My big Blue Moon knock off..

[speedster00]

So here's my recipe. Currently Im on day 10 of fermenting. I started at 1.104 OG. Im expecting to get to 1.015 or lower and that should put me around 12% ABV. Here is my partial mash recipe if your interested. Like I said, Im on day 10 and the beer is a very caramel/orangish color.

My question is, Im at 1.03 right now. Should I cold crash now or wait a day until Im closer to my stopping point of 1.015

8 lbs Wheat unhopped malt extract

2 lb Light unhopped malt extract

2 lb of table sugar

2 lb Flaked Oats

1 lb White wheat

1 oz Willamette hops (bittering)

1 oz Saaz hops (finishing)

1 oz Coriander seed

1 oz Sweet Orange Peel

Yeast is WLP400

 

[Haputanlas]

Give it more time. I'd wait another week or so before giving up on the fermentation.

Also, if this is going to be 12%, are you really expecting this to taste like Blue Moon?

 

[speedster00]

No...not at all. But I like wit's so I figured it was a good place to start!

 

[theschick]

I don't know a lot about extract/PM brewing, but it looks like you are expecting to get 85% AA. I know if I was doing all grain, I would have to mash the grains pretty low. Can you really get that type of result from 8lbs of extract?

 

[lumpher]

i would expect this to end around 1.025-1.030. Beersmith estimates 1.028

 

[speedster00]

Thanks lumpher. What is the beer smith?

schick-yes it's very possible. LME or liquid malt extract is like molasses. It is the sugar.

 

[theschick]

Ha, speedster I know what LME is. What I am getting at is that not all LME is created the same. I think it was Palmer's "how to brew" mentioned that testing lots of different brands of LME, none of them had the same attenuation. In "brew like a monk" it talks about some brewers switching to all grain simply so they have better control of the attenuation. Maybe with the minimash you are able to do more of a beta-saccrification that will break down the long starch chains (like I mention before, I don't know a lot about mini-mashing or extracts).

I know you can get great results with extracts, but I think you'll have a bit of trouble with such a high gravity.

Beersmith is a popular beer brewing software. www.beersmith.

 

[speedster00]

Nice! thanks Schick.

 

[Veinman]

I am planning something similar for the winter nights in 2010/11 so be sure to let us know how it turns out, especially how low it finishes and how sweet the taste is. I'm gonna double my Blue Moon Clone recipe to make an "Imperial White" as I'm calling it.

Also just a heads up, despite the marketing and label Blue Moon is not a true wit, more accurately it's an American Wheat Beer, however both are delicious.

 

[speedster00]

Thanks veinman. I'll be sure to post the results. I'll take another gravity reading tomorrow to see if it's progressing any more.. I didn't know that about blue moon. Some of my favorites are leinenkugals sunset wheat and julius echter.

 

[speedster00]

results are in. After 2 days of the gravity not changing, I kegged it. Finished at 1.029. Its very sweet with a hint of orange. Of course I tasted it warm right when it was kegged so Im sure it will be better cold and after it sits a few days in the keg. By my calculations it finished at exactly 10%ABV. I cant tell its that strong. The flavors and sweetness definately over power the alcohol. picture attached.