Grainfather sales now live in U.S.! Woohhooo

[sdufford]

My two cents:

Did my first brew with the GF last weekend, and for the most part it's AWESOME. For convenience and ease of use, it's hard to beat. The ONLY downside is the less than vigorous boil. That being said, the wort was technically boiling. In 4 weeks if the beer tastes fine, I'd say there's no issue at all.

Also, for anyone worried about the sparge (and I was), it was no big deal at all. You do have to heat it up separately, and pour it over the top in small increments. But it was so easy. Just heat it up on the stovetop during the mash, and get a 1 qt glass measuring cup, pour it over in small increments. Only took 10 min or so. And during the boiler is heating up to boil anyways.

Easy to clean too, and I got the clearest wort I've ever seen in the fermentor. All in all, great little unit.

 

[josh-h]

I am currently drinking the first 2 beers made with the grainfather. They are great, and way less work than my previous set up.

 

[bmorosco]

Easy to clean too, and I got the clearest wort I've ever seen in the fermentor. All in all, great little unit.

I have to agree the Wort was crystal Clear!!

 

[gwapogorilla]

Please keep us all posted on your brews, eff numbers, mods, likes/dislikes.

 

[bmorosco]

Some Pics of My new Grain Father

 

[pagrider]

Did my first brew last night a Vanilla Porter. I happened to be in my local brew supply house AVID BREWING and bought one. By far my best beer brewing purchase. Makes brewing a little boring. Couple of points

Good

- Wort crystal clear
- super easy to use
- no boil issues at all. The other poster may have an issue with their Grainfather
- solid build
- no need to add anything.
-easy clean
- pump works really well and its quite
-was worried about the sparge but its super easy

Not so good
-efficiency 67%, maybe this was due to me not being used to the system yet.

If i didn't see this unit at my local shop I was getting ready to by the PicoBrew. Glad I didn't. Saved over $1000 and can still brew 5 gallons. This unit rocks!!!!

 

[Andyoesq]

The most common efficiency issues has tended to be dialing in the right crush. Crush it a little finer next time and I'm sure you will be fine. I had the same thing. Are you crushing at home or at shop?

 

[bmorosco]

The most common efficiency issues has tended to be dialing in the right crush. Crush it a little finer next time and I'm sure you will be fine. I had the same thing. Are you crushing at home or at shop?

I agree I adjusted my mill and my efficiency was right where it should be!

 

[pagrider]

You guys are probably right. I crushed at the shop. I should have posted that as that is the likely cause.

Also i just did the add on for the Grainfather in BeerSmith has anyone adjusted anything.

 

[bmorosco]

You guys are probably right. I crushed at the shop. I should have posted that as that is the likely cause.



Also i just did the add on for the Grainfather in BeerSmith has anyone adjusted anything.

Add on??

 

[pagrider]

add on profile in beersmith. Has anyone made any adjustments to the profile

 

[jbb3]

For those that have done brews with the GF, how long was your brew day including set-up, brewing, cooling and transfer to fermenter and clean-up??

 

[pagrider]

4 hours

 

[bmorosco]

4 hours

 

[Andyoesq]

4 hours, as long as you clean as you go

 

[jbb3]

4 hours

4 hours

That's awesome. For me, that would mean a 2 hour reduction to my brew day.

 

[Andyoesq]

you are actually only doing something about 45 minutes of the time. I run beersmith on the iphone, and spend most of the down time either pitching wiffleball for my boys, or winning the flag football superbowl in the back yard while it is mashing

 

[bmorosco]

I brewed a pumpkin today in the Grainfather and OH BOY it was quite the difficult task doing the Sparge! The pumpkin likes to make a waterproof layer and really slows down the sparge process. Had to mix it up a few times to get it going again..

 

[pagrider]

Anyone use the grainfather app yet. Any thoughts

 

[bmorosco]

Anyone use the grainfather app yet. Any thoughts

Yes I used it for the first 2 Batches I did it is ok but there are a lot of stuff not in the app I found I had to add a lot of grains and adjunct.

 

[pagrider]

Brewed my third beer tonight with the grain father. First time i used the App. The grain father is worth every dollar. The App is a C-

 

[bmorosco]

Brewed my third beer tonight with the grain father. First time i used the App. The grain father is worth every dollar. The App is a C-

I agree!!!

 

[pagrider]

I want to comment as a user on two comments

1. I have several STC1000's and the inkird converted STC 1000. The controller on the grain father holds temp better than my old RIMS system and cooler combo with a MYPIN PID hookup.
2. I brew 5 gallon batches and the boil is not an issue. Its a full on rolling boil. It does take time to boil though and an additional heat stick will save some time. Someone posted about a $9 heatstick on amazon I ordered one and am going to give it a try and see how much time it saves.

3. its gets boring using the Grainfather there isn't much to do.

I will comment on my brews once I start pouring in about 10 days.

 

[Vermontsoxfan]

I've read few issues with controlling mash temps with this unit? Are the founded. I want to order, but I'm nervous to drop this kind of coin on something that can't be trusted.

 

[dschoemaker]

No issues on controlling mash temps here. Just need to keep a few things in mind, it is actually the temp of the wort below the grain so it will fluctuate a bit at the beginning but settles down after 5 or 10 minutes. The whole time the grain bed is good.

 

[pagrider]

5 brews in and the Grainfather is terrific. I did get the $9 heating element from amazon and that sped things up. 3:40 total brew day including cleaning up with 60 min boil and mash. I was worried because I was torn between the Grainfather and the Pico Brew glad I made the choice I did. If the pico Brew did 5 gallon batches I may have spent another $1000. Thankfully my local shop talked me into the Grainfather.

 

[katherinego]

So far so good. I am pretty happy!

 

[bford]

A couple of questions....and I apologize if these are dumb in advance!

Can I brew smaller 2.5 gallon batches using the Grainfather? It is what I currently do with my BIAB setup and its really perfect for my use. I'm not going to be kegging any time soon. Bottling 2 to 3 gallons is a bit of a chore.. I'm not sure I can handle five.. and I just don't drink beer fast enough.

How long does sparging take most of you?

Overall it looks like a pretty awesome product and I love the price savings over the Zymatic and Braumeister.

Cheers.

 

[pagrider]

I have done several 3 gallon batches and it worked great. Sparging takes about 10 minutes. It's a great product.

 

[bford]

Thanks Pagrider... I'm leaning toward getting a Grainfather in early 2016.