Grainfather just purchased

[BobOki]

Well, after looking at the Breumeister and the Grainfather, I just bit the bullet and purchased the grainfather. Should be plenty big enough for my 5 gallon brews, and will cut my equipment down to about 3 items for brew day.

I'll have the grainfather which does the mash, sparge, and boil, an extra electric warmer for the sparge water (from grain father too), and my carboy. I think this will be fun, as a first time all-grain brewer I will do my first in this device, and I think I might even record it, or at a minimum make a write up on it.

What you guys think, anyone have any feed back on this? Could use some positive news as I just dropped 1k on this.

 

[jwalk4]

I offer you a "like" and well wishes!

I don't have the grainfather, but I hear good things!

Let us know how you fair.

 

[elreplica]

Well, after looking at the Breumeister and the Grainfather, I just bit the bullet and purchased the grainfather. Should be plenty big enough for my 5 gallon brews, and will cut my equipment down to about 3 items for brew day.



I'll have the grainfather which does the mash, sparge, and boil, an extra electric warmer for the sparge water (from grain father too), and my carboy. I think this will be fun, as a first time all-grain brewer I will do my first in this device, and I think I might even record it, or at a minimum make a write up on it.



What you guys think, anyone have any feed back on this? Could use some positive news as I just dropped 1k on this.

I'm an experienced brewer for many moons now and recently was given my Grainfather as a b day semi-retirement gift. I recently kegged my 1st beer - a light pale ale that turned out awesome! I've never had such a light extract turn out anything near this - no masked flavours, weird twang, etc that the hood try and mask. A real warm weather slurper for sure...my fecking keg leaked and I lost about half of it. I think you made a wise investment and of course I'd say that - we are in the same boat lol. Seriously, I'm sure you'll enjoy this appliance!

 

[mattdee1]

I've not used one, but a friend of mine just picked one up and will be putting it to the test in the next week or so.

I've read up a bit on the Grainfather and honestly, I struggle to see a single downside to it, aside from maybe the limitation on batch size. I'm a fan of 10gal batches myself, but I've read stories of guys getting 5gals done with the Grainfather in ~4 hours, so you could just do 2 batches back-to-back in a single day if you wanted.

 

[BobOki]

Yeah, I am a 5 gallon batch guy currently, and my Perlick Keg table thingy (you know the kind in bars) is a 5 gallon. I just got it and will have 4 spigots on it, so this is going to be awesome

 

[havoc531]

Good choice on the Grainfather! I'm eager to hear your impressions after your first brew session.

 

[BobOki]

I'll have to do a write up soon. Got it in and out it together and will give quick impressions.
This thing is awesome. Went from 150 to 210 in 30 minutes and it was a great rolling boil. Cooling worked amazingly well, went from 210 to 63 straight into my bucket (just water testing mind you not wort) as long add you slow the flow.

Can't wait to try my first brew!

 

[brewcat]

Sounds like it is slow to heat. 30 minutes to go from 150 to 210 isn't good. I have heard people crafting heat sticks to help but you shouldn't have to for what you pay for one.

 

[BobOki]

A heat stick does not replace your ENTIRE setup for brewing , this does. It is known that the heating element in it is a little small, but from what I hear it makes up for it in efficiency too. Also, a larger heating element and you would not be able to use a standard outlet. This can plugin anywhere in your house, and while it does take a tad longer to heat up, it certainly gets there and greatly reduces your effort when brewing. Personally, with all this does and how well it does it thus far, a little extra wait time on heating is nothing.

 

[JunkCatsOnThePorch]

Congrats man! Im just getting into electric brewing, and have always been a fly sparger so the grain father looks like it could be for me.

FYI, I also read in zymurgy that you gotta clean it out and all it fittings before your first use or bad factory chemicals will give you a headache.

 

[Elkobrewer]

Congrats on your Grainfather. I have one brew day down with mine and all I can say is you will love it.

 

[BobOki]

Yah, I ran it through with pbw, then did a boil with all the parts in for about 10 min, then ran it alk through the cooler. After I drained it then I wiped it all out with a towel. There is a huge thread here for grainfather, they covered it in there.

I won't post much until I do my first brew, and it will also be my first solo all grain too, so perfect example

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

Keep us posted and let us know how it works for you. I'm currently debating between purchasing a Brew In A Bag setup or a Grainfather.

 

[Elkobrewer]

Michigan Wolfman. Don't debate just pull the trigger on the Grainfather it's an awesome piece of brewing hardware. I love mine.

 

[gspot]

Got one myself. Downsized from a 10gal propane system. Absolutely love it, and I think you will too!