HOLY CRAP, Graff is good!

I just pulled off a sample today after 3.5 weeks in primary and the stuff is amazing.

This is what I expected cider to taste like when I first got the idea to brew. It's smooth, easy to drink, appley and of course, alcoholic. I can see a whole lot of fun down the road starting with this base and tweaking and fine-tuning in myriad ways.

I did both a Safale-05 and a Nottingham -- both are very good but I find the S-05 a bit more interesting. I still have an S-04 to pitch for my next batch. I'm going to like brewing a lot more of this stuff.

I'm thinking about turning part of my current batch into graffelwien.

I'd be interested how the S-04 turns out. I like Graff a lot, but wouldn't mind just a hint more sweetness and am wondering how the S-04 would work. I've only used Nottingham so far.

jaginger said:

This is what I expected cider to taste like when I first got the idea to brew. It's smooth, easy to drink, appley and of course, alcoholic.

Click to expand...

You said it all right there. Apfelweing was a failure to my tastes, so was any combination of sugar, juice, and yeast.

Graff is the only thing that resembles what i think cider should taste like in my opinion.

O.k. you all talked me into trying some. I have been trying diff recipes and nothing comes out just right. This is next up for me.

My Graff's been in the bottles about a week & a half--being very slow to carb. So this afternoon I couldn't wait any longer, and put one in the fridge to chill. Drinking it tonight and it is great! Even though you can tell it's a touch green and alcohol-y, it's got this incredible smoothness and mouthfeel to it. I bet in a few weeks it will be amazing. I also bet I won't have any left to find out. OK, time to get some more juice and get another batch going!

Try it warmed up in a coffee cup some cold night with a little honey and lemon. Some bourban might be good too. I live in the mountais and it's starting to cool down to the 40s and 50s at night. i had a cup the other night and it was incredible. the saaz hops gave it a very christmas spicy flavor.

Brandon O said:

You said it all right there. Apfelweing was a failure to my tastes, so was any combination of sugar, juice, and yeast.

Graff is the only thing that resembles what i think cider should taste like in my opinion.

Click to expand...

New guy here.. Graff sounds appealing, of course I found it after my first batch of juice/sugar/champagne yeast first started bubbling last night. But... I don't like beer. I've tried. Just do not like the taste. Don't like traditional wines either - no whites, a traditional merlot or burgundy is ok, but my favorite is muscadine reds. Yes. I know this makes a lot of people turn up their nose, but... this sounds like what I was looking for.

But the hopps kinda worries me. Thats where the nasty beer flavor (excuse me, the acquired experts only taste) comes from, right? Don't want my cider tasting like beer. Just looking for smooth, sweet, bite but not liqorish (dangerous, as people like to say).

Haven't seen it here, but I discovered I needed a check valve after I got home last night with the stuff, so I took a paring knife, cut a hole in the lid of the juice jug, cut a 1" square of plastic wrap, and taped it down on three sides - like an occlusive dressing for a sucking chest wound. This morning it's bubbling away, but not frothing, seems to be thin enough the bubbles burst right away.

Swarfrat, if you don't like hops, just try making a malted hard cider using malt extract without hops. I've looked around a bit outside of this website and there are all kinds of variations of malted ciders. Great thing about homebrewing--you can make what you like!

jcobbs said:

Swarfrat, if you don't like hops, just try making a malted hard cider using malt extract without hops. I've looked around a bit outside of this website and there are all kinds of variations of malted ciders. Great thing about homebrewing--you can make what you like!

Click to expand...

I second this...i actually made the Graff recipe without the hops. I wasn't ready for that leap yet, but it still tastes awesome to me. I am going to add a touch of hops on my next batch and see what it does. If I like it, I'll keep going.

I guess I was more asking than saying. I was just afraid of getting an apple flavored beer rather than cider.

jaginger, my experience is the same. I used a very light DME with apple juice and it was awesome. I have some hopped LME to try next--just waiting for the right time to start a batch!

swarfrat said:

I guess I was more asking than saying. I was just afraid of getting an apple flavored beer rather than cider.

Click to expand...

If you stick to the recipe and use low AA hops you won't even be able to taste them.

They simple balance the flavor.

I just bottled mine today after 2 weeks in the primary. I forgot to take a O.G. but the F.G. is 1.010. Put it all in bottles with the coopers carb drops. Now the waiting starts again. I held a bottle back and gave it a taste. Pretty damn good.

i am making the recipe for graff that i found on here. i have 5 gallons of juice and it only calls for 4. i am using a 6.5 gal better bottle for fermenting. does the wyeast cider yeast create a vigorous fermentation that will blow off? will i be better off using my ale pail, it has more room in it.

I do a Graff w/o hops. It turns out awesome. I just havent had a chance to make it with hops yet. I love hops, so I imagine I will like it, but you dont have to add them. What makes the Graff better than just regular cider is the malt. Mmmm

I did my first graff w/o hops. Good.

Then I did my second graff with hops. EVEN BETTER. The hops definitely balance the tartness that I had in my first one, but you don't really taste them independently. I'm keeping them in the recipe from now on.

david_42 said:

I'm thinking about turning part of my current batch into graffelwien.

Click to expand...

David,
Did you do this? I have a batch of apfelwein that I started 9/30/10 and I am very interested in seeing if I can successfully turn it into graff. I'm not a big fan of the apfelwein. I keep making it though, I don't know why.

Well David PMed me back and said he never got around to "graffing" his apfelwein. Since I recently did a 6 gallon batch of AW I graffed a gallon of it. I started a thread on it if anyone is interested. It is a great way to make AW much more drinkable if AW is not your favorite drink but you find yourself making it anyway.