Grainfather!!

[RedlegEd]

Got my first batch under my belt on the Grainfather and first in about 4 years. A little panicky at the end and trying to figure out the proper timing for getting the chiller ready and basically the entire cleaning process but up until that point this thing is a dream to work with as far as being compact and easy.

Got close to 85% efficiency, so my summer ale is going to be a little stronger but oh well, if that keeps up I'll have to adjust recipes.

One question... Once you are done dumping sparge water, how long do you let the basket drain before you take it off? Really hard to see how much water is in there... It can really use a sight glass... And for gods sake put a handle on it.

Hi. As soon as I pull the grain basket to start the sparge, I set the GF to boil (the 110V system takes a while to get there.) I'll leave the grain basket dripping until the boil starts, then I move it to a clean plastic oil pan (like the kind you get at W-mart to change your oil.) Whatever drips I get from that (maybe a pint or two?) I'll dump back into the GF during the boil. This keeps the mess down and lets you retrieve every last bit of wort. Also, while it's in the pan, I put pressure on the top plate to help squeeze more wort from the the grains too.

As for your question about the site glass. If you start with the amount of water you'll need (both mash and sparge,) you'll not need worry about if it's full or not. I've found that my grain doesn't absorb nearly the amount of water the GF calculators call for, so I've tweaked my formula to reduce the sparge water amount. Finally, I tried putting a handle on the lid, but it got in the way of the recirculation pipe, so I took it off. I always keep a few dish towels/face cloths handy to lift the lid (or prevent spills when removing the recirculation pipe.) Hope this helps. Ed


ETA: I guess maybe I'm not sure what you want to put a handle on.

 

[acarter5251]

My 3rd batch with my Grainfather went well today until this happened. I guess it's back to my old immersion chiller for the time being...

 

[Jettison]

Well, today has been without doubt the worst experience with the Grainfather so far.

I've had issues with the pump before, but never so early in the brew day, and never so persistent.

Strike water, added grains, put top plate on and go to start the mash.... nothing. Well, the usual humming noises etc. but no flow at all. Pumped air through to clear any blockages, even siphoned some wort out through the recirculation pipe. Still nothing.

Have raised the issue with my supplier, who will in turn raise it with iMake, but I'm now trawling eBay for a separate pump that I'll hook up myself.

This happens far too regularly for my liking, so i'll take it out of their hands.

Has anyone ever fit a 3rd party pump to their GF?

 

[RedlegEd]

My 3rd batch with my Grainfather went well today until this happened. I guess it's back to my old immersion chiller for the time being...

Wow! Hopefully, it let go in a place where it didn't cause too much water damage (or ruin your beer.) It looks like it burst out. Do you have any idea what could have created that much pressure on the cooling water side? I would think that the GF folks will send you a replacement since that looks like an obvious manufacturing defect. Thanks for sharing. Ed

 

[acarter5251]

Wow! Hopefully, it let go in a place where it didn't cause too much water damage (or ruin your beer.) It looks like it burst out. Do you have any idea what could have created that much pressure on the cooling water side? I would think that the GF folks will send you a replacement since that looks like an obvious manufacturing defect. Thanks for sharing. Ed

I emailed them to see what they can do. No idea why it blew out. It was fine for about a minute and then a loud pop and water everywhere. The main difference from the last time I used it was I was using my kitchen sink instead of a garden hose but I would imagine that wouldn't create more pressure than the hose would.

 

[tygerman]

Brew Day! New England Milkshake IPA in the Grainfather and sipping my "Funky Farmer" saisson. Used white labs 3031 saisson Brett yeast. Very happy with how it came out.������

 

[tygerman]

Forgot the photos!

 

[tygerman]

Also, 16# 6 oz of grains had the "father" about maxed out!

 

[dttk0009]

Hey guys,

What are your temperatures looking like for your cooled wort? In the hotter months of the summer here, our tap water doesn't get as cold, and as a result, my last batch's wort was only around 23C (73f) when I had planned to ferment around 18C.

Thinking about cooling my wort in the fermentation chamber for a bit before pitching next time to hit those fermentation temps.

 

[RedlegEd]

Hey guys,

What are your temperatures looking like for your cooled wort? In the hotter months of the summer here, our tap water doesn't get as cold, and as a result, my last batch's wort was only around 23C (73f) when I had planned to ferment around 18C.

Thinking about cooling my wort in the fermentation chamber for a bit before pitching next time to hit those fermentation temps.

Hi. That's pretty much how I do it. Summer months in the Memphis area get down-right hot, and I can barely get my wort below 80°F with ground water temps, so I'll put it in the ferm chamber until it drops below 68°F (or lower with lagers.) Ed

 

[BrewBrains]

Hey guys,

What are your temperatures looking like for your cooled wort? In the hotter months of the summer here, our tap water doesn't get as cold, and as a result, my last batch's wort was only around 23C (73f) when I had planned to ferment around 18C.

Thinking about cooling my wort in the fermentation chamber for a bit before pitching next time to hit those fermentation temps.

Hey, I live in FL and the tap water is never cool enough to get down to pitching temp. Get a $25 pond pump, and a bucket of ice water to run thru the chiller after the temp falls to 100 F. With this setup, I can chill it as low as lager fermentation temps in the 50's (may take 2 buckets of ice water).

 

[Kampenken]

Hey guys,

What are your temperatures looking like for your cooled wort? In the hotter months of the summer here, our tap water doesn't get as cold, and as a result, my last batch's wort was only around 23C (73f) when I had planned to ferment around 18C.

Thinking about cooling my wort in the fermentation chamber for a bit before pitching next time to hit those fermentation temps.

No worries. As Ed said use your ferm chamber to cool to pitch temps. You can pre chill your cooling water if you care. Or not. Your beer will be just fine

 

[flyerwire]

Hi. As soon as I pull the grain basket to start the sparge, I set the GF to boil (the 110V system takes a while to get there.) I'll leave the grain basket dripping until the boil starts, then I move it to a clean plastic oil pan (like the kind you get at W-mart to change your oil.) Whatever drips I get from that (maybe a pint or two?) I'll dump back into the GF during the boil. This keeps the mess down and lets you retrieve every last bit of wort. Also, while it's in the pan, I put pressure on the top plate to help squeeze more wort from the the grains too.

As for your question about the site glass. If you start with the amount of water you'll need (both mash and sparge,) you'll not need worry about if it's full or not. I've found that my grain doesn't absorb nearly the amount of water the GF calculators call for, so I've tweaked my formula to reduce the sparge water amount. Finally, I tried putting a handle on the lid, but it got in the way of the recirculation pipe, so I took it off. I always keep a few dish towels/face cloths handy to lift the lid (or prevent spills when removing the recirculation pipe.) Hope this helps. Ed


ETA: I guess maybe I'm not sure what you want to put a handle on.

Thanks! Yea, I guess I should just measure out better, I tweaked a bit after this first one when I measured boil off. I use a heatstick to help the boil along so my boil off rates are much higher than gf calculations.

I also dump my sparge water in a cooler before I mash in and didn't take into account the dead space and finished almost exactly what was left in the cooler short in my fermenter (that last sentence is kinda confusing).

Handles on the side of the Grainfather itself, the lid isn't a big deal but man I'd like to move the Grainfather once in a while and no handles kills it

 

[RedlegEd]

Handles on the side of the Grainfather itself, the lid isn't a big deal but man I'd like to move the Grainfather once in a while and no handles kills it

Hi. Now I get it! Actually, here's what I use and I recommended to another GF user. It really makes life easier when moving the full GF around. You can get one at Home Depot, but it'll probably be Terra Cotta. Hope this helps. Ed



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002TRWJLA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[acarter5251]

Anyone ever max out the grain bill on their grainfather? I'm looking to do a RIS at 4 gallon batch size and it calls for 20 lbs of grain. The grainfather calculators tell me to strike with 6.6 gallons, but that seems like a lot and like it's asking to overflow the thing when I add the grain?

 

[boasist]

Anyone ever max out the grain bill on their grainfather? I'm looking to do a RIS at 4 gallon batch size and it calls for 20 lbs of grain. The grainfather calculators tell me to strike with 6.6 gallons, but that seems like a lot and like it's asking to overflow the thing when I add the grain?

I'm about to brew a variation of the Dogfish 120 on Friday, it'll be about 21 pounds of grain, but I'll be OK. I'll report back with any issues.

 

[TBC]

Anyone ever max out the grain bill on their grainfather? I'm looking to do a RIS at 4 gallon batch size and it calls for 20 lbs of grain. The grainfather calculators tell me to strike with 6.6 gallons, but that seems like a lot and like it's asking to overflow the thing when I add the grain?

I made a batch this past weekend with 16lb of grain and mashed with about 6.2 gal of water. I cut my sparge water by .3 gallon and I had about a .5 gal extra. I'd recommend once you have your basket in place to tape the 2 lifting holes with masking tape so no grain gets in between the basket and boiler when you are adding that amount of grain. You will also have to pour your grain slowly.

 

[acarter5251]

I made a batch this past weekend with 16lb of grain and mashed with about 6.2 gal of water. I cut my sparge water by .3 gallon and I had about a .5 gal extra. I'd recommend once you have your basket in place to tape the 2 lifting holes with masking tape so no grain gets in between the basket and boiler when you are adding that amount of grain. You will also have to pour your grain slowly.

So the water didn't get too uncomfortably close to the top of the pot with that amount of grain and volume of water?

 

[TBC]

So the water didn't get too uncomfortably close to the top of the pot with that amount of grain and volume of water?

No, it's fine the only issue I had was grain getting close to the lifting handle holes. Cover up the 2 holes and you will be fine

 

[acarter5251]

I have mashed in and it's literally to the very top. I don't think I'll ever go this big all at once again but it worked

 

[TBC]

I have mashed in and it's literally to the very top. I don't think I'll ever go this big all at once again but it worked

It will drop once you start to recirculate. After about 20 min you can probably push the plate down a couple inches. Did you tape the holes?

 

[acarter5251]

I did tape the holes. I can't even see the overflow pipe because it doesn't go that high but I'm just going with it right now

 

[acarter5251]

Wow! Hopefully, it let go in a place where it didn't cause too much water damage (or ruin your beer.) It looks like it burst out. Do you have any idea what could have created that much pressure on the cooling water side? I would think that the GF folks will send you a replacement since that looks like an obvious manufacturing defect. Thanks for sharing. Ed

Just got a replacement chiller this morning! Homebrewsupply and the people at Grainfather were super helpful in fixing that issue. I see that they have changed the design on the chillers and I like the new design with the feet to raise the chiller a lot better

 

[thehaze]

Anyone ever max out the grain bill on their grainfather? I'm looking to do a RIS at 4 gallon batch size and it calls for 20 lbs of grain. The grainfather calculators tell me to strike with 6.6 gallons, but that seems like a lot and like it's asking to overflow the thing when I add the grain?

I did 8.5 Kg ( 18.7 lbs ) on my Grainfather and it was challenging, but the Stout I made turned out great.

 

[acarter5251]

I did 8.5 Kg ( 18.7 lbs ) on my Grainfather and it was challenging, but the Stout I made turned out great.

My efficiency was pretty low and it was a very full grainfather. I don't think I'd do it all at once again. Maybe a reiterated mash next time

 

[A50SNAKE]

Just got a replacement chiller this morning! Homebrewsupply and the people at Grainfather were super helpful in fixing that issue. I see that they have changed the design on the chillers and I like the new design with the feet to raise the chiller a lot better

with feet to raise the chiller? huh...I just got mine a couple months ago (still have yet to use it or even clean it yet )...but I'm pretty sure my chiller has no feet to it.

can you please post some pics?

thanks,

 

[acarter5251]

with feet to raise the chiller? huh...I just got mine a couple months ago (still have yet to use it or even clean it yet )...but I'm pretty sure my chiller has no feet to it.



can you please post some pics?



thanks,

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1501595895.291213.jpg

That's the chiller I got this time

 

[thedon986]

View attachment 409352

That's the chiller I got this time

After using this for a while I feel like the feet are on the wrong side. I am never able to use the chiller sitting on the unit itself because my pump tends to clog or seriously slow down on a lot of beers I brew so I have to tend to the filter with a paddle. When I set the chiller on the countertop I have to invert it to make the connection to the pump.

 

[flyerwire]

so, brew day 2 done after the hiatus and on the grainfather.

Much better, i'm now working on some of the uniqueness of my brewhouse i renovated along with the grainfather (need a longer warm out hose on the chiller to dump into my outside runoff piping... harder to explain but i understand it ). Plus had a 9lb grain bill and i know they say 8.8lbs for micro pipework, but it was below the existing pipes at 9lbs.

First brew day with an enclosed system i completely failed to take into account the lack of aeration versus a full system that i used to dump out quickly through a fine mesh filter that made all kinds of foam... i ended a bit high, but it has some lemon in it so it still tastes ok... hell, i'll drink it

 

[elreplica]

so, brew day 2 done after the hiatus and on the grainfather.

Much better, i'm now working on some of the uniqueness of my brewhouse i renovated along with the grainfather (need a longer warm out hose on the chiller to dump into my outside runoff piping... harder to explain but i understand it ). Plus had a 9lb grain bill and i know they say 8.8lbs for micro pipework, but it was below the existing pipes at 9lbs.

First brew day with an enclosed system i completely failed to take into account the lack of aeration versus a full system that i used to dump out quickly through a fine mesh filter that made all kinds of foam... i ended a bit high, but it has some lemon in it so it still tastes ok... hell, i'll drink it

Killer...I've got the same gear and some really nice stainless cabinets and tables to work with...just have to get my poop in a group as you did to pull it together...way to go bro!