Graff (Malty, slightly hopped cider)

So, little update on my batch. The spiced version I haven't tasted yet, but the regular graff has been bottled close to 2 weeks and I wanted to see how it was progressing.

Gotta say, it tastes pretty darn good already. There wasn't any head to speak of, but it was carbonated. Aroma was that of tart apples and a little white wine-ish.

Flavor is apple up front, a bit tart (but it's a welcome tart, not oppressive), and the back end is alcohol. But again, it's not a hot alcohol flavor, rather, that sort of pleasant warmth. I think I also detect a bit of yeast flavor too, but I've noticed I taste that in my young beer as well, and it usually falls off after 3 weeks of conditioning.

All in all, it's a nice drink. Gonna go great with thanksgiving dinner.

Anyone here use graff like a sparkling cider, to make a "punch?"

I'm making this right now...but why is it called Graff!?!?!

my batch has been fermenting for about 3 weeks now I tasted it last week and it was awful tried a little last night its starting to taste allot more like an actual cider. I am going to bottle it up tomorrow using brown sugar instead of corn sugar or maybe a small mix not sure yet we shall see how it comes up. I also have a spiced pumpkin ale i finished last night and im doing a mocha java creme stout tomorrow as well so busy weekend.

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Well, I've been stalling, and putting this off for too long now. I'm gonna do a batch sometime this week.
I hope to have a couple gallons on Halloween, and a couple more on Thanksgiving.
If this tastes half as good as this thread says it does, then this will be a regular pull at my house.

I kegged my GRAFF today. OG of 1.060 and a FG of 1.005 for a 6.52% ABV.

Sample tasted really good. The only hiccup was I forgot to pour all of the star san out of my keg before racking. I had siphoned it out, but I usually shake out the last few ounces from the bottom. Forgot to do that, but reading about star san, I shouldn't need to worry about it.

so why is it called Graff?

KCBigDog said:

I kegged my GRAFF today. OG of 1.060 and a FG of 1.005 for a 6.52% ABV.

Sample tasted really good. The only hiccup was I forgot to pour all of the star san out of my keg before racking. I had siphoned it out, but I usually shake out the last few ounces from the bottom. Forgot to do that, but reading about star san, I shouldn't need to worry about it.

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Ya no need to worry about a little starsan. I've done the same thing.

mcaple1 said:

I'm making this right now...but why is it called Graff!?!?!

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https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f78/gunslingers-graff-147726/

This is my first ever homebrewing project. I used the recipe posted on page 1, but used 4% AA fuggle hops and 64L malt as my HBS didn't have 60L.

Original gravity 1.061.

I'm using US-05. Pitched it late Sunday night, I'm getting a bubble every 1.5-2 seconds right now. if I put my nose up to the airlock, I get a very pleasant apple beer smell.

mcaple1 said:

so why is it called Graff?

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Apparently it there was a beverage in a book called graff that was supposed to be like a malt cider.... I believe it has been a long time since I read this whole thread but it is in here somewhere.

I bottled mine yesterday. OG 1.065 - FG 1.012 so about 6.8 ABV (if the calculator was correct). Tasted it before I bottled and was quite pleased with the outcome. can not wait to crack one open in about 3 weeks to try it then.

Just had a taste of mine and its good! Like most say, its Apple on the nose, beer on the mouth and then Apple on the aftertaste. A little thin but I only really made it to use up a malt cider kit. No idea of gravity - 1.035 then added 500g dme, but finished at 1.010. Seems about the right strength. What's the consensus with ageing? None, a little, loads?

RobWalker said:

What's the consensus with ageing? None, a little, loads?

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I have noticed that right around 4 months my previous batch really started to balance out nicely, the only problem was that most of them were gone by then.

I may have the same issue because it's great now - not to mention a holiday 2 hours away in the car next month.

I just finished making my first batch of Graff mostly to the OP recipe. I only used a little hops. Not even 1/4 oz of centennial (what I had on hand). I used Motts juice with Caramel 120 and re-hydrated US-05. I'll be kegging this when done fermenting...

Just made a 3 gallon extract batch using a cider kit. 1 kit diluted to 3 gal because 5 gal would reduce the apple flavour too much, 500g dme added dry (oops) and boiled the hops and wheat together. S-04 yeast, fully cleared, loads of apple flavour and cost about 15 quid, so that's 5 quid for every 8 pints. Great value and delicious tastes like a beer but apple on the nose and aftertaste, force carbed, omnomnomnom!

I just bottled my own rendition of this. I wanted a cider for Fall/X-mas so I did 3 lbs Vienna, .5 honey malt and .25 pale chocolate mashed in about 1.25 gallons. Half oz of EKG at the beginning of a 45ish minute boil. Topped up with 5 gallons of Motts natural to 6 gallons and fermented with WLP300 and I am digging it. Beautiful color. Chocolate nose.
This will go great with a slice of pumpkin pie come Thanksgiving.

ashplub said:

I just bottled my own rendition of this. I wanted a cider for Fall/X-mas so I did 3 lbs Vienna, .5 honey malt and .25 pale chocolate mashed in about 1.25 gallons. Half oz of EKG at the beginning of a 45ish minute boil. Topped up with 5 gallons of Motts natural to 6 gallons and fermented with WLP300 and I am digging it. Beautiful color. Chocolate nose.
This will go great with a slice of pumpkin pie come Thanksgiving.

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You only lost a 1/4 gallon during your boil...hmmmm.

After my sparge I ended up with more. I'm dont know how much I boiled.

Hey ashplub, I recently made a similar version with some chocolate malts as well ~


8/27


.5 lbs of Crystal 60L
4oz of crushed chocolate malt
4 more oz of 60l
1 oz of torrified wheat
4 Gallons of apple juice (Organic UV pasturized, comes with it's own growler )
1 gallon of water
2 lbs of DME
0.5 oz of cascade 5%
White labs - WLP775 English Cider


Fermenting this has wonderful aromas of Caramel apple coco - can't wait to try it. Transferring to secondary today
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I noticed your in jax~ are you in thecask.org home brewers club? If so, maybe we can compare samples at one of our meetings

How much yeast would you say we need for 5 gallons? I'm gonna re-pitch some leftover WLP-001. If your using a pack of dry I think I can get away with 200 bil. (2 vials).
Any thoughts?

1 vial of wlp-001 is sufficient

I added a teaspon of ground cinnamon to a 1 gallon batch that I split off the 5 gallon batch. I did a Taste and it was much better with the cinnamon. It was just less tart. I would recommend trying the variation if possible

bushboar said:

This is my first ever homebrewing project. I used the recipe posted on page 1, but used 4% AA fuggle hops and 64L malt as my HBS didn't have 60L.

Original gravity 1.061.

I'm using US-05. Pitched it late Sunday night, I'm getting a bubble every 1.5-2 seconds right now. if I put my nose up to the airlock, I get a very pleasant apple beer smell.

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Around a week and a half into fermentation and all bubbles have ceased. I know that bubbles aren't necessarily an indication of fermentation, but it still made me nervous so I took a gravity reading. Current gravity is ~1.012.

The hydro sample tasted good, like apple beer, and I'd say that the flavor is slightly more beer than apple. I'd prefer more apple flavor, but I think once this is carbonated it could be awesome.

I'm concerned, however, because the sample tasted a little watery. Is this something I should be concerned with? I actually started with less than 5 gallons because in my excitement (this being my first homebrew project) I didn't top off with water to 5 gallons to replace the water lost while boiling the wort.

Should I be worried about what this tastes like at this point? The lower apple flavor is a little disappointing but it still tastes good with the beer flavor. Will that change? Is it possible the wateriness will change?

Thanks in advance.

Shaun_ATX said:

Just brewed a batch of Graff this afternoon. Followed the recipe exactly.......used 100% apple juice from Walmart, Safale-05 and Cascade hops (7.5%AA)

Can't wait to give it a try!!

OG: 1.060 @ 66 degrees

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How did it come out, Shaun? What was your FG? I love Cascade.

This is a great thread and I'm planning to make a batch of this weekend!

I have a question about the apple juice. Here is Washington it's getting to be apple season. We have lots of different fresh local apple juice and apple cider available everywhere. Most unfiltered. Fantastic stuff!!!

Since quality of ingredients in brewing makes such a difference I hate using a supermarket brand juice when I could go local and fresh, but I also want this recipe to turn out as great as it sounds. Are there changes I should make if I use a higher quality, unfiltered apple juice or apple cider? Should I just stick with Treetop or some other national brand clear supermarket juice?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

If i am planning on carbing with brown sugar, anyone know how much i should use for 5gal?

I use 3/4tsp in 660ml bottles. You're looking at 1.3tsp in 1 litre or 6.5tsp in 1 gallon. Not sure what that weighs...

Gang,
I was at the store today, looking at bottled Apple Juice. What do y'all find is the best kind to use? No added sugar? There is a Mott's for Tots - totting 40% less sugar than the leading brands.
Thoughts?

STomp said:

Gang,
I was at the store today, looking at bottled Apple Juice. What do y'all find is the best kind to use? No added sugar? There is a Mott's for Tots - totting 40% less sugar than the leading brands.
Thoughts?

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I just wanted to quickly point out that Mott's for Tots is simply diluted apple juice - it contains 54% apple juice and 46% water. THAT'S how it contains less sugar.

Look for apple juice with that's labeled "100% apple juice" and you're set. Additional Vitamin C is okay (but not at all necessary, and some folks avoid it), and preservatives are a no-no, since you want your yeast to thrive!

Fresh-pressed works, too, quite nicely, but depending on who you ask, you would want to shock it with a Campden tablet for 48 hours to kill the wild yeast before brewing.

Oh, Stomp, also, make sure it says "100% apple juice" - not that it says "100% juice" with a picture of an apple on the front, because when they don't say "100% apple juice", you can be sure that there's cheaper juice mixed in. The front of the package can give one impression, yet the ingredients listed on the back can tell a much different story.

There's nothing inherently wrong with using what equates to a juice blend, but you want to make informed purchases, and if what you want is apple juice, then make sure it's apple juice.

PortlandPatrick said:

Fresh-pressed works, too, quite nicely, but depending on who you ask, you would want to shock it with a Campden tablet for 48 hours to kill the wild yeast before brewing.

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Campden tablet? Just one for the whole 5gal?

So maybe 2 nights before I brew this beotch, I'll put the apple juice in the *sanitized* fermenter with the campden tab within?

Thanks for the advice! Get this man a beer!

STomp said:

Campden tablet? Just one for the whole 5gal?

So maybe 2 nights before I brew this beotch, I'll put the apple juice in the *sanitized* fermenter with the campden tab within?

Thanks for the advice! Get this man a beer!

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Hey Stomp - sorry, it's one tablet per gallon. Again, I'm sure you'll get varying opinions on this topic, but that's the the rule as far as I'm concerned.

In the past, I've dropped a tablet in each individual gallon of cider two nights before brewing, perhaps because I'm in the habit of cleaning and sanitizing my primary bucket while I'm doing my boil. At about a nickle a piece, I may be wasting 15 cents per batch, but I'd rather err on the side of caution, you know?

PortlandPatrick said:

Hey Stomp - sorry, it's one tablet per gallon. Again, I'm sure you'll get varying opinions on this topic, but that's the the rule as far as I'm concerned.

In the past, I've dropped a tablet in each individual gallon of cider two nights before brewing, perhaps because I'm in the habit of cleaning and sanitizing my primary bucket while I'm doing my boil. At about a nickle a piece, I may be wasting 15 cents per batch, but I'd rather err on the side of caution, you know?

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:rockin: 1 per gallon = even better. I don't use a wort chiller. Instead, I put my jugs of bottled water in the fridge/freezer to bring the wort down to the ideal pitching temp. So, dropping a tab *lol :fro:* in each Mott's/Veryfine/whatever jugs I just bought is right on.

Like you, I sanitize my stuff when the wort is boiling. God, I love the smell of Iodophor!

STomp said:

:rockin: 1 per gallon = even better. I don't use a wort chiller. Instead, I put my jugs of bottled water in the fridge/freezer to bring the wort down to the ideal pitching temp. So, dropping a tab *lol :fro:* in each Mott's/Veryfine/whatever jugs I just bought is right on.

Like you, I sanitize my stuff when the wort is boiling. God, I love the smell of Iodophor!

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Oh, hell, to be honest, I don't even bother treating the off-the-shelf juice from the grocery store, just the sticky, crooked labeled gallons of fresh pressed I get at the orchard (and yeehaw, it's apple season right now!). It certainly can't hurt, though!

PortlandPatrick said:

Fresh-pressed works, too, quite nicely, but depending on who you ask, you would want to shock it with a Campden tablet for 48 hours to kill the wild yeast before brewing.

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So the campden tablets will kill the wild yeast but not the good stuff you pitch? How does that work? I am not familiar with Campden tablets.

ChandlerBang said:

So the campden tablets will kill the wild yeast but not the good stuff you pitch? How does that work? I am not familiar with Campden tablets.

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I'm not a scientist - that said, the sulfur dioxide that the tablets (sodium metabisulfite) generate kills microorganisms, but it dissipates - hence the treating in advance. It kills the wild yeast, peters out to a non-lethal level, and then you can safely pitch your desired yeast. Anecdotally, it's like StarSan - a lot of it would ruin a batch of beer, but the trace amount left in your bucket is harmless.

Folks also use the tablets to dechlorinate water, which is great for those with municipal water supplies.

Google it, there are tons of scientific, non-scientific, and of course, anecdotal results. I only know what I learned from Google and the back of the package, for better or worse.

PortlandPatrick said:

I'm not a scientist -

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The hell you aren't. You're a brewer....and that, my friend, makes you a scientist. Why do you think we have these boards?

Hey all - I am getting conflicting advice on the campden tabs. Do I add them 48, 24, or 8 hrs before?