

Looks awesome! I'm in Denver every now and again, I'll have to come by. I really like the attitude of your brewery, 'good beer every day (with your neighbors).' Or that is what I took away.

Wish I could be out there when you tap the original blue moon!

+1
Very impressive, Wayne!

 

[nilo]

Wayne, that is so cool! Cheers!

 

[vNmd]

Best of luck Wayne. I recently bottled a batch from your recipe from way back when. It was very well received. Thanks for all your contributions here. It has helped a lot.

 

[Helly]

Wayne, wishing you nothing but the best with your new endeavor. This is one of my favorite threads and I can't thank you (and Nilo!) enough for your guidance. When we get out to Colorado again we will stop in for a pint for sure.

I finally made this beer this summer and it was a huge hit and went fast. Just when I was about to brew it again I hurt my back. I'm itching bad to make it again. It was one of my best brews ever.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[dstauth]

Awesome Wayne. Back on June 21st I brewed a version of your recipe and then later that same day I got to visit your brewery. I had the No. 1 IPA, a sample of the Chocolate Rye, and some of my wife's Foreign Extra Stout. All were awesome. Keep up the great work. I hope I can make it by for the American White when that goes on tap. Cheers!!!

 

[Wayne1]

Here is the grain charge and the spices for a 500 gallon batch.

 

[freshhoarse]

Nice!

 

[nilo]

View attachment 208638
Here is the grain charge and the spices for a 500 gallon batch.

Wayne, I wonder if you can scale a 5gal recipe to a 500gals with direct proportional rule or if you need to use some different formulas to build your recipes. I know some stuff like PH buffering is not linear, so it is not like adding twice the amount of acidulated malt to twice the water will produce same PH, or will it? Do you care for mash PH?

Thanks,

Nilo

 

[Wayne1]

Wayne, I wonder if you can scale a 5gal recipe to a 500gals with direct proportional rule or if you need to use some different formulas to build your recipes. I know some stuff like PH buffering is not linear, so it is not like adding twice the amount of acidulated malt to twice the water will produce same PH, or will it? Do you care for mash PH?

Thanks,

Nilo

Nilo,

The recipe I first posted many years ago was in percentages. That was deliberate. Everyone's system is a bit different. Efficiency, water and many other factors go into these differences.

The recipe I based those numbers off of was for 500 gallons. I have brewed that recipe in my homebrew system at both 5 and 10 gallon levels with very good results. The recipe we used at SandLot was basically the same in percentages. We never used any water adjustments and the pH always hit 5.2.

Brewing it at home and at Station 26, I use Denver water from the same sources as was used at SandLot. pH always hits 5.2. The biggest difference in the intervening years is that Denver water has changed from using chlorine for water sanitizing to chloramine. At SandLot we used a carbon filter. At home I use a carbon filter. At Station 26 we use a water filter that has a special media to remove chloramine.

There are differences between brewing 5 and 500 gallons of the same beer. In this case, I scaled down 500 gallons to 5 to post here. Many, including you, comment about the lack of body. When I brewed the 500 gallon version yesterday, I perceived a very full body in the hydrometer sample post boil. Perhaps an increase in the amount of oats may help with that.

I do use BeerSmith to help me convert my homebrew/test batches to 500 gallon versions. I do have all the different numbers and efficiencies for each system programmed into BerrSmith. The conversion is from one specific system to another specific system, not just 5-500 using the same numbers. I have come up with the numbers over the course of use of both systems. Each time I brew, I record the numbers and gradually tweak the system specifics in BeerSmith. Over the course of a couple of hundred brews on the homebrew system and now 42 on the 15 bbl system, I have a pretty good idea of what happens when I convert the data.

BTW, the brew went wonderfully smooth. Each time I have previously brewed a 15 bbl batch of this beer, lauter has bee a major PITA. Yesterday I threw in quite a lot of rice hulls and the lauter was super smooth. A total of 1 hour and 15 minutes to collect 18 bbls in the kettle.

The kettle runs about 6% evaporation so after a 90 minute boil, I ended with just a touch over 17 bbls in the kettle. I changed the recipe just a touch by adding some Cascade hops in the whirlpool for a 20 minute steep. I have done this in a test batch and really liked the result. More craft than crafty

I have a picture of the grain bed, post lauter, just before raking it out of the tun. I put that in the next post.

Sorry if I went a bit off topic.

 

[Wayne1]

The picture is slightly fuzzy due to the steam rising off the grain bed.

 

[jgree32]

It's the other way around... 3oz orange peel and .5 oz of coriander.

All are measured in weight on a scale.

My LHBS weighs them for me and is WAY cheaper for the spices.

With the weight vs volume uncertainty I was scared of using too much coriander so ended up going with 6tsp in 10gal.
Brew turned out fine but it's a bit light on the coriander and orange flavor.
Already kegged it. Anything I could do to touch it up a bit?
Was thinking maybe a tincture done with vodka, ground coriander, orange peel/extract and then add to keg? Never done a tincture yet.

 

[COEBRA]

I just do like the restaurant's do. Slice an orange into "smiles", squeeze one in the glass, pour the beer, and drop the orange slice in on top. It tastes almost exact after that! I just had a Blue Moon tonight when I went out to eat and was telling my friends how close I was to it with mine!

 

[progmac]

i tasted a beer from my batch again last night. this was the first i'd had it in about 2 weeks. i noticed that the coriander really mellowed and the orange really came out. on my initial taste, i decided that 0.6oz coriander was too much. after just under two months in the bottle, the balance has tilted firmly toward orange.

 

[lorvan]

I basically followed the original recipe, and it's been in primary for a week now. SG is at 1.012, so I think it's just cleanup time for the yeast... I'm concerned now about the orange/coriander amounts I used after tasting my hydro sample. I'm not really picking up either... so I think I'm going to put some fresh zest and cracked coriander seeds in a cheesecloth bag and throw that in for a week. Anyone do this? (Sorry if it's been over before, there are a lot of pages to go through)

I ended up tossing .3oz whole coriander seed and .4oz dried orange peel into a mesh bag and into the fermenter at 6 days. I didn't actually sterilize in vodka or anything, but so far it looks like I'm free of infection. Finally got to bottling it this afternoon (stayed in primary for almost 5 weeks), and WOW it's fantastic. I will be making this again soon. It's the first time I felt like drinking the whole hydro sample. Cheers!

 

[progmac]

I ended up tossing .3oz whole coriander seed and .4oz dried orange peel into a mesh bag and into the fermenter at 6 days. I didn't actually sterilize in vodka or anything, but so far it looks like I'm free of infection. Finally got to bottling it this afternoon (stayed in primary for almost 5 weeks), and WOW it's fantastic. I will be making this again soon. It's the first time I felt like drinking the whole hydro sample. Cheers!

You know, this is one of the first beers I've made where for every one that I drink, four seem to be missing from the fridge. It is simple, delicious, and approachable.

Kudos to Wayne1 for his hand in the invention of this beer.

 

[progmac]

I ended up tossing .3oz whole coriander seed and .4oz dried orange peel into a mesh bag and into the fermenter at 6 days. I didn't actually sterilize in vodka or anything, but so far it looks like I'm free of infection. Finally got to bottling it this afternoon (stayed in primary for almost 5 weeks), and WOW it's fantastic. I will be making this again soon. It's the first time I felt like drinking the whole hydro sample. Cheers!

You know, this is one of the first beers I've made where for every one that I drink, four seem to be missing from the fridge. It is simple, delicious, and approachable.

Kudos to Wayne1 for his hand in the invention of this beer.

 

[Wayne1]

Here is the first pour of my "American White Ale"

I used the same grist I first posted about many years ago. Threw in lots of rice hulls. Lauter was very smooth. Fermented with US05. It will be on tap today at the brewery.
If anyone is coming into Denver for GABF, we will be pouring in the convention center. Please stop by and say hi.

 

[Poobah58]

View attachment 214399

Here is the first pour of my "American White Ale"

I used the same grist I first posted about many years ago. Threw in lots of rice hulls. Lauter was very smooth. Fermented with US05. It will be on tap today at the brewery.
If anyone is coming into Denver for GABF, we will be pouring in the convention center. Please stop by and say hi.

Yum!

 

[ButcherBoy]

Just tapped my first brew of this recipe, it still needs a little more time on gas to get fully carbonated, it's great beer! Used the original posted recipe, next brew I might use more orange peal, or maybe not... Thanks for the recipe! I LIKE IT!

 

[dstauth]

Here ya go. I brewed this based off a couple of Wayne's posts and poured it into a Station 26 sample glass (Wayne is head brewer there). Tastes awesome. Thanks for this thread!

 

[shadows69]

This is what I brewed. Pics to come:

Blue Moon - American Pale Ale

Batch Size 5.500 gal
Boil Size 6.394 gal
Boil Time 60.000 min
Efficiency 70%
OG 1.054 FG 1.013
ABV 5.4%
Bitterness 9.0 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 4.2 srm (Morey)
Calories (per 12 oz.) 179

Fermentables
Total grain: 11.750 lb
Pilsner (2 Row) Grain 6.250 lb
Wheat Malt, Bel Grain 3.000 lb
Oats, Flaked Grain 2.000 lb
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L Grain 8.000 oz


Hops
Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Hallertau 4.5% 0.650 oz Boil 30.000 min Pellet 6.9
Cascade 5.8% 0.600 oz Boil 5.000 min Pellet 2.1

Yeast
Name Type
WLP001 Ale Yeast Liquid

Notes
10.00 g Coriander Seed (Boil 15.0 mins)
1.25 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 15.0 mins) (Fresh peel)
Mash in temp 156(171) mash out 169(187)

 

[Wayne1]

dstauth,

That looks very good. Thanks for the shout out for S26BC.

If anyone might be interested in an alternative source for spices, I used orange peel powder from My Spice Sage. It is the same as their orange peel zest but VERY finely ground. I used that so I could just throw it in the kettle and not worry about it clogging up the heat exchanger. Which has happened and is a MAJOR PITA to take apart and clean out.

I also used the coriander powder from them for the same reason.

I used the same amount of spices as I first posted about. For a 500 gallon batch this worked out well. For a five gallon batch, each person would have to try it out to establish amounts for their system.

The taste of the powder itself is very bitter, but it is very smooth and sweet in the finished beer.

The most flavor would come from using freshly grated orange peel and freshly ground coriander. It would be very hard to do that on a large scale and also hard to maintain a consistent result. That is definitely one area that homebrewers have it over commercial brewers.

 

[nilo]

Just wanted to give a heads up that I'm out of brewing due to health issues. I hope this thread continue with same momentum and to an ever better recipe.
Note.: Recipes will remain up at Google doc, as well as my blog, for as long as possible.

Cheers!:rockin:

Nilo

 

[beernutz]

Just wanted to give a heads up that I'm out of brewing due to health issues. I hope this thread continue with same momentum and to an ever better recipe.
Note.: Recipes will remain up at Google doc, as well as my blog, for as long as possible.

Cheers!:rockin:

Nilo

Sorry to hear that Nilo.

 

[mbbransc]

Get well nilo! I just brewed a version of #12 10-days ago. First sampling tasted really close to the real thing.

Cheers!

 

[Wayne1]

Nilo,

Very sorry to hear about your health issues.

I hope you are able to come back stronger.


After 7 years and over 1,000 posts on how to clone Blue Moon, I finally remembered the source for the spices used back in the SandLot days.

As I was coming home from work yesterday, I happened to see an Italco delivery truck and the synapses clicked.

Italco Fine Orange Peel

Italco is a wholesaler of mostly Italian products for the restaurant trade in the Denver metro area. They do sell over the net. They do not sell small quantities.

This IS the same Valencia Orange Peel that was used almost 20 years ago to make the original Blue Moon. I cannot tell you how much to use in 5 gallon batches. That will have to be worked out on an individual basis.

Good luck to all.

 

[COEBRA]

Nilo,

Very sorry to hear about your health issues.

I hope you are able to come back stronger.


After 7 years and over 1,000 posts on how to clone Blue Moon, I finally remembered the source for the spices used back in the SandLot days.

As I was coming home from work yesterday, I happened to see an Italco delivery truck and the synapses clicked.

Italco Fine Orange Peel

Italco is a wholesaler of mostly Italian products for the restaurant trade in the Denver metro area. They do sell over the net. They do not sell small quantities.

This IS the same Valencia Orange Peel that was used almost 20 years ago to make the original Blue Moon. I cannot tell you how much to use in 5 gallon batches. That will have to be worked out on an individual basis.

Good luck to all.

Do you have to have a vendor account or something to buy from them? There is no "add to cart" option and no prices... Only an option to "compare items."