Graff (Malty, slightly hopped cider)

[dapete]

Take a gravity?

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!

 

[winenewb172]

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

 

[hopbrad]

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

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

 

[Brew-Dog]

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.

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):https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/two-krausens-one-batch-wth-409655/

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

 

[dapete]

@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.

 

[winenewb172]

@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

 

[ender416]

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.

 

[hunter_le five]

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?

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.

 

[winenewb172]

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

 

[ender416]

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?

 

[winenewb172]

I've only brewed with hops twice and once I strained and had a bunch of hops in the strainer and the other time there wasn't any I don't think you need to strain pellets though

 

[idrinkstuffnthings]

Ready to brew this up, was wondering if I could skip the torrified wheat. Does it add flavour or is it just for the head?

 

[Safa]

Just head as far as I know.

 

[winenewb172]

Nothin like good head

 

[pagerage]

Nothin like good head

You beat me to it!

 

[winenewb172]

You beat me to it!

You said beat

 

[ender416]

so i brewed my batch 3 days ago. was wondering if fermentation was going to even start. it started, and the airlock was bubbling along nicely. now its stopped. i took the lid off my bucket and taste tested, its carbonated, and bubbles are popping on the surface. it looks as if its still fermenting, but not from looking at the airlock it doesnt. should i be worried?

 

[Loodachris]

Is this recipe supposed to be like a Hornsby or Angry Orchard? That's the style my wife is looking for

 

[ender416]

kind of worried cause my apple juice wasn't cheap. ran me like 36 bucks for 4 gallons.

 

[sweed]

kind of worried cause my apple juice wasn't cheap. ran me like 36 bucks for 4 gallons.

Did you take a gravity reading? Could be a small leak where the air lock goes in? What yeast did you use? If there are signs, then it's probably fermenting.

 

[caburdet78]

would appreciate some help:

looking to make the recipe at the beginning of this thread but only want to do a 3 gallon batch ... I use BeerSmith and can scale down the grains and such but having issues figuring out how much cider to use

 

[sweed]

would appreciate some help:

looking to make the recipe at the beginning of this thread but only want to do a 3 gallon batch ... I use BeerSmith and can scale down the grains and such but having issues figuring out how much cider to use

2.4 gallons, x/3=4/5

 

[Scottie61]

I just did a 2.4-2.5 gal batch. I ended up using three 96oz containers of juice and used 1 quart of water as my boil with 1 lb DME and 4 oz brown sugar. After cooling I added that to my juice to come up with about 2.5 gallons total. My only problem is I forgot to aerate it before pitching! It's fermenting, but not very actively, so we'll we what happens.

Good luck!

Scott

 

[hopmonster2189]

Bottled my second batch 2 weeks ago using Treetop.

used 3 lb light DME and C-120L,
1oz of Centennial.
It went from 1.072 to 1.020 in the 2 months it was in primary.
Bottle primed with a can of treetop frozen AJ (Has like 3.7 oz sucrose).

I must say I like it more than my original batch, this graf's FG was higher which I preferred and the frozen juice can for priming I think added a little apple aroma and taste back in, I'll definitely do this for graf in the future. I think I might try a grain even darker than C-120 on the next one I brew.

 

[kingogames]

2 months in primary? I only did one month and mine still tasted a little yeasty, that's probably why.

 

[Loodachris]

Is this recipe supposed to taste like a Hornsby's or Angry Orchard?

 

[mike_in_ak]

Is this recipe supposed to taste like a Hornsby's or Angry Orchard?

Not even close to either.

Maybe if you backsweetened the heck out of it and pasteurized or force carbed.

 

[smonteton]

this sounds good

 

[Scottie61]

This is pretty weird -- I started my 2.5 gallon batch on the 16th at 1.062, and after checking today, it's already at 1.002. I never thought it would go that fast!

My last ed wort apple wine actually got stuck.

Is this normal with this recipe?

Scott

 

[mike_in_ak]

I'd say that's totally within the realm of normal with most anything on here. Maybe faster than average for that OG, but not crazy.

Apfelwein's probably more picky because its an even higher OG and doesn't have the nutrient goodness provided by the malt in graff.