A German Take on Ffarg/Graff

After traveling to Germany for a week, and thoroughly enjoying the apfelwein and handkase mit musik, I wanted to make something similar to the apfelwein, but with a lot more malt character. I came across Clifton's Ffarg and Brandon O's Graff, but found myself still wanting more German malt character - like a dunkel or oktoberfest. Only issue is that I am unable to lager, else I would have used an Oktoberfest yeast. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Hoping to fine tune it by the time Fall rolls around.

In 3 Gallons of water
Steep .5lb Crystal 120L @ 150-160 deg. F for 20-30 minutes
Add 4lb Dark DME
Boil 1 oz. of Hallertau hops for one hour
Chill and top off with 2 gallons of Martinelli's Gold Apple Juice.
Ferment with Wyeast German Ale 1007 at 68F for 4-6 weeks then keg or bottle.

I'll probably wind up brewing the Ffarg and Graff at some point anyways, you know for science, but thought I'd ask.

If you wanted something dunkel or Oktoberfest like, you should use a Munich extract, maybe with some Vienna extract as well. Dark extract is going to net you something more like a stout or porter graff with more dark roasted and dried-fruit caramel flavors than the malty, bready German-ness of the Munich/Vienna.

I'm watching this one, as I'd like to do something similar


-Kingboomer

daksin said:

If you wanted something dunkel or Oktoberfest like, you should use a Munich extract, maybe with some Vienna extract as well. Dark extract is going to net you something more like a stout or porter graff with more dark roasted and dried-fruit caramel flavors than the malty, bready German-ness of the Munich/Vienna.

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I guess that makes sense haha. So I'm thinking Munich malt is exactly what I'd be looking for. I'm tempted to just do 4 lbs of Munich LME. But if I did 3lbs Munich LME and 1lb Vienna, would I notice much of a difference in flavor?

Also in keeping with the German flavors, would it be better to use Caramunich III for the steeping grains? Would have to up the amount to 2-3 lbs for a darker color. Also is there any added beneift of mixing Caramunich II and III or just better to stick with one for now

Really appreciate the help, this is my first time putting together a recipe

Update: Would something like this work?
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/50492/dunkel-graff

Thought I would update for those interested. I finally got the courage (and money) to brew my idea for the German Ffarg, although somewhat basic. The ABV wound up being much higher than expected since I forgot to account for the sugar in the apple juice when formulating everything, but brew day was smooth otherwise.

I like to see how my beer's flavors change over time, so I tried a bottle this past weekend (1 week aging so far) and I'm pretty excited to see what the final product comes out like. It has a ways to go but so far tastes similar to a cider with a little malt on the back end. Hoping after a month or so in the bottle the malt comes through some more, but we'll see. There's also this bit of soy sauce flavor that will fade with time. Apparently this can be a result from yeast dying, which is possible considering the unexpectedly high OG, but most likely just from being a green beer. Will update on flavor changes over the next few weeks.

Here is the Brew Log

How did the hallertau hops work out? I am planning on using them in a graff of my own next week.

Cracked another open last night. The Hallertau is there if you know what to look for, but the apple flavor from the juice is pretty prominent. Next go around I may do an all grain dunkel, with apple extract in order to bring out the malt flavor a bit more. Maybe even dry hop with Hallertau. I think the nose from the hops would go well with the apple flavor. There still this bit of soy sauce-ness to the flavor which is I'm guessing is from the apple juice, so hopefully the extract eliminates this as well. Hoping further bottle aging smooths this out.