First Graff

[JoHa]

I started fermenting my first 5 gallons Friday night.
I'm absolutely new to this, but it seemed easy enough with all the help these forums provide.
My thanks to Brandon O for the recipe and others with their ideas.

My batch:
.5oz Flaked Wheat
.5oz Flaked Oats
.5lbs Crystal 60L
1lb Sparkling Amber DME
1lb Light DME
.5oz Hallertau Hops
Wyeast 3068
Musselman's Premium Apple juice
1.062 OG
Pitched yeast at 65°
Fermenting at 65°

I love wheat beers, so I leaned towards one.
I'm hoping this turns out good, because I hate failure and wasting money.
Smells great coming from the vapor lock.
Gonna be a long 2 weeks.

-John

 

[JimRausch]

Congratulations! Looks like a good recipe. Did you mash the wheat and oats? Otherwise you might just have a cloudy graf from all the unconverted starches. But it should still taste OK.
I've been doing Grafs for 4 years now, and I started with Brandon O's thread as well- he's the 'guru of Graf'. In my experience, it's going to take a bit more than 2 weeks to get her good. I'd let it ferment for at lest 2 weeks, then cold condition it for at least another 2 weeks. My batch this year conditioned for 6 weeks before I bottled (I just couldn't find the time). I believe it's my best batch yet.
Good luck!

 

[JoHa]

I steeped the the grains for 20 minutes at 155°, removed from heat and sparged? with 170° water, added the DME's stirred well, brought to boil, added hops, boiled for 30 minutes, removed hops and cooled in an ice bath; which worked great.

It's ok if it's cloudy as long as it doesn't taste bad.
I didn't plan on drinking at 2 weeks, it's just 2 weeks of fermenting before I get to do anything else. I've read 2 to 3 weeks of conditioning; which isn't long, I guess I just get excited.

I have regular hard cider aging and have a really long wait for that.
Once this Graf is done and I can taste it and hopefully start another batch. haha

 

[JoHa]

After 4 weeks in primary, 1 week was spent in my garage at 35 to 40°. I transfered to my bottling bucket, added 5oz of priming sugar and filled 45 bottles. Now to wait a few weeks. Finished near 7% abv; which I didn't like, so I'm trying something different this week.

3.3 lbs Light Pilsen LME
2 lbs Light Pilsen DME
.5 lbs CaraPils (steeped)
.5 lbs Crystal 30l ( steeped)
2.5 gal boil (60 minutes)
1 oz Cascade hops
3 Gal Motts Light Apple Juice (12 grams per serving rather than 28 grams per serving)

The Crystal Malt is my only concern. I want the sweetness, but a lighter color. So any opinions/advice is appreciated.

Also, I'm aiming for somewhere between 4 to 5% abv.
Thanks,
John

 

[JoHa]

Tried my firat batch of Graf läst week and it was really, really tart and dried my mouth really bad. I was really disappointed... Opened one tonight afer 2 weeks conditioning and what a difference!
Slight beer taste, not nearly as tart, great apple taste, sweeter, doesn't dry my mouth out... I think another week or 2 conditioning will really bring it all together.

I may have jumped the gun on the second batch by brewing 2.5 gallons of wort, but the .5 lbs of carapils is probably the right move as the first batch really has no body. Crystal 40 might have been a bad choice and I should have either upped the 60 or gone with the 120.

Being new to homebrew, I'm actually shocked in how much a difference a week makes in the finished product.
Oh, and it is pretty strong or I'm just a lightweight because I caught a slight buzz from 1 bottle.

 

[JimRausch]

It gets even better with more time

 

[JoHa]

This is from my 2nd batch that I kegged.
The US-O5 fermented much faster than the 3068. Was done fermenting in about 6 days, I left it in primary for 2 weeks, crashed for 4 days, kegged and carbed it Sunday night.

Tastes great already. Slightly tart, great body, mellow apple taste, smooth, but I over-carbed it just a little. I have 2 cases that need drank, so the keg can age for a month or so.


Not a great picture, phone focused on the doorknob... haha

I couldn't have made such a thing if it wasn't for all of the info on these forums.
Thanks all.