blue moon clone - yeast?

[zorak1066]

found a clone recipe for a partial mash.. uses an American strain of yeast ( wy 1056 American ale )just as blue moon uses. the author suggested for a more truer Belgian experience to use wyeast 3942. now there is also a witbier yeast wyeast 3944. my landlord likes blue moon and I was thinking of making a batch.. but with a Belgian yeast instead.


what's the big difference between the two?



also

I was thinking about what impact adding a little (very small amount) Canadian honey malt to it would have? from ekraus blog..

Blue Moon Recipe (Clone) (Partial Mash Beer Recipe, 5-Gallon Batch)
Specs OG: 1.055 FG: 1.014 IBUs: 9 ABV: 5.4% SRM: 5
Ingredients 6.6 lbs. Wheat LME 1 lb. Two-Row Brewers Malt 1 lb. White Wheat Malt .75 lb. Flaked Oats 1 oz. Hallertau hops (3.9 AAUs) @ :60 3 oz. Valencia (sweet) orange peel @ :10 1.5 tsp. fresh ground coriander @ :10 Wyeast 1056: American Ale Yeast 5 oz. corn sugar for priming

Directions: Prepare a 2L yeast starter. Mash the two-row malt, wheat malt, and flaked oats in 5 quarts of water. Hold temperature at 154°F. for 60 minutes. Strain the wort into the brew kettle, then rinse grains with 1 gallon of water at 170°F., collecting run-off in the brew kettle. Mix in liquid malt extract and add clean water to bring boil volume to 3.5 gallons. Bring to a boil, add hops, and boil for 60 minutes. Add the orange peel and coriander in the last 10 minutes of the boil. Chill wort, top off to 5 gallons, and stir to mix and aerate. Pitch yeast and ferment at 65F for one week, then transfer to secondary for two weeks. Bottle with priming sugar and condition for two weeks. Optional: serve with a slice of orange. -

[BlackDuck]

If your looking to make a Blue Moon clone, then you'll want to use the American Ale yeast. Whether it's the 1056 or even S-05. That yeast will give it the clean finish and let the wheat malt and spices come through. If you use a Belgian yeast, your likely to get quite a bit of esters out of it, which will definitely change the flavor in the end. To me, there is a big difference between a Belgian Wit and an American Wheat (Blue Moon).

There's nothing wrong with adding the honey malt either, just be careful with it. A little goes a long way. It will add a little complexity to it that could prove to be tasty!

[D_Rabbit]

found a clone recipe for a partial mash.. uses an American strain of yeast ( wy 1056 American ale )just as blue moon uses. the author suggested for a more truer Belgian experience to use wyeast 3942. now there is also a witbier yeast wyeast 3944. my landlord likes blue moon and I was thinking of making a batch.. but with a Belgian yeast instead.


what's the big difference between the two?



also

I was thinking about what impact adding a little (very small amount) Canadian honey malt to it would have? from ekraus blog..

Blue Moon Recipe (Clone) (Partial Mash Beer Recipe, 5-Gallon Batch)
Specs OG: 1.055 FG: 1.014 IBUs: 9 ABV: 5.4% SRM: 5
Ingredients 6.6 lbs. Wheat LME 1 lb. Two-Row Brewers Malt 1 lb. White Wheat Malt .75 lb. Flaked Oats 1 oz. Hallertau hops (3.9 AAUs) @ :60 3 oz. Valencia (sweet) orange peel @ :10 1.5 tsp. fresh ground coriander @ :10 Wyeast 1056: American Ale Yeast 5 oz. corn sugar for priming

Directions: Prepare a 2L yeast starter. Mash the two-row malt, wheat malt, and flaked oats in 5 quarts of water. Hold temperature at 154°F. for 60 minutes. Strain the wort into the brew kettle, then rinse grains with 1 gallon of water at 170°F., collecting run-off in the brew kettle. Mix in liquid malt extract and add clean water to bring boil volume to 3.5 gallons. Bring to a boil, add hops, and boil for 60 minutes. Add the orange peel and coriander in the last 10 minutes of the boil. Chill wort, top off to 5 gallons, and stir to mix and aerate. Pitch yeast and ferment at 65F for one week, then transfer to secondary for two weeks. Bottle with priming sugar and condition for two weeks. Optional: serve with a slice of orange. -

Here are your differences with the 2 yeasts:

YEAST STRAIN: 3942 | Belgian Wheat™
Isolated from a small Belgian brewery, this strain produces beers with moderate esters and minimal phenolics. Apple, bubblegum and plum-like aromas blend nicely with malt and hops. This strain will finish dry with a hint of tartness.
Flocculation: medium
Attenuation: 72-76%
Temperature Range: 64-74° F (18-23° C)
Alcohol Tolerance: approximately 12% ABV
Styles: Belgian Pale Ale, Belgian Tripel, Witbier

YEAST STRAIN: 3944 | Belgian Witbier™
This versatile witbier yeast strain can be used in a variety of Belgian style ales. This strain produces a complex flavor profile dominated by spicy phenolics with low to moderate ester production. It is a great strain choice when you want a delicate clove profile not to be overshadowed by esters. It will ferment fairly dry with a slightly tart finish that compliments the use of oats, malted and unmalted wheat. This strain is a true top cropping yeast requiring full fermenter headspace of 33%.
Flocculation: Medium
Attenuation: 72-76%
Temperature Range: 62-75F, 16-24C
Alcohol Tolerance: 11 to12% ABV
Styles: Belgian Dubbel, Belgian Tripel, Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer, Witbier

[mashani]

A very small amount of honey malt, IE around 2oz, maybe 3oz in a 5 gallon batch of your OG won't make the beer that much noticeably sweeter, but will increase the perceived malt flavors. In Germany it's called Brumalt, and that's what it's used for, IE to kick up the Munich or Vienna a little bit more.

Now if you use more, it can become pretty intensely sweet and you don't really want that I assume.

[Beer-lord]

The recipes I've seen shows WL400 but I have read many who say that its basically just an American white beer and you can use any of the chico strains. But I've also read that if you use a neutral yeast like Chico, you need to add more of the orange peel and coriander.
I've never made it and am not a fan of Blue Moon so I've not tried this myself but I've seen a zillion different recipes and there's lots of likes on all of them.

[mashani]

FWIW, the Blue Moon people themselves said they just use an American Ale strain of yeast, so anyone who is making a clone with WLP400 is not doing it right.

That doesn't mean it will be bad. It probably will be good! I like WLP400 a lot. But it's not going to be a "clone".

[swenocha]

FWIW, here's an old HBT post from one of the original brewers at Sandlot:

Blue Moon Belgian White was first sold commercially as Belly Slide Belgian White at the SandLot Brewery at Coors Field during the 1995 opening season.

We did do a little fine tuning of the recipe, which was developed by Dr. Keith Villa of Coors R&D. Mostly to do with the ratio of Orange Peel to Corriander.

The amounts of grains we used are roughly:
50% 2 row pale malt. (The first couple of batches were made with Great Western)
40% white wheat malt
10% flaked oats.

Hallertauer Mittelfrueh hops were added for a 90 minute boil. Bittering should be around 17.5 IBU. Only one addition.

Blue Moon has always used pre-ground corriander and Valencia orange peel. Keith did not want the bitterness of Curacao oranges. He preferred the sweetness of the ground Valencia.

Try 1.25 tsp of ground corriander added to the kettle 10 minutes before the end of boil. This is for a 5-6 gallon batch.

Add 0.33tsp of ground Valencia orange peel 5 minutes before the end of boil.

The Chico strain would work well in this recipe. You want a neutral taste from the yeast. Keith has said that the flavors that should come through are the orange peel and corriander, not the yeast.

Be careful when lautering. I have made this recipe and some variations of it in three different pubs, with three different systems. I usually have trouble and end up sticking the mash. Run off very slowly.
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[DaYooper]

Last batch I made I used S-05, more because I was lazy and had it on hand and wanted to get an early brew day start. SWMBO's go-to commercial beer is Blue Moon and she liked it quite a bit.