Graff (Malty, slightly hopped cider)

[Brandon O]

Mine is still bubbling away, at about 2 weeks or so now...

How much should I prime it with - carb to about 2.5 like a normal ale, or should it be lighter than that?

Just like you would an ale.

 

[bobjohnson77]

ahem....Testing 1, 2, 3. Attention everyone, YOU MUST MAKE THIS! It's so freaking awesome. I kegged it last night not carbed and not even cold and it was SOOOO good. Brandon my hat's off to you sir.

 

[phished880]

Just finished a 1 gallon batch with some sorachi ace hops. I'm really looking forward to tasting it. I might have to step up production if the wife likes it. SG 1.068

what is the lowest what kind of Fg should i expect with US-05?

 

[mcrandello]

Alright I just tried this, I'm pretty new to homebrew and had only ever done a couple tinned beer kits, some country wines with my roomate, about 15 gal of EdWort's apfelwein and a gallon of welch's red grape hooch for laughs.

So I went pretty much with the straight recipe, except .4 oz of hops (cascade is what the LHBS gave me) since I've never done anything with grains or hops before and I'm a little nervous. Used Nottingham hydrated in a little warm AJ and bucketed it up around 5 this morning. When I got up for work at noon it was already bubbling a bit in the airlock, so hopefully I didn't screw anything up with the grains. OG was 1.06at 74F.

 

[Daddymem]

Bottle day. FG 1.012...crap did not right down OG. Oh well. Hydro sample tasted great!

 

[Shooter]

Ya, it's definately better to use less hops than more.

The only reason the hops are in there is for preservation purposes and to interact with the tart.

Less is better than more.

I had a batch where I used .5 oz of summit 18.5 AA and it just didn't taste right.

Less is better than more.

Here's my first report on drinking graff. I just popped one open after a day at the bulk warehouse store. Good stuff! My bitterness has reduced some and I'm definitely going to go with the 1/2 oz of 6 AA next time as I can see how this would be best with just a touch of that bitterness. Mine is still slightly too bitter, but much better than the sample out of the bottling bucket. With age it will likely improve, but it's pretty good right now. It seems a little more thirst quenching too me than a straight cider and I can pretty much see this recipe being a base for most of my ciders from now on as the straight apple juice thing just didn't do it for me. Thanks for the recipe Brandon!

 

[dap325]

Quick Graff question. I've had a batch in the primary for 30 days now. I've had some free time issues, as well as a delay in getting my swing top bottles. I'm cleaning the bottles tonight and plan on sanitizing and bottling tomorrow. Is there anything to worry about keeping it in the primary for the extra 2 weeks? I followed the original recipe using .5oz of Fuggles (4%AA) and Carapils instead of torrified wheat. Thanks!

 

[RayInUT]

Has anyone oaked this yet? I put a half ounce of lightly toasted oak when I pitched the yeast and I am too impatient to wait and find out if it's good oaked.

 

[jaginger]

Crapadilly! I just cooked this up tonight and I got OG of 1.076!!

I may have been a little generous with the the DME (had a 3 lb bag that I thought was 2/3 full, and I used that amount for 6 gallons. I don't know how i messed the rest up, but this is going to be one potent graff.

 

[conpewter]

Looks like I'll need to give this a try

I don't have any DME so I'll need to do an all-grain version. Any grocery store substitute for the wheat?

 

[Brandon O]

Quick Graff question. I've had a batch in the primary for 30 days now. I've had some free time issues, as well as a delay in getting my swing top bottles. I'm cleaning the bottles tonight and plan on sanitizing and bottling tomorrow. Is there anything to worry about keeping it in the primary for the extra 2 weeks? I followed the original recipe using .5oz of Fuggles (4%AA) and Carapils instead of torrified wheat. Thanks!

no issues at all, you will be fine.

 

[Brandon O]

Looks like I'll need to give this a try

I don't have any DME so I'll need to do an all-grain version. Any grocery store substitute for the wheat?

The torrified wheat is strictly for head retention asthetics, it doesn't do anything taste wise by adding it.

 

[Brandon O]

Just finished a 1 gallon batch with some sorachi ace hops. I'm really looking forward to tasting it. I might have to step up production if the wife likes it. SG 1.068

what is the lowest what kind of Fg should i expect with US-05?

I have seen lows of 1.004 and highs of 1.012. I keg, so I don't worry if I see a 1.012 after a week. A bit of residual is nice. If you bottle, just make sure you let the hydrometer tell you if it's done. 3 days in a row with the same reading should mean it's done.

 

[Brandon O]

ahem....Testing 1, 2, 3. Attention everyone, YOU MUST MAKE THIS! It's so freaking awesome. I kegged it last night not carbed and not even cold and it was SOOOO good. Brandon my hat's off to you sir.

Hey, glad you like it as much as I do.

Next thing is to oak a batch, some have asked about it and I figure I should try it.

 

[jeansberg]

I made a 10 liter batch of this yesterday!

I used 8 liters of 100% apple juice from the store.

The wort was boiled in 2 liters of water with:
120 g crystal 60
120 g carapils
530 g dark LME
8 g East Kent Goldings

I cooled the wort in a water bath, mixed it with the AJ in the bucket and sprinkled a packet of Nottingham on it. This morning I saw some islands of white stuff floating on top, but not a "full" krausen yet.

I'm pretty excited about this.

 

[kid_ak]

Excited to try this. I'm thinking of racking this onto some strawberries or blueberries in secondary. Has anyone else done this/have advice on how much to use?

 

[conpewter]

Mashing now, we'll see how this turns out

 

[conpewter]

Got it in the fermenter. I ended up with .75 gallons of wort instead of a gallon, but it was 1.132 OG which isn't bad for my first stovetop mash. Apple Juice was 1.044 so my OG is roughly 1.066. Thanks for the recipe. Next time I'm buying DME, too much time mashing that small amount of grain.

 

[cory41287]

I just brewed a batch of this stuff.

us-05
2lbs DME (1 light 1 amber)
1oz flaked wheat
1/2 lb. crystal 60L
eyeballed 1/2oz of mt hood hops
4 gallons tree top apple juice

i didn't take a hydrometer reading, figured i'd just let it do its thing.

smelled great going into the carboy. cant wait to give it a taste. one of my concerns is dose this stuff get to stinking like apfelwein dose? its in my bedroom so i really hope not. altho it is a very small price to pay.

 

[Picobrew]

I'm finally bottling my batch tonight. It has been in the fermenter for over a month, so I hope there are no ill effects. Using 3/4c of corn sugar. Haven't bottled anything since I started kegging about 15 batches ago but these seems like the bottling kind of brew.

 

[conpewter]

I just brewed a batch of this stuff.

us-05
2lbs DME (1 light 1 amber)
1oz flaked wheat
1/2 lb. crystal 60L
eyeballed 1oz of mt hood hops
4 gallons tree top apple juice

i didn't take a hydrometer reading, figured i'd just let it do its thing.

smelled great going into the carboy. cant wait to give it a taste. one of my concerns is dose this stuff get to stinking like apfelwein dose? its in my bedroom so i really hope not. altho it is a very small price to pay.

1 oz of hops? Might be too bitter for this recipe.

I don't think this has a smelly fermentation like apfelwein because of the natural nutrients in malt that keep the yeast happier.

 

[babalu87]

Has anyone made this with a bigger mini-mash (to keep from using DME)

Silly me for only reading the first few pages............................

 

[cory41287]

1 oz of hops? Might be too bitter for this recipe.

I don't think this has a smelly fermentation like apfelwein because of the natural nutrients in malt that keep the yeast happier.

my bad, ment 1/2oz. and the graff has taken off and no nasty rhino fart smell. so thats a plus.

 

[MrBeetle]

Tasty stuff... A nice mix between beer and cider, probably due to the little bit of hops.

I used the 1oz of torrified, will probably up it to 2 oz next batch - I lose my head pretty quickly with just the 1oz.

 

[RayInUT]

I just put my carboy in the fridge to crash cool. I'm adding gelatin later today after the graff cools down. I plan on force carbing for a BBQ Saturday night. I racked it off the oak chips last week. I took a gravity reading and we look good. Same as last week and pretty clear already. I poured a glass to sample and I'm pretty impressed. The toasted oak is very subtle but there. Maybe next time I would add 3/4 oz and re-evaluate. I'll decide in a few days when it is carbed. Overall, it is a very good beverage. The Saaz hops are barely there and it tastes like cinnamin has been added even though there were no spices and I used US-05, I think the cinnamin is from the toasted oak. I fermented at 67-68 degrees so I don't think the spicyness is from the yeast. I better start another batch as I think I'll have an empty keg late Saturday night. This is the perfect bev for a BBQ. It tastes great, finishes quick, requires minimal effort, and should appeal to most drinkers. Thanks Brandon!!!

 

[Coastarine]

I have started drinking this, and it is pretty good. I had some fermentation temp control issues because my ferm chamber was occupied at the time. I think I'll try US-05 next time and hopefully keep the temp in check. I'm also going to up the crystal malt amounts to hopefully get a little more sweetness. Maybe I'll backsweeten with juice.

I'm also looking for a good source of pear juice to make a perry graff.

 

[cellophanetower]

Just finished a 1 gallon batch with some sorachi ace hops. I'm really looking forward to tasting it. I might have to step up production if the wife likes it. SG 1.068

what is the lowest what kind of Fg should i expect with US-05?

Do you have the recipe/technique for making the 1gal batch phish880? Or for that matter anyone else?

 

[MrBeetle]

Cheers!

 

[fidjit]

This stuff tastes great! Thanks Brandon-O!

 

[grahamfw]

I read this thread yesterday and I just HAD to run to my LHBS to get the ingredients. Most impromptu brew session I've ever had!

I did an all-grain adaptation. Here's what I used:

4 lbs Maris Otter
.5 lb 60L crystal
1 oz torrified wheat
.5 oz Sterling hops (6.0% AA)

I did too thick a mash and had to eventually add up to about 2 qt/lb of water. Sparged with 1.5 gallons and ended up with 1.25-1.5 gallon of 1.056 run-off. MLT is really too big for such a small mash. I boiled it in two pots and saved half of it as sterile wort for starters.

Used the nottingham yeast. Can't wait for this one.