Grainfather!!

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What do y'all use to scrap the protein off the element after mashing? I've been using my metal mash paddle from my old tier setup but I'm finding it's scratching the sht out of kettle..
 
Colbizle said:
What do y'all use to scrap the protein off the element after mashing? I've been using my metal mash paddle from my old tier setup but I'm finding it's scratching the sht out of kettle..
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Isn't the element concealed? If you're thinking about the bottom/sides, I might suggest a wooden mash paddle. I used a plastic one and it's ok but I picked up a chunk of red oak and am going to spin up a couple of 36" custom wooden mash paddles.
 
I don't have one.... Yet! I also thought the element was below the bottom of the pot. I would not scrape with anything hard. I would use a nylon scrubby. Some people use Barkeepers friend.
 
kh54s10 said:
I don't have one.... Yet! I also thought the element was below the bottom of the pot. I would not scrape with anything hard. I would use a nylon scrubby. Some people use Barkeepers friend.
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The element is concealed. I use pbw and a sponge and have no issues. You shouldn't have to scrape the bottom and if for some reason you would I'd recommend the standard plastic mash paddle. It's flexible enough and has the straight edge.
 
I just remember the grainfather guy from YouTube talking about scraping the protein layer off the bottom of the kettle after the mash because it helps speed up the boil heating. I found that scraping does work and help just that I'm scratching the bottom with my metal paddle.. I'll have to switch to wood then.
 
The official grainfather videos tell you to scrape (lightly) the bottom of the kettle as you get near the boil (and during the boil) to prevent protein build up that might make the heating element shut off.

I use a wooden mash paddle and scrape it lightly. I haven't ever had my heating element shut off due to protein build up, but I figured I'd just follow what the video says
 
The only thing I dislike so far is where they placed the heater reset button.
Dead center on the very bottom.
Hard to get to when it trips off during a boil.
And yes ... it will sometimes trip off.

Oh yeah ... if you drop and break the glass lid the replacement is about $130 if you can find one.
Other glass lids that will fit can be found for as little as $10 in kitchen supply stores.
Makes me wonder about the price of other replacement parts if ever needed.
 
Willee said:
The only thing I dislike so far is where they placed the heater reset button.
Dead center on the very bottom.
Hard to get to when it trips off during a boil.
And yes ... it will sometimes trip off.

Oh yeah ... if you drop and break the glass lid the replacement is about $130 if you can find one.
Other glass lids that will fit can be found for as little as $10 in kitchen supply stores.
Makes me wonder about the price of other replacement parts if ever needed.
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yea i dont know where you are seeing $130. They are i stock (in US) on their website for $11.50.
 
pfi309 said:
Keep an eye on Barley Haven, I picked mine up last Thanksgiving Day for $600 delivered. It was a Thanksgiving day special sale.
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thats crazy cheap i bought mine through homebrewsupply.com black friday deal today and it was in the six hundred range shipped but high six hundred.

hwo did you get that deal from them? did you call and ask?
 
I got part of my grainfather in the mail today. Large box, 16 cubic feet of shipping peanuts, the counterflow chiller and the body of the grainfather. Hopefully the rest of it arrives tomorrow and I can get to brewing.
 
M0KCE said:
I got part of my grainfather in the mail today. Large box, 16 cubic feet of shipping peanuts, the counterflow chiller and the body of the grainfather. Hopefully the rest of it arrives tomorrow and I can get to brewing.
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That is odd it used to ship all in one box.
 
I asked, they said they were getting a lot of shipping damage that way so they are sending it in multiple boxes. Hopefully the rest will arrive tomorrow. They did give me a $91 credit for the difference in the price today vs Sunday when I ordered. I applied that to a Cereal Killer.
 
That is great customer service and they made another sale. Win win for both parties. Enjoy the Grainfather. This weekend will be my 16th batch with mine. Love the convenience of now brewing indoors during the winter.
 
d-bone said:
yea i dont know where you are seeing $130. They are i stock (in US) on their website for $11.50.
Click to expand...

They are $24.95 in New Zealand which is $17.57 American dollars but can not ship at this time.
Where in the USA did you find them for $11.50.

I guess Austin Homebrew Supplies ripped me a new one didn't they.
 
Willee said:
They are $24.95 in New Zealand which is $17.57 American dollars but can not ship at this time.
Where in the USA did you find them for $11.50.

I guess Austin Homebrew Supplies ripped me a new one didn't they.
Click to expand...

https://www.grainfather.com/shop/spare-parts/tempered-glass-lid.html

If Austin Homebrew Supplies charged you that much, I'd go back to them with this price and ask for a partial refund. They have a pretty good reputation, so I'd be surprised if they didn't. Ed
:mug:
 
Willee said:
They are $24.95 in New Zealand which is $17.57 American dollars but can not ship at this time.
Where in the USA did you find them for $11.50.

I guess Austin Homebrew Supplies ripped me a new one didn't they.
Click to expand...

i found it on the grainfather website. make sure the location is set to US.
 
$16.99 at Adventures in Homebrewing. That other sounds like a mistake. The AHS people are good guys and on the up and up.
 
Human error when adding it to the site originally? I would literally cut a circle out of some wood before I would pay that for a replacement.
 
If you need spare parts the grainfather website has 10% off everything on their website until Monday night. Their email said the discount will be applied automatically at checkout.
 
Ordered mine late last night- still need to explain to my wife.....

Did a lot of research on pricing and not sure if you can easily get a deal under 700 or not (as mentioned here a few posts back- I tried to use the 10-15%'s on top of $799 price tag with no luck) but as I heard, GF sets the price, based on a handful of home brew supply store owners (large online sites and medium regional stores) that I talked with this past week and They mentioned there are regional GF suppliers/managers. Home brew finds.com mentioned if there is a coupon code that applies to a GF it is in error and, in my own interpretation, likely the seller still owes GF the set price of the unit. One owner I spoke with said a way to get around the set price was to offer something free (or other GF parts not regulated by price) from their own store to sweeten the deal. High $600's (675ish) would be close to a 25% discount from mrsp of 890- that is a lot.

Anyway I did get an extra 3% off coupon to apply to my order from a email and no tax ;) + free shipping deal+ Grain beer kit. And points to be used for a purchase of a hop spider in week or so. Final price of GF =$775 usd.

Looking forward to exploring all grain, once I burn through some extract here over the next few weeks. Will keep reading this post I think I am on page 79 to find many tips and tricks.
 
Got mine around March. Brewed almost every weekend. Just did 2 pale ales and a xocoveza clone this weekend. 17# grain bill was a very slow sparge. Still have issues with finished beer being clear. Good beer though
 
paccman said:
thats crazy cheap i bought mine through homebrewsupply.com black friday deal today and it was in the six hundred range shipped but high six hundred.

hwo did you get that deal from them? did you call and ask?
Click to expand...

That was last year, I was just sitting at the computer doing some searches. Searched Grainfather sale and it was in the results. I thought it was a misprint because it was only listed at that price for a couple of hours. Glad I pulled the trigger. It took 3 weeks to get, I was afraid to call, feared they would tell me it was a misprint and not ship it. Ultimately it shipped from their distributer, I think the lady said they sold somewhere around 500 units that night.
 
Let me chime in here. I bought mine last April. Have put almost 30 batches through from light lagers to big ole triples. I would defiantly say that rice hulls have to be in place. My home brew store has a finer grind so this is the reason. Overall I love it. Perfect for me to brew in my apartment in Los Angles. I do get some protein scorch on the bottoms and have not tried to scrape but will from now on. One advice and thing that I am picking up fro the store this next week is quick disconnects as the pipes get hot and are hard to undo. But we are splitting hairs. I do not have the new controller but have found that all my numbers are pretty spot on. I do not calculate rice hulls in the mash and grain poundage. I would but anouther in a heart beat if this one breaks. The system is great and easy to clean. I have 3 ppl from work that have started brewing as well that I loan the GF to and they love it as well. In the summer I took my old wort chiller and connected it to the cold water inlet so I could put it in ice water for a prechill. I can get the batch out of the machine drained in 20 min. Pretty good if you ask me. Don't hesitate. Buy one. You won't be sorry
 
I just lightly scrape the bottom close to boil with my plastic spoon - stay clear of the pump filter! I do have a little bit of scorch on my also but its almost completey gone now, it was from my first few runs.

Whats your eff? I never used rice hulls before.
 
Seabrew8 I am always 71-73%. Honestly I could tweak more but I am happy with this. I haven't gotten into water chemistry yet but I do better when I get my water from work then home.
 
billmiller007 said:
Seabrew8 I am always 71-73%. Honestly I could tweak more but I am happy with this. I haven't gotten into water chemistry yet but I do better when I get my water from work then home.
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Ok, thanks. I was just curious because i read a finer crush can get you a higher eff.

I get around the same actually - i hit mid to high 70's a couple of times. Mine crush looks to be medium i think. I had a struck spare once.
 
actech said:
51 Dont drink it all by my self !!
Ha misread that as to how old is my liver
must need a beer
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Definite sign of too much blood in your alcohol system.

I assembled my GF today, will perhaps get to brew tomorrow after work. Need to teach the wife or the kid how this all works so if I get called out for a fire I don't end up flushing the whole batch.
 
For anyone reading this thread, debating the purchase of a Grainfather, here's an interesting cheap alternative Couldn't find it on the interwebs, hence the snapshot. Just saw it in the William's Brewing catalog.

It's called the "Mash & Boil" by Brewer's Edge. 300 clams. No pump, no chiller, but both of those can be purchased for between $50 and $100, depending on what you want.

And before someone razes me for bashing the Grainfather, I'm not poo pooing the GF. Just trying to show there are alternatives, like Nexus phones and iPhones.

View attachment 1480506766037.jpg
 
TexasWine said:
For anyone reading this thread, debating the purchase of a Grainfather, here's an interesting cheap alternative Couldn't find it on the interwebs, hence the snapshot. Just saw it in the William's Brewing catalog.

It's called the "Mash & Boil" by Brewer's Edge. 300 clams. No pump, no chiller, but both of those can be purchased for between $50 and $100, depending on what you want.

And before someone razes me for bashing the Grainfather, I'm not poo pooing the GF. Just trying to show there are alternatives, like Nexus phones and iPhones.
Click to expand...
Tex,
Thanks. I'll throw no rocks at you for showing us a less expensive alternative (albeit with less features.) This might be the perfect solution for someone just getting into "all-in-one" type machines. In addition to my homebuild eBIAB system, I have a GF and love it. For those of you interested in seeing this thing, it's listed on the Williams Brewing website. Ed
:mug:
 
what's the max grain bill folks have used? I just made a rye porter that was just shy of 17lb and noticed that when mashing, it was almost topped off. i noticed that while mashing and recirculating, a lot of wort was flowing through the side holes where the lifting handle fits in. is this normal for larger grain bills? I mashed w/ 6.75 gal water. i was wanting to do a large barley wine soon but worried about fitting anything more than 17lb of grains.
 
TexasWine said:
For anyone reading this thread, debating the purchase of a Grainfather, here's an interesting cheap alternative Couldn't find it on the interwebs, hence the snapshot. Just saw it in the William's Brewing catalog.

It's called the "Mash & Boil" by Brewer's Edge. 300 clams. No pump, no chiller, but both of those can be purchased for between $50 and $100, depending on what you want.

And before someone razes me for bashing the Grainfather, I'm not poo pooing the GF. Just trying to show there are alternatives, like Nexus phones and iPhones.
Click to expand...


No one should razz you bro...it's an interesting alternative and one I might've considered prior to my GF purchase..I'm happy with my GF and am awaiting the controller upgrade - now put off here until "Febrewary"... Thanks for sharing...
 
TexasWine said:
For anyone reading this thread, debating the purchase of a Grainfather, here's an interesting cheap alternative Couldn't find it on the interwebs, hence the snapshot. Just saw it in the William's Brewing catalog.

It's called the "Mash & Boil" by Brewer's Edge. 300 clams. No pump, no chiller, but both of those can be purchased for between $50 and $100, depending on what you want.

And before someone razes me for bashing the Grainfather, I'm not poo pooing the GF. Just trying to show there are alternatives, like Nexus phones and iPhones.
Click to expand...

I'm with Elreplica on this one, no razz, glad to see you brought this up! This is a simpler approach, but would be something I'd seriously have considered a year ago, especially if one considers the DIY aspect of putting a pump in if one chose to use a recirc system. I think I'd want to recirc too, as I presume a similar heating element setup in base as the GF would not be as efficient in heating the entire grain bed.

If, and I hope not, my GF craps out some day, I'd certainly research this alternative. Will be listening for folks here who go this route, how it performs and for those that come up with mods (esp recirc).

I bet the GF folks won't be pleased to see this come out in Jan!
 

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