Blue Moon Clone

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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.
 
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 . .

 
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
 
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 😉)
 
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
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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