Graff (Malty, slightly hopped cider)

You'll be fine adding the rest of the AJ today.

 

Thanks, I got 2 more gallons, so looks like I'll be around 4.5 gallons total. Probably closer to 4.25 since some water got boiled off.

 

Just a fun pic

 

I find these recipes for cider finish pretty hot. 7-8 percent alcohol. What would a 5% final alcohol recipe look like for this Graff? I made this Graff a few months back like it but still a little too hot for the girls...

Thanks in advance!!

 

Cutting back the DME to 1lb should help. Otherwise, use a less attenuant yeast and/or backsweeten/dilute to desired abv with juice and pasteurize.

 

Wow! I've heard some criticisms of my graff, but heat has never been one of them, even when it was young. Do you mean it actually tastes hot (alcoholic), or do you mean they drank some and it had more of an effect than they were expecting?

 

Whoops, I added 2lbs DME to my 2.5 gallon batch. OG 1.074, FG 1.012, 8.14% ABV

 

Another follow up.. I figured I would quote the majority of my posts in this thread for continuity. This has been carbed up and sitting in my keezer for around a month now. Wow. very nice stuff. I am so glad I did 10 gallons of it. A nice head and lacing, mild sweetness, medium mouth feel with hints of dark fruit and a full apple (cheap AJ for the record) taste. I feel it will only continue to improve with age, probably up to a year or so (guaranteed also not to last long enough to know), and mine is in the kegerator at 38*.

My next batch I might up the 2 row a bit, say 2lb more than my current recipe in a 10 gallon batch and another half lb or so of the special b and another 2 ounces of the flaked wheat. Ill leave the hops as is. I get some of the hop character in the finish. I would also advise everyone doing this recipe to avoid the temptation to hop more than .5 oz per 5 gallon batch as Brandon O states in his first post! Hops go a long way when not matched entirely by malt.

I have also decided not to backsweeten so far. This bad boy dried down to 1.005 but has enough character to not pucker you up when you down a pint! (8% ABV!)

 

should you prime this b4 bottling or will it carbonate on its own in 3 weeks?

 

If it's done fermenting (same hydrometer reading for 3days in a row) you'll need to add priming sugar if you want carbonation.

 

I have been carbing and conditioning this in the keg at 64 degrees for three weeks now. I finally had a slot open up in the kegerator and hooked this bad boy up tonight. It's not cold yet but damn it is good. I will make another batch tomorrow this one is going to go fast.

 

Been reading through this thread(haven't read it all) and was wondering if doing 4 weeks in primary, then straight to keg for chilling/carbing would work out for this? Instead of aging it in the warm keg for 2 weeks?

Looking forward to trying this out!

 

Should make no difference. I was drinking mine after 2 weeks in primary plus 2 weeks in bottles. I always opt for more primary time on the yeast if I can find the patience.

 

Just made this,

.5 Crystal 20L
1oz Flaked Wheat
2lbs Pale DME
.5oz Saaz
US-04
4gal Motts Apple Juice

I was very tempted to throw something in at flame out but resisted... Pretty close to original recipe, can't wait to see how this turns out...

This really takes no time to make...

 

Just found this thread and will be trying this in the next couple weeks when I have a carboy to use. After making the Apfelwine and having a bunch of us sample it all I can say is cheap white wine with a hint of apple is the final word on that and need something more like an Angry Orchard that I tried for the first time last night. Anything closer to that and far away from the Apfelwine will be a welcome addition to my taps. Hope this turns out well and thanks for the recipe.

 

Man, this turned out really nice. Apple-y and beer-y. You can really taste both the things! Very happy to have brewed this for my SWMBO, who sent me to my first brewing class a few months ago, despite not liking beer a single bit. I think she'll even like this. Thanks Brandon!

 

brewing this as I am done typing

used 2lbs golden dme
.5lbs caramel malt 10l ( that's all the lhbs had)
2ozs white wheat
.5ozs Czech saaz hops
4 gallons motts apple juice
safale-05
cant wait to try this graff out

 

I gotta try this

 

ooopps type one my part used 1 ozs white wheat

1.060 starting--tried the sample and if that's what it taste like when done with a lil achol. flavor this is one hell of a cider
deff. gunna be going quick have to keep it on stock at all times....

 

my only advice would be to use decent apple juice. I used cheap **** made from concentrate and the taste really comes through in a bad way

 

Hey folks, please excuse my questions that reek of complete noobie-ness, but I need a little help. I'm planning on cutting the original recipe in half (I have a 3 gallon carboy). I was just curious how you might suggest cutting back the alcohol content on this while still retaining the main characteristics of the cider. Would I use a little less DME? Add a little more water? I'm brewing this to surprise the little lady, and she normally doesn't go for stuff above 6%, I'd ideally like to be in the 5.5% ballpark. Should I only use one packet of Safale -05? Also, is there any way to make this a little sweeter tasting? I'd really appreciate any help I can get.

Sorry if any of this has already been covered in this thread, but I'm at work and I've read through about 30 pages already. I'm afraid if another co-worker sees me on this site today…my job might be in jeopardy.:cross:

 

What's the general consensus on which makes a better graff.. Apple juice or apple cider(both store bought). I'm deciding between motts 100% juice vs some other store bought cider.

 

This might be a double post, sorry. Started this and followed the O.P.'s recipe to the letter. Its been in the primary for 12days, and I am a little concerned that there is still 3 inches of creamy dense krausen on top. Has anyone experienced this?

 

I'd let it fall out before checking the gravity. My graff has been fermenting for just over 2 weeks, and the krausen has already fallen. I'm not sure what day it did, but it was at least a few days ago when I checked.

I am not carbontating this and was wondering if putting this into my AJ containers I used for this?? Are the plastic bottles ok to re-use?? I figure if I wanted some carbonation I can just use a little soda water/ seltzer/ tonic.

 

Mine had a thick creamy krauzen for at least two weeks, dont worry about it.

As for the bottles, I doubt it would be a problem, but you might want to google interactions between alcohol and plastic. I doubt there is anything, but might be worth checking out.

 

I took a gravity reading last night, is was around 1.012. I wasn't impressed with the flavor, almost no apple, and it seemed a bit dry. I don't have a OG because I screwed up with the amounts, and I added brown sugar. But its up there probably between 8-9%. I would like to let out sit for a few more weeks, then check out again, and then decide if I want to back sweeten it or not with concentrate. I'll need something to kill the yeast, potassium sorbate?

Edit: I used the cheapest store brand aj.

 

I'm about to make a new batch. I'm finished my first keg a while ago, and the last pint was mostly a creamy, almost yeasty foam. I had a few bottles ( a year old) that had the
same. It's almost like a yeast cake. I did two weeks in the primary for the first batch. I didn't use a secondary.
The brew tasted great. In fact, I'm having a couple right now. I'm doing a new batch tomorrow. I'm thinking, secondary this time around. Thoughts?
Cheers!

 

Hi everyone, my name is Dave, and I'm a NooB...
So I made this last Wed (4 days ago) and I had several mistakes. I'm quickly learning that I shouldn't enjoy so many beers while brewing!
Here's what I made (not sure I could call it a recipe) tried to use what I had on hand:
Mashed (BIAB) 2lbs Marris Otter, 1 lb of Crystal 60, 4 oz torrified wheat, 4 oz carapils at 158 for 1hr then sparged for 20 = about 1.5 gal wort to kettle
Added 12.5 oz golden DME, Boiled for 1 hr, added 1 oz of Kent Goldings @ 15 min
Mixed with 4 gal Martinellis AJ 100% no additives pasteurised and OG was 1.071
pitched Nottingham (rehydrated) and Fermenting at 66
after 3 days of some activity but zero Krausen, I added 2 tsp nutrient and 2 tsp energizer dissolved in boiled water and cooled
It's day 4 and I still have no Krausen. It seems like most people here got a large Krausen. Some had to wait 3 days but I haven't seen more than that.
Any thoughts? besides RDWDAHB, cause I got that, and I'm going to do that anyway, cause it is what it is.
dp

 

Take a gravity?

 

That's a good point. I just ordered a thief that will be here on Wed. Otherwise, I would have to use my autosiphon which would waste a lot. The thief should arrive by Wed and I'll update them.
Thanks!
dp

 

I racked it to a secondary this evening and took a hydrometer sample.

Go figure: current gravity is 1010!

OG was 1071 5 days ago, so the Notties were keeping their heads down and quietly going about their work

I tasted the sample and it wasn't too much of anything, but with just 5 days on it, that's a good thing!

BTW: I needed to rack to 2nd b/c I busted a glass carboy when I was ready to put this in, so I scrambled (ok paniced) and grabbed a $7 walmart water bottle and when I went to add a blowoff, I pushed the bung through. Added a blowoff cap and duct-taped it on (yep, I did) It was never airtight no matter how hard I tried, so I could never see any airlock activity. Add the fact that there was zero krausen and that's what had me worried.

Gonna let it sit for another week or two, then bottle it. I'll post the results.

Cheer!

 

So I totally though I'd made something up. Shame on me for not researching. I was sitting around thinking about how my first fermented beverage was apple wine type stuff and then several more wines and then a hefe and I was like man I wonder what would happen if.... So I made graff(unknowingly) with wheat dme Carmel 20 and flaked wheat, a 3% German hop and wyeast 3068. It's day three and the smell is amazing! Hope this turns out to be as good as the original recipe cuz I read through about 12 pages and it seems to something special. Mine is much lighter probably because of the Carmel 20 vs 60.



Had to do some rigging on a crappy Carboy cap cuz I ran out of bungs

 

when i made mine i had no krausen either. i did it over the summer and could smell the fermentation, fruit flies trying to get in (attracted to co2) and see some tiny bubbles but krausen never formed. it still fermented out and after about 2.5 weeks i bottled it. and after about a month in the bottle it was good.
maybe it was the yeast i used(t-58) it was the only yeast i had laying around at the time and didnt feel like making a trip to the store

 

My fermentation is going really weird. I got two krausens!! The first one was kind of weak and fell within two days after appearing, then two days later, another formed. It's a little thicker and much cleaner/creamier looking. Here's a thread I started about it (with pics):http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/two-krausens-one-batch-wth-409655/

Still haven't received any responses on what could have caused this.

 

@winenewb172 I didn't think about using electrical tape. That would've been so much better than my sloppy duct tape that was never air-tight. Hopefully, I won't need to do that again, but thanks for the idea.

 

No problem I've had to use it a few times for different reasons it seems to seal up great

 

made a 5 gallon batch yesterday, following brandon o's recipe straight up, but i cooled the wort in an ice bath before adding it to the apple juice (whole foods fresh pressed, pasteurized). added yeast (Nottingham), stirred it up, put on the cap. this morning theres still no activity in the airlock, so I added 4 teaspoons of yeast energizer and nutrient and stirred it up.

I realize this is a total noob question. how long until i see some fermentation here?
ive made 2 batches of cider with this same juice, and fermentation started after a few hours. I did think it was tart and lacking body, thats why i wanted to try this recipe.

 

A lack of airlock activity does not necessarily indicate a lack of fermentation. Look for visible signs in the wort, such as bubbles, krausen, etc.

I find that fermentation usually begins within 12 hours after pitching, but it's not unusual to take up to 36 hours.

 

I had air lock activity in three hours with this and a blackberry wine I made that it probably depends on your og and yeast strain and amount of oxygen in the wort

 

Thanks a bunch guys. It's working now. I have another newbie question for you. I used hop pellets which obviously dissolved upon hitting the boil. Will these particles fall out by the time it's ready to rack? Should I have used a hop strainer?