Ultimate Geekdom: Graf not Graff

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thanantos

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Of course most you are probably familiar with Brandon O's Graff recipe. It's really good, and I know because I have made GF versions in the past that taste fantastic!

However, I am planning to make something that is more true to it's Stephen King/The Gunslinger roots where it is described as a strong apple beer.

Knowing the Gunslinger characters and series I imagine something much darker than Brandon O's recipe. I imagine something more along the lines of a stout mixed with hard apple cider.

So, given this sort of general idea of this fictional beverage how would you make Graf, not graff?


Here's Brandon O's recipe:

.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



I was thinking:

1lb of rolled oats, roasted and steeped
1lb D-180
1-2 lbs of Sorghum syrup
8 oz maltodextrin
4 gallons of apple juice
0.5 oz of hops for bittering
1 oz cascade dry hopped


What do you think and any ideas?
 
Oh man...how did I fail to make the connection between graff and the Dark Tower? It's been waaaaaay too long since I read those books!

Since all we've got to go on is "strong apple-beer", and this is something from Mid-World, aiming for "rustic" would be the best plan. I'd use only raw, unpasteurized apple juice, and I'd try to get my hands on some apples straight from the orchard--for the yeast on their skin! Some wood for aging would be requisite, as well. I'd probably do some roasted rice (why not, for the 'riza reference?) instead of the oats, and mash it with amylase formula (you can get away with just amylase on rice, I think, provided the grind is fine and the cereal mash is long). Failing that, I'd get some oat malt and take a chance on it to see if I can handle it, and decoction mash that. Failing that, I'd roast up a bunch of oats and buckwheat at high temperature for a short while, not too dark but still plenty dark, steep that and make up for the lack of sugars with rice syrup. A bit of molasses too, for color. Or better, some scorched honey.

Hops...I'd bitter with something old and wild, maybe Cluster. Skip the aroma hops and go gruit-style, with some heather tips and yarrow at 15 minutes. Not too much, though! The apple flavor should predominate.

And like I said, I'd use the closest thing I could get to wild yeast, and use wood in the secondary. Not necessarily oak, though...maybe cherry or maple. I'm thinking "medieval" is the operative guiding principle here. It would have to be rough around the edges, imprecise, a bit wild. No precise measurements, if you get the drift. If it's not funky, it's not right.

But that's just my take on it! Maybe I'll give a go at it in the new year sometime....
 
Thanks Igliashon! That's where I was headed too...medieval.

I love the idea of wood in the secondary. Someone else mentioned oak soaked in whiskey (in another thread) which I don't think will work here, but would be a really good idea in another beer.

I plan to brew this next, in a few weeks. I will let you know how it goes.
 
I'd never heard of graf(f) before and I haven't read the dark towers series so I don't have much to offer. I can't quite wrap my head around it--beer/apple juice mixed together?
Although I did just dry hop a cider so maybe I can...
 
I'd never heard of graf(f) before and I haven't read the dark towers series so I don't have much to offer. I can't quite wrap my head around it--beer/apple juice mixed together?
Although I did just dry hop a cider so maybe I can...

Yeah, GF brewing has me thinking of all sorts of crazy ****, but I digress.

This Graff recipe is VERY popular and quite good. I don't now for sure, but I don't think Brandon O based his recipe on King's novels as his recipe is quite light, he spelled it differently, and he never mentions it in the thread.

His idea was to use beer ingredients to compliment the taste of a young cider for faster cider turnaround.
 
Did you ever make this? I'm going to try, here is my attempt:

A book I haven’t read Graf

Boil approx 2 gallons of water
Add:
1oz Centennial @ 60
.5 Cascade @ 60
1lb 6oz brown rice syrup
1lb D-90
1lb D-45
1.5 Cascade @ 20

Top off with 3 gallons of apple juice
S-05
 
I have made this a few times now. Check out the other Graf thread for my results.
 
The Dark Tower may have given it the name "graff" (great name, by the way) but malt and apple brews were not totally unknown in the ancient british brewing traditions, where practically every combination of available fermentables was tried at some point.

I make mine with smoked malt (beechwood; I've tried it with peat and it was godawful). As for hops, I like a light touch of noble hops, because they stay out of the way, and a handful of apple peels in the fermentor really ups the apple aroma.
 
http://brewingtv.com/recipe/2012/9/18/gunslingers-graff.html

Brewing TV did a graff episode. Someone sent in a darker, stoutish graf. I have it aging in a keg right now. It might be along the lines of what you are looking for. I actually think the recipe was from someone on this forum.

The recipe was from Greencoat(https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f78/gunslingers-graff-147726/) and the beer that was sent in was from me actually, haha. I'm brewing a GF beer this week for a friend of a friend and stumbled across this. Never thought of going the graff route with it though. Maybe I can do a small side batch of gf graff to send along with it. Now I have to buy apple juice.
 
Awesome!

I've read that recipe AND have seen that episode. I think he nailed the real drink. Now to come up with a GF version of that recipe. Shouldn't be to hard. I'm thinking a combo of D-180, sorghum and oatmeal would do it.
 
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