Anybody ever try adding hops to cider ?

Im wondering how it would turn out. Possibly a cider that tastes more like beer ?
Apple beer ? Its something I have thought about and just wondering if anybody has tried it.

Try searching for graff. I believe that there have been several discussions on dry hopping cider that has been brewed with various malt forms.

I have not tried it personally yet - I've got a batch thats clearing that I may try this with depending on how it tastes. I believe, from my reading, that the results have been somewhat of a mixed bag depending on the receipe/hops used/and point at which they were added. What I gather is that hopping cider is something that should be done with a certain amount of restraint otherwise the hops can easily over power/conflict with your cider.

Hopefully someone with signficantly more experience will chime in here and more adequately guide you in the right direction.

Panik said:

Try searching for graff.

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Yes. GRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!

Graff does indeed taste like, well apple beer.

It's quite good in my opinion.

I find the 0.5 oz hops a little low for my tastes, I may try making a Graff IPA using Summit hops for bittering and flavor.

Hopefully this isn't hijacking the thread......but.....

AZ_IPA what have you been using for hopping your graff's? I've got a honey graff I'm waiting on to clear and I was considering a light dry hop with once its done. I'm pretty noobe at this and was thinking of using a little bit of Cascades because I used orange blossum honey in the graff. I heard (not experienced) that Cascades had some citrus like aromatic properties and I was hoping that it might compliment the honey I used. Any thoughts on the matter?

Panik said:

Hopefully this isn't hijacking the thread......but.....

AZ_IPA what have you been using for hopping your graff's? I've got a honey graff I'm waiting on to clear and I was considering a light dry hop with once its done. I'm pretty noobe at this and was thinking of using a little bit of Cascades because I used orange blossum honey in the graff. I heard (not experienced) that Cascades had some citrus like aromatic properties and I was hoping that it might compliment the honey I used. Any thoughts on the matter?

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I've just been following the BrandonO recipe, which I think is a 0.5 oz of low% AA hops boiled for 30 minutes. I use cascade.

I would think any of the American "C" hops would be worth trying as a dry hop for a honey graff.

Sweet. Thanks for the advice. Now all I gotta do is wait for the stuff to clear, and as Tom Petty said "the waiting is the hardest part".

Looks interesting , but the recipes and discussion I am seeing about it include malt extract or grains in the recipe. Thats not a bad idea and probably gets the best flavor but I am thinking along the lines of just cider , nothing else, with hops.

Chris, while I am not the best person to advise you on this, I think one of the attractions to graff is that the addition of malt extract and grains allows for a more fully rounded drink.

One of the reasons I tried brewing a honey graff was because I am in Florida and I don't have access to good, fresh juice blends that are suitable for brewing a good simple cider. The first several batches of cider that I made lacked any body and truthfully any real flavor because I didn't have good juice. For me it is kinda along the lines of adding raisin, tea and lemon juice to build a more complex, well rounded drink.

I think if you start with a good base juice to make your cider and then try hopping/dry hopping you might, and I stress might, be able to get something that is worth the effort. On the other hand I would think that hopping a cider made from commercial store bought juice might be like trying to make a song out two notes where the notes aren't necessarily even in the same key.

That being said I am still very new at this. Give it a try this forum seems to be all about experimenting and building on knowledge. The one big thing that I have gleaned about hopping cider, and it is something I will adhere to if I hop my graff, is to do so in small quantities

True. I have had some good success with Musselmans brand cider bought at many stores including wal mart , which might be an option for you to if you havent tried it yet. I agree adding the malt would make it better but I may try it once without just to see how it comes out. It would be about like hopped wine but if carbonated may turn out good.

well, to my tastes hops and apples don't go together, aroma-wise. If you boiled the hops long enough in a little water or something, it could make up for the low bitterness of a juice lacking in tannin, but I wouldn't dry hop a cider that was made from just juice and no malt. It would be like putting garlic and chillies in a chocolate cake to me.

I may give the Musselmans a try here once I am back on my feet (knee surgery). I used Martinelli's to good effect, but its bleeping expensive to do more than play with.

As far as dry hopping I was thinking, maybe, about doing it with the honey graff....but I am really on the fence on that idea. I'll have to see how it tastes after clearing. I've been cold crashing my graff - I used Notty and was hoping to stop things around 1.08 or so, but with the honey addition I may have to give up on that idea.

Yan, I love the comparison....garlic and chocolate not so much. On the other hand cayenne and dark chocolate is some pretty good stuff.

actually, I ate at a restaurant where the whole menu had garlic in it, including the desserts. The garlic-and-chocolate-chip cookies were actually pretty good, but I could tell they had blanched the garlic so it only would give a hint of garlic flavour. If you want to take a risk, you very well could wind up with something good. My ciders, however, are ciders and my beers are beers, and I think the most I'd do to mix the two is throw some granny smith's into a pilsner during secondary.