New Brewer attempting Graff

So i just started brewing, been learning a lot on these forums and from my local brew shop. I currently have 5 gallons of Graff fermenting away that i made with 1/4 lb 60L and 1/4 lb 120L and around 4% hops. my question is that when i go to bottle how much of what sweetener should i use and should i cold crash it?

For bottle carbonating you probably need about 4-5 oz of corn sugar for a five gallon batch. If you're talking about sweetener for flavoring purposes then you'll have some issues to deal with if you're planning on bottle carbing.

Thanks, i was just referring to what would be needed for bottle carbing. I've also red about carbonation tabs. does anyone know how well these work and if you can use them in place of sweetener and further fermentation?

Can't help you on the carb tabs, from what I've read the Coopers ones are better than the ones from Muntons. Are you planning on priming each bottle separately? If you have a bottling bucket it makes things a lot easier because you can just dissolve the corn sugar in boiling water and then add it to the bottling bucket while the beer is being transferred.

The only batches I bottle prime still are my 2 gallon Mr. Beer batches and they're not bad because I still use the one liter bottles that came with the kit. So, it's only eight bottles.

If you're planning on priming each bottle with sugar...have fun. I'd probably look into the carb drops if that is the case.

I didn't think the carb tabs were great when I used them.

I prefer 7/8 cup of dextrose for graff carbing. quart of water with 7/8 cup dextrose heated up then cooled.

should it be brought up to a boil or will just hot enough to dissolve it be fine. oh and by the way just checked it SG is at 1.021, smells great.

Pyledriver said:

should it be brought up to a boil or will just hot enough to dissolve it be fine. oh and by the way just checked it SG is at 1.021, smells great.

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I always bring it just to a boil and then remove it from the heat. Then I start the siphon from the fermenter into the bottling bucket and make sure the end of the siphon tube is on the bottom in a way that causes it to swirl into the bottling bucket. I let about half a gallon of wort transfer over and then pour the hot sugar syrup in as it continues to transfer. I figure letting that first half gallon transfer provides enough of a buffer so that the near boiling liquid doesn't melt anything and the whirlpool action causes it to mix within a few seconds.

Have fun. I might have to throw a few more bottles of Graff in the fridge for the weekend. It's hot around here today and a pint or two would go down nicely! I might tweak the recipe here and there, but I think Graff has kind of become my go to cider recipe at this point. Thanks again for the recipe Brandon!

Thanks for the pointers, tips from experienced brewers is almost always more useful than tips from books.

Pyledriver said:

Thanks for the pointers, tips from experienced brewers is almost always more useful than tips from books.

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There are plenty of great books out there. I recommend How to Brew and Homebrewing for Dummies, but reading this site has taught me a great deal. My suggestion, just keep coming here as often as possible for a few months and keep checking the new threads since your last login. Before you know it you'll have answers to a healthy portion of your brewing questions long before you ever need to worry about finding the answers.

Thanks again shooter, I will definitely check out those books.

Hope I'm not changing the subject too much,

I have a five gallon batch of graff made pretty much according to the recipe. I also have several gallons of apple juice I just pressed. The apples were pretty tart and the SG is right about 1.050. If I added one gallon of the fresh juice to the five gallon batch, would it give me enough sugar to prime the batch and bottle or would more sugar be necessary?

thanks for your input,

gus

guscampag said:

Hope I'm not changing the subject too much,

I have a five gallon batch of graff made pretty much according to the recipe. I also have several gallons of apple juice I just pressed. The apples were pretty tart and the SG is right about 1.050. If I added one gallon of the fresh juice to the five gallon batch, would it give me enough sugar to prime the batch and bottle or would more sugar be necessary?

thanks for your input,

gus

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That's a difficult question to answer without knowing the SG of Graff after adding the priming sugar... I think that would add about 0.008 to the SG so maybe you should look for someone who is nearing bottling time and ask them to take a hydrometer reading once they've added the priming sugar to their Graff. My hunch is that a gallon of 1.050 juice is to much... but I've never hydro'd a brew after adding the priming sugar

Is there a particular SG we would be aiming for in the primed graff or cider?

SeamusMac said:

think that would add about 0.008 to the SG so maybe you should look for someone who is nearing bottling time

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.008 is about the equivalent of adding a pound of DME to 5g (.009)


IIRC, 5 oz of priming sugar gives you .0025 or so.

Thanks for the responses about the apple juice for priming. I think what I will do is make up this batch per Brandon's suggestion with the dextrose sugar and measure the sg before I bottle. Then with the next batch, I can add enough apple juice to duplicate that reading! I have more apples ready to press anyway once I get these out of the carboy. I will have to scrounge up some more beer bottles though.

thanks again,

gus

In case anyone is interested, my graff was at 1.006 before adding the priming sugar. After adding 1 cup of dextrose (approximately 5 oz. - my scale is not real precise) to the 5 gallons, it rose to 1.010 and that is how I bottled it.

I guess we'll see how it comes out.

thanks again

gus

my graff always ends up between 1.006 and 1.008.

I have seen other consistently finish a couple points higher and lower than that.

I always use 7/8 cup of dextrose dissolved in 1 quart near boiling water to prime. I am not sure what that brings the gravity up to but it gives it a good amount of carbonation with out making over carbed.

I don't know about you, but I like my ciders a bit more carbed than a fat tire but not as carbed as a zima or some crap like that.