Blue Moon Clone

[BrewsWayne]

I have not had a Blue Moon for quite some time. It is not a style I normally drink. I am working on a "Tribute" version, so I will probably buy some to compare to my variation.

US-05 is a dry yeast version of the Chico. Similar to Wyeast 1056. I ferment that yeast at 65F/18.3C

I prefer most beers fermented with US-05 to be consumed young. When final gravity gets close, I raise the temp to 68F/20C and rest for a couple of days for a diacetyl rest. I then drop the temp to 40F/4.4C for a day and pull the yeast. I let the beer rest at 40/4.4 for a few days under 15psi/1 bar of pressure until it is fully carbonated.

For most draft systems, I would suggest keeping the beer at 38-40F/3.3-4.4C amd 12-15 psi.

The biggest problem with making a "clone" version is finding spices that are similar and getting the amounts that work for your system and tastes.

 

[Ninja7]

Hi thanks wayne great help .
Be intresting to hear your side by side testing of shop bought new blue moon to your old og fermenting away now , are you going off your original recipe now or have you edit it .
Think i try your recipe in few weeks on my grainfather all in one just need to somehow work out and convert recipe scale for grainfather .
Think i go with Wyeast 1056 two if that is best , is this close to the coores yeast used . Did you go with soft water , mine very hard so i mite need buy soft in bottles if that the case
Thannks . .

​

 

[BrewsWayne]

I still do not know what yeast was used for Blue Moon. We were just told it was an ale yeast. I have made the recipe at a few different breweries over the course of my career. I have mostly used 1056/US-05.

The ratio of barley to wheat and oats is the same. I am adding quite a bit of rice hulls now for a smooth sparge. The early batches at the ball park did not use any rice hulls and took forever to sparge. I am using locally grown malted barley from a farmer who used to grow for Coors.

The water in the Colorado front range is all snow melt, very clean. I mostly just carbon filter it and add a bit of lactic acid to drop the pH.

Cheers,
Wayne

 

[Agentgonzo]

You could probably buy a bottle of it and grow the yeast from source. I've done that before. (Plus, whilst you're at it, you could skip the blue moon and get a bottle of Hoegaarden instead )

 

[Ninja7]

Life got in the way so not brewed for a while or yet do this clone .
Putting in a shopping order today for this and a pilsner .
Wayne wot would blue moon be like with larger yeast . More inportly charlie papazian yeast. White labs cry havock fist bump wlp 1983.
The story goes charlie got it handed to him from coors and was a well known house yeast at coors . but story also goes coors sourced it from budweiser some how .. the info from charlie says it can do largers cold or evan ferment ales warm .
Thinking if it was a house yeast at coors and blue moon made at coors etc . .maybe or maybe barking up wrong tree

 

[BrewsWayne]

Cry Havoc was originally from a keg of Budweiser.

When I was Brewmaster at SandLot, Charlie came by to visit. He told me the story how he was given a sample of yeast by the former Director of Brewing R&D at Coors, Finn Knudsen. Finn told Charlie that this was a very special yeast and to enjoy brewing with it. Charlie had some numbers memorized that he thought were the Coors reference numbers. I called up my contact at the Coors R&D yeast lab and gave her the numbers. She called me back a short while later to tell me the numbers cross referenced to a keg of Budweiser.

I have always brewed a Blue Moon variant with an ale yeast. Most often with US-05. You can try it with a fairly clean English strain, as well. You do want a small amount of ester production, but a Blue Moon is supposed to be all about the Valencia orange and coriander.

 

[Ninja7]

Thank you wayne . Spent the day reading up on this and any info could find and you just comfirmed the bud story .
How did your new test batch turn out in end

 

[dad_of_jon]

Afternoon all

just sampling my Blue Moon clone which is just about ready for bottling. It’s pretty much there but despite a stack of orange peel, still lacking that killer zesty punch which I am driving for. Just wondering if Anyone has any tips - have some Mandarina Baveria, wondered about a quick Secondary dip. Any steer?

I've been dissappointed by MB - a litre of OJ from ADSA will perk it up. I use it in my no-gaarden plus it gives a lovely orange tint.

 

[BrewsWayne]

I was very happy with the result. I did not compare it to a bottle of Blue Moon. I was looking to make a beer in the style of Blue Moon but not an exact copy.

In order to reduce the variability of sourcing the Valencia Orange peel, I tried out CO2 extracted terpenes. This is rather expensive but you only need a very small amount (1ml for 20 liters) and the fresh taste in the beer is worth it.