Graff (Malty, slightly hopped cider)

Yakima 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
So i pitched the yeast at 4:22 pm and left for a while. i came home around 2am and it was bubbling through the airlock. its now 10am and the the thing is bubbling like crazy. im still concearned though about the temp. i have to leave for 5 days and i dont have anyway to keep it cool other then leaving it in the kitchen. it around 75 degrees now will this hurt anything?

Sean
 
The bad, the good, & the ugly... Bad--I drank the last bottle of my Graff night before last :(

The good--My apfelwein, which tasted really wonky a few weeks ago, has smoothed out nicely. But it's sure not Graff. :mug:

The ugly--We're in the middle of a heat wave and there's no way I can control my fermenter temp until it cools off somewhat. So I can't start another Graff yet. And the apfelwein and pear wine in the secondaries are aging for Christmas gifts. So I'm sipping apfelwein verrrrryyy slowly..... and dreaming of how my next batch of Graff will taste!:p
 
saburke17 said:
So i pitched the yeast at 4:22 pm and left for a while. i came home around 2am and it was bubbling through the airlock. its now 10am and the the thing is bubbling like crazy. im still concearned though about the temp. i have to leave for 5 days and i dont have anyway to keep it cool other then leaving it in the kitchen. it around 75 degrees now will this hurt anything?

Sean
Click to expand...

you are fine, but try to get to 72 and optimally you would want to be at 68. you can always just age it a bit more if you get off flavors but I am sure it's not a big deal.
 
saburke17 said:
Hey everyone, This is my first post here. I just made the graff as per instruction, the only thing i may have done wrong is the amount of 60L i steeped. i could not remember when i bought it if she gave a 1lb or 1/2 pound???? i think it was a pound so i ended up using a cup and 1/4 of the 60L which was half of what was in the bag. how big of a difference would it make? I used 100% juice not from concentrate. the last difference was the hops. i got willamette 5.8% instead of 6% i pretty sure from the previous post that i should be ok as less is better.
Also is 70-73 degrees gona be ok for fermentation?
Click to expand...

you will be fine with the 60L. 70-73 degrees is okay but 68 is optimal.
 
Juice for Graff?

I just purchased the DME and the Crystal (could only get 20L and no torrified wheat). I also picked up some Amarillo Hop pellets, I read they were real citrusy and floral, so I thought that would go well with the apple. So my next purchase is juice. The local orchard apparently has something against fermentation, as they put a preservative in their fresh sweet cider (which tastes amazing BTW) to prevent fermentation. So, I need to know what to buy. Is standard Motts or other "Juice from Concentrate" acceptable for this cider? Or do I need any special type of aple juice/cider?
Thanks a bunch! This is my first "non" kit brew.
 
I did an AG attempt of this the other night. The italics 'cause I botched it. I wasn't thinking and added way too much water for my boil/sparge and ended up with 2 gals wort and 3 gals AJ. My OG was 1.040, so I guess I'm making Graff Lite. It bubbled rapidly and steadily for about 5 days, I'm gonna take hydro readings starting in a week or so.
 
I guess I kinda made Graff lite too. My DME was on target, but I made the mistake of picking up 3 quart containers of AJ, not gallons. My OG was around 1.042, I ended up back sweetening it with 2 cans concentrate to give it back some apple character. FG when I bottled on saturday ended up giving me abv of 4.5%. Not too shabby.
 
imprez25 said:
Juice for Graff?

I just purchased the DME and the Crystal (could only get 20L and no torrified wheat). I also picked up some Amarillo Hop pellets, I read they were real citrusy and floral, so I thought that would go well with the apple. So my next purchase is juice. The local orchard apparently has something against fermentation, as they put a preservative in their fresh sweet cider (which tastes amazing BTW) to prevent fermentation. So, I need to know what to buy. Is standard Motts or other "Juice from Concentrate" acceptable for this cider? Or do I need any special type of aple juice/cider?
Thanks a bunch! This is my first "non" kit brew.
Click to expand...

i have used motts many times.
 
Brandon O said:
i have used motts many times.
Click to expand...

I'll be picking up some on the way home tonight! :rockin: I've got to clean some bottles tonight so I can get a Oktoberfest out of the secondary, so while I wait for them to soak I'll be brewing up this delicious sounding brew.
 
Okay brewed this up tonight here's what we had:

2# of Extra Light Dry Extract
.5# Crystal 20L
.5oz Amarillo Hops
1 gallon H2O
4 gallons of Apple Cider (Cub Food Brand, Juice from Concentrate, no additives no preservatives, pasteurized)
Nottingham Yeast

Steeped the grains for 20 minutes in .75 gallon water, sparged with .25 gallon. Brought to boil. Added 2# DME and .5oz hops. Boiled for 30 minutes. Added Irish Moss (mainly out of habit at this point. Not sure if it will do anything since I only had the 1 gallon of "wort"). Cooled with wort chiller (thermometer took a dump so I just felt the bottom of the boil kettle) Aerated the wort through a strainer, did the same with the 4 gallons of Apple Cider. Rehydrated the yeast and pitched. Total brew time was just over 1 hour from flame on to pitch. Quickest brew so far. If this is good, it will earn a spot in one of my fermentor full time. Smelt good going in, so I'm sure it will be good coming out!

OG was 1.062.
 
Hi everyone,

I'm new to brewing and just saw the Graff recipe. All I can say is WOW. It sure beats the straight cider that I was planning on making this weekend. I have two questions about the recipe.

First, would it be ok to use a cider yeast (I have a vial of white labs english cider)?

Also, would reducing the water and/or including apple concentrate increase the apple flavor? Or would it just make it more alcoholic?

Thanks again for the recipe and this thread. It really makes me want to get out and brew!

Patrick
 
Yeah, I told my wife last night that I have enough materials minus the Juice to make another batch. Once she smelt it going into the bucket, she said that I should plan on another batch soon! :) This looks to be a good brew for sure.
 
I brewed an AG version of this about a ten days ago. This was my first cider. The sample going into the keg was good, but a little tart. I used cheap Walmart brand juice. I might let it sit for a week or two at room temp in the keg, then drop in some gelatin before putting it on gas. Even with the tartness, I think it will be good carbed up and cold.
 
I just got the ingredients and am ready to brew. I forgot to get a muslin bag though. Could I just steep and then strain, no bag? And I got Breiss Torrified Wheat Malt, does this need to be ground?
 
imprez25 said:
Okay brewed this up tonight here's what we had:

2# of Extra Light Dry Extract
.5# Crystal 20L
.5oz Amarillo Hops
1 gallon H2O
4 gallons of Apple Cider (Cub Food Brand, Juice from Concentrate, no additives no preservatives, pasteurized)
Nottingham Yeast

Steeped the grains for 20 minutes in .75 gallon water, sparged with .25 gallon. Brought to boil. Added 2# DME and .5oz hops. Boiled for 30 minutes. Added Irish Moss (mainly out of habit at this point. Not sure if it will do anything since I only had the 1 gallon of "wort"). Cooled with wort chiller (thermometer took a dump so I just felt the bottom of the boil kettle) Aerated the wort through a strainer, did the same with the 4 gallons of Apple Cider. Rehydrated the yeast and pitched. Total brew time was just over 1 hour from flame on to pitch. Quickest brew so far. If this is good, it will earn a spot in one of my fermentor full time. Smelt good going in, so I'm sure it will be good coming out!

OG was 1.062.
Click to expand...

you are gonna love it man, ferment that bad boy at 68 degrees and you will be good to go.
 
DrDemi said:
Hi everyone,

I'm new to brewing and just saw the Graff recipe. All I can say is WOW. It sure beats the straight cider that I was planning on making this weekend. I have two questions about the recipe.

First, would it be ok to use a cider yeast (I have a vial of white labs english cider)?

Also, would reducing the water and/or including apple concentrate increase the apple flavor? Or would it just make it more alcoholic?

Thanks again for the recipe and this thread. It really makes me want to get out and brew!

Patrick
Click to expand...

I'm sure you can use the yeast you have. I just prefer Notty, i totally reccomend getting some.
Apple concentrate wouldn't increase the apple flavor so much as just make it stronger. I wouldn't want to increase the apple flavor, it has really big apple flavor already.

Brew it up, you will love it. This is what cider should taste like.
 
maximus said:
I brewed an AG version of this about a ten days ago. This was my first cider. The sample going into the keg was good, but a little tart. I used cheap Walmart brand juice. I might let it sit for a week or two at room temp in the keg, then drop in some gelatin before putting it on gas. Even with the tartness, I think it will be good carbed up and cold.
Click to expand...

I have noticed the only difference between fresh pressed good stuff and the cheap store brand is this very thing, tartness.

Good juice tends to have much less tart. To balance this you can use crystal 120L instead.
 
Well I made this on the 12th following directions best I could for a noob. I used nottingham yeast, and Mt Hood hops. This was my first attempt at anything much more complicated than hard lemonade! All went well I think, except I found it a little tricky steeping consistently at 155 degrees. A couple times it got up to 175, and then just below 150. I hope this wont affect it too much. It's been fermenting nicely at 70 degrees in the basement, as this is as cool a spot as I can get. One question though. I've been reading some recipes and see that it's necessary to strain out hops. I hope it wasn't necessary for this one?! Gulp.....was it?
 
Sooooooooo, what are you guys priming with? And how much? I'm new to brewing, only have 1 batch of stout just bottled and a second of something like a newcastle in the ferm. now.
 
Here is my next iteration of this: wanted to make things a little simpler, a little darker, a little sweeter...

2 gallons of wort from: 1lb DME, 1lb C120, 1lb C60. Ideally the wort comes out with about the same gravity as the juice, in the mid 1.050's.

Add to 3 gals of juice, ferment with S-04.
 
NeonBrew said:
Well I made this on the 12th following directions best I could for a noob. I used nottingham yeast, and Mt Hood hops. This was my first attempt at anything much more complicated than hard lemonade! All went well I think, except I found it a little tricky steeping consistently at 155 degrees. A couple times it got up to 175, and then just below 150. I hope this wont affect it too much. It's been fermenting nicely at 70 degrees in the basement, as this is as cool a spot as I can get. One question though. I've been reading some recipes and see that it's necessary to strain out hops. I hope it wasn't necessary for this one?! Gulp.....was it?
Click to expand...

Nope, no big deal with the hops. Also, just fine with the varying of the temp when steeping. It happens to everyone, in fact I would be surprised if you could hold a consistent temp on a stove top.
 
Coastarine said:
Here is my next iteration of this: wanted to make things a little simpler, a little darker, a little sweeter...

2 gallons of wort from: 1lb DME, 1lb C120, 1lb C60. Ideally the wort comes out with about the same gravity as the juice, in the mid 1.050's.

Add to 3 gals of juice, ferment with S-04.
Click to expand...

you gotta let me know how that turns out. Lots of crystal grain, I am interested.
 
Brandon O said:
Nope, no big deal with the hops. Also, just fine with the varying of the temp when steeping. It happens to everyone, in fact I would be surprised if you could hold a consistent temp on a stove top.
Click to expand...

A little trick I learned from Kaiser's decoction video:
When trying to maintain a consistent temperature of a pot, after hitting strike temperature pull the pot from the stove, place lid on top, and wrap it up in a comforter. I've done this with my 20 qt enamel pot and only lost 10 degrees over 30 minutes. Almost works as well as a insulated mash-tun.
 
so after about 8 days in primary my batch has slowed way down on the bubbling. So i took the cover off and stirred the crap out of it and covered her back up. took a quick taste after the sg reading and it was very tart. im thinking of bottling this up this weekend which will be two weeks in primary. should I use a 5gal carboy or just use a bunch of glass liter bottles. I have a bunch of scrumpy bottles hanging around and was gona recycle them. what am i gona need for ingrediants to carb this by bottle. is there another recipe i can follow?
Oh and she started bubbling again the day after
Sean
 
Just wanted to follow-up on an earlier post where I asked about adding strawberries in the secondary. I didn't get much feedback on it, but I went ahead and gave it a shot anyway...sampled it today quite a bit as I was bottling and it's really a wonderful addition if you're looking for a change of pace from the original.

Two weeks in primary per original recipe and then two weeks in secondary. Started at 1.067 and finished at 1.006.

I added 3.5 lbs strawberries to the secondary, link to pic below. The strawberry aroma is gorgeous and quite present without being overbearing. The strawberries added a slight tartness that gives way to the base Graff's sweetness. The alcohol is perfectly blended, even hidden. A friend tasted and asked if it was non-alcoholic. Oh, no--not at all, friend. Really just a great recipe, Brandon O.

The berries add a slightly reddish hue to the Graff, but the base color is still dominant. All in all, I think it came out nicely...hopefully the aroma will hold through the carbonation weeks. Just wish I had this done earlier in the summer...

strawberrycider.jpg
 
Has anyone used the yeast slurry from a Graff and pitched another (different) brew on top of it? Will it impart much of the cider flavor to a new batch? How about making something Ephemere-ish using this technique? Other types of beer?

My first Graff will be done in the fermenter is a week or so and I'm thinking of re-using the yeast with minimal washing to test the flavor impact on another brew.
 
saburke17 said:
so after about 8 days in primary my batch has slowed way down on the bubbling. So i took the cover off and stirred the crap out of it and covered her back up. took a quick taste after the sg reading and it was very tart. im thinking of bottling this up this weekend which will be two weeks in primary. should I use a 5gal carboy or just use a bunch of glass liter bottles. I have a bunch of scrumpy bottles hanging around and was gona recycle them. what am i gona need for ingrediants to carb this by bottle. is there another recipe i can follow?
Oh and she started bubbling again the day after
Sean
Click to expand...

you shouldn't expose your fermenting liquid to air after fermentation has begun and prior to bottling. This goes for any fermented beverage. You may oxygenate the beverage and it won't taste good.

To carb use 7/8 cup of dextrose dissolve in a quart of hot water and add that to you bottling bucket along with your beverage. wait 2 weeks for carbination, 3 weeks is better.

As far as the tart goes, did you use fresh pressed cider or store brand juice?
 
freddyb said:
Has anyone used the yeast slurry from a Graff and pitched another (different) brew on top of it? Will it impart much of the cider flavor to a new batch? How about making something Ephemere-ish using this technique? Other types of beer?

My first Graff will be done in the fermenter is a week or so and I'm thinking of re-using the yeast with minimal washing to test the flavor impact on another brew.
Click to expand...

I have not noticed flavor clash when using old slurry in completely different beers. I have not tried it for graff because of 2 reasons. 1. I think a slurry would take it too dry. 2. Dry yeast is super cheap.
 
So I did my 5 gal batch on 7/30. Its already in the 2nd-ary (for clarity) but until now it is still letting up tiny bubbles to the surface. The airlock has no signs of activity but in the carboy, its as if you opened a carbonated soda, tiny bubbles contunie to rise so I know its still fermenting. Should I let it continue or go ahead and cold crash then bottle? Im worried that if I continue to allow the fermentation that the apply sweetness will be lost. Of course, I could always prime the bottles with apple jolly ranchers - lol

OG - 1.066
TxT
 
txtaquito said:
So I did my 5 gal batch on 7/30. Its already in the 2nd-ary (for clarity) but until now it is still letting up tiny bubbles to the surface. The airlock has no signs of activity but in the carboy, its as if you opened a carbonated soda, tiny bubbles contunie to rise so I know its still fermenting. Should I let it continue or go ahead and cold crash then bottle? Im worried that if I continue to allow the fermentation that the apply sweetness will be lost. Of course, I could always prime the bottles with apple jolly ranchers - lol

OG - 1.066
TxT
Click to expand...

Gotta measure the gravity. If it is indeed still fermenting and you are a bottler, you must let it finish to make sure you don't have exploding bottles. Beers do tend to bubble for a while after the yeast is done just because the co2 in solution slowly makes its way out (offgassing). Only way to know for sure is to get the same gravity reading twice in a row a few days apart. It has been almost three weeks for your batch, for me it would be very unusual to have something of a medium gravity not be done fermenting after three weeks.
 

Similar threads

nxc3441
apple pie cider under 10 bucks a gallon
Replies
2
Views
868
nxc3441
nxc3441
CKuhns
Faux Ice Cider
Replies
1
Views
826
JasontheBeaver
JasontheBeaver
Chalkyt
Using Fuji juice to make sweet carbonated Cider
Replies
1
Views
407
Chalkyt
Chalkyt
SoCalPlumber
Plumber's Cider
2 3
Replies
86
Views
3K
Fixerman
F
Brit the !@#$
New Apple Orchardist Member Looking to Develop Graf Recipe Using Cider Syrup
Replies
16
Views
832
madscientist451
madscientist451
SSBrew 300

Latest posts

Back
Top