Grainfather!!

From my understanding the pump is replaceable. The heating element is not. But with the one year warranty you will be fine. There are lots of people putting this through its paces. Far more than one person can brew and have had no issues. One group specifically hit what the average Brewer does in 10 years in nearly one year. And they said they were not gentle with it at all. No issues.

The pump is replaceable along with everything else except the heating element. If the heating element were to go out the boiler would need to be replaced as a whole. I got that information straight from the folks at Grainfather. It's a sealed element. I'm guessing it's integrated into the bottom of the boiler.

The unit has a 1 year warranty and they said if the element somehow went out they would work with the customer on getting it up and running even after the standard year warranty is up. They want to keep their customers brewing.

That was good enough for me. It's a personal decision only you can make. The simplicity of this system and ease of use cannot be beat in my opinion. It's really a joy to use.

DarkUncle said:

The simplicity of this system and ease of use cannot be beat in my opinion. It's really a joy to use.

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This is what I love about the system...well along with the price.

+1

Did anyone buy the sparge water heater from grainfather? I've been sitting on the fence and just got an email for 10% off today only. I'm thinking about buying both and also the coat. Also how is everyone sparging with this. are you putting a sparge arm on top of the grain basket or just pouring the sparge water in.

I just pour it in slow. Then it hits a low water level and then keep it at that level until I hit boil volume.

I set up a pot with a valve and a hose that I trickle the heated sparge water onto the plate for about 30 minutes while I am bringing up to boil also. Interestingly enough, I used the same method with my cooler mash tun....a sparge plate I made out of plexiglass that sat on the lip of my cooler and had about 100 1/16"" holes in it. So I know the flow rate setting.

Thanks for the replies. I bought the grainfather, coat and sparge water heater last night for under a 1000 and free shipping. Should have it in 5-10 days. Also there was an earlier post about hop screens from arbor fab. They have a 10% discount code in the current issue of BYO that is good until Dec 31st. The code is BYO10. I guess I need to order a hop screen now.

Congrats! I just use muslin hop bags. .50 cents from my LHBS. Not near as cool but does the trick Lol figure I can get a lot of beer for 100$!

My first and only brew so far I just threw the pellets right in with no clogging issues at all. I made a cream ale with flaked corn and rice. This recipe made for a pretty slow sparge because of the gelatinous mash but no clogging issues.

After the boil and draining I could not believe the amount of crud covering the filter. I'm talking handfuls. I was amazed I could drain completely with zero clogging. I'm quite happy.

no need for a sparge arm as the perforated top plate takes care of distribution.
sparge water heater will probably need to be on a separate circuit. i can't run both the GF on high heat and the sparge heater on high heat on the same circuit without tripping the breaker.
use GFCI outlets.

When brewing inside I find the easiest thing to do is just heat your sparge water in a pot on the oven as that's on its own separate line anyway. Using a pot with a bottom drain valve would be even easier. Especially if you setup the Grainfather right next to it. Just drain it right in. Easy peasy.

What kind of efficiency numbers are you guys getting? I can't seem to get better than 70% over the course of 7 sessions...

I plan on 75 and get 76-82%

DarkUncle said:

The pump is replaceable along with everything else except the heating element. If the heating element were to go out the boiler would need to be replaced as a whole. I got that information straight from the folks at Grainfather. It's a sealed element. I'm guessing it's integrated into the bottom of the boiler.

The unit has a 1 year warranty and they said if the element somehow went out they would work with the customer on getting it up and running even after the standard year warranty is up. They want to keep their customers brewing.

That was good enough for me. It's a personal decision only you can make. The simplicity of this system and ease of use cannot be beat in my opinion. It's really a joy to use.

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Do we know the price of the boiler? We all know things don't break within the warranty timeframe! since this is a weak link I would hope the mfctr would sell them to owners at a very good price.

72-80% efficiency.

i brewed my first batch on Sunday, and I got an efficiency of 82% according to Brewsmith2

I'd say mine are all 82%. I work my recipes though for 75 just so I don't under shoot.

Any chance I could get someone to measure their basket for me? Looking for width and height.

A picture of the bottom would be awesome too.

Why? If your looking for space, the dimensions are in the grainfather website.

BrewMeister49 said:

Why? If your looking for space, the dimensions are in the grainfather website.

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The grain basket is available as a parts purchase, and I am considering using it instead of modifying a different vessel.

The grain basket is available as a parts purchase, and I am considering using it instead of modifying a different vessel.

Has anyone got a beersmith profile that is both consistent on volumes and also effeciency?

Nick wiseman does. He is in the grainfather users group on Facebook. I don't use it. I just use the 10 gal electric urn profile and adjust the numbers to 75% eff. I use the grainfather website for water volume.

Yeah I use Beersmith to make my recipes and then enter them into the Grainfather app myself. This gives me my water volumes and timers. I like it.

I received my grainfather yesterday morning and assembled last night. I just got done doing the initial cleaning and I'm getting ready to brew a batch of my house lite to test it out and work out any possible kinks in the process. My only complaint so far is I wish the power cord was another 3-4' long.

Maybe something like this could help...http://m.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-9-ft-20-Amp-110-Volt-123-Gray-Indoor-Extension-Cord/50248947

Congrats on the GF. I think you're gonna love it and if you've previously done your brewing on a propane system you're really going to appreciate the much more relaxed brew day. The easier the brew day the more brew days you will have.

Okay, my first brew day is done. First I'm used to brewing on my 15 gallon gravity propane system. So after today I should have been ebrewing years ago. Secondly, I used a gravity system because I didn't want to spend $150 on a pump and have to clean it. Well I learned today that the pump is man's best friend! The brew day was stress free. I drank multiple homebrews while watching football and socializing with another homebrewtalk member who purchased a kettle from me today. After one day brewing I'm very pleased and have zero regrets. Cleanup was super easy. I see me catching a cold mid week and getting a sack of grain and brewing a Belgian triple which I've been thinking about for a while. Then next weekend is supposed to be warm in the northeast so I'm planning on a double brew day next Saturday or Sunday to see how long it will take to brew 2 batches in a day. One batch will be either a imperial oatmeal stout or an imperial milk stout. The second batch is to be determined.

I never knew about these BIAB electic systems until this morning! GF looks like my thing!

They're pretty awesome

Thinking of switching from batch sparging and propane to the Grainfather. Does anyone use a corona style mill with their Grainfather?

It would be for the better for sure. I have heard that corona mills grind too fine for most systems. I've never used one and just have mine done at my brew shop or on a barley crusher.

Thanks, that is what i am afraid of. Hate to drop another 100 bucks on a new crusher.

If your doing all grain right now with it, you should be ok. All your doing is pouring water over the top and letting it just drain out the bottom. As long as you don't compress the grain bed. Corona mills are tiny! Not sure how long it would take to crush 14 pounds lol

Well I've been on the fence about buying one and see Williams has dropped the price to 800$. Guess I better order one.

erschwenk said:

Well I've been on the fence about buying one and see Williams has dropped the price to 800$. Guess I better order one.

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I just bought one at my local homebrew store, Grainfather has discounted the price for a short time only (until either Christmas or New Years, I believe). After that, the prices will pop back up to where they were.

If you're liking the $800 price point, I would jump on it if I were you.

erschwenk said:

Well I've been on the fence about buying one and see Williams has dropped the price to 800$. Guess I better order one.

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You won't regret it I can tell you that my friend.

Holy cow!! I ordered mine yesterday...and guess what showed up 8:45 am this morning!!

My arbor fab hop screen showed up today testing it out now.