Blue Moon Clone

[toadie]

That's interesting. I freeze my zest and take my chances! Eventually I might have to throw beer away. I've heard of people rinsing with starsan but I wonder if the vodka really extracts the oils.

Also, for what it's worth, I like a radler while floating down rivers.

 

[balrog]

The vodka absolutely extracts flavor (so I presume oils). Works with lime also.

 

[toadie]

I'll give it a try. As you can guess i've used grapefruit which was good and i've tried meyer lemon which was also pretty good.

 

[balrog]

It is very easy to go over the top and part of what makes the Blue Moon so great is the balance it strikes, primarily with the coriander that makes the flavor pop. People think orange but I believe it is more coriander, then a recognizable citrus orange floating in there, all balanced on the wheat and 2row light malt flavor.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I've tried 2 oz fresh orange peel at 5 min 1 oz dried orange peel at 5 min and still no go. I actually reached out to a friend on this that is a chef and picked their brain. I ended up approaching this as...how would YOU do this if you were adding the zest to a tea? Would you boil it or just steep it like a normal tea. They resoundingly said DON'T BOIL! So I'm going to play with a flameout addition next time. Now I added around .75oz of Bigelow chamomile tea at flameout and that's DARN tasty. If anyone is brewing this soon mind giving the Orange peel flameout addition a shot?

Guess what?
I keep good notes for my brews because I can't remember every detail and after looking, I did in fact put the coriander and orange peel in at flame out for my 2nd batch.
1.25 OZ of each.
tasted like bluemoon with an orange wedge squeezed into it.

2 of us drank 3 gallons on the first day at the lake house.

 

[toadie]

Strange question but why do people not use local coriander? Would brewers have had access to Indian coriander when it was first used?

 

[Jag75]

One of the best tinctures I've made was orange peel and vanilla beans soaked in vodka .mmmmmm it's like a 50/50 bar

 

[cederbusch]

I´m giving a Blue Moon clone a go today. I have both Danstar Nottingham and Kveik in stock. Never tried Kveik before and I´m very curious if this yeast would add some nice citrus tones to the beer or if this will be a of-taste. What do you guys think?

 

[Jag75]

I´m giving a Blue Moon clone a go today. I have both Danstar Nottingham and Kveik in stock. Never tried Kveik before and I´m very curious if this yeast would add some nice citrus tones to the beer or if this will be a of-taste. What do you guys think?

Never tried but keep us posted .

 

[iahebert]

Sources of spices vary greatly. We used a local (Denver, CO) spice shop that ground the coriander daily.

You can intensify the flavor if you toast the seeds before you grind them. The amount of spice used will be determined by the preferences of the brewer. Try X amount for the first batch and then vary for the next by experience.

Cheers!

Any chance you can tell us which spice shop? I'm in Centennial and think I want to do this next.

 

[ChiknNutz]

What yeast to most of you use, or is that too general of a question? Also, may I assume it is a standard 60 minute mash and boil? When I attempt this, I plan to go BIAB.

 

[rtstrider]

What yeast to most of you use, or is that too general of a question? Also, may I assume it is a standard 60 minute mash and boil? When I attempt this, I plan to go BIAB.

Honestly I use 3944 fermented at 69F for the first 3 days or so then bump it up to 72F till it's done. US-05 is extremely bland and doesn't play well with a wit. I've tried US-05, Lallemand Belle Saison (VERY tart/dry), WB-06 (tart/dry crummy yeast all the way around imo), and Wyeast 3944. 3944 is where the buck stopped because that yeast was where it is at. As far as pitching goes I'll get a 1.5 liter 1.040 starter going on the stir plate, save 500ml for another batch and pitch the liter of yeast. That has darn fine esters! Other modifications I've made are I do a 20 min dough in at 122F (yes even when I was BIAB) then raise the temp up to 154F for 60 min or so. If you can sneak in some chamomile (use a full box of Bigelow Chamomile tea) at flameout even better! That makes a nice tasty wit

P.S. I got to taste test a flight of the White Lab wheat strains at the Asheville, NC location a few years ago. They were way too subdued and left a good bit to be desired. YMMV

 

[Wayne1]

Any chance you can tell us which spice shop? I'm in Centennial and think I want to do this next.

The company was Italco, a wholesaler to the restaurant trade. Keep in mind the time I described was 25 years ago. I have no idea if the company is still around or what stock they carry now.

As was suggested in an earlier post, I believe the distinctive flavor of Blue Moon owes more to the coriander than the orange peel.

US-05 is extremely bland and doesn't play well with a wit.

Blue Moon is NOT a witbier. It is what I call an American Style WHITE Ale. It was specifically designed NOT to have that distinctive, spicy, estery, yeast character. If you want to make Blue Moon, you will NOT use anything other than a CLEAN yeast, such as US-05.

 

[balrog]

THe spicy pheonlic "clove" yeast is typical with a Witbier.
I personally do not like that phenolic at all.
I use WY1007 fermented at 60F
I have tried using Mighty Axe Julius hops to accentuate orange, with mixed results.
I am intrigued at the thought of the Voss Kveik orangey esters but have not tried it yet.

 

[ChiknNutz]

The company was Italco, a wholesaler to the restaurant trade. Keep in mind the time I described was 25 years ago. I have no idea if the company is still around or what stock they carry now.

As was suggested in an earlier post, I believe the distinctive flavor of Blue Moon owes more to the coriander than the orange peel.



Blue Moon is NOT a witbier. It is what I call an American Style WHITE Ale. It was specifically designed NOT to have that distinctive, spicy, estery, yeast character. If you want to make Blue Moon, you will NOT use anything other than a CLEAN yeast, such as US-05.

I am about to embark on a batch and back in your oft-quoted post #429 you suggest using SafAle S-04 or [LalBrew] Windsor as opposed to US-05 or Wyeast 1056 as the latter two might be too dry. Do you still recommend S-04 or Windsor?

 

[Wayne1]

If you want to get some fruity esters and a bit of sweetness, go for Windsor or S-04. If you want dry and clean, US-05.

 

[cmac62]

Some llalamnd Voss might be an interesting yeast to use for this recipe.

 

[wsmith1625]

This kit looks really good. They also recommend chico yeast.
Blue Moon Belgian White All-Grain Kit (homebrewsupply.com)
AG_INS_BlueMoonClone.pdf (homebrewsupply.com)

I haven't tried this recipe, but have tried a few other clones from them that turned out really well.

 

[Wayne1]

That looks just like the recipe I posted on here, many years ago. The addition of the Munich will give a bit of body and small amount of color.

 

[ChiknNutz]

I don't have any of the Hallertau Mittelfruh hops, are there other good alternatives?

Here's what I have on hand:

Hops - Amarillo

Hops - Cascade

Hops - Citra

Hops - Galaxy

Hops - Hallertau Blanc

Hops - Mosaic

Hops - Magnum

Hops - Warrior

 

[Wayne1]

You have a great selection for IPAs

For Blue Moon, I would suggest using the Cascade or Hallertau Blanc.

Good Luck.

 

[ChiknNutz]

You have a great selection for IPAs

For Blue Moon, I would suggest using the Cascade or Hallertau Blanc.

Good Luck.

Great, thanks. Would you only perform a single addition of the hops? What about adding some to the Whirpool?

 

[Wayne1]

If you are looking to make a faithful recreation of Blue Moon Belgium White, then you should minimize hop flavor. You only want a small amount of hop bitterness to balance the sweetness of the malts. Let the spices be the major flavor element.

 

[hamachi]

Wayne1, I want to offer my personal thanks for your 13 year(!) contribution to this thread. Your advice has been very helpful to a guy who only started homebrewing last August. Using the info you provided back on page 1, I have already made one Blue Moon clone which was popular with the wife and neighbors.

I will be attempting another this weekend. My wife loves Blue Moon but wants something lighter, so I'll be reducing the OG a bit. I'll be doing a split batch and throwing blueberries into one of the fermenters after a few days to create a "Blueberry Moon". (I've had one successful blueberry wit already, so I'm optimistic.)

 

[bricks]

I just finished reading all 1,374 posts in this thread! Wow, what a lot of great information. Big thanks to Wayne1, Nilo, and a few others who have put forth such a wealth of knowledge and experience. I have been out of home brewing a few years, and am looking to get back into it. Did mostly extract with steeping grains, but I did do a couple of all grain batches. They didn't turn out all that great, and I blame that on using tap water without any kind of addition of anything. I feel like I might try Wayne1's first recipe or Nilo #12, as I really do like Blue Moon. If I decide to go ahead and give it a go, will keep posted on status!

 

[Jhedrick83]

Wayne1, I want to offer my personal thanks for your 13 year(!) contribution to this thread. Your advice has been very helpful to a guy who only started homebrewing last August. Using the info you provided back on page 1, I have already made one Blue Moon clone which was popular with the wife and neighbors.

I will be attempting another this weekend. My wife loves Blue Moon but wants something lighter, so I'll be reducing the OG a bit. I'll be doing a split batch and throwing blueberries into one of the fermenters after a few days to create a "Blueberry Moon". (I've had one successful blueberry wit already, so I'm optimistic.)

I second that. Just brewed my first attempt at this recipe last night. Can’t wait to try it and neither can my wife.

 

[Mark3885]

I’m brewing this as we speak 10 gallons
10 lbs Briess 2 row
10 lbs White Wheat
2 lbs flaked oats
1 lb rice hulls
2 oz Hallertau mittlefruher
2.5 oz ground coriander
1 oz Valencia sweet orange peel
Mash at 153 for 60 min
Ferment with S-05 at 66F 1 week
Cold crash gradually down to 38 for 1 week
All electric system

 

[ChiknNutz]

FYI, I brewed this just over a month ago and found the overall flavor profile quite underwhelming (5G packaged). Although I used 1.5 oz of orange peel and 0.6 oz of coriander, neither of those flavors came thru. I used Hallertau Blanc and find it imparts an Earl Grey tea flavor...which is not bad but certainly different than Blue Moon.

 

[Mark3885]

According to Wayne 1, the coriander to orange peel should be 3 to 1 ratio

 

[Mark3885]

What yeast did you use?