Apple Cider with Beer?

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HuskerBrewJughead

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I was wondering if anyone has ever tried an apple beer? I have heard of recipes calling for 4 gal of wort and 1 gallon of cider. This sounds pretty tasty! Shouls I add the cider in the primary to ferment? Secondary? Bottling? Or maybe all 3?
 
It is called graff. I believe it is 4 gallons of cider and 1 gallon of beer but either way sounds delicious to me. I am getting the ingredients together soon and making a batch. There is a recipe on homebrewtalk for it. Check it.

Materials needed for a 5 Gallon Batch

Clean fermenting yeast I have used Nottinham and Safale-05, both are good
.5 lbs of Crystal 60L If you use cheap store brand juice, I reccomend 120L. Cheap juice tends to turn out a tad tart and this will balance it.
1 oz of torrified wheat ( head retention, I've never used more than 2oz)
4 Gallons of apple juice.
1 gallon of water
2 lbs of DME ( I use 1 lb. amber and 1 lb. light DME)
0.5 oz of you favorite hops ( right around 6% AA, I have used 18.5% AA summit hops before and it took a month after kegging for strong bitterness to blend nicely)
WARNING! IF YOU ARE GOING TO CHANGE THE AMOUNT OF HOPS USED, MAKE IT LESS NOT MORE, it's really just too bitter with any more.

Directions for brewing

Steep the 60L and torrified wheat in .75 gallons of water @ 155 degrees for 30 mins.
Sparge with .25 gallons 170 degree water and throw away grains.
Add DME and bring to a boil.
Add hops when boiling starts and boil for 30 mins.

Cool down the wort (if you choose not to cool the wort and just let the AJ do the cooling then your cider won't be as clear). I don't care about clarity so I just let the AJ do the cooling, but if you stick your pot in the freezer and let this get down to 70 degrees or so your cider will clear fairly easy. Pour the wort and apple juice into your carboy and pitch yeast.

Ferment 2 weeks at 64-68 degrees then keg or bottle.

I keg, and this stuff is VERY drinkable as soon as it is carbonated.
SUPERB taste and drinkability after 2-3 weeks of aging.

People bottling, it will have SUPERB taste and drinkability after the standard 3 week bottling period for carbonating.
 
I just tried a super basic graff i that is about 1 month into its aging. It was made from 1 Gallon of Cider from a pick your own farm, and 1/2 lb of DDME. That was how basic i made it. I didnt use any hops (probably should have). I believe because mine had the liquid be all cider it is far closer to a Malted Cider than a Graff, but it was extremely good, Definitely needed more time to age, and was a bit acidic so next time i would add a chemical to neutralize some of that. a wheat wort will be very cool with this recipe. Update us on how this turns out!
 
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