Grainfather G40 Cart

[pvpeacock]

I just received a Grainfather G40 for Christmas. I wanted to try and streamline my gravity based brewing set up, and I am getting tired of lifting heavy kettles, mash tuns, fermenters, etc. More importantly, I was fearing an eventual back injury from lifting on brew days. To work for my garage set up, I needed a way to easily move the Grainfather around so I could mash/boil/chill in the driveway and then roll it into the garage to pump the wort into my conical fermenters. I thought about a number of options and then remembered that they sell 55 gallon drum carts. Voila, instant Grainfather cart!

 

[Airborneguy]

I have a similar piece of equipment. I recently found a pallet dolly, the ones fast food restaurants use for deliveries. I screwed ply wood into it to close the opening in the middle.

 

[pvpeacock]

During my first brew, it took way too long for the grain basket to drain after the mash (let alone sparge). I didn't want to start boiling until the grain basket and sparge were done, but had nowhere to put the grain basket to finish draining given the size of the basket. The grain basket diameter is too large to sit it on top of 5 gallon bucket (not to mention that setting it on a bucket would cause the bottom of the grain basket to get pushed up into the basket creating a mess). I did some searching and voila found this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009370JSY?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
When it arrived, I sat the grain basket on top of it and discovered that it is the perfect size! the 4 brackets on the side of the grain basket fit perfectly on the lip of the pan holding the entire basket on top of the pan to let it drain. Plus, it has a 3 gallon capacity which is more than enough to catch the last runnings from the grain.

P.S. I adjusted my grain mill, so hopefully the grain basked drains faster on my next brew.

 

[pvpeacock]

Just did my second brew on the GF40. After adjusting my mill gap to be a little wider, I had no problem draining the grain basket or sparging. I also discovered that the grain basket sits perfectly on top of the plastic pan I bought, so it can keep draining after I remove it from the GF and start the boil. The four brackets on the outside of the basket fit perfectly on top of the lip of the pan. I probably gained another 1/2 gallon of wort by letting it sit while I started to boil.