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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Brewing a Blue Moon Clone - Final recipe

Current tested recipes can be found HERE.

I'm now testing #8 and should have it kegged in few days. Basic changes were:
- Boil for 30min only to increase chill haze
- Removal of irish moss for the same reason
- Increased corn starch to 2 table spoons
- Used new brand of orange peels, bough from Amazon.com

Stay tuned.

 







41 comments:

  1. Nilo,

    If you are looking for more KBIs, I suggest the difference between actual and limit of attenuation. The latter is the highest attenuation the yeast could have reached with the given wort and the difference to actual attenuation gives an indication of the amount of residual fermentable sugars. In a beer like this the difference should be small (0-1%).

    I cannot comment on taste, but the color and clarity seems spot on.

    Kai

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  2. I'm going to try your recipe. I've tried my own without much sucess. My question is about your hallertauer hops. You show. IBU of about 14.0 but my Beersmith program is showing a IBU of 24.0. Am I missing something or should I just ignore the Beersmith rating.
    Thanks,
    Jerry DeGan
    Des Moines, Iowa

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    Replies
    1. The discrepancy with your IBU calculation is because I'm using 4% alpha and BeerSmith is probably using 6%. I'm using lower % because my hops are 1y old. Also, there are different formulas to calculate IBU and I may be using something different than BeerSmith.

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  3. TNX for the quick reply. One other question when you boil the oat flakes do you put them in a hop bag or boil them loose? Again, TNX
    Jerry DeGan
    Des Moines, Iowa

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  4. is this an all grain recipeor were there extracts used ?

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  5. Im thinking about using this as my first brew. That being said i might ask a few dumb questions here. First, The first boil is the first items you have listed
    4.5# white wheat malt
    5# 2 row malt
    2# crystal 10L
    1/2# carapils
    Then you add in
    1oz hallertauer for 60min
    1/2# flaked oats boiled for 60min
    1 tsp irish moss for 20min
    1/4oz coriander for 10min
    1/2oz dry sweet orange peel for 10min
    1/2oz dry bitter orange peel for 10min
    With the times given?

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  6. Not sure I got your question right. This is an all grain recipe, so you supposed to mash the grains. The oats is boiled, as the hops.

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  7. I think the question was, after the mash at 157 deg.for 60 min., do you remove the:
    4.5# white wheat malt
    5# 2 row malt
    2# crystal 10L
    1/2# carapils

    Before you add the boil items?
    Thanks, I am a novice as well.

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  8. Partial mash or all grain, you don't boil the grains. For a partial mash tutorial, check this post.
    http://beertech.blogspot.com/2011/04/partial-mash-brewing.html
    I don't have anything for all grain but you can find it on the web, just google "all grain brewing".

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  9. Thanks for your help. It is individuals like that help us novices to enjoy the hobby.

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  10. Nilo, I brewed your Blue Moon Clone recipe a few weeks ago and just cracked my first one and I am VERY, VERY, VERY PLEASED!! It was great I'm very happy with it. I want to thank you for perfecting the recipe and putting it on your blog. Tomorrow I'm having a buddy over and we are going to do a blind test with a Blue Moon I have in the refrig, I'm sure he won't be able to tell which is which and I'm betting he will like your recipe better!! Thanks Again,
    Jerry DeGan
    Des Moines, Iowa

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  11. How Gal./s Does this recipe make?

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  12. Nilo, I have tried a couple of Blue moon recipes before and am looking to improve. I want to try yours. Your best recent recipe calls for
    4# briess white wheat malt
    5# briess 2 row malt
    2# briess crystal 10L
    .5# gambrinus pale ale
    Mash the above ingreidients @ 157 for 60 min
    then
    bring mash to boil and add hops and 1/2# flaked oats for 60 min
    irish moss for the final 20 min boil
    coriander for the final 10 min boil
    1/2 oz sweet orange peel 10 min boil
    1/2 oz bitter orange peel for 10 min boil

    But the total boil is still 60 min correct?

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  13. hi,
    My latest recipe given on the link from the Blue Moon post calls for 1/2lb of carapils and not gambrinus pale ale and oats are to be boil for 15min only.
    Also, I have brewed other recipes further and you can use 1.5oz of valencia mccormick peels if you want. 0.375oz of coriander and orange peels boiled for 10min.
    Yes, the overall boil is 60min. Let me know if you have any questions.

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  14. I just updated the post. The recipe sheet on the link has now recipe #6 added. Go for that one.

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  15. Thanks I'll let you know how it turns out.

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  16. How long did you ferment? I'm at 2 weeks and it looks like everything is settled down, but it could stand to clear just a bit more.

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  17. I mostly use S04 wich is a very fast yeast. Fermentation is done in few days but I usually leave it for a week to 10 days. When using S05, things go much slower and 2 weeks is a minimum. S05 will not clear up as much as S04 does.

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  18. Do you buy from a LHBS or online? Trying to buy the ingredients listed in as little amount of places and my locak store doesn't have everything, nor can I find one online site that does. Thanks.

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  19. Grains and yeast from LHBS
    Orange peel and coriander from Amazon
    Hops from my backyard
    Oats, not using anymore, replaced by corn starch (2TBS)


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  20. Hi! Super rookie here. Did a batch of Hefeweisen for my maiden voyage. Awesome! The best beer I have ever had. Thought batch 2 should be somethin' different. Tried a Blue Moon Ale Clone. Followed the sterilization, and cooking instructions exactly. I am worried though. While the Hefeweisen exploded with violent fermentation, ( so entertaining) this batch is just sitting there. The yeast all fell out over the first night and it looks dead. The air lock is giving a bubble or two. Is this OK? Or is there a problem? Thanks Chris

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  21. Fermentation activity is very dependent on the yeast strain you use, so assuming you are using a different yeast than when you brewed the hefe you can experience a different fermentation profile.
    Make sure you pitch to wort at max 75F so you don't kill the yeast.
    Krausen or airlock activity is not always a good way to tell how active the yeast is working, gravity change is. Take a reading and compare to your OG. If gravity is droping your yeast is working. Leave it alone until it is done.
    If your gravity is stuck too high from your expected FG, sanitize a spoom and give a gentle stir to bring the yeast back into suspension. You can also raise the temp to low 70's (not sure where you stand right now) for a day or two to get it going faster. You can also pitch more yeast, but I would keep this as last resort.

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  22. Five pound of two row? Seems like a lot

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  23. about 50%x50% 2 row and wheat has worked for me.

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  24. I assume you make a yeast starter? I've never used dry yeast.

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  25. No starter, just dump the dry yeast to wort.

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  26. Hi, Nilo!

    Quick question: Do you remove the orange peel and coriander from the wort after the final 10 minutes of boiling, or do you leave them in the wort throughout the fermentation process? Just want to make sure I'm understanding correctly.

    Thanks!

    John

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  27. John,

    I do remove all the spices after boil. If you wish more orange aromas, you can also add some fresh orange peels to the fermenter, just soak it in vodka for few minutes before.

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  28. Thanks so much, Nilo - that's really helpful to know in general! Is the soaking in vodka a way of sterilizing the orange peel before leaving it in the fermenter?

    Also, if you don't mind me asking, do you generally make a habit of removing spices from wort before fermenting it? I'm just curious because I always assumed that you should leave them in. I'm a pretty big newbie when it comes to homebrewing in case you couldn't tell. ;-)

    John

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  29. John, yes, the vodka is a way to avoid contamination of you wort. Maybe just a good wash with soap before peeling is good enough.
    I have always removed the spices before transferring to the fermentation vessel. This is usually my schedule:
    1)Get wort to 210F and slowly bring to a simmer and keep for 10min. This avoid boil over.Zero the timer, turn heat up and get a good boil rooling for the boiling time that your recipe calls for, adding spices, hops and adjuncts as required. Get chiller in for last 10min of boil to sterilize it.
    2)Turn heat off, remove all spices, hops, chiller, then top off with cold water (I use filtered water, usually around 60F. I have soft tap water) to reach your final batch volume. Get chiller in and cool to picthing temp. Remove chiller, stir to get a good swirl. Wait swirl to settle and solids to decant, probably 10min.
    3)Transfer to fermenter, pitch yeast. You may add other spices in this phase. Some people would transfer to a secondary vessel to add spices on the cold side, like dry hopping.

    Hope this gives a general idea.

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  30. Nilo, this sounds delicious! I'm another newbie preying on your expertise! Quick question: How much water do you bring to a boil before adding all of your ingredients or doesn't it really matter?

    Thx.

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  31. you don't boil water but wort. Wort can be collected by mashing the grains with hot water (no boil, 150 to 160F) or from malt extract.

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  32. Hi Nilo, I just brewed my second round of this brew, huge fan. First batch I added the fruit of 6 oranges that I heated to 160 to sanitize and bruise. Loved the flavor and was super clear and smooth. There was a little more orange flavor than a normal Blue Moon, but you didn't need to add any fruit while drinking that way.

    Second batch I'm mixing some things up a bit and used Crystal 20 and a Belgian yeast and no corn starch and sweet orange peels (a 1/3 of the price of the valencia peels from the grocery store). Still added the fruit of the oranges to primary. I'll let you know how it turns out, but I can say that this has become the staple brew for my house and will always be on tap! Thank you for posting!

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  33. Hi, Nilo,

    It's me again, and I just wanted to say that I brewed you're recipe back in November, and it turned out awesome! Easily one of my favorite beers that I've made to date! Thanks again for going to all of this work and sharing it with the rest of us!

    I did have one question for you though: What's the idea behind adding the corn starch? I added it, but I was just curious as to what it's supposed to do for the beer. Does it add body or something?

    Thanks again!

    John

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  34. Originally, as one could probably see on the first recipes I tried, I used flaked oats in the mash. That supposed to provide more body to the beer and perhaps some particular flavor as well. From my perception of the commercial beer, BM is a thick, a very thick beer. It feels thick when you pour it and when you drink it. Mashing oats, for me (some say it waks fine for then), did not provide anything like that. I then moved to boil the oats and it improved tickness a lot. I then thought that starch from the flaked oats is what was actually thicknening the beer when boiled, so why not try pure starch instead of oats? That's what I did and in fact, seems to give same results. As for the additional flavor that the oats may add, that's hard to tell, may justify using it for some people.

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  35. Good evening
    You mention that boil is 30 minutes, but at the same time you say that hop enters at 60'.
    Can you explain this because I'm confused.;

    Thank you
    Dimitris

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    Replies
    1. Hi, I'm not sure where you are looking at, recipe #8 found by clicking on the link on top of this post shows 1.2oz hops for 30min.

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  36. I love you. You're too helpful

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