blaster_54738
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Yeah no issues at all. At first I was concerned that it wasn't going until I realized my mistake...MUST OPEN VALVE ON FERMENTER...after that it flowed in like champ!
Grainfather!!
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Yeah no issues at all. At first I was concerned that it wasn't going until I realized my mistake...MUST OPEN VALVE ON FERMENTER...after that it flowed in like champ!
scallopking
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Wasn't expecting this. I finished up brewing last weekend as usual, everything all cleaned up and put away. Started out yesterday and got it ready to bring mash water to temp and the heater button was stuck in off, I mean really stuck. So frustrated I took the four screws out the back and found this, surely wasn't brewing in that condition:
I send then an e-mail and will call them on Monday. I'm looking for my receipt for when I bought it but pretty sure its over a year, I would never expect this to happen.
Here it is now:
I send then an e-mail and will call them on Monday. I'm looking for my receipt for when I bought it but pretty sure its over a year, I would never expect this to happen.
Here it is now:
StoutNoDoubt
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Whoa! That is nuts! Hope mine doesn't have this issue. I think that if it did it once, it would do it again. Safe brewing!
scallopking
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Me too. Thanks. All went well today.
Got a reply from GF already, sent them some more info.
Interesting note, I held 209 degrees for most of the 75 min boil. Before I'd hit 209 and within 2 mins would drop to 208 and never reach it again. I dunno.
I didn't see anyone else say anything, but just in case, wanted to let you know your chiller is on upside down.
So I just made my 4th batch of beer on my GF Saturday and each time my preboil SG reading has been low. In last batch, my preboil OG came in at 1.036 (calibrated refrac). My post boil right before pitching came in at 1.044 (calibrated hydro). Expected OG is supposed to be 1.048. This batch was actually the closest I have gotten post boil. I believe it has to do with the sparge because my sparge time is quick, 15min or less. Out of the research I have done, sparging should take around 30 minutes or more. True? I read that with the GF we should keep the sparge water almost a half an inch above the top mesh screen to get good coverage through the grain bed. If I was to do that, my sparge time would take less than 15 minutes. When I let the water flow from the GF Sparge heater, it just goes straight into the bed. With that said, I do push the screen down on top of the bed before sparging, so I am trying to keep it tight. All four brews have been wheat style beers, so I am using rice hulls. I have been using about a pound of rice hulls, could that be over kill on 10lb of grist? Just cant figure out why my sparge is so quick.
I've certainly read about sparge time, however not sure exactly if a quicker sparge would necessarily lead to lower OG. With the GF we are limited by the grain bill on sparge volume, however your 10# bill is low enough to allow for a large enough sparge, ~3.6g or 46% of total water, compare that with say a 16# bill and it drops to just over 2.2g and 25% of total water.
Beyond all the above, its your rice hulls, man! 1# for a 10# wheat beer is huge! My first wheat beer was 11# (50% wheat) and I used a bit less than 1/2#. I found that to be too much (yes, quick sparge) so my next shot would be down to 1/4# at most. Give that a try, it should help.
Finally, I think a good check on your concern would be to run a liter or so through after your done into a pot, take a gravity reading, this will provide an indication of sugars still left that you're "missing" out on. Then next time adjust the hulls and a bit less mash water, with the lower amount added to the sparge. Sounds like you've got some testing to do!
Oh, and btw, if you're not adjusting your water chemistry, take a look into that as it will impact efficiency.
I didn't see anyone else say anything, but just in case, wanted to let you know your chiller is on upside down.
I think you're right, but where are the CFC feet? This looks like a change in design?
Me too. Thanks. All went well today.
Got a reply from GF already, sent them some more info.
Interesting note, I held 209 degrees for most of the 75 min boil. Before I'd hit 209 and within 2 mins would drop to 208 and never reach it again. I dunno.
I'm interested in hearing their response. Even if out of warranty, they should correct that for you, and I wouldn't be surprised if they do. Wonder why that happened, are you on a GFCI outlet?
EisBerg
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I don't have CFC feet that I am aware of. Will have to look back at others photos to see what the difference may be in mine. I also have a Blichmann plate chiller and have been wondering which would be more efficient. The quoted photo was taken while I was running some PBW through everything to clean it out. Still haven't had a chance to brew since I've been away for work. Reading as much as I can to ensure I get a decent first session.
Edit to add: After looking at the photo a little more closely I do see little rubber caps at the ends of the three metal frames that hold together the CFC. I believe these may be the feet that should be on the bottom rather than the top to prevent slippage while in use. Although I have yet to use it in practice it so far seems to me not to be in the ideal location for a chiller.
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scallopking
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I'm waiting for their response. No, not on a GFI abut will be now. Yeah, no idea why it did that. I do hope they replace it.
Probably a slightly deformed and thus loose-fitting terminal. Or a poor crimp on the terminal. At 13 amps, even .2 ohms of resistance at that point would generate 34 watts of heat. As it heats, the resistance would increase even more.
In the photo, the rubber feet are on the three metal legs, you can see them on top as someone mentioned. Those should be on the bottom which helps hold it on the glass lid. The updated CFC from what I understand doesn't have the rubber feet. So in either case, you just want to be sure that where the wort enters the CFC is on top, that way gravity is helping to work the wort through the CFC. If you have it upside down, the pump has to push the wort up through the CFC, which is unnecessary work for the pump.
I kinda thought I might be using to much rice hulls. On my next batch, Ill use a quarter of a pound and see what happens. Thanks!!!
If you have it upside down, the pump has to push the wort up through the CFC, which is unnecessary work for the pump.
A larger issue is that if the inlet is on the bottom the CFC can't drain until it is disconnected, at which time it will drain onto the floor.
Keeping the lid on will hamper the release of DMS during the boil and may lead to off flavors.
The soft boil I achieve without the lid gives me a nice hot break. I am brewing indoors and do have a home made graincoat.
Colbizle
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No it wont.
Yes it will.
Colbizle
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Sure maybe if lid was metal and completly covering the unit not allowing any steam escape, then I could see that.
But keeping the lid partially on that even has a hole I doubt would hamper the driving off of dms.
skraeling
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Sure other this having been proven false already.
It comes down to degrees. DMS is more a concern with Pilsner malts, and to what degree the condensation which contains the DMS returns to the wort. Also how sensitive you are to DMS off flavors. How much steam condenses and returns vs how much escapes through that small hole....
You don't need to have a volcanic boil going. A constant rolling boil is plenty.
Where have you seen that this has been proven false?
Colbizle
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I know, I'm not new to brewing, just new to the grainfather and was seeing if I could increase boil vigor.
skraeling
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The experimental brewing guys im pretty sure debunked the whole dms/lid thing in one episode.
I don't think so, but if you have a link....
TheHopfather
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The Brulosophy guys just did this one, was proven false in their experiment at least;
http://brulosophy.com/2016/10/31/the-boil-lid-on-vs-lid-off-exbeeriment-results/
They also did a 30 min boil with pilsner malt, ended up with no DMS;
http://brulosophy.com/2015/09/14/boil-length-pt-2-pilsner-malt-exbeeriment-results/
http://brulosophy.com/2016/10/31/the-boil-lid-on-vs-lid-off-exbeeriment-results/
They also did a 30 min boil with pilsner malt, ended up with no DMS;
http://brulosophy.com/2015/09/14/boil-length-pt-2-pilsner-malt-exbeeriment-results/
Just received my Grainfather and am unpacking / assembling and have a question. There is a 2.5-3" wide strip of what appears to be yellow sheet fiberglass curled around the inside of the kettle just above the pump inlet. Is this just packing material?
TheHopfather
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Yes. That's just there to keep the kettle from getting dented. There were some shipping issues with these units when they first came out, they've improved the packaging since those days.
I would certainly think so. There should be nothing but stainless steel parts inside the unit.
A picture of what it is should get you definitive answers.
skraeling
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At work so checking the board inbetween reactions lol. What he posted yeah. Also anecdotally from my own experience. Just did a batch of oatmeal stout and had the lid covered as it was quite cool and and my tank was freezing not giving me a lot of heat output so was putting the lid on to help with heat loss.
Noticed no off flavors at all post boil. Granted maybe its only noticeable with an aged beer, but the wort pre fermentation was fine.
Also... I hate my neighbor, he just bought one of these and is waiting on it to get shipped.
"Hamper" does not equal "prevent" and "may" means it's possible. My apologies for passing on info I read on John Palmers site. Carry on.
dibbz
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The only thing I took away from this particular article was that there is bias everywhere. German is not a strain of barley, it's a country. I did a tour of grain corp malting facility at Pinkenba and learned there is many strains of barley being grown, there's pages of metrics that differ for each truck load, and places like CUB will only use particular strains in some beers such as crown.
The part 3 of the o2 test, you see the author being 100% convinced he can tell which sample is which, but it fails their testing methodology. So is the testing wrong or the author?
Sooo as interesting as it is, it's still not conclusive
TheHopfather
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Agreed. Nothing Brulosophy does is conclusive, but perhaps it's enough to make one question homebrewing dogma? My biggest takeaway from those experiments is that what we learn as absolute truth may not be absolute.
Before my Grainfather I was a stovetop BIAB guy. My stove isn't that powerful and I had to leave a lid 2/3rds over the pot during the boil, DMS was never an issue. Those experiments are just something to think about.
Before my Grainfather I was a stovetop BIAB guy. My stove isn't that powerful and I had to leave a lid 2/3rds over the pot during the boil, DMS was never an issue. Those experiments are just something to think about.
singybrue
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scallopking
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So GF said to take it back to where I bought it for a replacement, no charge to me. But I can't get one of the new controllers though. Good CS.
Working to a plug-n-play and easy retrofit solution to upgrade original grinfather controller with Smartpid and need some suggestions and ideas from GF community
The idea is to keep the original case and switches, just removing STC200 and rewiring Smartpid in order to get full process automation, recipe management, wifi data log, OLED graphical display, USB, etcetc.. and basically there a two options
1) connect heating element to relay 1 , connect pump to relay 2 in parallel to switch, connect temperature probe to one of the two control channel. Just two wires for pump and a screw driver !
You can benefit all the smart PID automation feature (including pump cycle automation) but the temperature control during step mash will be performed ON/OFF (with hysteresis) since is not advisable to use PID /PWM algorithm with mechanical relay output
Also during boil you lose the nice feature to control power via PWM 0-100%
2) insert in the case a solid state relay (10A minimum) to control heating elements, pump control and temperature probe as option 1
Little bit of extra work and a need of suitable SSR with heat sink to fit in the small spare space inside the case but you can benefit full PID + PWM solution either in mashing or in boiling
there is also a 3rd option more invasive that need to work on the base of GF separating 2 heating element now in series in order to control them separately (500W by PID during mashing, 1500 W by relay during mash in/out and boil)
what option do you prefer ? Any other suggestion ?
arzaman
http://smartpid.com
The idea is to keep the original case and switches, just removing STC200 and rewiring Smartpid in order to get full process automation, recipe management, wifi data log, OLED graphical display, USB, etcetc.. and basically there a two options
1) connect heating element to relay 1 , connect pump to relay 2 in parallel to switch, connect temperature probe to one of the two control channel. Just two wires for pump and a screw driver !
You can benefit all the smart PID automation feature (including pump cycle automation) but the temperature control during step mash will be performed ON/OFF (with hysteresis) since is not advisable to use PID /PWM algorithm with mechanical relay output
Also during boil you lose the nice feature to control power via PWM 0-100%
2) insert in the case a solid state relay (10A minimum) to control heating elements, pump control and temperature probe as option 1
Little bit of extra work and a need of suitable SSR with heat sink to fit in the small spare space inside the case but you can benefit full PID + PWM solution either in mashing or in boiling
there is also a 3rd option more invasive that need to work on the base of GF separating 2 heating element now in series in order to control them separately (500W by PID during mashing, 1500 W by relay during mash in/out and boil)
what option do you prefer ? Any other suggestion ?
arzaman
http://smartpid.com
elreplica
Well-Known Member
Working to a plug-n-play and easy retrofit solution to upgrade original grinfather controller with Smartpid and need some suggestions and ideas from GF community
The idea is to keep the original case and switches, just removing STC200 and rewiring Smartpid in order to get full process automation, recipe management, wifi data log, OLED graphical display, USB, etcetc.. and basically there a two options
1) connect heating element to relay 1 , connect pump to relay 2 in parallel to switch, connect temperature probe to one of the two control channel. Just two wires for pump and a screw driver !
You can benefit all the smart PID automation feature (including pump cycle automation) but the temperature control during step mash will be performed ON/OFF (with hysteresis) since is not advisable to use PID /PWM algorithm with mechanical relay output
Also during boil you lose the nice feature to control power via PWM 0-100%
2) insert in the case a solid state relay (10A minimum) to control heating elements, pump control and temperature probe as option 1
Little bit of extra work and a need of suitable SSR with heat sink to fit in the small spare space inside the case but you can benefit full PID + PWM solution either in mashing or in boiling
there is also a 3rd option more invasive that need to work on the base of GF separating 2 heating element now in series in order to control them separately (500W by PID during mashing, 1500 W by relay during mash in/out and boil)
what option do you prefer ? Any other suggestion ?
arzaman
http://smartpid.com
I'm thinking the horse is out of the barn here...GF is releasing a simple plug and play controller upgrade that will do what most people here want/care about - if they choose to upgrade at all. Could this arduino unit be cheaper and more easily controllable than the GF unit? Possibly more tweakable but at the end if the day, it will boil down to price/timing and I know where my money's going. Not wanting to be a party pooper though! :-0
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