Funky Brown Graff (all grain-biab)

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fivepoundpossum

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i made this bretted brown graf (beer-cider hybrid) a month ago and though there might be a few fellow funky people on this forum interested in the recipe. i haven't tasted it yet, so can't vouch for its tastiness, but i sure am excited to taste it after it's had some time to age (it's just starting to pelicle-up). would love to hear anyone else's experience with this kind of thing.

here's the concept: small batch of a rich, malty all-grain brown ale mixed with 2 g of apple cider, funked up with Wyeast 3789 Trappist Blend (Orval sacc and brett brux mix). i used a fair amount of crystal malt and mashed on the high-ish side to give the brett enough dextrins. the beer was small enough that i was able to mash it up in my 5g pot biab-style.

Tear the Roof Off Funky Brown Graff
Gravity: OG:1.046
Boil size: 4.25
ABV: TBD

4 oz Chocolate malt
4 oz Biscuit malt
4 oz Crystal 80
12 oz Crystal 60
3.5 lbs Maris Otter, pale
.25 oz Centennial (8.6%)—60 min
2 g Apple cider
Wyeast Trappist Blend Yeast 3789

Mashed grains in 1.5 g water in a bag 60 min at 154f. Sparged with 3g water heated to 190, which raised the temp to about 168f for 15 min.
Chilled wort to 85f. Topped off with .5g water and added 2g cold cider. Pitched yeast at 70f.
 
Looks great to me. I really liked the (unintentional) addition of wild yeast to my graff, and just wished that it had had a stronger malt backbone to balance it out. I think I would have used an english ale yeast plus brett (c) independently, but that is just a personal preference, I'm sure the orval yeast will work well with this.
 
that actually was my plan originally, but i ended up somehow with a pack of trappist blend in my fridge...
 
ultimately, this wasn't the tastiest beer. turned out a bit watery, simple, and the brett did some funny things with the brown malts, lending an almost mushroomy taste. i encountered a similar flavor in jester king's farmhouse mild, commercial suicide.

for next time, i'd skip the caramel malts, add flaked oats for body, replace the chocolate malt with carafa ii. i think i'd also make this a 100% brett beer, maybe with brett b trois for depth of flavor and added fruitiness.
 
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