From what I've seen, all you need is 24 hours. Mind you, I'm no expert. In fact, I have used apple juice just once, to make this version of graff:
4lbs Colorado pale 2-row malt
0.5 lbs caramel malt 80L
1oz flakes wheat (LHBS was out of torrefied)
4 gal unpasteurized Safeway organic apple juice
8 lb frozen sweet Oregon cherries
0.5 oz Tettnang
1pkg Safale US-05
I mashed at 154 for an hour, mashed out for ten minutes, then sparged.
My boil was about 30 minutes. I added the cherries just after flame-out when the wort cooled a bit. After cooling, I added the wort and cherries to the juice and pitched.
Two weeks later, I bottled it up. I'll have to make another batch someday without cherries to get the regular flavor, but I had twelve pounds of the things that needed to go somewhere! The graff is excellent. My wine friends love it!
4lbs Colorado pale 2-row malt
0.5 lbs caramel malt 80L
1oz flakes wheat (LHBS was out of torrefied)
4 gal unpasteurized Safeway organic apple juice
8 lb frozen sweet Oregon cherries
0.5 oz Tettnang
1pkg Safale US-05
I mashed at 154 for an hour, mashed out for ten minutes, then sparged.
My boil was about 30 minutes. I added the cherries just after flame-out when the wort cooled a bit. After cooling, I added the wort and cherries to the juice and pitched.
Two weeks later, I bottled it up. I'll have to make another batch someday without cherries to get the regular flavor, but I had twelve pounds of the things that needed to go somewhere! The graff is excellent. My wine friends love it!