Graff (Malty, slightly hopped cider)

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Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I was wondering what is the easiest way to sparge the grains. I read that if I put the bag in a collider and pour the 170 degree water over them, that would be fine. Will this work?
 
I did it just like specialty grains from an extract kit. I put all the grain into a grain bag and then steeped that like a tea bag in my pot. I then emptied that smaller pot into my old extract stove top pot. Put the grains in a colander set on top of the small pot and ran the "sparge" water over top of the grain bag trying to get as much coverage as you can with that little water. Then I let the grain bag/ colander set up drip for awhile to get all I could. When that was finished I dumped the second running into my boil pot. With the amount of grain being so small I didn't even think to use my mash tun... I feel like my graf turned out excellent and would do the same method again.
 
With this small amount of grain I don't know if it is beneficial but I have started sparging, and then pouring my runnings back through the bag (requires 2 pots).

I used to have a very fine mesh strainer that was super long, where I could empty my whole grain bag onto it for max surface area coverage. I am really starting to miss that thing.
 
Ok thanks jekeane and mrgonbrewlab. I will probably steep it and then put it in my fine mesh strainer and pour the 170 degree water over it and let it drain. I plan on brewing this Saturday (hopefully).
 
Ive been through about 60 pages and haven't gotten a definite answer on what to prime the bottles with on a 5 Gal batch. Ive seen anything from 4 cans of frozen juice, to just simple syrup. What has been working best.
 
I really cannot wait to start a batch of this. I have been so obsessed with cider lately, and all variations thereof. I may even let starting a batch of this distract me from bottling a couple batches tomorrow...
 
Just made this with .5 oz cascade and then dry hopped it with 2 oz of citra. Tastes like a tropical drink with a pineapple and guava taste. Still carving up in my kegerator but the sample tastes awesome
 
I will be tasting mine tonight but i primed my 5 Gallon batch (think it came out to close to 4 1/4) with 1 can of frozen apple concentrate. I also carbed these in my PET bottles since i didn't want to make any bombs by accident. Will report back with how it tastes tonight. If good, I may make another batch to sit on for a while.
 
Just starting to dip into mine. It was a little more tart than I expected, but I used mix of apple juice and cider, so that may be the culprit. Good head for a cider, the hop flavor is just barely there but that is just fine. The red wheat I added was a nice touch- next time I make this I will up the grain bill and do a wheat cider. S-33 yeast did the job better than I expected- I was hoping it would quit a little early given its reputation and leave me a bit more sweetness, but this finished fairly dry (no FG reading, sorry).

Thanks for the concept!
 
I brewed this last night and followed the recipe closely with the exception of sparging the grains. I used cascade hops 7.8%, Nottingham yeast, Muntons Extra light DME, Muntons Amber DME, and I used Motts apple juice. My OG was 1.058.

I'm very excited for this brew! I went to see Zac Brown Band recently and a friend of mine had what she called a cider/ipa that Harpoon was selling in jugs at their brewery. It tasted delicious and I hope this comes out tasting similar to it.
 
Sounds great. I have been loving this cider, and realized I will not have enough left for the event it was brewed for- I guess that means more cider!!

However, I overlooked the fact that this will he undrinkable for gluten intolerant cider lovers. Has anyone tried this with sorghum lme, or should I skip the malt altogether? Thinking of adding crushed rose hips to primary, too. Yay or nay?
 
Don't use sorghum. Use a rice extract instead (or any other gluten free grain). The sorghum tastes like a sour green apple in a bad way.
 
Thanks- I will have to see if the rice extract is easily available by me- otherwise it is going to have to be straight spiced cider.
 
The whole foods in my area have brown rice syrup/extract that is gluten free. Only thing is it basically gets contaminated when to opened and put in the bulk section. You can order a whole package from them though.

Also, I was just talking to a guy on another thread here that makes and sells malted rices through nor cal brewing solutions online if you are interested in ordering.


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Very intriguing, but I don't jave time on this batch. However, I will readress when it comes time to make Christmas presents
 
Made 2 more batches tonight one for a keg competition and 1 to replace the soon to be empty keg in the keezer.

With 1 I am going to add dark cherry juice, I think some at high krausen and some to back flavor.

The other I picked up some light oak chips that I am going to try.

Ill let you know how it goes!

p8100237-63540.jpg
 
just bottled my first batch this weekend. i took a taste - it's pretty good, but i'm not getting much hop flavor. i used 0.5 oz cascade in the boil, infused with a tea ball. so, do you think it's my hops, my method, or something else that kept me from getting any flavor from them?
 
Generally you should be getting very minimal hop flavor or aroma. The hop addition is really just there to bridge the beer/cider gap. I use .5oz of Cascade in my batches as well. I have thought about adding .25 oz at flame out or dry hopping this will a small amount of hops for aroma. But I wouldn't want anymore bittering hops personally.
 
So I just got my starter going so i can get my first graff going tomorrow. Its gonna be pretty much the same as original recipe but using store bought juice(so I'm using the crystal 120L as per Brandons recommendation) and I've got a quart of 100% cherry juice that needs to get used so ill add that to it. The part I'm stuck on is what hops i want to use, I've got some crystal, cluster and palisades right now to choose from. Any recommendations there?
 
aellis said:
just bottled my first batch this weekend. i took a taste - it's pretty good, but i'm not getting much hop flavor. i used 0.5 oz cascade in the boil, infused with a tea ball. so, do you think it's my hops, my method, or something else that kept me from getting any flavor from them?
Click to expand...


Forgive me for not reading the recipe again, but I assume the boil was longer than 15-20 minutes so you shouldn't get much flavor/aroma from the hops. If you want it, do a 10-20 minute addition for flavor and anywhere from 5 minutes to flameout for aroma. Maybe even replace the bittering addition with those two. I would dryhop it too, but I love hops.

The tea ball may impact your hop utilization too. If you restricted the hops from expanding and getting good wort contact, then you get less of their character and bitterness. Just throw them in loose (I use pellets solely at this point). They will settle out.


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mwbrewer said:
So I just got my starter going so i can get my first graff going tomorrow. Its gonna be pretty much the same as original recipe but using store bought juice(so I'm using the crystal 120L as per Brandons recommendation) and I've got a quart of 100% cherry juice that needs to get used so ill add that to it. The part I'm stuck on is what hops i want to use, I've got some crystal, cluster and palisades right now to choose from. Any recommendations there?
Click to expand...

I would use Crystal.
 
Thanks Brewerbear, that's exactly what i was leaning towards. I was just unsure having never made this before, that and being that i love hops and the crystal has the lowest AA out of those i was having a hard time deciding. I do think the flavor profile of the crystal would make it the best choice though so that's what ill go with, maybe just add an extra .25 oz at flameout or something
 
Brewed my first batch of Graff on Saturday August 09. It was 1.06 at 68 degrees. On Wednesday the fermentation came to a dead stop. The yeast has all settled to the bottom. I have maintained fermentation at 68. I checked it this morning and its 1.008. Should I give it another week or check it again in a couple days and keg it if its the same.
 
The family is over this weekend, killing the graff. This is a solid, easy recipe. This keg won't make midnight. Such a good summer beer.
 
Just pitched a couple packs of S-05 into 5 gallons of this a couple hours ago. Looking forward to seeing the results even though I am not a cider fan. The wife loves cider and if it turns out well I can see dedicating a tap on the keezer to her for good. I only got to 1.058 on gravity though, but i used Motts apple juice so that could be part of it. How many apples would it take to get four gallons of fresh pressed juice?
 
sb68
I picked about 1500 lbs of apples last year and split with a buddy,and if i remember correctly with his badass homemade grinder and press we averaged about 1 gal of cider or juice for each 20 or so lbs of apples we used
 
brewski09 said:
Forgive me for not reading the recipe again, but I assume the boil was longer than 15-20 minutes so you shouldn't get much flavor/aroma from the hops. If you want it, do a 10-20 minute addition for flavor and anywhere from 5 minutes to flameout for aroma. Maybe even replace the bittering addition with those two. I would dryhop it too, but I love hops.

The tea ball may impact your hop utilization too. If you restricted the hops from expanding and getting good wort contact, then you get less of their character and bitterness. Just throw them in loose (I use pellets solely at this point). They will settle out.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

thanks, i'll definitely try dry hopping and not using the tea ball next time.

some of my batch i bottled in 2L soda bottles, so i threw a couple pellets into those when i bottled. i haven't tried them yet, but i'm hoping they'll get a bit more hoppy.
 
Hop pellets in the bottle sound amazing. I have a maltless variant of this fermenting now for some lactose intolerant relatives- I dry hopped the cider, added a pinch of cinnamon, and some cloves and brown sugar. I love this cider (the Graff recipe) but yeah, I don't think a little more hop character would hurt it.
 
There is no lactose in malt or extract. Hoped cider sounds nice and is an experiment I haven't tried yet. Just pour quickly because the hoops add nucleation points and will stir up the year/gush the bottle once it's carbonated.
 
Anyone have an experience including crab apple juice as a part of the apple juice bill? I'll definitely be using Crystal 120 to try to balance it out. Have some London Ale yeast around I'll be using that hopefully won't attenuate as aggressively.
 
Mr.Snacks from what i understand there are at least a couple different types of crab apples, some are just straight bitter and some are bitter but balanced with a higher tannin content. I have never used them personally in my cider(definitely plan to though) but have heard and read good things about using them. I say give it a go, you could just start with a lower % of crab apples til you know how they affect your product
 

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