Apples to Apples! New cider adventures

I frequently get asked what helped me get better at making cider and what has kept me experimenting with different ideas. The answer to both of these questions is simple: It’s all about the adventure of finding the gems by trying different ingredients and techniques. In this article I will share two different wide open styles to take your cidermaking in new and interesting directions. First up is a look at the range of potential creativity of New England-style ciders, a style that undergoes chaptalization (sugar added) to increase strength. Raisins are also typically added and it is not uncommon to find the style barrel-aged. Some folks may call the style apple wine but there are some key differences.

Next up we will take a look at graf, an intersection of cider and beer with elusive historical roots, broad potential for expression, and a name right out of 20th century pop culture. To finish off is one of the more recent sources of excitement and cider-making inspiration for me; an annual group purchase of cider. The opportunity for social interaction, education, creativity and some healthy competition from buying cider as a group is not to be missed.

New England Cider

If a little creative inspiration is what you are looking for, look no further than the New England-style cider. And no, that doesn’t just mean it’s a hazy.

So what is a New England cider then? We can define the “technicals” of this style based on the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) 2015 guideline definition for New England cider, category C2A. Simply, this style represents cider that can be made as follows:

• From apples typically found in the New England region (predominantly eating apples, with high acid and medium tannins).
• Also containing adjuncts that both produce more alcohol but also impart flavors and aromas to the finished product. Brown sugar and raisins are two such examples.
• Alcohol levels are elevated to 7 to 13%.
• The finish can be dry to semi-sweet.
• Barrel aging is fair game, including used spirits barrels.
• Carbonation is a stylistic choice.

Overall, consumer choices for apples are generally constrained and overlapping, although everyone’s local apple types will still vary to some degree. While the selected apple varieties are one part of this style, there are several other aspects that play into the cider as well.

In southern New Hampshire where I live I am lucky enough to have local farms that produce small harvests of an array of heirloom, vintage, and specialty apple varieties. These might include Russets, Baldwins, and Northern Spys, and more rarely names like Black Oxford and Hudson Gem. Finding a good blend is an adventure in its own right. But don’t feel like you need to go out of your way to find New England-specific varieties in order to make a New England cider. Store bought juice like Martinelli’s could be used as a substitute.

What else can we add? This is where things can get fun with this style of cider. According to the style guide, additions of white and brown sugars, molasses, small amounts of honey (otherwise it could be mead), and raisins are all acceptable. There is a lot we can do here with just different types of sugars, but once you add molasses or honey you should expect to be able to taste the flavors of those additions, as well as the increased alcohol. When it comes to raisins you can choose either traditional or the golden varieties commonly found on grocery store shelves. For a twist you could also use raisins dried from your own or locally grown wine grapes.

This is a great style to try to experiment either with oak products you have on hand or a fairly neutral barrel. Soaking the oak in some form of spirits should add some spirit character to the final New England-style cider and is an element that is traditional for these ciders.

With the potential diversity of outcomes in this style we will need to seek further inspiration by getting our hands into the two New England-style cider recipes found at the end of this article (Baked Apples and The Olde Country).

Graf: An Old Idea With a new Name

The idea of fermenting apples and grain together is definitely not new. It’s been documented as far back as 7,000 B.C.E. Despite that, it isn’t a common style and does not have any identifiable history of production that can be used to understand how people in the past may have riffed on the theme.

This is where it gets really weird. The name graf as applied to a hybrid beer/cider beverage comes from Stephen King’s The Dark Tower book series, so late 20th century (1982-2012) at the oldest. This seems like a happy accident, because no specific etymology has been documented for its inclusion in the series. So graf is something old that is new again, with a pop culture twist!

Because we don’t know the full extent of what our forebearers have done with the intersection of beer and cider due to the missing history, we can only reflect on what has been documented on the style in the last decade or so since the introduction of graf in The Dark Tower grabbed the imagination of homebrewers:

• A blend of cider and beer, no specific ratio is agreed upon.
• Lightly hopped, mostly for complexity and a bit of balance.
• Higher alcohol (6%+) is thought to be more typical although “session” versions are considered valid.

This means a graf can represent many different expressions of more or less apple and malt flavor with a little hops, but let’s consider what a specific example might actually look like in the Hello World recipe below.

The outcome of this recipe is a delightfully crisp, light and refreshing beverage that represents all three of the primary ingredients very well. There is a noticeable fruitiness, but not just apple, and there are other herbal and floral notes from the rice. The backbone of the malt is present, but is restrained and does not prevent the flavors of the rice and apple to persist through.

For additional experience with this unique beverage I asked my fellow homebrew club member Brian Romanowski about what motivated him to try it and how his recent experiments had turned out. Tasting and discussing a recent graf of his is what put the style on my radar as I was brainstorming for this article. I had never made one until the Hello World recipe found below.

“I couldn’t find any commercial examples of a graf. My first thought was to try to emulate a stout braggot (stout base beer with a noticeable portion of honey), a pretty tried-and-true mash up of its own that I had had a few times. I was thinking that the cider would be a good substitute for honey. The results were much thinner and lighter than I expected. My mistake was not accounting for the difference in density between honey and cider and my general understanding of recipe design. I’d recommend a more complementary style more similar in gravity to unfermented cider like a fruity saison.”

Brew Club Bulk Buy

In the section on New England-style ciders we talked about some of the purpose-grown fruit. If you live in an apple-growing region, you may find getting a unique pressing of apples with more of these cider-friendly varieties is better achieved as a team sport. The potential for getting cider at a group rate is the most beneficial reason to consider a bulk buy. But a larger volume purchase may also make it easier for a farm orchard to help you with a custom blend of apples. No matter how you do it, the fun social activity that ensues is even more exciting.

I’ve been a member of the Brew Free or Die homebrew club here in southern New Hampshire since 2010. For much of that time we’ve done a group purchase of cider and over the last seven years we’ve worked with a specific farm that has really helped make this activity a seasonal highlight for us. We’ve even attracted longtime, beer-focused members to make their first ciders because of how much fun we have.

I caught up with Josh Latham, the club coordinator for the annual cider buy and asked him to tell me about how the club rallies around this seasonal group activity.

I am interested in any observations about apples from your experience over a number of consecutive harvests.

JL: We chose to go with a local apple orchard for the past several years for a few reasons. First, they are a small family farm that I have been dealing with for several decades that treats their entire team with a great deal of respect. From a quality standpoint they use several antique apple varieties for their cider, and will increase the ratio used for our specific club pressing, which we generally get at $1 less per gallon than their house cider. They also don’t use drops (fallen apples), which is a rather common practice in cider pressing, all leading to one of the best ciders in the state.

2016 was an interesting year because of the massive drought that the state was dealing with. It resulted in much smaller apples with a higher sugar content. About 20% higher than we typically see. They were super concentrated with flavor that year.

Tell me about the social event on bulk buy day, typically in early November. Then what happens?

JL: Members will generally bring ciders from past years as well as snacks made with apple. The orchard farm makes some amazing cider donuts too. Annually we average 15 people and about 130 gallons (500 L) of cider, give or take. All of this makes for a great atmosphere to have members share techniques and ask questions of one another in a relaxed atmosphere.

Having everyone get the same base cider also sets up great club competitions because it lets members show how creative they can be with the same product. We generally run two competitions side-by-side, a people’s choice for both a cider and a cyser (mead made with apple/cider). It’s a little less structured and the two tracks means more lively discussions happen. It also makes it so everyone at the meeting can be involved, from entering to tasting, and ultimately judging to pick the winners.

Baked Apples (New England-style Cider)

(1 gallon/3.8 L, scale as needed)
OG = 1.068 FG = ~1.010 ABV = ~7.6%

Ingredients
0.9 gal. (3.4 L) pasteurized apple juice (12–13 °Brix /1.047-1.051 SG, which is typically bottle strength)
12 oz. (340 g) dark brown sugar
¼ tsp. Fermaid O
5 g SafAle US-05 yeast (or similar strain)
30 g corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Mix the apple juice and brown sugar together until the sugar is dissolved. Sprinkle yeast on top and close the vessel with an airlock.

Ferment until the specific gravity reaches about 1.015 then cold crash. Once the yeast has flocculated and the active fermentation appears to have stopped, rack into a small keg and carbonate to 2.5 volumes. Opting to keep mine cold I did not stabilize with potassium metabisulfite and sorbate, but that would be necessary if the cider was being bottled or transported without temperature control.

The Olde Country (New England-style Cider)

(1 gallon/3.8 L, scale as needed)
OG = 1.062 FG = ~1.010 ABV = ~7%

Ingredients
0.9 gal. (3.4 L) pasteurized apple juice (12–13 °Brix /1.047-1.051 SG, which is typically bottle strength)
8 oz. (240 mL) unsulfured molasses
8 oz. (227 g) golden raisins, chopped
¼ tsp. Fermaid O
5 g SafAle US-05 yeast (or similar strain)
30 g corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Mix the apple juice, raisins, and molasses together until the molasses is dissolved. Sprinkle yeast on top and close the vessel with an airlock.

Ferment until the specific gravity reaches about 1.015 then cold crash. Once the yeast has flocculated and the active fermentation appears to have stopped, rack into a small keg and carbonate to 2.5 volumes. Opting to keep mine cold I did not stabilize with potassium metabisulfite and sorbate, but that would be necessary if the cider was being bottled or transported without temperature control.

Hello World (Graf)

(3 gallons/11.4 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.008
IBU = 9 ABV = 5.5%

Ingredients
3 lbs. (1.4 kg) Calrose rice (or similar)
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) Maris Otter malt
1 gal. (3.8 L) pasteurized apple juice
(12–13 °Brix /1.047-1.051 SG, which is typically bottle strength)
4.9 AAU Bramling Cross hops (15 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 6.5% alpha acids)
½ tsp. amylase enzymes
11 g SafAle US-05 yeast (or similar strain)
90 g corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
It is recommended to use a brew-in-a-bag system for this mash. Wash and steam the rice. Mash the steamed rice and crushed Maris Otter malt along with the amylase enzymes in 2.5 gal. (9.5 L) at 152 °F (67 °C) water for 30 minutes. Rinse the grains with 1 gal. (4 L) of 170 °F (77 °C) water. Bring it to a boil, boiling for 30 minutes. Add the hops at 15 minutes to flameout. Chill to 80 °F (27 °C) and transfer to a carboy. Add the apple juice and mix to combine. Sprinkle yeast on top and close the vessel with an airlock. Ferment until completion then package.

Written by Jason Phelps