Graff (Malty, slightly hopped cider)

[elroddj]

Tried my hand at making graff today. Got 2 lbs extra light DME, .5 lb crystal 120, and 2oz torrified wheat from my local homebrew shop. Got 2 gallons of cider and 2 gallons of apple juice from Target, just their store brand stuff. Used .5oz of US Fuggles and fermented it with Lallemand BRY-97. Never used dry yeast before but i just threw it in when I got the temp down to what I wanted. So far, it's really dark. Much darker than I thought it would be. I'm actually wondering if they gave me chocolate malt instead of crystal 120. I guess I'll see. Currently fermenting at 66 degrees in a water bath. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[Oldskooler]

New brewer: I want to try this recipe today. However I can only store it in an area that is 74. Will this cause me problems?

 

[timcadieux]

Somehow I haven't seen this addressed yet. During the boil I lost a full 1liter. That means I ended up with 18l instead of 19, did I miss a step? I ended with an OG 1.169!!

Bump since I didn't get answer on this.

 

[SilverZero]

New brewer: I want to try this recipe today. However I can only store it in an area that is 74. Will this cause me problems?

Can you set up a swamp cooler / water bath with ice jugs? If not, go with a temperature-resistant yeast. I'd use Notty, but I use that for everything.

 

[LeverTime]

New brewer: I want to try this recipe today. However I can only store it in an area that is 74. Will this cause me problems?

That's a little high, but if that's the best you can do, that's the best you can do.

You could try to set up a swamp cooler for a better fermentation temperature.

 

[Oldskooler]

I was going to use Notty, and I guess I'll have to figure someway to cool it down about 10 degrees. Thanks guys for the quick reply.

 

[woknblues]

I just picked up my grain bill, going to brew this tomorrow for a ten gallon batch.

6lb two row
1lb special b
4 oz honey malt
4 oz flaked wheat
8 oz carapils
1 oz us fuggles

I really want some body, residual sweetness and head retention here....

+8 gallons of sam's club AJ

Poured onto safeale-04 cakes... I will do one up as quick as the recipe calls for , the other will bulk age.

 

[woknblues]

Bump since I didn't get answer on this.

In my experience, the amount of boil off depends a lot on the size of your pot, temp/humidity/elevation of your surroundings, and just "how vigorous" your boil was. If you were using grains, you also need to account for absorption.

 

[hopmonster2189]

Somehow I haven't seen this addressed yet. During the boil I lost a full 1liter. That means I need up with 18l instead of 19, did I miss a step? I ended with an OG 1.169!!

OG of 1.169 for the 1 gal boil or of the 18 liters? That is a massive OG, 4 gal of cider should be around 1.050-1.070 or something. if DME contributes 43 pts/lb/gal, the 1 gal boil would have a gravity of around 1.086 correct? So combing 4 gal of 1.060 with one gal of 1.086 would result with something in between those correct? still learning so please correct me if Im wrong. Was the reading from hydrometer or refractometer?

 

[BBQB]

Ok, what did I do wrong? I followed the recipe as it was posted at the beginning of the thread. For juice I used cider from a local farm. I fermented for a couple of weeks and then kegged it. It been in fridge under Co2 for about a week now. I realize I might need to be a little patient but I must say it looks terrible and is currently undrinkable. Do you think my problem is that I used cider rather than juice from the grocery store? It just looks like poo in a glass! And it tastes just awful. Sort of a mix between a bad beer and apple juice.
I wont dump it for at least a month or so but was wondering if I should start another batch using normal juice. Any thoughts?

 

[timcadieux]

OG of 1.169 for the 1 gal boil or of the 18 liters? That is a massive OG, 4 gal of cider should be around 1.050-1.070 or something. if DME contributes 43 pts/lb/gal, the 1 gal boil would have a gravity of around 1.086 correct? So combing 4 gal of 1.060 with one gal of 1.086 would result with something in between those correct? still learning so please correct me if Im wrong. Was the reading from hydrometer or refractometer?

From my Hydrometer...ok, so did everyone else just 'know' to add an extra litre to start the boil?

 

[hopmonster2189]

From my Hydrometer...ok, so did everyone else just 'know' to add an extra litre to start the boil?

Did you boil the apple juice?

 

[timcadieux]

No, I followed the recipe, do did a friend on the same day and we both list about 1litre

 

[Oldskooler]

I'm getting ready to make this, so I follow this thread closely, and now as a newbie I'm a little confused about the one liter loss, do I add an extra liter of water?

 

[timcadieux]

I understand that the boil causes this.but most recipes gave a preboil volume to account for this. This one does not so I was just wondering if its.normal and just an oversight ?

I can easily add additional water to cover the loss if necessary.

 

[Clifton]

Next time boil in 1.25 gallons.

 

[Oldskooler]

Clifton, thanks

 

[LAbrewer]

Ok, what did I do wrong? I followed the recipe as it was posted at the beginning of the thread. For juice I used cider from a local farm. I fermented for a couple of weeks and then kegged it. It been in fridge under Co2 for about a week now. I realize I might need to be a little patient but I must say it looks terrible and is currently undrinkable. Do you think my problem is that I used cider rather than juice from the grocery store? It just looks like poo in a glass! And it tastes just awful. Sort of a mix between a bad beer and apple juice.
I wont dump it for at least a month or so but was wondering if I should start another batch using normal juice. Any thoughts?

My guess is that the aj did not ferment and you ended up with aj flavored beer. Take a gravity reading and see if it is down below 1.01 at least.

 

[xfevv]

I haven't tried the OP's graff recipe yet but did do up a batch of "Gunslingers Graff" from the brewing TV episode. It turned out pretty good although a bit "sour" for my taste, almost like a Lambic. Looking forward to trying another graff in the near future

 

[BBQB]

My guess is that the aj did not ferment and you ended up with aj flavored beer. Take a gravity reading and see if it is down below 1.01 at least.

I only got it down to 1.014. That being said the flavor is improving daily. It still looks terrible but besides that I am starting to really like it

 

[Clifton]

My opinion is that it needs six weeks to age. That is pretty quick for a cider.

 

[Sharkman20]

Mine was drinkable right away, but it was definitely a bit tart. Sad part is, right about when I killed the keg 4 weeks later is when it really started to get good and improved a lot. Next batch I make I'll let it age for a month before I tap it.

 

[Clifton]

The best one is always the last.

 

[OcularTrauma]

Ok, so I made this with 4 gallons fresh pressed cider, 3.3lbs LME and C80/90 and its been in primary w/ BRY-97 since 12/23. I fermented around 66-67F for 2-3 weeks then moved it to my 56F "cold closet" to settle and clear. It's not cleared. I added gelatin on 1/30 to try to move it along but its not helping.

I'm not sure what to do next. My first batch came out crystal clear after 3 weeks in primary with no finings. Any suggestions?

 

[woknblues]

I just picked up my grain bill, going to brew this tomorrow for a ten gallon batch.

6lb two row
1lb special b
4 oz honey malt
4 oz flaked wheat
8 oz carapils
1 oz us fuggles

I really want some body, residual sweetness and head retention here....

+8 gallons of sam's club AJ

Poured onto safeale-04 cakes... I will do one up as quick as the recipe calls for , the other will bulk age.

So I did this the other day. A nice and easy brew day for a 10 gallon batch. I am looking forward to what the special b, flaked wheat and honey malts add to the mix. I did forget to siphon off the hops, but I suspect they will drop out of suspension by the time I rack...The sa-04 cakes were not ready at pitching time, so I dropped in fresh sa-05. Airlocks are bubbling away. Looking forward to this, thanks for the recipe/idea.

 

[BrewerBear]

Ok, so I made this with 4 gallons fresh pressed cider, 3.3lbs LME and C80/90 and its been in primary w/ BRY-97 since 12/23. I fermented around 66-67F for 2-3 weeks then moved it to my 56F "cold closet" to settle and clear. It's not cleared. I added gelatin on 1/30 to try to move it along but its not helping.

I'm not sure what to do next. My first batch came out crystal clear after 3 weeks in primary with no finings. Any suggestions?

What temperature was the wort when you put it in the cider? Putting the wort into the cider or juice to hot can cause problems clearing.

 

[OcularTrauma]

What temperature was the wort when you put it in the cider? Putting the wort into the cider or juice to hot can cause problems clearing.

My notes say the wort was about 100-90°F when I dropped it in the carboy on top of 2 gallons of straight from the fridge (38°F+/-2°F) fresh pressed apple juice, then topped it off with another 1.75g of said juice. Pitched BRY-97 @ 62-64°F and fermented low and slow. I let it free rise up to about 67-68°F on day 3-4, and then I just let it go after that.

The cider was cloudy, but not that cloudy. Its the same exact cider from the same orchard I used the first time, the only changes were LME, yeast and darker steeping grains. I followed the same temperature and handling process for the cider. First batch was crystal clear into the keg @ 2-3 weeks, this one is still cloudy after more than a month.

Could I have possibly induced pectin haze? I figured I was good with my temps. Is it too late for pectic enzyme?

 

[Wraithraider]

Fresh pressed might be more susceptible to pectin haze and with larger variation from batch to batch. so long as you don't mind the extra wait time, it's really never too late to try enzyme in a brew ime

 

[AcRocket]

Just made my first batch of this stuff last night. Tried to stay as close to the original recipe as possible.
.5 lb of Crystal 60L
1 lb Amber DME
1 lb Light DME
1 oz Torrified Wheet
.05 oz Cascade hops 5.00% AA
used Nottingham Yeast
4 gallons of Musselman's Apple Cider

Cooled the wort down to 75 F, poured the cider and pitched the yeast at 68 F. OG was 1.061.

I pitched the yeast at 11pm last night.

Checked the airlock this morning at 730am. Nothing. Hopefully i didnt do anything wrong and it just takes awhile for it to get going.

 

[timcadieux]

My buddy and I both did these batches at the exact same time. Difference is I re-hydrated my Yeast. Mine was bubbling about 8hours later, his took close to 30hrs or so. I'd say just keep waiting. Plus, an airlock means nothing really. I have 2 pails that I know for a fact will never cause bubbles, but both have produced about a half dozen batches each so far. They are leaking somehow but the beer is always perfectly fine.