CAPTAIN TRIPS (Graf)

A fictitious beverage with 99.4% communicability

STORY
Just so you kow, Graf is a fictitious beverage. It was created by Steven King in The Dark Tower book series. Below is an excerpt from The Dark Tower wikia that better describes this imaginary inebriator:

"Graf is a strong hard cider or apple-based beer widely consumed in In-World. The specifics of the beverage are not mentioned (except to say that some varieties of graf are weak while others are eye-wateringly strong).Graf is said to taste tart, light and refreshing with a deceptively high alcohol content."

While reading The Stand, another King novel (I strongly advise against reading this yourself), and wandering through homebrew forums, I stumbled upon this hypothetical hooch. I referenced the work of a man named Brandon O, who seemingly created the father or all Graf recipes, but I decided to take it a different approach. B.O.'s recipe is basically a fast conditioning cider, whereas I wanted something with a bit more of a malt backbone (like Gunslinger's Graf). 

I liked the idea of a fast fermenting cider, but truth be told, this beer tastes better with time, so it didn't really live up to my aspirations in that regard. However, I'll continue to brew this one for several autumns to come, because it is silly, surprisingly tasty, but mostly because the ladies actually like this one.

As for the name, this beer is named after an apocalyptic virus that kills essentially everyone in The Stand. I'm aware that The Dark Tower and The Stand are completely unrelated (save that they share a common author), but I think Captain Trips is a cool name, and I can name any fake drink after any fake virus I want.

RECIPE (PRINTABLE VERSION)
Grains (1.85lbs)
     .75 lbs Crystal 120
     .50 lbs Special B
     .25 lbs Smoked Malt
     .25 lbs Roasted Barley
     .10 lbs Chocolate Wheat
Fermentables (4.0 lbs)
     3.0 lbs Amber DME
     1.0 lbs Clover Honey (or Buckwheat)
Hops (15.0 AAUs)
     7.0 AAUs Cluster (1 oz | 7%)
     8.0 AAUs Perle (1 oz | 8%)
Yeast (1 Packet of Either)

Wyeast 1056 - American Ale

(Medium/Low | 73-77% | 60-72°F)

Misc

Pectinase

2.5 gal Apple Cider

1.0 gal Apple Juice

STATS

OG:

FG:
ABV:

SRM:

IBU:

*Sorry, I haven't logged stats on this one yet

MASH SCHEDULE

Prep

Prepare Yeast

Remove Juices from Refrigerator

Create Grain Bag

Create Hop Bags

Steep

Steep Grains 

- 8 qts water @ 156°F (30 mins)

Drain and Discard

Extract Addition

Add Malt Extract & Dissolve

Bring to Boil

BREW SCHEDULE

.50 oz Cluster @ :60

.75 oz Perle    @ :60

.50 oz Cluster @ :15

.25 oz Perle    @ :05

Chill Wort to 72°F  

FERMENTATION SCHEDULE

Chill Wort Sanitize Cider/Juice/Honey Add Honey to Fermentor Pour Cider and Juice into Fermentor Add Pectinase Bottle after 6wks Prime to 2.4 vol CO2 (~.85oz/gal) Condition at room temp for 2wk Cold condition for 1wk DRINK!      

SESSIONS

     Sep, 2014
     Nov, 2015