Blue Moon Clone

[TasunkaWitko]

The white wheat is malted, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but after making and enjoying this, my two best pieces of advice are:

a) Keep in mind that even though it is "based" on a Belgian style, the ingredients (grains, yeast) are intended to be American.

b) In spite of the (understandable) urge to tinker, improve and twiddle with the knobs, just follow and trust the recipe, at least the first time. Dried Valencia Orange Peel from McCormick and ground coriander from your spice shop (assuming it is fresh) work perfectly in this recipe. Also, chances are that you will need less orange peel and coriander than you think you will. I was fairly conservative with my amounts, sticking to Wayne's ratios as closely as I could on my smaller scale, and both the orange and the spice came through wonderfully....

 

[cmac62]

The white wheat is malted, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but after making and enjoying this, my two best pieces of advice are:

a) Keep in mind that even though it is "based" on a Belgian style, the ingredients (grains, yeast) are intended to be American.

b) In spite of the (understandable) urge to tinker, improve and twiddle with the knobs, just follow and trust the recipe, at least the first time. Dried Valencia Orange Peel from McCormick and ground coriander from your spice shop (assuming it is fresh) work perfectly in this recipe. Also, chances are that you will need less orange peel and coriander than you think you will. I was fairly conservative with my amounts, sticking to Wayne's ratios as closely as I could on my smaller scale, and both the orange and the spice came through wonderfully....

I hear what you are saying, BUT, I have never brewed a recipe exactly as it is written. For my first three brews I brewed with my LHBS owner and he designed the recipes, since then I have been on my own. I bought Beer Smith, but cant stand the interface, so I use the Tasty Brew calculator to get me in the range of the style and go from there. I do agree that 50/40/10 grain bill is solid and will likely go with that, but the hops are bittering only so no flavor is left, just how much bittering, and the spices I like the ratio, but the means of getting into the beer is up for debate. Anyway, I have brewed a pretty good BM clone prior and I believe I used the sweet and bitter OP that is at the LHBS and whole coriander crushed in my mortar. I believe I did put them in at the end of the boil, but not sure. It ended up making great bear, maybe not closes to BM, but good beer is always my goal.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I hear ya, on all counts ~

 

[jrb03]

Hadn’t brewed this in several years, and sadly just kicked a keg I brewed last month. Already have ingredients on order to brew again. Came here to say Wayne’s original recipe IS blue moon, if that’s what your going for stick to it. Great enjoyable brew, thanks Wayne!

 

[jalc6927]

Do for a 5.25 gallon batch, 1 oz of hops?

 

[jalc6927]

Just tasted the first of the batch using this recipe and it is dead on!!

 

[SunsetBrewery]

This is my recipe for a 5gal batch & my friends love it:

5.5lbs - 2-Row
4.5lbs - White wheat
1lbs - flaked oats
1oz - hallerteu 3.9%
1.5 tsp ground coriander
3oz of fresh orange zest

I use White Labs WLP001 American ale yeast

 

[jalc6927]

Hey Wayne

If you’re still out there, thank you

 

[Wayne1]

Hey Wayne

If you’re still out there, thank you

I am still alive but very busy with Station 26 Brewing. We brewed 150 batches last year and are picking up the pace a bit more, so far this year.

I am glad the recipe is working for most who try it.

If anyone comes into Denver, please stop by the brewery to say hi.

 

[Dog House Brew]

I am still alive but very busy with Station 26 Brewing. We brewed 150 batches last year and are picking up the pace a bit more, so far this year.

I am glad the recipe is working for most who try it.

If anyone comes into Denver, please stop by the brewery to say hi.

Awesome stuff Wayne, beats the hell out of the old gig. Prost!

 

[Andre3000]

Ok I am getting ready to brew this on Saturday. I'm still confused on the ratio of coriander to orange peel. At the very beginning of the thread it was more coriander less orange peel, but people commented that there wasn't enough orange taste and there was some mention that Wayne got the ratios backwards if I'm not mistaken. Wayne can you confirm?

or go HERE

Nilo's most recent seems the most reasonable to me at .5 coriander 3 orange peel.

Can anyone comment? Thanks!

 

[jalc6927]

1.25 ground coriander is the correct amount for 5 gallons or so

 

[jalc6927]

1.25 teaspoon of ground coriander is the correct amount for 5 gallon batches

Orange peel is a taste thing, making sure it’s Valencia to be authentic

I use the zest from 3 oranges in a Muslin bag at the specified time

 

[Andre3000]

Loosely followed Nilo #12 and my first impression is WOAH, 3oz orange peel is most likely way too much on my system / type of orange peel I used. I hope it mellows out a bit in the keg.

I'll have to get some Blue Moon, or "Belgian Moon" as they call it up here in Canada for comparison.

 

[Andre3000]

And after a week in the keg, the orange peel flavor has really subsided, a little too much. Go figure. I wouldn't say it's overly identical to Blue Moon, though I do prefer it to Blue Moon haha.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Keep in mind that the current Blue Moon is different than the original; Wayne1's recipe and ratios are the original Blue Moon.

For my 1-gallon batch, I took Wayne's advice and did not get fancy; I stuck to his instructions and his ratios, and it worked perfectly, in my opinion:

Ground Coriander - 0.14 oz. @ 10 minutes
Ground, Dried Valencia Orange Peel - .2 oz. @ 5 minutes

Keep in mind that this is for ONE gallon; I am not sure if it would translate "exactly" for 5 gallons, as spices can get a little off when they are multiplied directly; however, it would in my opinion be a great starting point.

Wayne1's recipe has never failed me, and it remains of the best beers that I brewed.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Making this tomorrow. I'll be using Cara Cara orange zest...my favorite oranges. Hope they work.

Whats the best revised recipe on the thread? Or is it still the original?
All I know is I like the "new" blue Moon. Don't remember the old Blue Moon...
Recipe?

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Double post

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Jonny - Wayne's ratios/recipe are the way to go.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Jonny - Wayne's ratios/recipe are the wat to go.

I've reading through the thread. I see you've made this.
I'm having trouble with the coriander. Most have said 3 teaspoons is the perfect amount. You said you used .14 oz for 1 gallon. So .70 oz for 5 gallons. My Mccormick coriander SEED bottle is .87 oz.
So almost a full bottle. Yet if I grind it up to dust I'll get WAY more than 3 teaspoons. More like 20.
How does the math not work out...what am I missing

People have reported not much orange flavor from the original recipe. If using fresh orange zest how much should I use?

I don't remember the original BM taste but like the new taste which is what I'm after and apparently different

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, Jonny -

My major was History, so I'm not much help with the math ~

This is just a guess; I am not claiming that it is right, but it could be a volume thing; when it's ground, I think that the volume would be less.

But, I do know that I came up with my .14 oz by dividing the recipe for 5 gallons that Wayne suggested in one of his later posts. I'm not sure if this is 3 teaspoons (for 5 gallons), but I know for sure what I used was 1/5 of his suggestion for 5 gallons, so the number should be good.

In my case, I bought ground coriander, rather than seed; the reason I did that was because that's how I interpreted Wayne's recipe and advice. It worked, and worked well, because I was able to get some really fresh stuff. Here's what I used:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/J-R-Watkins-Ground-Coriander-Seed-1-3-oz/33303283

As you can see, this is a 1.3 oz bottle, so going with the .7 oz measurement, it would be slightly more than half.

The only way to know for sure is to try it, but my .14 oz was perfect for a gallon. Not over-powering, definitely present, complimented the orange and the wheat very well.

Good luck, and let us know -

Ron

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I went up and bought powder coriander and dried valencia peel.
Oddly the seeds I ground up smell like a Blue Moon,a little orangey..smells good. The brand new power coriander has no smell...makes me a little nervous. I wonder how much flavor I'll get out of the powder?

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, Jonny -

For some reason the forum is all messed up on PC, so I am trying to reply with my phone.

By the sounds of it, I would say give your coriander a try. It certainly should not hurt anything!

As for the orange peel - Valencia is definitely the way to go, and I believe you will be happy with the results if you use it.

Good luck, and keep us informed with your progress ~

Ron

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

My gravity was off due to overheating the mash halfway through when the phone rang I forgot to turn off the heat..I hit 1.046 Not horrible I guess

I went a little heavy on the spices.
12 gallons
I used 7 measured teaspoons of coriander and 3 measured teaspoons on the dried Valencia peel. I should have been less than 3/4 of one teaspoon on the orange according to the recipe. So more than 3 times the amount called for. The sample didn't taste spicy or orangey. I wanted an orangey tasting beer. I also used 05 in one batch and WLP400 (belgian wit) in the other. Looking forward to the results.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

So for my reference and others if it works out good. Will post results
12 gallons
11# 2 row
9# white wheat
3 oz German tettnang @60 (because I had it)
3 teaspoon crushed coriander seed because its all I had left ( smells way better and fresher than the powder)
4 teaspoon powdered coriander...both additions at 10 min
3 teaspoons dried Valencia peel at 5 min
Chilled at flameout (no steep) to pitch temps

 

[rtstrider]

Just put in another grain order. Loved the grain bill, just used the wrong yeast. Used belle saison dry yeast and came out with a Cigar City Florida Cracker clone. Was spot on with that and not blue moon. The color was a tad light and I'm ok with that. Trying the same exact setup for a 5 gallon batch but with us-05 this go around. Grain bill is

4.5 lbs Pale 2 row (Briess us)
3.5 lbs White Wheat (us)
1 lb Flaked Oats

1 oz corriander (brewers best spice pack) crushed and added at 5 minutes
1 oz sweet orange peel (brewers best spice pack) added at 5 minutes

us-05 yeast at 64-66f

Edit: forgot to mention I used .8 oz each of the corriander and sweet orange peel last time. Not enough flavor/aroma from either. So I'm trying to up it a tad to 1 oz at 5 minutes. If that doesn't work I'm going to play with adding it earlier in the boil

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

This is the math I'm not understanding. I used a measuring teaspoon, not just a spoon from the drawer.
I used 4 teaspoons from the coriander and 3 teaspoons from the orange peel. Both jars are 1.5 oz.
The coriander doesn't even look I used anything and barely put a dent in the orange peel. This is for 12 gallons and more than recommended. Yet people would be using a full jar ( according to their numbers) for 5 gallons. I know I'm missing something here and its not comparing dried to fresh zest....what am I not understanding. I'm going to have to reread this thread.

 

[ba-brewer]

It has been a couple years since I brewed a blue moon but from my notes for 5gal batch it says I used .75oz of orange peel and .25oz of coriander, not sure what that is in teaspoon. Don't recall either being over powering.

edit: I used Valencia orange peel and ground coriander and added 10min before the end of boil.

 

[rtstrider]

This is the math I'm not understanding. I used a measuring teaspoon, not just a spoon from the drawer.
I used 4 teaspoons from the coriander and 3 teaspoons from the orange peel. Both jars are 1.5 oz.
The coriander doesn't even look I used anything and barely put a dent in the orange peel. This is for 12 gallons and more than recommended. Yet people would be using a full jar ( according to their numbers) for 5 gallons. I know I'm missing something here and its not comparing dried to fresh zest....what am I not understanding. I'm going to have to reread this thread.
View attachment 561367

I'm using actual coriander whole seed kernels from the lhbs. I'm also using sweet orange peel (not ground). Not sure if that helps at all

 

[TasunkaWitko]

@JONNYROTTEN - I went back through the entire thread and read Wayne's posts, and I think I found the answer to much of the confusion.

Somewhere in the middle of the thread, it turns out that the teaspoons should have been ounces. Based on that, my advice is to forget any reference to teaspoons and go with ounces. In Post #429, Wayne clarifies the best starting point for the hops, coriander and Valencia orange peel to make a 5-gallon batch of the original Blue Moon:

Boil Additions:

1.2 oz Hallertauer (4.3 AA) full length of boil 60-90 min.
0.5-0.7 oz fresh ground coriander (10 min before boil end)
1.0 oz dried Valencia Orange Peel (amount will depend on how finely ground it is) (5 min before end of boil)

The main thing about the coriander and dried Valencia Orange peel is that the amounts above are a suggestion as a place to start; it is assumed that you can tweak it a bit from there to your brewing system in subsequent batches. Also, the coriander should be ground as freshly as possible, so your home-ground coriander is a good idea. As for the Valencia orange peel, if you can get it freshly-ground, that's the best way to go; if not, McCormick's seems to be the best and most widely-available substitute. It must be Valencia orange peel, to be true to the original.

When I made this, I scaled the recipe down to 1 gallon (based on the higher amount of coriander) and was very happy with the results. I used a 60-minute boil, because of the 1-gallon batch; but throughout this thread, Wayne recommends a 90-minute boil for bigger batches, in order to get the full utilization from the hops and the correct volume.

As for the grain bill, it remains the same as his original post:

Grain Bill:

50% 2 row pale malt
40% white wheat malt
10% flaked oats.

Half a pound of rice hulls are an option, as well; soak them in warm water before adding them directly to the mash. Wayne's latest post indicates a 60-minute mash at 154 degrees.

For the 2-row, I believe that Rahr was the most recent, widely-available suggestion.

Wayne also maintains throughout the thread that Safale S05 is the best all-around choice for yeast. This is an American take on the Belgian Wit, but it is not intended to be a Belgian beer.

I believe that this is all of the most current information on how to brew a beer that is closest to the original Blue Moon for 5 gallons; if any corrections are needed, someone can correct me.

Hope this helps -

Ron