Grainfather sales now live in U.S.! Woohhooo

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I don't know, I watched all three videos in this series. I think he gives pretty good reviews to both. On the up side, he appreciates the greater efficiency of the GF vs. the BM, and actually picks the GF brew at the end of the day taste wise. the main downside is that is it less programmable than the BM, and he liked the cooler of the BM more. He liked the BM build quality more, but had some pretty positive comments about some of the new inovations of the GF. I think both look pretty good, but at about a third of the price, I opt for the GF.
for me in the US, another factor not mentioned in the video is that it BM requires euro wiring, which means you also need an electrician to run a dedicated line, GF will run off a standard US household outlet.
Either way, both systems look pretty awesome, and I'm looking forward to getting my GF and giving it a whirl.
 
Personally, I'd be wary of the STC200's ability to maintain mash temps without over and undershoot. The money asked for the system I would want a bit better than a $15 controller
 
Anyone have a link to the sales? I've been following their progress closely and haven't seen any word that they have made it to our shores yet.
 
Bellybuster said:
Personally, I'd be wary of the STC200's ability to maintain mash temps without over and undershoot. The money asked for the system I would want a bit better than a $15 controller
Click to expand...

I think the long term plan is to offer a PID upgrade - but the unit is simple enough that if you wanted to do that yourself, it looks pretty easy... its the setup of the pump and arms and grain basket and silicone seals, perforated discs and counterflow chiller that are nice to have mass produced and all the engineering work done for you beforehand.... i dont see a reason why you cant upgrade the existing controller with anything you desire pretty easily.
 
Can US customers order the distilling hood?

I realize home distilling is ... um, highly frowned upon in America -- like, highly, highly frowned upon -- but I was curious if the distiller part was for sale.

I'm not looking to buy -- just curious.

So the grainfather has no PID when you purchase the system? It's just a straight temp controller like a Ranco?
 
Andyoesq said:
I don't know, I watched all three videos in this series. I think he gives pretty good reviews to both. On the up side, he appreciates the greater efficiency of the GF vs. the BM, and actually picks the GF brew at the end of the day taste wise. the main downside is that is it less programmable than the BM, and he liked the cooler of the BM more. He liked the BM build quality more, but had some pretty positive comments about some of the new inovations of the GF. I think both look pretty good, but at about a third of the price, I opt for the GF.
for me in the US, another factor not mentioned in the video is that it BM requires euro wiring, which means you also need an electrician to run a dedicated line, GF will run off a standard US household outlet.
Either way, both systems look pretty awesome, and I'm looking forward to getting my GF and giving it a whirl.
Click to expand...

I really like the GF, as far as what I've seen. It's not as automated as the BM, also need separate HLT for sparging, but GF does bigger beers easier.

I don't see the cost as 3x more for the BM though. Morebeer has BM 20L for $1799.99 with free shipping. The GF pricing I have seen is $890 + shipping.
I do like the alembic pot still setup option for GF :drunk:
 
bobbytuck said:
Can US customers order the distilling hood?

I realize home distilling is ... um, highly frowned upon in America -- like, highly, highly frowned upon -- but I was curious if the distiller part was for sale.

I'm not looking to buy -- just curious.

So the grainfather has no PID when you purchase the system? It's just a straight temp controller like a Ranco?
Click to expand...

It's not highly frowned upon, it's illegal :D That just reminds me of Ross on Friends
 
when did you get yours? I ordered online, not kickstarter, and still waiting for mine to be delivered
 
It's not too bad. It helps that I start with pretty hot water, brew in a hot kitchen, & start ramping up the boil during sparge.
It's a huge improvement over my existing pieced together systems. Best efficiency I have ever gotten as well. All in all very happy with the system.
 
I got mine (east coast Kickstarter backer) yesterday. Today I unpacked it, put it together , cleaned it and am doing a test boil (just water) to see how long it takes to reach a boil with 7 gallons of (cold) water.

It was about 1:15 to get from 73° to 165°, and I'll report back how long to get from there to a boil.
 
How vigorous was the boil? I am this close to ordering the Grainfather (US version), but I have read about and seen videos of the boil being a little weak. Wouldn't want this to affect the final quality of the beer.
 
Jon_TWR said:
I got mine (east coast Kickstarter backer) yesterday. Today I unpacked it, put it together , cleaned it and am doing a test boil (just water) to see how long it takes to reach a boil with 7 gallons of (cold) water.

It was about 1:15 to get from 73° to 165°, and I'll report back how long to get from there to a boil.
Click to expand...

Humm...this is my worry with the system....seems very slow....winter in a garage would be tuff...IMHO
 
brew-in said:
Humm...this is my worry with the system....seems very slow....winter in a garage would be tuff...IMHO
Click to expand...

I don't have a grainfather -- I have a Picobrew -- but I just looked at yesterday's brew log, and it looks like I went from 70F tap to 150F mash in 34 minutes.

Then it went from mash out to boil (208F, in the case of the Pico) in 20 mins.

OTOH, the Pico is only dealing with 2.5 to 3 gallons at any given time, and I assume the Grainfather is doing the full 5-5.5 gallon batch.

So the times are pretty similar, I'm guessing, given the respective volumes.
 
Bobby_m, if I built a drop in heat stick for this purpose (augmenting the existing boil), would I need a controller or would I just plug it directly into the wall and have it always on?

I am guessing I'd want the lowest wattage you offer, the 1375W @120V. To be used in combo with the Grainfather's 1600W.

Thanks.
 
I have a hot rod heat stick. It is awesome. Just plug it in to the wall and you are good to go.
 
for anyone looking to see what the hot rod does with a GF, check out the attached video. I had a decent boil before, with the hot rod it is explosive. next step get a smaller hop spider

 
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Bobby_M said:
That is very vigorously boiling. Can you force the GF to the lower mash wattage?
Click to expand...

yes, good point. you can kick it down to 600 watts, i will try that next time.

this is the boil with a hop sock instead of the massive hop spider.

the hot rod has worked great - bumps it up to boil temp in no time, and no doubt that the boil is vigorous now. I love it.



 
Last edited by a moderator:
for comparison, this is the boil of another user with a grainfather without a hot rod. my boil without hot rod is more vigorous than this. my unscientific study has shown that people at higher level altitude have no issue with boil. those at sea level struggle a little.
but much better with hot rod. no doubt.
i have requested a 4x16 300 micron hop spider be built by the folks at utah diesel, which i think will be the ultimate happy medium for everything but super hop heavy brews.

 
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