Graff (Malty, slightly hopped cider)

[AwesomeSquad]

What do you chums think about priming it with maple syrup? I am wanting to make something similar to Jk Scrumpy's Solstice.

 

[rocketcrab]

My sample taken today was at 1.004. I used WY1056. I hope it's done.

Thats what mine was at when I checked this past weekend. I'm looking to find time to bottle in the coming week. The hydro sample tasted great.

 

[Clifton]

What do you chums think about priming it with maple syrup? I am wanting to make something similar to Jk Scrumpy's Solstice.

I doubt you'll get much flavor from the priming addition.

 

[jalgayer]

Anyone looking for a less tart and hoochy version of this?
The first one I did of this I did by the book... But it was too tart.

The next batch I made I used the following changes and the result is a much less tart cider and much smoother with a balance sweet - tart ratio.

[1] I changed the 2lb of Light DME to --> 1.75lb Light DME and 0.75 Amber DME
[2] Upped the grains to 1/2lb Crystal (and used 120L) and 1/2 Honey Malt and 2oz Torrified Wheat
[3] 1/2lb Malto Dextrine
[4] 1lb Lactose Sugar

Stater at ~1.077 and finished at 1.018 for a much better mouth feel and sweetness.

J

 

[Clifton]

There's few things in this world I don't tolerate. However, lactose is one of them.

That said I'm thinking my second batch will look something like yours.

 

[jalgayer]

I am sure you could leave out the lactose. The gravity would be lower and it would have a thinner mouth feel and less sweetness... I would guess it would still be good!

 

[MikeyC99]

Anyone looking for a less tart and hoochy version of this?
The first one I did of this I did by the book... But it was too tart.

The next batch I made I used the following changes and the result is a much less tart cider and much smoother with a balance sweet - tart ratio.

[1] I changed the 2lb of Light DME to --> 1.75lb Light DME and 0.75 Amber DME
[2] Upped the grains to 1/2lb Crystal (and used 120L) and 1/2 Honey Malt and 2oz Torrified Wheat
[3] 1/2lb Malto Dextrine
[4] 1lb Lactose Sugar

Stater at ~1.077 and finished at 1.018 for a much better mouth feel and sweetness.

J

Sounds interesting ... I want to try it.

But a few questions:

1. If following the recipe for the standard brew, at what point in time do you add the dextrine and sugar? I assume it would be same time you add DME, before the 30 min boil?

2. What do these extra sugars do to your fermentation time? Still about 2 weeks?

3. Have you calc'd alcohol content in this brew?

4. What yeast are you using? Nottingham, Safale 05, or what??

Thanks, in advance, for any clafifications you care to make.

 

[dcampbell]

Bottled my first batch of Graff tonight...
drier and more tart than I expected. Poured one for wifey and she almost liked it. Added a couple ounces of apple juice to glass and this stuff is very good (even before carbonation). Wife agrees.
Looking forward to trying this stuff after a couple weeks in bottle.
Stats for this batch:
1.059 OG
1.009 FG
ALC% 6.5
Followed the original recipe to achieve this. Will likely make adjustments to next brew.

 

[jalgayer]

Sounds interesting ... I want to try it.

But a few questions:

1. If following the recipe for the standard brew, at what point in time do you add the dextrine and sugar? I assume it would be same time you add DME, before the 30 min boil?

Yep. I added both right with the DME. You could add em late as well, but no real reason to.


2. What do these extra sugars do to your fermentation time? Still about 2 weeks?

No change. Down to FG in a little over a week. I let it sit a bit longer to clear.


3. Have you calc'd alcohol content in this brew?

Nope. But you can by just looking at original recipe. Id say around 7.5%


4. What yeast are you using? Nottingham, Safale 05, or what??

Both. I had one pack of each. Rehydrated them together and each batch got about 1/2 of the mix. Yeast not super important here. Just pick a neutral yeast. And pick one that has the attenuation you would like

Thanks, in advance, for any clafifications you care to make.

no problem. If you need more advice just fire away

 

[MikeyC99]

OK, I just bottled my first batch of Graff. In fact, it was the first bottling of anything for me, and I am hoping I did it right. Here is what I did:

3 gallons of graff, completely fermented with SG of 1.0

Dissolved 6 oz of corn sugar in 2 cups of water and added to bottling bucket, over which I racked the 3 gallons of graff (less the dregs)

Bottled about 30 12 oz bottles of the brew.

Now sitting in warm-ish part of house (around 70 degrees), carbing up ... I hope.

Questions:

1. I hear 3 weeks is about what it takes to carb up. Right?
2. Do I start opening bottles around 3 weeks and see if they are carbed? If not, just give it more time?
3. What if it is too carbed? What is the danger of my getting bottle bombs? How do I prevent that from happening?
4. Does anyone out there ever pasteurize their graff to stop carbing after a certain point?
5. If you dont want to store all the bottles in the frig, is it ok to keep at room temp, until time for serving when they go into the frig?
6. Did I use enough carbing sugar with 6 oz? I read 3/4 cup for 5 gallon batch, which is 12 oz, or 2.4 oz per gallon x 3 gallons = 7.2 oz, so I backed off just a tad to error on side of caution. Think 6 oz was enough?
7. How will I know if it is carbing up? Is there something to look for?

Sorry for being such a newbie ... but any help would be appreciated.

 

[mikeysab]

Mikeysab: Wow, that's a lot of grain, what was your SG?

My gravity was 1.075 for 6 gallons. I checked on this on the 7 day mark and it was 1.010, and possibly the foulest thing ive drank in many years. It tasted like someone melted a rubber ball and put it in my hydro jar. It reminded me very much of my first cider, which i used about 6 cans of AJ concentrate and juice for. That cider is great now, after over a year.

This graff is what i should give jppeople that ask "Is my beer ruined, the hydro sample doesnt tast like i thought it would". Im gonna let it sit for about 3 months, then bottle it. Hopefully it will be ready in less than a year.

 

[YouHadMeAtASL]

Brewed 5 gallons of this on 1/28. OG was 1.06 at around 75 degrees. It has now fermented down to 1.004. I'll check FG again over the next few days to make sure it's ready to bottle, but I'm guessing it's about ready to bottle.

I did a taste test and it tasted exactly like white wine with some apple tones to it. I mean it tastes exactly like wine, very tart and tastes a bit of alcohol. I know it's still super green (about 16 days in), but I was wondering if anyone else has come across this.

.5lbs Crystal 55l and 1oz torrified wheat steeped at 155 for 30 min. Sparged in .25 gallons at 170.
.5oz Cascade boiled in for 40 min.
1lb of Amber DME.
1lb of Light DME.
4 gallons of Whole Foods brand organic apple juice.
Pitched 2 packets of dry Nottingham at ~70 degrees.

 

[cinderbike]

I thought I'd chime in here. After trying a batch of graff, I thought I'd try the opposite. I've currently got a belgian blonde in primary that used apple syrup (boiled down cider) instead of candi sugar. As it went into the carboy it has a pleasant apple taste that went well with the malts. It'll be interesting to see how it ends up after fermentation.

 

[rocketcrab]

Bottled mine this past Wednesday, used 3/4 cup corn sugar. Being a nerd I cracked one open on Friday night. Of course it wasn't fully carbonated, but it actually tasted good, not green at all. I've got high hopes for this one!

 

[AwesomeSquad]

Bottling tomorrow. Tried some Ephemere and loved it, I don't think mine will have the bite (.25 oz Czech Saaz), but I am really looking forward to it.

 

[JebCkr]

I'm going with Cascade hops and simpson's Med Crystal. Any thoughts on that? First time making anything in the cider realm.

 

[djinn88]

Making a half batch of this stuff today. In reality I should make a full batch, cause this stuff is awesome. I let a couple of 22oz bottles chill in the fridge for about 3 months after bottling and let me tell you.... champagne-ish cider. My batch really evolved over the course of drinking it. First, it was a very apple tasting cider with a tiny hop note. Second, a month after 3 week wait period it was a truly great cider. Third, the three month since ready to drink product was almost a champagne. Truly magnificent.

My girlfriend's parents have two bottles of my Graff hanging around in their fridge still, I think I'm repossessing them this week to try them again. And this half batch I'm cooking up now will be left to vintage for a certain period. Don't get me wrong it is superb after 3 weeks, but it really gets spectacular after a longer wait.

 

[scotched]

My girlfriend's parents have two bottles of my Graff hanging around in their fridge still, I think I'm repossessing them this week to try them again.

Nothing say's "my daughter's boyfriend is a drunk," like repossessing gifts of alcohol. :cross:

 

[Fenderdaw]

This was my first partial mash and only my second time brewing, so I hope I didn't get too adventurous. Went with standard store brand AJ without preservatives, Safale 05, 120L Crystal, & I dropped 0.5 oz of Citra leaf hops with 0.3 oz of bitter orange peel & 0.3 oz of lemon peel at the start of the boil. I can't wait to try this. It smelled amazing.

 

[Fenderdaw]

I've read a lot about priming for bottling without many reported results. Does anyone have a tried & true priming method for a 5 gallon batch of graff? Should I treat it like beer? I'm leaving it in the primary for at least 2 weeks.

 

[PorterIdontknowher]

I've read a lot about priming for bottling without many reported results. Does anyone have a tried & true priming method for a 5 gallon batch of graff? Should I treat it like beer? I'm leaving it in the primary for at least 2 weeks.

Treat it like beer... somewhere between 4 1/2 and 5 oz of corn sugar per 5 gallons has worked for me...

 

[408Brewer]

Well, I made up a batch of this last night. I actually joined these forums just to give my input. I really like the looks of it thus far. I used 4 gallons of Martinelli's 100% Apple Juice with no preservatives. I ended up with an SG of 1.071. I think that it is higher than normal because I used Martinelli's over Tree Top or something similar. I followed the Recipe to the T except for the Torrified Wheat (not too worried about head retention). I used Liberty hops which are at a 4.5% AA (Mild and clean aroma, slightly spicy character.) I didn't do anything to treat the Martinelli's before adding it into the fermentor, but I don't forsee that as a problem. I already have airlock activity after 13 hours. I am very excited about this one. Oh, I used Safale-05

 

[Fenderdaw]

Treat it like beer... somewhere between 4 1/2 and 5 oz of corn sugar per 5 gallons has worked for me...

Cheers!

 

[mountainman13]

Just put a batch of this up tonight. I had a 6.5 gal carboy available, so I threw in an extra gal of AJ. Leaving town in a couple of days for two weeks. Can't wait to come home to this!

 

[scotched]

I fermented, bottled, and drank a 4gallon batch - all within' 3 weeks. Horrible self control.

I have 3 bottles left, lol.

 

[MikeyC99]

Anyone looking for a less tart and hoochy version of this?
The first one I did of this I did by the book... But it was too tart.

The next batch I made I used the following changes and the result is a much less tart cider and much smoother with a balance sweet - tart ratio.

[1] I changed the 2lb of Light DME to --> 1.75lb Light DME and 0.75 Amber DME
[2] Upped the grains to 1/2lb Crystal (and used 120L) and 1/2 Honey Malt and 2oz Torrified Wheat
[3] 1/2lb Malto Dextrine
[4] 1lb Lactose Sugar

Stater at ~1.077 and finished at 1.018 for a much better mouth feel and sweetness.

J

OK, off the wall idea, but what do you think would happen if you made this recipe with 50% apple and 50% pineapple juice? I made some traditional hard cider with this 50/50 mixture and it turned out great. See any reason why I would NOT want to give this a try?

 

[krisagon]

Hey fellow Mikey,

I would just make sure the pineapple juice doesn't have any preservatives in it, they tend to harm/kill brewing yeast.

Glad to hear your batch turned out well, that's the best part about this hobby, you can pretty much do whatever the heck you want.. if it turns out great, you can share it with the awesome people on this board and spread the joy. If it turns out terrible, you can destroy all evidence!

 

[WestEggBrew]

Brewing up a batch of this right now. Can't wait to see how its going to come out. My wife and I took a trip last weekend to Asheville NC and she fell in love with the Green Man cider. This ought to score some major points.

 

[Xcorpia]

I brewed this a few days ago. I messed up because I added just 0.25 oz of Cascade instead of 0.50 oz. I used hop plugs for the first time and thought the plug weighed 1 oz, so I used only half. Ah well, I guess I'll make a "hop tea" with the remaining 0.25 oz Cascade and add it to the carboy.

 

[jbrookeiv]

Just finished my last bottle of this that I bottled back in October. Damn was it tasty! Think I might get another batch of this going soon.